constitution.  The other leg soon healed, and within a few months he was hopping over fences in England in the best of spirits.  “B” Company had lost their second Company Commander in two months.  Like his friend Capt.  Wynne, Captain Marriott had soon won his way to the hearts of his Company, with whom he rose from Platoon Commander, while in the Mess he was one of the merriest of companions and the friend of all.

There is no doubt that the enemy had been prepared for us.  The rapidity with which his barrage started, the partly wired trenches, empty dug-outs and absence of garrison all pointed to this.  He probably waited for us at his tunnel entrances, and hurried away as soon as we arrived; the few we found were those who had been too slow in getting away.  As far as we ourselves were concerned, we only made one mistake—­failing to bring back any identification.  Apart from this all ranks had worked well, and we were congratulated by General Thwaites on our efforts.

Five days after the raid we relieved the 4th Leicestershires in a new trench sector, the “St. Elie left,” and for nearly three months the Brigade remained in this same part of the line.  The sector had its name from a much battered coal mine, the Cite St. Elie, which stood just inside the German lines opposite.  About five hundred yards on our right, the Vermelles-Hulluch road crossed No Man’s Land, while a similar distance on our left, Fosse 8 and its slag heaps formed the chief feature.  All through 1916 active mining operations had been carried out along the whole front, and though there was now a deadlock underground, the craters still remained a bone of contention; each side tried to retain its hold on the near lip.  Our right Company held a line of six of these craters, joined together, called “Hairpin” on account of their shape on the aeroplane photographs.  The centre Company held another group called Border Redoubt, consisting amongst other things of two enormous craters, the Northern and Southern.  Between these two groups lay “Rats’ Creek,” a short length of trench, 200 yards from the enemy, and without a crater.  The left Company held another isolated post—­“Russian Sap”—­500 yards from the centre and not connected with it by any usable trench.  The old front line between Border and Hairpin, via Rats’ Creek, a distance of 400 yards, could be used by liaison patrols at night, but was impossible by day.

The various posts in “Hairpin” were connected by an underground tunnel with four exits to the trench, while another with two exits did the same for Border Redoubt.  From each of these, a 300-yard tunnel ran Westwards to what had been the old support line, where they were connected underground by another long passage—­Feetham Tunnel.  A branch of the Border tunnel led to “Rats’ Creek.”  At various points along these tunnels exits were built up to fortified shell holes, occupied by Lewis gun teams; these were our only supports.  Down below