pnel and high explosives and
what targets the enemy generally selected. Facts like these were explained
to them by the "real soldiers" of the Regular units to which they were
attached. On relief the Battalion marched back to Oblinghem once more,
where it stayed a week or two, and later in the month took over a portion
of the line at Richebourg St. Vaast where it was subjected to a very heavy
artillery bombardment on the 1st May.

The military training of the men can be said to have been complete as
regards pre-war standard, but the war had introduced the use of two new
instruments of death. One was gas, the other the bomb. A primitive form of
respirator was given out in consequence of the use by the Germans of
chlorine at the Second Battle of Ypres. Instruction was given in the use
of bombs, of which the men had hitherto no knowledge. In those days the
bomb first in use was the jam-tin bomb. The men were taught how to cut
fuses, fix them into the detonator, attach the lighter and wire the whole
together preparatory for use against the enemy. Jam-tin bombs were soon
discarded for the Bethune bomb, and there was no regular bomb until much
later, when the use of the Mills bomb became universal. The Hairbrush and
Hales bombs were also studied in addition to the Bethune. A few also
received some instruction in a rather primitive form of trench mortar.

In April, Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, V.D., was invalided home, and in his stead
Major T.J. Bolland took over the command of the Battalion.

THE BATTLE OF AUBERS RIDGE

The disastrous enterprise of the 9th May was the first major action of the
war in which the "Ninth" took part. Shattered at its inception, the whole
attack soon came to an end. The lack of high explosive shells and the
consequent failure of the British artillery to destroy the enemy wire
entanglements were probably the main causes of the holocaust that took
place on that day. Though one of the biggest disasters the British arms
sustained throughout the war, it was scarcely noted in the newspapers, and
would seem to a casual observer quite insignificant compared with the
sinking of the "Lusitania," which had taken place some days before,
although in the battle it is believed that the 2nd Infantry Brigade lost a
bigger proportion of men than had ever been previously known in warfare.

On the 8th May, the Battalion took up its battle position in rear of the
Rue du Bois at Richebourg l'Avoue, and there awaited the a