arly amongst
officers. At one time 'A' Company was commanded by Lance-Corporal
Goodman, and another company by a C.S.M.

"Then the Hun artillery got busy on the wood, which was, of course, an
ideal mark. For the rest of the day they simply poured heavy shells
in. It was pretty terrible. Trees were torn up by the dozens, and fell
blazing. By the end of the day there was nothing but shattered stumps.

"The Medical Officer had a busy time, and owing to the barrage could
not evacuate his wounded. The aid post was filled, and the overflow
had to be put in shell-holes round about. The consequence was that
many of them were killed as they lay there. Owing to the barrage, too,
the sending of messages back to Brigade headquarters and the companies
in front became almost impossible. Out of sixteen headquarter runners
no fewer than fourteen became casualties before mid-day.

"One message was sent back by carrier pigeon, and a message received
from the Brigadier read: 'Hold on. Reinforcements are being sent.' The
reply of the C.O. was: 'Of course we shall hold on. We are being
hammered, but our tails are still up.'

"As the day wore on many efforts were made to get round our flanks and
turn us out. Bombing parties crept up, and had to be dealt with by
our bombers. It was in one of these tussles that Jerry Delany (the
famous boxer) was killed.

"At one time word came from our comrades on the right that the Hun had
broken through. So we sent over a party to their assistance, and
finally repelled the attackers. We spent the whole of the afternoon
and evening in this way, but when our relief came up that night we
handed over the wood intact.

"The scene at night was awful, the wood being ablaze in many places. I
read messages and wrote out the relief orders by the light of a
blazing tree, which had fallen across the shell-hole then being
occupied by Battalion headquarters.

"During the night our Brigadier came up and held a conference in our
shell-hole. One of our men, Corporal Walker, who was attached to the
Brigade Machine-Gun Company, came to this conference, and when asked
by the Brigadier what he wanted, replied: 'I have reason to believe,
sir, I now command the Machine-Gun Company.' This was actually the
case, and he brought the remnants out, being badly wounded in doing
so.

"We were relieved by the 6th Brigade, and at dawn returned to our
quarters at Bernefay--that is to say, those of us who were left. Our
casualties