display of
bayonets to get them out of the trench and on their way. It was a
funny sight to see them beat it. There was little in the way of
obstacles to impede their progress and I think that several of them
came near to establishing new world's records for the distance. When
they arrived at the second line they wasted no time in climbing down
into it; they went in head-first, like divers going into the water. I
don't think any of them was hit during this maneuver, at least I did
not see any of them fall.

Now, it has come to be an axiom that "any one can take a trench but
few can hold one." It is another way of expressing the idea that "it
isn't the original cost--it's the upkeep."

It was no trick at all, with the assistance of the mines, to advance
our lines to what had been the German third line, but, right there,
some one had made a miscalculation. It's a cinch our "higher-ups" did
not know how much artillery the Germans had that they could turn on
that salient. Our own artillery had been greatly increased and they
evidently thought we were at least equal to the enemy in this respect,
but, say: the stuff he turned loose on us made our artillery look like
pikers. For every "whizz-bang" we sent over he returned about a dozen
5.9's. By that night, nearly all the original attackers were gone and
Fritz was back in at least two of the craters.

During the day a good many of us, including all our stretcher-bearers,
made many trips through the devastated German trenches, getting out
wounded and collecting arms and other plunder. I went up where the
Fusiliers were trying to consolidate their position, intending to
bring up a few guns if it appeared to be practicable, but abandoned
the idea as, in my opinion, they were due to be shelled out within a
short time, which proved to be correct. We did dig out and mount a
German gun which was used for a while, but I then had it taken, with
several others, back to our line. We could do so much more good from
our original position by maintaining a continuous barrage to hamper
the enemy in getting up supports. From prisoners taken later we
learned that our machine-gun barrage was much more effective than that
of our artillery. However, as we were obliged to fire from temporary
positions, on the parapet and without cover of any kind, it was
impossible to prevent the loss of some guns by direct hits from
shells. During that night and the next day a Highland brigade came up
to reli