, so that the personnel of these companies missed their
period of rest. At this time one of these companies had its headquarters
in a house in a terrace called the Place d'Amour. In the gardens of the
houses a battery of field guns was installed, and there was another just
close by. The headquarters of these two batteries were also in the Place
d'Amour--one on each side of the infantry company headquarters. One
morning the enemy decided to annihilate one of the batteries and commenced
to fire ranging shots over the terrace. The artillerymen knew what was
coming, and told everyone to leave the billets, but to uphold the honour
of the infantry, the men refused to leave the billets until after the
gunners had evacuated the position. They got away just in time.

On the 17th April the Battalion moved to the Ecole, a place outside the
city on the east, which had apparently been a large technical school, and
after a few days here it moved to Railway Wood sector where things were
very active. After a tour here and a few days in reserve it returned to
Potijze sector once more. On the 11th May a very successful night raid was
carried out by two officers and forty other ranks on Oskar Farm. Under
cover of a barrage two parties entered the enemy positions. Some Germans
were found in a dugout, which was then bombed and six Germans surrendered.
A small bombing party was counter-attacked by six Germans, and the
sergeant in command shot three and bayoneted one, while the other two
escaped. The War Diary states that on the way back some of the prisoners
became unruly and were effectively dealt with, which means that they were
killed. At least ten Germans were killed besides those in the dugout that
was bombed. The prisoners belonged to the 1st Matrosen Regiment of the
German Naval Division.

On the 17th May the Battalion went to Bollezeele, where it remained for a
month. This was a clean, well-built village, where the men were very
comfortable. The training ground was about an hour's march away, and so
the Battalion paraded in the main street every morning with the drummers
in the centre, and marched to the training ground where the companies were
placed at the disposal of their commanders for drill and instruction. A
meal was taken at noon and when the afternoon's work was done the
Battalion reformed and marched back to billets. The weather at this time
was very fine. Never had the men witnessed such beautiful blue skies, and
scarcely