alestine?' They all
think that the war will end out here and in two or three months' time!
They think that the next great offensive will end it. I admit that there
is a great deal to be said for their theory; our plans are good, and if
successful, will probably do the trick; but I am none too sanguine. We
shall see. I hope they are right. Everybody does. Everybody is 'fed up'
with the war; that goes without saying. I have not read a single one of
the men's letters in which they do not say that. To say that, and to
inform their people that they are 'in the pink' is the stock substance
of their letters!

"I ought now to tell you something about my platoon. To give you the
names of my non-commissioned officers is surely not giving away any
information which would be of use to the enemy! So I do not see why I
should not do so.

"As I may already have told you I am in command of No. 7 platoon. My
platoon sergeant (second-in-command) is Sergeant Williams. (He was a
waiter in Parker's Restaurant in St. Ann's Square, Manchester, in
pre-war days). A platoon consists of four sections, each of which is
commanded by a corporal. My sections are as follows: Rifle Section
commanded by Lance-Corporal Tipping; Bombing Section commanded by
Lance-Corporal Livesey; Lewis Gun Section commanded by Lance-Corporal
Topping; and Rifle Grenade Section commanded by Corporal Baldwin. You
will notice that a Lewis Gun Section is part of every platoon; I think
that is sufficient answer to your question whether the fact of my
attending lectures on the Lewis Gun meant that I should go into a Lewis
Gun Section.

"There has not been much to do to-day; nor has anything very notable
happened during the day up to now. It is now 6.40 p.m. So I will close."

"June 10th.

"Last night the whole Battalion went out on working parties; so I had
command of a party. My party was detailed to repair the parapet of a
communication trench just behind our front line. I set off with Sergeant
Williams and a party of fourteen men of my platoon at 9.40, just as it
was getting dark. We were soon in the open fields and so could see all
around us the ruined buildings of the great city. Three shells fell
across the path we had traversed, _after_ we had passed the points.
Fritz was just a little too late on each occasion! We went on in the
dusk, amidst the flashes of booming guns and exploding shells and
flares lighting up the weird ruins and ghostly country, as far as a d