ake
reconnaissances of the front, from which we augured good. One of their
C.O's. on being told that we had arrived in France in March, was quite
delighted, and said he had been searching the British Army for troops
who had come out after they did. They arrived a month before us--but
from England! Nothing pleased Col. Cronshaw better, and he carefully led
him through the exploits of the 42nd from the day they sailed from
England in September, 1914. The London C.O. left the dug-out with a more
or less chastened countenance, and I presume he still continued his
search.

July 8th was our last day at Havrincourt, and although we were glad at
the time for the promise of a respite from trench duties, we have since
frequently looked back on those sunny days with great pleasure, for by
comparison it was a "bon front," and picturesque withal, which can
hardly be said about any other sector we learned to know. The light
railway was utilised again to take the battalion to Ytres, and after a
night there we marched first to Barastre, and then to Achiet le Petit,
beyond Bapaume.

ACHIET.

The 127th brigade resided under canvas about the battered village of
Achiet le Petit on patches of ground not too incommoded by shell holes.
The war had passed comparatively lightly over this portion of France,
but a short walk westward took one to the battle-scarred fields of the
fierce Somme fighting, and this was useful to us for we could pay visits
to these districts to learn something of modes of battle in those days.
One day, the Brigadier took a number of officers to Thiepval and
recorded his own personal experiences of the fighting around there. On
another occasion a brigade scheme took place on the famous Gommecourt
trenches. We little guessed in those days that we should actually be
fighting for our lives in those same trenches in less than twelve
months. It seemed as though the tide of war had rolled over this ground
for ever, and that the very earth would cry out if it were to hear again
the shrieking and tearing of shells that came to wound it.

Intensive training was the order of the day, and realising that we had
still much to learn the work was seriously taken up. The men came from
Lancashire, the division had been sorely tested by fire in Gallipoli,
and by endurance in the Sinai, so that hard work under able leadership
was all that was required to uphold the flag of achievement which had
yet received no stain. As the days wor