d and
then abandoned. Capt. Liddell had his H.Q. in J.4 at this time. The
first night he went with me to this trench with a party of bombers,
and we stayed from 2 A.M. till dawn was breaking. Capt. Liddell was a
great tower of strength to us in these trenches, one of the most
fearless and pugnacious of men, with a taste for wandering about No
Man's Land o' nights. It did you good merely to look at him.

On April 8 we were relieved by the 6th N.F., and D Company moved to a
billet at R.C. Farm. One of the buildings had recently been fired by a
shell, and the bodies of several horses that had been cremated inside
made the air rather pungent. Whilst we were out of the line, the
German artillery started shelling the trenches severely, inflicting
heavy casualties on the 6th N.F., and punishing especially the support
trench at J.4 and the bombers retreat at H.5. During our rest I went
with Capt. Liddell and a working party of B Company to dig and fill in
some cable trenches behind the supports of the 'L' Trenches. During
the work I first made the acquaintance of Lieut. A.E. Odell, the
Brigade Signalling Officer, who later on became a great friend. We
went back to the old trenches on April 13, and I found the bombers of
the 6th N.F. had moved their quarters from H.5 to Turner Town (left),
two rows of small splinter-proof dugouts behind the mine shaft. The
trenches were badly knocked about, and the German artillery and
trench-mortars were still causing trouble. I now messed with D Company
at their H.Q. in K.1.a. On the evening of April 10, I had to patrol
the ground near the mine shaft with a party of bombers, to look out
for a German spy who was thought to be making back this way. We saw
nothing of him, but I believe that 2nd-Lieut. J. Robinson arrested a
Canadian Mining Officer, who in the dark was unknown to him.

On April 18 we were relieved by the 6th N.F. their Bombing Officer,
2nd-Lieut. A. Toon, taking over from me. This time we moved back to
Locre. But I was sent to B.H.Q. at Bruloose with my servant, as Lieut.
W. Keene was away on leave, and it was intended that I should act for
him till he came back. However I was not long at B.H.Q. before it
appeared that Lieut. Keene would be returning that night. Before going
off to Locre, however, I was asked to stay to dinner with the officers
of B.H.Q. which I did; and it was a pleasant experience. The battalion
had good quarters in Locre in the Convent School, and we soon foun