packets of Woodbines were found in the
pockets of the officer--loot from the canteen at Achiet-le-Grand. The
soldier told us that this form of German enterprise was reserved for the
officers.

This day, March 28th, marked the end of the heavy fighting. The German
thrust had been checked, and the effort to reach the Coast had failed. A
glance at the map will show that, had the advance continued here the
Arras position would have been seriously threatened, and the Germans
would have been well on their way to Abbeville and the Channel Ports.
That night the 7th were overjoyed to hear that they were to be relieved.
The L.F's. took over the brigade sector, but the relief had been ordered
so suddenly that there was no time for reconnaissance, with the result
that it was almost dawn before the last platoon of the battalion had
struggled over the crest line to the old system of trenches 1,500 yards
further back in dead ground. Heavy rain, during the evening had
converted these neglected trenches into veritable ditches of mud. A few
cubby holes had been constructed by the previous occupants, and filled
with mud though they were, our men dropped into them and fell fast
asleep. It was the first undisturbed sleep they had had for nearly a
week, a period which had seemed more like a month. During the afternoon
the battalion received orders to furnish a billeting party which had to
proceed to Gommecourt. Billeting--this was indeed bliss. They received a
rude shock on arrival however to find that the word was a misnomer. We
were to relieve the 15th Hampshires of the 41st division, who had just
been hurried back from Italy. They occupied trenches on the edge of
Gommecourt village in support to the front line, which was only about
400 yards away. The astonishment of the battalion on arrival about 3
a.m., on March 30th, when they found the nature of their new
headquarters, can be easily imagined. They were indeed "fed up"--back to
the old game, mucking about in a muddy trench, keeping a keen look-out
when on sentry (for owing to a gap in the front line a portion of our
position virtually was front line), and still shell dodging. We were
also becoming rather disreputable for the weather had broken, and mud
became the ruling element. In this manner, Easter Sunday was spent. But
there were cheering rumours about going back for recuperation, and these
kept our spirits up.

April 1st--All Fools Day--we might have known. The brigade went back