rough what remained of the trees, and so became
extraordinarily intensified. To expect the explosions of the shells
knowing they were on their way and to hear them coming, not knowing
whether they would be fatal or not, was the worst part of the ordeal. Such
a condition of turmoil and torment must have been meant by the words of
Dante in his description of Hell.

"La bufera infernal che mai non resta."

Every now and then a man was hit. Those killed outright were perhaps
spared much agony, and the wounded were lucky if they reached the aid
post alive. Many got shell shock which affected men in different ways. One
would be struck dumb, another would gibber like a maniac, while a third
would retain possession of his reason but lose control of his limbs.

For two days in the sultry heat the Battalion endured the terrible strain
of this awful shell fire, the men receiving no proper food and water being
unprocurable. Then the Battalion was relieved and taken into support,
where three or four days were spent, and on the 10th two companies moved
to the Maltz Horn position. The next night the two remaining companies
moved up. The devastation in the neighbourhood of Cockrane Alley was worse
than at Guillemont. Here the men witnessed the full terrors of the
stricken field. Living men dwelt among the unburied dead. Booted feet of
killed soldiers protruded from the side of the trench. Here and there a
face or a hand was visible. Corpses of dead soldiers with blackening faces
covered with flies were rotting in the sun, and the reek of putrifying
flesh was nauseating. Added to this the heat was overpowering, the
artillery was firing short, and there was little or no water obtainable.

The Battalion was in touch with the French, and there were a few Frenchmen
in the trenches with the men. On the 12th August the French attacked with
great success and captured the village of Maurepas.

Between the two armies there was a wide broken-in trench running from the
Allied towards the German lines. For some time before zero the Allied
artillery kept up an incessant barrage on the German lines. The shells
fired by the French were noticeable by a much sharper report. At zero the
French attacked on the right of Cockrane Alley, advancing at a run in
small groups of from eight to twelve men, and they got a good distance
without any casualties. Then one by one the Frenchmen commenced to fall,
and on reaching the enemy line the French company