r suited to the
concealment of battery positions, and nowhere was the enemy able to
overlook our territory. Our area included the defence of the joint
villages of Sailly-Saillisel, situated on commanding ground, which the
French had recently bravely stormed. Combles, too, which lay in a
basin shaped hollow, was interesting as having been the centre of
supplies for the southern portion of the German Army operating in the
battle, and much booty was discovered in the huge catacombs which ran
underneath the town.

'Xmas passed in much the same way as in the previous year. A smart
bombardment was carried out in the morning in order to advise the enemy
that anything in the way of fraternising would not be countenanced by us.
At mid-day the men partook of their 'Xmas fare, which had been (p. 037)
fetched from Amiens, and a short service was conducted by the Padre in
one of the gun-pits. A slight disturbance took place at dusk, when the
S.O.S. went up from the front line and all batteries immediately
opened out. It seemed a rather extraordinary occurrence, as the
evening was unusually quiet, and, presently, it was discovered to have
arisen through an error, due to the fact that the enemy had put up a
coloured light in between two ordinary Verey lights which constituted
our own S.O.S.

About this time the enemy caused considerable annoyance to a certain
Battalion Headquarters, situated in a quarry close behind the lines,
by occasionally dropping a shell right into it, the position having
probably been discovered by his aircraft. Retaliation tactics were
adopted, which consisted of subjecting the hostile trenches to a sharp
half-hour's bombardment from eight batteries, firing a total of 2,000
rounds. The enemy was well known to be very thick-skinned, but these
measures met with instant success, and it was only necessary to remind
him once again that we were not to be trifled with in this way.

After the New Year, a severe spell of frost set in, with an occasional
heavy fall of snow, and we were somewhat annoyed when orders came
through to sideslip our position further south, as we had made our
quarters fairly comfortable by this time, and expected to remain
undisturbed throughout the winter. The new position was situated
behind the ruined village of Rancourt, facing St. Pierre Vaast wood,
and was one of the worst and most disagreeable localities it was ever
our lot to occupy, as we were, more or less, water-logged the whol