at Riquerval, and the game, thanks to the efforts of Start and Corporal Shirley Hubbard, ended in a victory, 5-1—­a fact which merely increased the fervour of the welcome we received from our opponents.  A few days later some French sappers came to play us at Fresnoy, and they, too, were defeated, 5-0, in an excellent game watched by many people.  The language on both these occasions would sound as foreign in London as in Paris, but this did not in the least diminish the cordiality of the Entente.  In this way the fortnight soon passed, and on November 1st we left Fresnoy.

Our first move was to Becquigny, where we arrived soon after midday, and found good billets with plenty of accommodation.  In the evening, orders came that at an early date the IXth.  Corps, with 1st and 32nd Divisions in front and 46th in Reserve, would attack the German positions on the Sambre-Oise Canal, which had been holding out for the past ten days.  The next day the officers rode through Molain to Ribeauville and, leaving horses there, reconnoitred an assembly position North of Mazinghien.  The C.O. and Company Commanders then went forward and reconnoitred a second position near Rejet de Beaulieu, about 1,000 yards West of the Canal.  On the 3rd, orders arrived for the attack to take place the following morning, and at 5-0 p.m. we moved off in pouring rain through Vaux Andigny to a bivouac position near the Railway North of Molain—­a bad march, for the roads were very muddy and hopelessly congested with traffic, and the men heavily laden.  It rained hard all night, but a small house for Headquarters, and the usual tents and “bivvie” sheets kept out some of the wet, and we should have been far worse in the open.  Unfortunately, 2nd Lieut.  J.A.  Hewson, who had never really recovered from his gassing in May and had returned before he was fit, had to leave us, unable to stand the exposure in such weather.  It was very bad luck, for there was never a keener officer.

At 5-45 a.m., the 4th, the battle began, and we fell in outside Headquarters, having previously had hot breakfasts and distributed large numbers of bombs and flares, also a generous supply of sickles and bill hooks, as the country was reported to be full of hedges.  We marched at once to our first assembly position, Mazinghien, and at midday, as the battle reports were good, moved forward again, passing the Brigadier in the village; he seemed very cheerful, and we saw several droves of German prisoners, so concluded that everything must be satisfactory.  In order to avoid the main roads, the C.O. led us round to Beaulieu by a field track which he had reconnoitred; unfortunately the night’s rain had made the going very heavy, and this not only tired the men, who were heavily laden, but also proved difficult for the limbers, several of which stuck and had to be man-handled.  At Beaulieu we had dinners and rested while parties reconnoitred the Canal crossings and discovered various pontoon bridges built by the Engineers soon after the attack.  As no orders came, we waited here until soon after 3-0 p.m., when we were sent forward to support the 2nd Brigade on the right flank of the advance.