guide would accompany each party and an
officer of the Divisional Staff would be with the first party. We must
move in absolute silence; no lights or smoking. We would be exposed to
shell-fire whenever we passed the crest of the rise from the beach,
where we ought to adopt an extended formation. At our destination we
would find some trenches, but not sufficient to accommodate the whole
Battalion, and it was up to us to lose no time in digging ourselves in.

The C.O. was hustled off with two platoons of "A" Company before these
were properly landed. Where we were bound for and exactly what we were
to do when we got there, none of us knew, except presumably the Staff
Officer who accompanied us and perhaps the N.C.O. who acted as guide.
But subsequent happenings proved that they were almost as ignorant on
these points as ourselves.

Winding up a steepish rise through a region which seemed crowded with
dug-outs and piles of stores, we gained the crest where we had been
urged to extend. It was pitch dark, with a steadily increasing drizzle
of rain and an occasional rumble of thunder. In front there were as yet
no indications of shell-fire, only an intermittent crackle of distant
musketry.

So far as we could judge we were moving on a fairly defined road or
path, of uncertain surface, much cut up by traffic, and at many places
pitted with shell craters. To estimate the distance traversed was
impossible, but we must have been descending the gradual slope for over
half an hour when our guides began to exhibit symptoms of indecision.
The truth was soon out--they did not know where they were.

We ought before this to have struck the trenches allotted to us:
possibly we had passed them in the dark. It transpired that neither
Staff Officer nor N.C.O. had even been near the spot except in daylight,
but both still professed confidence in their ability to locate the
trenches. It was explained to us that these lay between the Pink Farm
Road on which we had been moving, and the Krithia Road, which was some
distance to our right. So we turned off the road towards the right and
commenced our search.

After wandering in the rain for half an hour, we came upon what appeared
to be a wide ditch sheltered by some straggling trees. Our guides
decided that this must be a section of the elusive trenches, and at
their suggestion Major Downie and his half-company were bestowed in it
temporarily while the rest of us continued our quest for the