my back
and reconstituted the line. They were supported by a remnant of the
gallant 10th. In the early morning of Saturday this undaunted
battalion had been withdrawn from St. Julien Wood where they had
earned undying glory. After rallying about two hundred and seventy men
they marched down to our assistance but were diverted to our right. We
heard shortly after noon through runners that two battalions of
British troops, the Yorks and Durhams, were on their way down to
assist us in a counter attack, but these corps did not arrive until
later in the afternoon. They were raw troops only out that day from
England. In coming down to Fortuyn they came in open order and the
German "curtain of fire" took heavy toll.

[Illustration: Map of the BATTLE OF ST JULIAN April 22nd May
4th 1915. Position April 30th 7 A.M.
THE SALIENT FLATTENED]

After the first attack the Germans settled down to a steady diet of
shelling and machine gun fire. I noticed men coming back to both
flanks of our supporting trenches, so I went over to rally them and
put those that were not incapacitated in with the few of our platoons
that were left. In the rear of the right flank of the 7th I saw some
men gathered behind a ruined house at a place we called Enfiladed
crossroads and went over to see who they were. The moment I stepped
out of my trench a German machine gunner got after me and I could hear
the "swish swish" of the bullets a few feet in front of me. I realized
that death was very near, so I stepped short and let him get his range
a little ahead of me. His gun followed me for a hundred yards. I found
Captain Victor Currie there trying to get the wounded away from the
dressing station. Major Odlum, with a few of the remnant of the brave
7th, came along. Some of his men who were gassed were coming back and
he was getting a trifle alarmed about his front companies as the enemy
were launching attack after attack on St. Julien on his left. I told
him to tell his companies to hang on till the last on the left and at
the same time to take all the stragglers and put them into the
trenches in rear of his left company as support. The ground on his
right which I had crossed was badly enfiladed. Lieut.-Colonel Burland
came along, having put all the men he could muster into our supporting
trenches. He had been struck on the chest with a spent fragment of a
"coal box" which had bowled him over, but he was still full of fight.
When I started back