ht out a new lot of planes
and these were lighter and faster than ours. It was heart-breaking to
see our air men being shot down. I have seen six or seven of our
planes come down in one day. Up to this time our planes had reigned
supreme, and the hostile airmen scarcely dared to show themselves; and
even now the Hun's triumph was short-lived. Our Colonel insisted that
the newest planes be brought over, and when they came we had the
satisfaction of seeing the Huns cleaned up. Well, after a week in the
trenches we were taken out and given a real rest. We were allowed to
lie around pretty much all the time, while the boys in the trenches
kept the Germans on the jump. Every night they would go over and
destroy the enemy's dugouts and bring back a bunch of prisoners; from
these prisoners they got a lot of valuable information.

All this time the roads leading to our lines were packed night and day
with men, transports, guns, ammunition, limbers, and everything that is
needed for a big charge. Our eighteen-pound guns were in long lines,
wheel to wheel. Behind them were long lines of heavier guns and back
of these a line of long range naval guns. These last fired six- and
twelve-inch shells to a distance of fifteen miles at targets given them
by aeroplanes. The enemy artillery shelled our roads a little, but
whenever they started, our guns would redouble their efforts and the
ground was shaking with their roar day and night.

The evening before the big attack our artillery carried out
counter-battery work, destroying as many as possible of the enemy's
guns. Just at dusk we fell in line and began our march to the
trenches. We passed through St. Eloi (not the one in Belgium) and the
French people looked at us pityingly. They didn't think it possible
for us to capture Vimy Ridge, where the French troops had lost
thousands in a vain attempt the year before. Our artillery fire had
died down and the night was quiet when we marched into our assembly
trenches at Neuville St. Vaast. The Stokes gun that I was with and one
other were detailed to go over with the last wave of the 27th
Battalion. That meant that we would have to go the farthest.
Everything was quiet, and Tommy and I lay down in the trench and
covered ourselves with our water-proof sheets and went to sleep. We
slept till the officer came along with our rum. Then we watched the
front line, and our watches; all at once, with a roar, our artillery
burst fo