a notice board
with the following legend: _Attention Gentlemen_, and below in German,
'If you send over one more trench-mortar bomb you will get strafed in
the neck.'

On February 3 we were relieved and A Company stayed four days in the
railway cutting at Hill 60 in close support. The second day I went
with Capt. Welch and Lieut. Greene to the trenches north of Mount
Sorrel which were called Canny Hill. That journey was full of
incident, we seemed to be shelled or bombed all the way to Mount
Sorrel and back, and Capt. Welch has often humourously suggested that
I was the Jonah. It also meant crossing the dismal swamp in daylight,
and how we did it without being seen and shot I really do not know.
During our stay in the cutting I explored the old broken trenches
behind our support line at Hill 60, and found a fine dump of English
bombs of early types. I spent quite a long time drawing their teeth.
One little incident I remember at this spot. About 1 A.M. an elderly
R.E. officer came into our shelter, and told us in a voice shaking
with joyful emotion that he had just blown up a German counter-mine
which had been threatening our mine galleries at Hill 60.

On February 8 we marched back to Canada Huts, and had another four
days' rest. This time the bombers carried out a good deal of live
practice with Mills bombs at some bombing-pits about half a mile from
Canada Huts. It was my first experience of the sort; but Sergt. Moffat
kept me up to the procedure at the firing-pit. Also it was the first
time I had the chance of throwing a live Mills bomb myself. On
February 12 we were due to take over the trenches at Canny Hill, and I
went up early and by myself, riding to Cafe Belge and thence on foot
to Hill 60, Mount Sorrel, and so on to Sanctuary Wood. It was a long
way round but I knew no other way. My dugout was in the wood, rather
far from the front line and from the H.Q. of A Company in Davison
Street. Our front line trenches were about quarter of a mile away from
the German front line, but there were signs that the Germans were
digging a forward trench along a hedge about 200 yards away from our
front. This activity gave the Staff some uneasiness, and considerable
interest was taken in these forward workings. I went out with Capt.
Welch for a short visit in that direction the first night, but we saw
nothing of interest. The next night Capt. Welch brought back a
revetting stake from the new German trench. I believe it was o