On the 24th May the heavy rain had made the trenches so wet that the garrison was unable to keep them clear, and in consequence we had to send a large working party up the line to help the Sherwood Foresters.  The line, which we now saw for the first time, ran from about half a mile North of Hebuterne, just East of Foncquevillers, and northwards towards Monchy-au-bois, held by the enemy.  Foncquevillers was the centre of the position, and opposite it lay Gommecourt, a small village and Chateau, with a wood on one flank and the Chateau park on the other—­a strong position strongly held.  Further North, Pigeon Wood and a little salient of trenches called the “Z” were opposite the left of our Divisional front, while in the middle of No Man’s Land, which averaged about 400 yards wide, stood the ruins of Gommecourt Sucrerie, twenty yards from the main Foncquevillers-Gommecourt Road.

Our trenches were in a somewhat curious condition.  During the winter the Division occupying this sector had found that they were too weak to hold the whole trench, so had selected certain positions which they had strongly fortified and wired, and then filled the remainder of the trench with loose wire.  The bad weather soon caused the disused sections of the trench to collapse, fixing the loose wire very firmly on either side.  From a purely defensive point of view there was no harm in this, but any attacking force would need the whole trench for assembly purposes and to “jump off,” and the work of clearing the long wired-up sections was very hard indeed.  The posts themselves were well dug and well sighted, there were one or two good communication trenches, and Foncquevillers, still well preserved in spite of its proximity to the Boche, provided excellent homes for Battalion Headquarters, support Companies, and even baths and canteen.  The enemy, except for some “rum jars” and heavy trench mortars from Gommecourt, was fairly quiet on the whole front, and, except when trousers had to be discarded to allow of wading in the front line, the trenches were by no means uncomfortable.

For the rest of May we stayed at Souastre, occasionally visiting the line with working parties, or on tours of inspection, but for the most part working in the Foncquevillers plain, where battery positions without number were being built.  By the end of the month we learnt the meaning of all these preparations.  Gommecourt was to be attacked in the near future in conjunction with other greater attacks further South.  The Staffords and the Sherwood Foresters were going to do the attack with their right on the Sucrerie, their left on the “Z,” while the 56th Division on our right would attack the village from the S.E.  The Park, most of the village, and the Chateau would thus not be directly attacked, but it was hoped that the two Divisions would meet on the East side, and so cut off large numbers of Germans in the isolated area.  Our Brigade was to be in reserve.  Meanwhile, a large full-sized model of the German lines was dug near Lucheux forest, where the attacking Brigades started practising at once.  Incidentally the model took many acres of arable land, and, though it was very well paid for, the French grumbled loudly, and the 46th Division was known in Lucheux as “les autres Boches.”