ble place for an O.P. If care was taken it could be approached
without being seen by the enemy. It was screened by a thick hedge and
also by a deep belt of wire about thirty yards in front of the hedge.
The O.P. itself was in the hedge bank, and was roofed over with
several small 'elephant' shelters, with earth on top of them. There
was plenty of room for at least three men to work inside. And
observation was obtained through a small opening in the hedge bank.
The opening was always further screened by sandbags, so that only
the end of the telescope was exposed to the enemy and that was always
in a deep shadow. A few yards away outside the O.P. in the trench was
a small mined dugout. This was not very deep, about six feet down at
the most; but it was under the roots of the hedge, a good protection
against the shells of field guns. In this dugout the observers who
were not on duty were able to sleep, and the men in the O.P. could
take refuge in case of heavy shelling. The O.P. was connected by
telephone with D.H.Q. and also with Eve O.P. Not far away in the same
trench there were other O.P.'s, one held by the Lovat Scouts (Corps
Observers) and another, 'Rose' O.P., by the heavy artillery.

[Illustration: Panorama from Adam O.P., July 1918.]

Our method of working the two O.P.'s was as follows. The N.C.O., L.-C.
Cowen, remained at Eve O.P. and assisted me with various duties there,
and with the duty of inspecting the working of Adam O.P. The other
observers, eight in number, were divided into two groups of four, one
in charge of Pte. J. King and the other in in charge of Pte. W.O.S.
Fail. Three observers from No. 1 group went forward to Adam O.P. and
stayed there for forty-eight hours, drawing their rations each day
from the nearest Battalion H.Q. After this they were relieved by three
observers from No 2 group and so on. By this arrangement I was able to
rest the men and to carry on observation continuously for ten weeks
without unduly tiring the men. Out of the four observers in a group,
only three were at Adam O.P. at the same time, the fourth man
remaining back at Eve O.P. for a rest. Thus during sixteen days each
observer had three tours of duty at Adam O.P. lasting two days each,
two rests of two days, and then a rest of six days. This kept all the
men fresh, an important matter if you wish for good observation.

At Adam O.P. two of the three observers were always at the telescope
during daylight, and one was r