ns? Nothing but the loss of thousands
upon thousands of lives. Every acre of the ground we were fighting on
has been watered with the blood of German and Fleming long ago. We
were only repeating the centuries' old feud.

All afternoon we waited patiently, expecting that in the pursuit that
would follow our battalions would be echeloned through the gap made,
but not a word came. We returned at night to our billets and were
warned again to be on the _Qui vive_.

Thursday, March 11th, was slightly hazy and we were kept in readiness
all day, but no new developments followed. Something must have
happened, lack of ammunition, or something of that kind. My officers
were worrying me all day wondering if the grand advance had gone on
and we were left behind. I could give no explanation. It is a
soldier's duty to wait and do as he is told. The impression prevailed
for the moment that the terrible tales they told about us in England
had followed us to Flanders and that General French was afraid to
trust the First Canadian Division. In the evening we were notified
that hot baths would be ready for the men and a change of clothing at
Sailly next day. That meant that we would not take part in any
advance, at least for the moment.

On March 12th, in the morning, accompanied by Dr. MacKenzie and
Lieutenant Dansereau, I set out for Estaires. We were told before we
left that the Canadian troops would not be required that day. The
battle orders given to me confidentially by Colonel Hughes burnt holes
in my pocket, but we would not need them yet. On the way we found a
lot of cannonading going on, and as we came to Estaires we met long
lines of ambulances coming in from the front with the wounded. There
were Guardsmen, Indian troops and Highlanders. At first we thought
they were the wounded picked up on the battle field on the 10th of
March. In Estaires from some of the slightly wounded we learned the
vastly important information that another big attack was on and that
the British troops were making very little headway, and were having
terrible losses. The artillery were not doing much, and the infantry
were getting the worst of it. The German corps army had been brought
up.

From a wounded Highland sergeant we learned that on the 10th the
three lines of German trenches had been carried as stated. The British
troops were in the environs of Aubers and along the Rue D'Enfer. The
Germans were apparently in full retreat and our losses were