sk, because the
wind was cold and it was beginning to snow. The prospect of spending a
night there was not an attractive one, and every man was anxious to
make the best home for himself he could in the ground. It was
wonderful to look over the valley. I saw the villages of Willerval,
Arleux and Bailleul-sur-Berthouit. They looked so peaceful in the
green plain which had not been disturbed as yet by shells. The church
spires stood up undamaged like those of some quiet hamlet in England.
I thought, "If we could only follow up our advance and keep the
Germans on the move," but the day was at an end and the snow was
getting heavier. I saw far off in the valley, numbers of little grey
figures who seemed to be gradually gathering together, and I heard an
officer say he thought the Germans were preparing for a counter-attack.
Our men, however, paid little attention to them. The pressing question
of the moment was how to get a comfortable and advantageous position
for the night. Canadians never showed up better than at such times.
They were so quiet and determined and bore their hardships with a
spirit of good nature which rested on something sounder and more (p. 171)
fundamental than even pleasure in achieving victory. About half-past
six, when I started back, I met our Intelligence Officer, V.C.,
D.S.O., coming up to look over the line. He was a man who did much but
said little and generally looked very solemn. I went up to him and
said, "Major, far be it from me, as a man of peace and a man of God,
to say anything suggestive of slaughter, but, if I were a combatant
officer, I would drop some shrapnel in that valley in front of our
lines." Just the faint flicker of a smile passed over his countenance
and he replied, "We are shelling the valley." "No," I said, "Our
shells are going over the valley into the villages beyond, and the
Germans in the plain are getting ready for a counter-attack. I could
see them with my naked eyes." "Well." he replied, "I will go and
look."

Later on when I was down in a German dugout which had been turned into
the headquarters of our advanced artillery brigade, and was eating the
half tin of cold baked beans which my friend, the C.O. had failed to
consume, I had the satisfaction of hearing the message come through on
the wires, that our artillery had to concentrate its fire on the
valley, as the Germans were preparing for a counter-attack. When I
left the warm comfortable dugout, I found that i