gh the "crumped" trenches, the men held on and consolidated their
positions. One of the most astounding feats was done by the sappers, who
put up barbed wire beyond the line under a devilish cannonade.

A telephone operator had had his apparatus smashed by a shell early
in the action, and worked his way back to get another. He succeeded
in reaching the advanced line again, but another shell knocked out his
second instrument. It was then only possible to keep in touch with
the battalion headquarters by means of messengers, and again and again
officers and men made their way across the zone of fire or died in the
attempt. Messages reached the colonel of the regiment that part of his
front trenches had been blown away.

From other parts of the line reports came in that the enemy was
preparing a counter-attack. For several hours now the colonel of the
Durhams could not get into touch with his companies, isolated and hidden
beneath the smoke of the shell-bursts. Flag-wagging and heliographing
were out of the question. He could not tell even if a single man
remained alive out there beneath all those shells. No word came from
them now to let him know if the enemy were counter-attacking.

Early in the afternoon he decided to go out and make his own
reconnaissance. The bombardment was still relentless, and it was only
possible to go part of the way in an old communication trench. The
ground about was littered with the dead, still being blown about by high
explosives.

The soul of the colonel was heavy then with doubt and with the knowledge
that most of the dead here were his own. When he told me this adventure
his only comment was the soldier's phrase, "It was not what might be
called a 'healthy' place." He could see no sign of a counter-attack,
but, straining through the smoke-clouds, his eyes could detect no sign
of life where his men had been holding the captured lines. Were they all
dead out there?

On Monday night the colonel was told that his battalion would be
relieved, and managed to send this order to a part of it. It was sent
through by various routes, but some men who carried it came back
with the news that it was still impossible to get into touch with the
companies holding the advanced positions above the Menin road.

In trying to do so they had had astounding escapes. Several of them had
been blown as far as ten yards by the air-pressure of exploding shells
and had been buried in the scatter of earth.

"Whe