about ten or fifteen miles apart. Hill 60 was one of these. All over
this flat clay country there are countless ditches. The roads are
elevated above the level of the fields, and along each road there is a
deep ditch or two, while there is sure to be one along each hedge.
Water is invariably found at a depth of about two feet. One can
therefore quite comprehend how in such a country trenches dug in the
form of ditches would be full of water in a very short time.

The trenches in Flanders are altogether unlike our conception of them.
Trenches are an evolution, not an accident nor a design. This is how
they happen. Our troops will be advancing or retiring as the case may
be, and will have reached a point where progress is difficult, either
by reason of the resistance of the enemy or the impossibility of the
flanks coming up and conforming. Word comes from a higher authority
that the men are to "dig in." Every man carries, attached to his waist
belt on his back, a small entrenching tool, a "grubber" it is called.
This tool is like a hoe, only the blade is pointed like a Canadian
railroad shovel, and opposite the blade there is a chisel-shaped pick.
The handle, about eighteen inches long, is carried in a sling along
with the bayonet and enters the "grubber" at right angles. Immediately
the word comes to "dig in" the men get out their entrenching tools or
"grubbers" and set to work. They stand at intervals of about a yard
apart, make a half turn to the right, lay down their rifles at arm's
length, and as they are taught to use the grubber in the prone
position, when the ground is favorable they can dig themselves in in
fifteen minutes. The trench is dug at an angle of about 90 degrees to
the enemy so there will be a clear field of fire in front. Each man
places the earth in front of him and digs a hole about two feet wide,
six feet long and about eighteen inches deep. These are known as
"hasty" or "shelter" trenches. They are the safest trenches to be in
when high explosive shells or Mauser bullets are about. If a shell
falls it will rarely get more than one man. A little straw in the
bottom makes these shelter trenches not uncomfortable at night.

After a battalion has spent a night in the "dig ins," as they are
called, it is usual, if no retreat or advance is ordered, for higher
authority to send word for the trenches to be "consolidated." That
means that more deliberate entrenchments are to be made. "Deliberate"
entrench