Company was brought from "Scottish" Wood to the communicating trench,
and where we entered the trench was crowded with men, one bunch trying
to get up, another stream of wounded coming down. As fast as men tried
to get through the barrage, they were wiped out, and at last the
officers decided to lose no more. Fritz started to shell the trench we
were in, and a lot of the boys were hit; our officer took us out in the
open, and we lay there while the trench was being shelled--after
staying there twenty-four hours we were relieved--but the struggle for
the craters still went on; sometimes our fellows holding them, and
sometimes Fritz. At last the weather brightened, allowing us to get
observation, and our artillery was able to work accurately; then the
battle died down, leaving two craters in the Germans' hands, two in
ours, and the rest a sort of "No Man's Land," in which constant
fighting took place for months; sometimes quiet, but flaring up again
whenever either side tried to take and hold the remaining craters.
That was the Battle of St. Eloi as nearly as I can give it. It was the
first big scrap we took part in, and although it wasn't a victory,
nobody knows, but those who were there, how near we were to disaster,
and only individual pluck kept the Germans back; for after the barrage
went on, Headquarters could not get news of how things were going.
Several officers were sent up, but were either killed or wounded trying
to get through the barrage. Those who got through stayed to help those
that were there fighting, as it was almost impossible to get back. It
was there that the Sixth Brigade got the name "The Iron Sixth." While
the company I was in didn't do anything spectacular, I can tell you it
was all we wanted, lying out there in the mud and wet, expecting any
moment to see the Germans advancing, and all the time shells coming
like hail. Some of the companies of the 28th lost heavily--I think we
were the luckiest; but when the battalion went back to rest billets a
lot of boys' faces were missing that we had been familiar with for
months.

Now that heavy fighting had commenced we never knew where we would be
for more than a day at a time--we stayed in the lines till there was
someone ready to relieve us, whether it was two days or ten--then we
went direct to rest billets, and we remained there till we were needed
again in the front lines. The billets were not bomb-proof, by any
means. They were well with