n
February 13 that the Germans attacked and took the 'Bluff,' some
trenches south-west of Hill 60. About 3.30 P.M. our own trenches were
bombarded for about two hours continuously with field artillery, and a
lot of pieces were blown out of the top of our trenches, but no
infantry attack developed. After this a small mine was blown up under
our old trenches at Hill 60 and a platoon was wiped out there. But an
attempt by the Germans to occupy the crater was frustrated through the
initiative of a machine-gun officer. I saw and felt the shock of this
mine going up, and a wonderful sight it was in the evening light. The
shelling went on for some time after dark, whilst to our right our
artillery thundered away in support of several fruitless attempts to
recapture the lost trenches at the 'Bluff.'

On February 14 I was told to organise a series of bombing parties, one
from each company, to visit the German advanced trench at different
times during the night and if possible to bomb German parties working
there. I decided to accompany the first party, from A Company, between
8 and 10 P.M. Sergt. Dorgan, an experienced patroller, went with me,
also L.-C. Lowes, Ptes. Austin and Gibson, and two other bombers. As
it was very wet, I had a sandbag taken by each man to lie down on. The
scheme was to creep right up to the new trench near the hedge, and
await the arrival of the German working-party. So we crept out along
the wet ground and got to the trench, which was about two feet deep.
We found no one there, and Pte. Austin went on into the hedge to keep
a look-out. In the hedge were found a German sniper's plate, a steel
shield with a loop-hole in it, and a German entrenching tool, like a
small spade. These were at once annexed. Then we lay down again on
the sandbags and waited with eyes and ears straining for about an
hour. But no Germans came, though we had one warning from our sentry
to get ready to fire. After that, cold and thoroughly soaked, we
returned in triumph with the sandbags and our spoils, which we placed
in our own trench. The other parties went out later but found no
Germans at work. Possibly the wet night or the battle on our right
prevented them from coming out to work that night. The object of these
forward trenches was afterwards apparent, when four months later the
Germans attacked and took Mount Sorrel. On February 16 we were
relieved and went back into support for four days. I have forgotten
where we went, b