p. Munro, a
bomber from the 6th N.F., and I made what use I could of Pte.
Fairclough, my orderly. The result was that I had not only to attend
to all the live firing, but I had to do the sergeants' work as well.
Afterwards there were the grenades to be sorted out for next day and a
friendly hand given to the Bombing Officers of the battalions, most of
whom were new to their work.

During our stay at Bresle 477 fresh men went through the recruits'
bombing course. And on December 26 and 27 the tests were carried out
with the battalion bombers, for the purpose of granting the Bombers'
Badge. These tests were now made much more difficult to pass, and only
seven men passed the throwing and firing tests. After this period I
never carried out any further instruction in the hand-grenade. The
drafts later on came out more fully trained and the Battalion Bombing
Officers carried on any further instruction that was required. During
and in preparation for the operations on the Somme 16 officers and
2106 men went through the course; and at least 5000 live grenades were
thrown. I was lucky to have no accident with the Mills grenade, and no
fatal ones even with the rifle-grenade.

General Ovens went on leave at Bresle, and Lieut.-Col. G. Scott
Jackson, O.C. 7th N.F., came as Brigade Commander to our H.Q. We had
him several times again in that capacity, and he was always a
favourite in our mess. His fine record and services are well known; a
D.S.O. and Bar, he probably commanded a fighting battalion as long as
any officer in France. From the time when the battalion landed in
France in April 1915 till he left the battalion for the R.A.M.C. at
the latter end of 1917, he was only off duty for about three days, in
a quiet part of the line. He always looked a picture of robust
strength, never missed his cold bath even with the temperature near
zero, and was one of the most optimistic men in the whole Brigade. He
was a most pleasant kindly Brigade Commander, with the supreme virtue
of leaving the specialists to do their work in their own way.

Before we left Bresle I got a Brigade Bombing Sergeant--Sergeant T.
Matthewson of the 5th N.F., who had had long experience as Battalion
Bombing Sergeant, and was a thoroughly trained and reliable man. I
found him most useful in his new office and I am glad to know that he
got safely through the war. Amongst other accomplishments he was a
good wicket-keeper, as I found later on.

On Christmas Day