a drop of rain marred the stay in the village. The Brigade sports
were held early in June, and the Battalion did very well in the military
contests, winning three out of four events, but unfortunately not quite
so well in the others.

On the 11th June the Battalion left Bollezeele, and early the next morning
arrived at Ypres, and immediately went to the usual sector at Potijze. As
the shell fire in this area had become much more severe of late, to move
troops through Ypres or even around it was done at great risk, and all
were glad when the move was over.

By a chain of unfortunate circumstances, leave for officers had been very
slow. In January it had been stopped as it was considered necessary for
the officers to be with their men during training while out of line.
Difficulties of transport brought about the closing of leave from January
to June. It opened again in June, but as all could not go at once it
happened that some officers did not get leave for nine or ten months.

After a few days in Potijze sector the Battalion sidestepped to the
Wieltje sector. The tour here was characterised by intense enemy artillery
activity. Heavy batteries constantly countered each other, and day and
night were punctuated by cannonades of varying intensity. Ypres itself was
shelled by the celebrated 420 m.m. Skoda howitzer. The enemy drenched the
area with the old lachrymatory gas shells, as well as a new gas he had
lately introduced known as "Yellow Cross" or "Mustard" gas. Bilge Trench
came in for special attention, and on one day it was estimated that 1,200
heavy shells fell in its vicinity.

It was a time of great aerial activity also. Richthoven and his squadron
visited the sector quite frequently--generally in the early morning--and
fired machine guns at the men in the trenches. His squadron could be
easily distinguished, as the bodies of the aeroplanes were painted red.
Also they flew very low, and the anti-aircraft gunners did not dare to
fire, leaving it to the infantrymen to defend themselves with Lewis guns
as best they could.

During the tour in Wieltje the Battalion dug Hopkin's Trench in no man's
land, under machine gun, granatenwerfer and rifle-grenade fire, which were
the cause of several casualties. Fortunately there was a very good mined
dugout at Wieltje containing many rooms which were lighted by electricity.
The shelter it afforded reduced considerably the number of casualties that
would otherwise have taken