Before us, and about fifty yards away, were deserted farm buildings, through whose windows I had instructions to send shots at intervals, to discourage the enemy from putting in machine guns.  To our right there were other farm buildings where the Colonel and Adjutant were stationed, and in the early morning I was sent there with a message from Captain Scudamore, to see why our ammunition had not come up.

I found there Colonel Hart McHarg, Major Odlum (now Brigadier-General Odlum), and the Adjutant in consultation, and thought they looked worried and anxious.  However, they gave me a cheerful message for Captain Scudamore.  It was very soon after that that Colonel Hart McHarg was killed.

The bombardment began at about nine o’clock in the morning, almost immediately after the airman’s visit, and I could see the heavy shells bursting in the village at the cross-roads behind us.  They were throwing the big shells there to prevent reinforcements from coming up.  They evidently did not know, any more than we did, that there were none to come, the artillery having been withdrawn the night before.

Some of the big shells threw the dirt as high as the highest trees.  When the shells began to fall in our part of the trench, I crouched as low as I could in the soggy earth, to escape the shrapnel bullets.  Soon I got to know the sound of the battery that was dropping the shells on us, and so knew when to take cover.  One of our boys to my left was hit by a pebble on the cheek, and, thinking he was wounded, he fell on the ground and called for a stretcher-bearer.  When the stretcher-bearer came, he could find nothing but a scratch on his cheek, and all of us who were not too scared had a laugh, including the boy himself.

I think it was about one o’clock in the afternoon that the Germans broke through the trench on our right, where Major Bing-Hall was in command; and some of the survivors from that trench came over to ours.  One of them ran right to where I was, and pushed through the hole I had made in the hedge, to get a shot at the enemy.  I called to him to be careful, but some sniper evidently saw him, for in less than half a minute he was shot dead, and fell at my side.

An order to “retreat if necessary” had been received before this, but for some reason, which I have never been able to understand, was not put into effect until quite a while after being received.  When the order came, we began to move down the trench as fast as we could, but as the trench was narrow and there were wounded and dead men in it, our progress was slow.

Soon I saw Robinson, Smith, and Ward climbing out of the trench and cutting across the field.  This was, of course, dangerous, for we were in full view of the enemy, but it was becoming more and more evident that we were in a tight corner.  So I climbed out, too, and ran across the open as fast as I could go with my equipment.  I got just past the hedge when I was hit through the pocket of my coat.  I thought I was wounded, for the blow was severe, but found out afterwards the bullet had just passed through my coat pocket.