towards a large wood in front.  The Germans were firing star shells into the air in pretty large numbers, why, I couldn’t make out, as there was quite enough light now to see by.  I ordered the section out of the gully, and ran across the open to a bit of old trench I saw in the field.  This was the only suitable spot I could see for bringing our guns to bear on the enemy, and assist in the attack.  We fixed up a couple of machine guns, and awaited a favourable opportunity.  I could see a lot of Germans running along in front of the wood towards one end of it.  We laid our aim on the wood, which seemed to me the chief spot to go for.  One or two of my men had not managed to get up to the gun position as yet.  They were ammunition carriers, and had had a pretty hard job with it.  I left the guns to run back and hurry them on.  The rifle-fire kept up an incessant rattle the whole time, and now the German gunners started shelling the farm behind us.  Shell after shell burst beyond, in front of, and on either side of the farm.  Having got up the ammunition, I ran back towards the guns past the farm.  In front of me an officer was hurrying along with a message towards a trench which was on the left of our new-found gun position.  He ran across the open towards it.  When about forty yards from me I saw him throw up his hands and collapse on the ground.  I hurried across to him, and lifted his head on to my knee.  He couldn’t speak and was rapidly turning a deathly pallor.  I undid his equipment and the buttons of his tunic as fast as I could, to find out where he had been shot.  Right through the chest, I saw.  The left side of his shirt, near his heart, was stained deep with blood.  A captain in the Canadians, I noticed.  The message he had been carrying lay near him.  I didn’t know quite what to do.  I turned in the direction of my gun section without disturbing his head, and called out to them to throw me over a water-bottle.  A man named Mills ran across with one, and took charge of the captain, whilst I went through his pockets to try and discover his name.  I found it in his pocket-book.  His identity disc had apparently been lost.

With the message I ran back to the farm, and, as luck would have it, came across a colonel in the Canadians.  I told him about the captain who had been carrying the message, and said if there was a stretcher about I could get him in.  All movement in the attack had now ceased, but the rifle and shell fire was on as strong as ever.  My corporal was with the two guns, and had orders to fire as soon as an opportunity arose, so I thought my best plan was to see to getting this officer in while there was a chance.  I got hold of another subaltern in the farm, and together we ran back with a stretcher to the spot where I had left Mills and the captain.  We lifted him on to the stretcher.  He seemed a bit better, but his breathing was very difficult.  How I managed to hold up that stretcher I don’t know; I was just verging on complete exhaustion by this time.