ded the best general view
of the country round.

Both of the English War Correspondents interested me much. Beach
Thomas, tall and dignified and grave; Philip Gibbs, short and bright
and cheery: both very sympathetic to and appreciative of the Brigade.
The other was a Dutch gentleman who told me with a flash of
inspiration that I should not recollect his name.

Another striking personality appeared in the shape of the Brigade
Commander of one of the Divisional Artillery Brigades. Col. Fitzgerald
came to call on us to inquire whether the artillery arrangements were
to our satisfaction and to know if he could do anything to help us. A
tall man with glasses and a kindly, gentle face. One morning he
brought in a great bunch of flowers for our mess room that he had
gathered near Croisilles. The following story was brought to us by the
Artillery Liaison Officer. Col. Fitzgerald went to the front line and
out into the broken trenches in No Man's Land in order to inspect the
registration of the field guns. Seeing a German sniper at work, he
borrowed a rifle and commenced a duel with the Boche in which several
shots were exchanged. Having killed his man he returned with great
satisfaction, feeling the day had been well spent. This occurred near
the 'Hump' whilst we were holding these trenches. He told us that his
guns had had a wonderful target on the Somme in July 1916. They were
somewhere on the high ground south of Bazentin-le-Grand when the
German Guard had massed for an attack on Contalmaison. These guns had
the extraordinary chance of firing with open sights on the dense
German masses behind Bazentin-le-Petit and they had inflicted terrible
losses on the Brandenburghers.

It was from our O.P. near B.H.Q. that I first tried to make a
panoramic sketch of the country in front. It was a crude attempt, no
doubt, but General Rees was kind enough to speak encouragingly of it,
and to tell me to try and develop this side of Intelligence.

That advice bore fruit, for in 1918 my observers were trained to
sketch, and their sketches did more damage to the enemy than any
reports that were sent in. For the heavy artillery got interested in
them and fired on the targets with great effect.

About May 25 we came out of the line and stayed one night at
Moyenneville, returning next day to our Divisional rest area at
Monchy-au-Bois.

XXIV

MONCHY-AU-BOIS

We were now able to settle down to training and manoeuvres. The
count