only in charge of 7 Platoon temporarily, until Sergeant Butterworth
comes back; you're not platoon sergeant. You understand that, Floyd?' he
concluded, turning to me. I think it a bit thick that one cannot choose
one's own platoon sergeant....

"Halstead has not yet turned up, and we now learn that the three others
(who went with him), have not returned to their respective companies.
When I was in that Brigade dug-out last night the M.O. casually remarked
to me that he had attended to four officers, who appeared to belong to
our brigade, at about 6 in the evening. They were all wounded; one was
very bad. In the light of the present situation it certainly looks as if
they must have been the unfortunate four. So Captain Andrews has sent
Giffin down there to inquire. It looks serious.

"It is now 6 p.m. I must close. Captain Andrews says that I had better
warn you that you must not expect letters very frequently now, as it is
not easy to get them off from here. We are going further up to-night.
But do not worry; it is as safe there as here!"

A postscript to this letter states: "It is as I surmised. Halstead,
Barker, Ronald, and Wood are all wounded--by the same shell."

The _Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_ thus sums up the events of July 1 and
the fate of these four officers:

"On July 1st, the Battalion returned to the forward area. We were to
have gone into our old billets in the Prison and the Magazine, but, as a
17in. shell had just landed in the Magazine and the foundations of the
Prison had been shaken by 8in. duds, it was impossible to do so. Half
the Battalion therefore found billets in the Ramparts, etc., the other
half and Headquarters went back to Goldfish Chateau. During the
afternoon of July 1, the Battalion suffered the most severe loss it had
suffered for some time. Four officers, Lieut. W. C. Ronald, Lieutenant
H. A. Wood, Lieutenant J. Halstead and Second-Lieutenant H. A. Barker,
one officer from each Company, had started up to reconnoitre the line.
At Wells Cross Roads a shell landed and wounded all four.
Second-Lieutenant Barker died of his wounds a month later, but the other
three have all recovered."

The _Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_ goes on to say that "On July 2nd the
Battalion moved up into the Potijze sector. We had a hot reception, the
enemy sent over 1,500 shells all round Battalion Headquarters between
midnight and 5 a.m." But, as the following extract from my diary will
show, the move t