ey gradually died away,
until some heavy guns of the 4th Division were brought up close by and
began banging away again at the Chivres heights and beyond. Quite
unnecessary we thought them, for they not only made a hideous noise
day and night, but the enemy began searching for them with Black
Marias, some of which fell unpleasantly close to us.

It was a pretty little valley with wooded hills, running northwards to
the Aisne, and on our right was a big plateau with huge haystacks
dotted about the corn-fields, which served as excellent observing
stations for our artillery, of which by this time we had a vast mass.
The other (north) bank of the Aisne was clearly visible from here--in
fact from the top of the biggest haystack there was a regular panorama
to be seen, from the twin towers of Soissons Cathedral on the left to
the enemy's trenches above Vailly and beyond--a beautiful landscape
typical of La Belle France, even to the rows of poplars in the
distance, marking the Routes Nationales from Soissons to other places
of distinction.

Our business was to hold the line of the river by digging a line of
trenches from Sermoise to near Venizel, and to cover them with a line
of outposts day and night. This took about four companies, and the
rest were engaged in digging another series of trenches on the
plateau as a supporting line to the first, flanking the Jury Valley on
one side and the ruins of Sermoise and Ciry on the other. This was
really the first serious digging of trenches we had had during the
campaign, and I remember, in the light of after experiences, how
futile they must have been at the time, for they were nothing like as
deep as we subsequently found to be necessary, nor had they any wire
entanglements or obstacles worth mentioning. However, I expect that
the French improved them greatly during the subsequent winter.

Sermoise had been desperately shelled; there were no inhabitants left,
and practically every house was a heap of ruins; but though our
outposts in front of it could not have been seen through the woods,
the Germans continued to shell it most viciously.

On the right of Sermoise was the 13th Brigade, extended towards the
3rd Division, which had crossed the river at Vailly and was holding
the slopes above it. I believe the 13th had a poor time of it, for
they were scattered over open ground and in small woods which were
perpetually being shelled, and they had, besides, to find a battalion
or so