ed to make any difference, as soon after fresh balloons rose
in their places and these solitary eyes of the gunners had recommenced
their harrying work.

While at St. Leger our Corps commander, Lieut.-General Sir Charles
Ferguson, addressed the Brigade and complimented it on the work done. He
said our Division had made a name for itself in France, but warned us
that reputations made by Divisions in France did not always last. The
Divisional Commander, Major-General John Hill, also visited us and
presented a number of military medals.

On 13th September a party of officers were taken by motor lorry to
Pronville, and after a two-mile tramp across country reached the part of
the Hindenburg Support Line in which the Headquarters of the battalion
we were to relieve were situated. Before, however, these Headquarters
were reached, a miscellaneous assortment of gas shells landed in the
neighbourhood of the trench, and the gas-masks were donned. It was
accordingly an extremely breathless and hot group of officers who
finally arrived at the Headquarters dug-out, and their tempers were not
at all improved by being greeted with shrieks of laughter and told that
the situation was perfectly normal, that gas was put over night and day,
that masks were quite unnecessary, and that with an ample supply of
stout and Irish whiskey the gas actually was good for one and gave one a
better appetite.

By a curious coincidence the battalion we were to relieve were the 1st
Munster Fusiliers, the battalion who had given us our first lesson in
trench warfare, when we had been attached to them for a few days after
our arrival at Gallipoli. We found them now the same cheery fellows, but
we were sorry that they had with them now only one officer who had
served on the Peninsula.

The line here was held in a way we had not encountered yet, although the
general principles of the defence were the same as ever. The main line
of resistance was in the second line of the old Hindenburg Support Line,
and our portion lay between the shattered villages of Inchy and
Moeuvres. In front of this line there were a series of posts in No-Man's
Land, each held by ten or twelve men. The support line was the main
Hindenburg Support Line.

The Munsters had three companies in the line, and one in support. In the
case of the left and centre companies it was fairly simple to get an
idea of the dispositions and make the necessary arrangements for the
relief, although it