see Brigadier-General H.C. Rees, D.S.O., came to take over
command of the Brigade. He had seen very heavy fighting in the early
part of the war, and had since commanded two Brigades before he came
to the 149th Infantry Brigade. He was liked and respected by every one
in the Brigade. Very tall and well built, and a soldier who gave you
the greatest confidence in his ability and leadership, the Brigade
owed much to him, especially at a time when the trench fighting was
giving way (as it seemed) to open warfare. He was a first-class
rifle-shot himself, and never ceased to impress the necessity of
developing this weapon to the utmost. For the hand-grenade he had the
greatest contempt, which he was rather fond of expressing. Fortunately
for me, bombing work was giving way to Intelligence, although for some
time to come I had to train the men in rifle grenades and to look
after the Brigade ammunition stores.

After finishing the rifle-grenade work I acted as
Assistant-Staff-Captain for about a week. It was chiefly office work
as far as I was concerned, the returns being very voluminous. Work as
I could there seemed to be no getting to the end of these returns till
9 or 10 o'clock at night. There were also one or two minor
court-martial cases, in which my legal training proved some
assistance. On March 27 I got my third leave granted, for ten days. It
was perhaps rather quick after my last leave, but the fact of my being
ill on that occasion was taken into consideration. This time I went to
Amiens by motor-lorry and thence to Boulogne, reaching Manchester on
the same day that I sailed from France.

On April 6 I left Folkestone and got to Boulogne about 4 o'clock. Here
no one could say where the 56th Division was, and I was directed to
leave by a midnight train and to report to the R.T.O. at Abbeville. I
got there about 2 A.M. and was told to go back to Etaples by an 8
o'clock train that morning. I managed to get a few hours' sleep and
breakfast at the Officers Club at Abbeville, and reached Etaples
about midday on April 7. On April 9 I was told to proceed to St. Pol
and get further directions there. I arrived there in time for lunch,
and then reached Frevent by another train. Here I was told to go by
the light railway towards Wanquetin and to make inquiries for the 50th
Division on the way. At Frevent I saw a lot of slightly wounded
soldiers coming back from Arras; they had been over the top that
morning on the first day of