evening, until they had each thrown
two live grenades. I had the services of three sergeant-instructors,
who were invaluable in getting the men past the first stage. All the
live firing I had to supervise myself; that being the rule of the
Army, that an officer should always be present during live practice.
All my spare time was spent in going over and testing the grenades to
be fired next day, or in baling out the bombing trench, which filled
very rapidly in wet weather. And so it went on day after day. Thirteen
officers and 671 men who had never previously thrown a live grenade
went through the course at Henencourt; and about 1400 live grenades
were fired. The battalion bombers used the ground in the afternoon in
charge of their own officers; and they got through another 1000
grenades. On September 2 I was able to tell the General that every man
in the Brigade, including machine-gunners and trench-mortar men, had
been through the course, with which he expressed himself very pleased.
Towards the end of our stay the General came to see the live throwing
several times in the evenings, and he always spoke very encouragingly
to the men.

About September 6 I went with a party of officers from the Brigade to
view the trenches we were to take over on the Somme battlefield. And
as this was my first visit there it naturally made a great impression
on me. We started off in the dark and rode through Henencourt and
Millencourt to Albert. Just before we reached Albert we passed through
a cloud of lachrymatory gas, which made me weep copious tears for
nearly half an hour. The great sight in Albert was of course the
ruined cathedral, with its colossal statue of the Virgin and Child
hanging downwards over the roadway. We rode on to where the front line
had been at Fricourt then to Fricourt 'Circus,' Mametz, and then to
the south of Mametz Wood, where we left our horses. First we went
through the wood to B.H.Q., which were in some deep dugouts there.
Having obtained guides and a rough sort of map, we went on to
Battalion H.Q. at the Chalk Quarry east of Bazentin-le-Petit. This was
about 1000 yards from the front line, which lay just below the ridge
from Martinpuich to High Wood. A deep C.T. called 'Jutland Alley'
took us up to the front line--'Clark's Trench.' So far we had little
trouble from shelling, but we passed over the bodies of two
unfortunate Highlanders in Jutland Alley who had been recently killed
by a shell. The entrance