en forgotten in the army of
Flanders.

Over eight hundred German prisoners fell into our hands. They were
mostly Bavarians and Saxons. They were in the bombed trenches and had
had a very hard time from our shell fire. Their clothing, hands and
faces were stained yellow from the lyddite fumes. I saw these men at a
factory at Estaires where they were held. A number of them spoke
English. I also saw them on the street as they were being conducted by
a French reserve officer and guarded by French reserve troops. They
were a mixture of young boys and middle-aged men, well fed and well
clothed, and it did not appear as if it was costing the German
Government much effort to look after them. Like all Germans they had
let their beards grow which made them look like "Weary Willies." From
an intellectual standpoint they did not seem to be overburdened with
brains. "Blond beasts" they would be nicknamed in the London music
halls. We used to wonder why the German helmets would not fit us, they
were so small. After seeing these men we knew. A number six to six and
one-half hat would fit any of these chaps.

CHAPTER XVIII

BILLETS AND BIVOUACS

A terrible disaster happened the regiment on March 23rd. Our adjutant,
Captain R. Clifford Darling, was wounded. This is how it happened: An
artillery lieutenant was with us constantly in the trenches as
observing officer. Sometimes it was Lieutenant Lancaster, son of an
old colleague of mine, E.A. Lancaster, Member of Parliament for
Welland, Canada. Sometimes it was Lieutenant Ryerson, son of
Surgeon-General Ryerson, another friend of many years standing. This
morning a young English artillery officer came along and said he
wanted to be shown the German trenches and anything else that could be
seen from our section. It was about noon, and Captain Darling insisted
upon going down to the trenches with him. As I wanted to go over the
trenches myself and see how some work was progressing on our right
sector, I asked the adjutant to stay at headquarters till I returned.
We got as far as the corner of the Rue Pettion and the Fromelles Road
when we proceeded to climb up on the roof of a ruined house to have a
look at the trenches. I had with me a panoramic sketch of the trenches
which had been made by an English officer at Christmas during the time
the British and Germans fraternized, for this was one of the places
where there had been a truce for a few hours and Briton and Hun forgot
t