, by either side, to attack in force and to
capture and hold captured ground.

Our route, that first morning, was rather a roundabout one, by way of
Lindhoek, taken, as explained by our guide, because it was less
exposed to enemy observation than a much shorter road which we used
when moving at night. When a short distance out from town, we passed
in front of one of our howitzer batteries which decided that then was
just the proper time to cut loose with a salvo, right over our heads.
We were not more than fifty yards from the guns and the result was
that we were all "scared stiff," to say nothing of being almost
deafened. This appears to be a characteristic and never-ending joke
with artillerymen and so we soon learned to "spot" their emplacements
and go behind them, when possible.

At all cross-roads ("Kruisstraat," in Flemish), sentries were
stationed who acted as guides and also gave warning of the approach of
enemy aircraft. At a long blast of the whistle every person was
supposed to stop and not make a move until the signal "all clear,"
indicated by two blasts, was given. It appears that, while the airmen
have no difficulty in seeing moving objects on the ground it is next
to impossible for them to locate stationary ones.

[Illustration: Light Vickers Gun in Action Against Aircraft.]

As we progressed, the signs of war were multiplied. Numerous graves
along the road, each marked by a cross, houses and barns torn by
shells, a bridge and railroad track blown up and trees shattered and
rent, until, finally, everything was desolation. When we arrived at
Wulverghem, we had our first sight of a really "ruined" town. Of
course we saw many worse ones later, but at that time, we could not
conceive more complete destruction than had been wrought here by the
German shells. Every building had been hit, perhaps several times;
some had one or more walls standing, while many were totally destroyed
and were nothing but piles of broken brick and mortar. Part of the
church tower remained and one hand of the clock still hung to the side
facing the German lines. This seemed to aggravate the boche as, every
day, he would send from a dozen to forty or fifty shells over, all
seemingly directed at the church tower.

As Messines Ridge is now "ours" I think there can be no objection to
my going into details about our dispositions. Our Battalion
Headquarters was located in the St. Quentin Cabaret, about two hundred
yards south of Wulv