Our only communication trench was “Cadbury’s,” which started near “Chocolat Menier,” corner of the Rue du Bois, so called after an advertisement for this chocolate fastened to the side of a house.  It was even more water logged than the front line, and consequently, except when the ice was thick enough to walk on, was seldom used.  With a little care it was possible to reach the front line even by day without the help of a trench at all, and Lieut.  Saunders always used to visit his machine guns in this way, making the journey both ways over the top every day that we held the sector, and never once being shot at.

The Rue du Bois we used as little as possible, for every other house was an O.P., and the gunners preferred us at a distance.  The “Ritz,” “Carlton,” “Trocadero,” and “Princes” all gave one an excellent view of the enemy’s front line, and, knowing this, the Boche concentrated most of the little artillery he used on this neighbourhood.  There was seldom any heavy shelling, mostly field artillery only, and this of a poor order, for not only were there many “duds” in every shoot, but also the gunners seemed to lack imagination.  So regular were they in their choice of targets, times of shooting, and number of rounds fired, that, after being in the line one or two days, Col.  Jones had discovered their system, and knew to a minute where the next shell would fall.  His calculations were very accurate, and he was able to take what seemed to uninitiated Staff Officers big risks, knowing that the shelling would stop before he reached the place being shelled.

Amongst the new subaltern officers was one unlike any we had seen before—­2nd Lieut.  J.R.  Brooke.  He loved patrolling for its own sake, and during his first few days in the line explored everything he could find including the German wire and trenches.  From this time onwards he spent more of his days crawling about on his stomach than sitting like a respectable soldier in a trench, and even when years later he became a Company Commander it was found impossible to break him of the habit.  Captains were forbidden to go on patrol, but this did not matter to him, he would take a subaltern with him and make the latter write the report, calling it 2nd Lieut. ——­ and one other Rank.  One would expect such a man to be large, strong, and of a fierce countenance; 2nd Lieut.  Brooke was small, of delicate health, and looked as though his proper vacation in life was to hand cups of tea to fair ladies at a village tea fight.

It seemed probable that we should have to remain in this sector for the whole winter, and our first thought was, therefore, how to make the trenches somewhat more habitable.  It was obvious that digging was out of the question, and that nothing less than a large breastwork, built entirely above ground, would be of any use.  General Kemp visited the lines several times before finally deciding on his plan, and then sighted two works, the front a few yards