nary fire, at the low rate of twenty rounds
per gun an hour. This continued until 5 o'clock, when a huge shower
rocket signaled with a great burst of light the beginning of the
advance. At this we increased the rate of fire, commencing the barrage
that preceded the infantry's line. The heavy rain had so softened the
ground that it gave way beneath the improvised platforms on which the
gun wheels rested. When the firing was slow, the planks could be
straightened, the gun crews tugging to lift a wheel out of the mud. But
the barrage could not be interrupted. Before long the planks were thrown
aside altogether, and the wheels sank with the shock of each round until
they were eight to ten inches in the mire when the order to cease firing
came at 10 o'clock.

By that time group after group of prisoners were passing us on their way
to the rear, in such numbers as to indicate our great success. Still
more infantry filed past to the trenches. Reports of incredible progress
and amazing figures of prisoners filtered to us. At noon we packed up,
ready to go forward when the limbers should come up. But, though they
had started at 7 o'clock that morning, they did not arrive till 8 in the
evening. The roads were black with advancing troops and supply trains.
The broad fields between us and Beaumont suddenly turned an O. D. hue
when a battalion of infantry pitched their pup tents there for the
night.

At 11 p. m. our battery was on the road, after a hard pull to get out of
the soggy field. We went only a kilometre or so to the left, toward
Seicheprey, when we found the way impassable. After waiting an hour or
more, the battalion turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
Here, too, was blocked traffic and delay. At Flirey, in the early
morning, the dismounted men were distributed along the road to assist
the M. P.'s in clearing a way for us. There was, it appeared, but one
road to advance into the territory ahead of us evacuated by the enemy.
And it, as we found later, had been shelled almost to extinction. Had
it not been for corned beef sandwiches and coffee from kitchens at the
roadside near here, the boys would have gone hungry all day, although a
good many levied successfully on the ration dump in the town.

Advance was at a snail's pace, and halts were frequent and long. Not far
out of town, we gained the summit of a ridge that gave us a wide view of
what had yesterday been the battlefield. It had been so plowed up by