amusing to listen to the language: men shouting, with all kinds of
unmentionable oaths, to each other to get a 'bloody move on for ----
sake!'

"It is amusing what a number of new men, 'obviously Derbyites and
conscripts,' as Beesley said the other day, have got the wind up. One
incident of the kind, related by Captain Bodington, was very funny. He
was walking along a trench last night and a man came rushing along as if
the whole German Army were chasing him; and he bumped right into
Bodington, nearly sending him flying. Bodington asked him whatever was
the matter; and the man replied in a voice of abject terror, 'They're
sniping at us up there, sir!'

"At 2.30 this morning I retired to rest--in my clothes of course; we do
not undress in the trenches. At 5.40 I rose and took on officer of the
watch until breakfast at 8.45, when I was relieved by Sergeant-Major
Stanton. It was raining, so I wore my trench-coat. After breakfast I
retired to rest again. But at 10.15 I noticed something happen: our
guns, of which we have heard so little during this week in the trenches,
began to bombard the enemy lines. Not an intense bombardment, but a
continuous and systematic bombardment; they have been at it all day with
the exception of a pause for about an hour in the middle of the day. The
German guns have been quiet all day since they ceased at 2.15 this
morning. There is always a calm after a storm. It is fine again now.
Well--cheerio!..."

My diary of the same date (July 8) carries on:

"Germans started shelling us at 7.45 p.m. Dinner. Sleep from 10 to
11.30. Then I went into Company Headquarters to be ready for chits, as
all the other officers were away somewhere. The dug-out was shelled
while I was in there; the candle was blown out once. The shells were
landing pretty close.

"July 9th.

"Sleep 1 a.m. to 4.30. Officer of the watch from 4.30 to 8. Then
breakfast. Sleep, or tried to, in the morning. The Germans were shelling
Bilge Trench the whole time. Lunch at 1.30. Got down again after tea.
Then, at 6 p.m., I left Bilge Trench with my batman Critchley and
proceeded to Potijze to rejoin B Company, as D Company's tour in the
front line is now concluded." Thus ended the memorable stay in Bilge
Trench.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] See Appendix II.

CHAPTER X

THE RAMPARTS

My diary of July 9 tells how we once again got back to the cosy dug-outs
in the Ramparts, those ramparts from whence was continually stretched
o