res.
The shell in its flight had clipped a small limb off one of the tall
sentinel elms in front of our dug-outs. With a compass we learned the
direction of the German battery on the map, which was located behind a
hedge at the cross roads east of Fromelles. A telephone message to our
guns and a half dozen shells from our five-inch guns, and this
particular German battery troubled us no more.

After the shelling the adjutant of the Royal Scots Battalion on our
right came over to see me to talk over the battle which we knew was
now due. I had been told of this by General Turner, V.C., the day
before. We knew that the big advance was about to begin, and a study
of the map told us that the first blow would likely be struck at Neuve
Chapelle, with an idea of forcing our line forward several miles so we
would gain the command of the high ground back of Aubers, Herlies and
Fromelles, a region of coal mines. A branch line of railway ran from
La Bassee to Fromelles and supplied the German batteries on our front
with ammunition and no doubt took coal back. On the east side of the
ridge ran the canal from La Bassee to Lille, also the two lines of
railway between the same places. With our footing secure on the Aubers
Ridge the gates of Lille and La Bassee would be at our mercy. Then
with a mobile field army there would be nothing to stop us till we got
to Ghent or Brussels. This was the place to drive the wedge that would
cut the German line in two, and once we had Lille we would endanger
the whole German lines of communication north and south. It used to be
a favourite amusement among the officers of our staff in the evenings
to take the map of Western Europe, which we kept hanging on the wall,
and plan campaigns to drive the Germans out of Flanders. Invariably
two lines of advance would be chosen. The first via Lille and Ghent,
to Antwerp, along the high ground between the River Scheldt and the
Lys. The second route would invariably begin at the Somme and run
along the plateau between the Sambre and Meuse via way of Le Cateau,
Mons, Charleroi to Namur.

All this is historical ground, the Low Countries of history. Over this
ground fought Caesar, Charlemagne, William the Silent, Marlborough,
Napoleon and all the great captains of history. We used to calculate
the men, the marches and the guns required. We would plan how we would
form a great corps army behind the trenches in preparation for a grand
advance. The attack would be d