ump
(Potidje) where the remainder of the Battalion appeared to be
congregated. It occurred to me what a number would have been knocked out
if a shell had burst just by this dump just then! Fortunately no such
thing happened. Tools were drawn here; then we proceeded on our way by
platoons. The whole region was swarming with little wooden crosses where
lie the thousands who have fallen on this oft-fought, long-fought, ever
contending, battlefield. We threaded our way along a winding
communication trench (Pagoda Trench). We passed a party in the trench
with bayonets fixed--a party of one officer, Lieutenant Alexander, and
thirty men of the 1/4th King's Own--waiting to go over the top for a
bombing raid on a section of the enemy front line. 'Good-byee!' they
laughed as we passed them. Eventually we reached the point at which we
were to commence work. Flares were going up the whole time; the enemy
_must_ have seen us: the whole crowd of us all in the open by the side
of the trench which was to be repaired! When a flare goes up the whole
place is as light as day for a few seconds; and they were going up all
round the Salient--what remains of it, one side disappeared on Thursday
morning! Now and then a machine-gun would rattle a few rounds, and we
would all duck down; but none of them were ranged on our party.

"At 11.20 I was informed that Captain Andrews wished to see me; and,
with some difficulty, I found him. He was in a trench with the other B
Company officers and Sergeant-Major Hoyle. He had sent for us in order
to tell us that at 11.35 we must each bring our parties into a certain
trench (Oxford Road) for refuge as we knew that the bombing raid was
coming off at 11.45, and we expected that the Germans would retaliate.
So I brought my party into this trench at the appointed time. We were
there just in time. At 11.45 our barrage--artillery, stokes-mortars and
machine-guns--opened on the section of the enemy trench to be raided
(Ibex Trench from Oskar Farm to The Stables) a little to our right; and
as our barrage lifted, the bombers went into the enemy trench. We could
hear the bombs exploding. The enemy replied by sending 'whizz-bangs' in
the vicinity of the trench in which we were taking refuge. Some of them
burst within a yard or two of us; but we crouched behind the parapet,
and there were no casualties.

"At about 12.30 this morning, when the raid was over and things had
quieted, we emerged from the trench and went b