tle, though the Redoubt fell much
earlier than was therein stated.

Among the dugouts several things were found, such as field glasses,
medical apparatus, rifles, bombs, and so on. In one was a store of bottles
of aerated water. In another there was a store of rations which were
ultimately consumed, and strange to relate, in one dugout there was a copy
of a recent number of the "Tatler."

The position was consolidated, trenches were dug and manned by the men. A
captured German machine gun was turned round and got into action. Four or
five hours after the capture of the Stutzpunkt position another brigade
continued the attack, but though the efforts of its members were
successful at first they had in consequence of their exposed flanks to
retire at nightfall, and the Battalion was then holding the line without
anyone in front. Rain commenced to fall, and the ground having been
churned up by countless shells, the whole area soon became dissolved into
a morass of spongy earth pitted with innumerable shell craters half full
of water. The trenches that had been dug soon filled, and the men were wet
through. They were utterly exhausted, and some of them had to get what
sleep they could, huddled up in these wet trenches, with their feet
several inches deep in water.

Cooking was impossible, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that
any food at all could be supplied to the men in the advanced positions.
Added to this was the fact that the enemy artillery was exceedingly
active, and the shells killed many in the exposed trenches. The British
heavy artillery also fired short, which had a most demoralising effect on
the men in front.

On the 2nd August it became known that the enemy intended definitely to
recapture the Stutzpunkt line. The men were informed of this, and told to
resist to the last. All available men were sent up from the transport
lines to reinforce the men in front. These reinforcements suffered
considerably from shell fire on the way up, but their advent inspired and
cheered the weary men who had been through the whole fight, and whose
rifles were in many cases so choked with mud as to be unserviceable.
Towards midday the enemy developed a heavy barrage. He was about to
attack, and everyone was waiting for the anticipated onslaught without
fear, as all felt that any counter-attack would be repulsed with great
loss. The S.O.S. signal and machine guns were ready, but the artillery
observer saw the enemy