ed by Captain Congreve,
afterward Major Congreve, V. C., (now dead) who was the only staff
officer I saw in that sector during all the time we were in the line.
Sometimes we met individual German sentries and quick, quiet and
accurate work was necessary to avoid detection and probable capture. I
found that a French bayonet, the rapier shape, was a very satisfactory
weapon at such times. Trench knives have been invented since and may
be an improvement. After leaving me that night Captain Congreve came
upon a party of eighty-two Germans, commanded by an officer, who had
been cut off in one of the craters for several days, without food or
ammunition, and captured them all, single-handed. For this feat he
received the Distinguished Service Order and promotion to Major.
Later, on the Somme, he continued his brilliant work and won the award
of the Victoria Cross, but was killed at Mametz Wood before receiving
the decoration, which was given to his widow. He was only twenty-five
at the time of his death but had proved himself one of the most
enterprising officers in the British army.

What had been left of the village of St. Eloi when the fight commenced
was rapidly disappearing under the hail of shells. Where our original
front line had been there remained but few detached fragments of
parapet. For perhaps six hundred yards we were holding on with
scattered and isolated groups. At one place, on our immediate left,
was a hole in the line at least two hundred yards wide. Time after
time the Canadians attacked and retook the craters, only to be
literally blown out of them by the ensuing hurricane of shells.

The task of getting out the wounded was heart-breaking. Our own
stretcher-bearers worked night and day, but they had suffered many
casualties and were unequal to the task. The Border Regiment and the
Durham Light Infantry, who occupied our old trenches and were not
under heavy fire, sent volunteer carrying parties to assist in the
work, so that all were taken out with a minimum of delay. It was
impossible to remove the dead and they were buried in shell-holes,
where they fell. During the succeeding days many were disinterred by
other shells.

Then, the matter of maintaining communication with our supports and
the headquarters in the rear was of the utmost importance and our
signalers waged a continuous fight, against heavy odds, to keep the
wires connected up. It would not be fair to others to specify any
particular bran