This bombardment left our front line in a terrible condition, and General Kemp decided to build a new main line of resistance 50 yards in rear, holding the front with odd posts only.  Meanwhile the front parapet must be repaired, and the night was spent in doing this as far as we could—­a hopeless task, for the following afternoon we were again hammered.  This time “A” Company suffered most, and Corporal Williamson and one man were killed, Serjt.  Staniforth and one other wounded, while the trench was blown in for several yards and a dug-out demolished.  Dug-outs were few, and consisted only of little hutches formed by putting a sheet of iron over some slot.  Even Company Headquarters of the centre Company had little more than this, though Battalion Headquarters and the other companies had a half-deep dug-out.

The bombardments now became daily, and all our efforts at retaliation either with artillery or trench mortars proved entirely ineffectual.  There was nothing we could do except clear as many men as possible away from the danger area, and come back at dusk to rebuild our parapet.  Towards the end of the tour the Boche started firing rifle grenades before each mortar, so that we should stoop to avoid the former and so miss seeing the flight of the latter.  The tour ended with a four-inch fall of snow on the 26th, which melted almost at once and filled the trenches with water, which no amount of pumping would remedy.  After relief we went to the “Talus des Zouaves” in Brigade support, except for “C” Company (Moore), which went to the Cabaret Rouge—­now used as Brigade advanced Headquarters.

The East side of the valley, where the Support Battalion’s dug-outs had been built, was immune from German shells owing to the steepness of the hill side, and here for six days we had comparative rest, except at nights, when we most of us went digging on the new line.  The Battalion Grenadiers under Serjeant Goodman particularly enjoyed themselves, and their dug-out in the valley became a regular anarchists’ arsenal.  Fiendish missiles were made out of empty bottles stuffed with ammonal and other explosives, which they managed to obtain in large quantities from the French miners, while the strength of various poisons and gases was tested against the rats, against whose habitations they carried on an endless war.  A catapult was erected for practice purposes, and our bombers became adepts in its use, knowing exactly how much fuse to attach to a T.N.T.-filled glass beer bottle to make it burst two seconds after landing in the Boche trench.  The valley was a little dangerous during practice hours, but nobody minded this so long as the enemy suffered in the end.

At the same time another innovation was introduced in the shape of the Stokes light trench mortar—­a stove-pipe-like gun firing a cylindrical shell some 400 yards at the rate of 8 in the air at once.  It was simply necessary to drop the shell into the gun, at the bottom of which was a striker, and the rest was automatic and almost noiseless, the shock of discharge being rather like a polite cough.  Brigade Trench Mortar Companies were formed, in our case 2nd Lieuts.  A.N.  Bloor and W.R.  Ashwell, with several other ranks, went to join the first company.