“There was an inspection of box-respirators and rifles this afternoon.  I inspected my own platoon, which is now 7 again! with Sergeant Baldwin.  I happened to remark to him that I presumed that he was now platoon sergeant of this platoon.  He said that he was.  ‘That’s all right,’ I replied; and he smiled.  Then Giffin, who must have overhead our remarks, approached and, in his imperious way, said:  ’Sergeant Baldwin, you’re only in charge of 7 Platoon temporarily, until Sergeant Butterworth comes back; you’re not platoon sergeant.  You understand that, Floyd?’ he concluded, turning to me.  I think it a bit thick that one cannot choose one’s own platoon sergeant....

“Halstead has not yet turned up, and we now learn that the three others (who went with him), have not returned to their respective companies.  When I was in that Brigade dug-out last night the M.O. casually remarked to me that he had attended to four officers, who appeared to belong to our brigade, at about 6 in the evening.  They were all wounded; one was very bad.  In the light of the present situation it certainly looks as if they must have been the unfortunate four.  So Captain Andrews has sent Giffin down there to inquire.  It looks serious.

“It is now 6 p.m.  I must close.  Captain Andrews says that I had better warn you that you must not expect letters very frequently now, as it is not easy to get them off from here.  We are going further up to-night.  But do not worry; it is as safe there as here!”

A postscript to this letter states:  “It is as I surmised.  Halstead, Barker, Ronald, and Wood are all wounded—­by the same shell.”

The Lancashire Fusiliers’ Annual thus sums up the events of July 1 and the fate of these four officers: 

“On July 1st, the Battalion returned to the forward area.  We were to have gone into our old billets in the Prison and the Magazine, but, as a 17in. shell had just landed in the Magazine and the foundations of the Prison had been shaken by 8in. duds, it was impossible to do so.  Half the Battalion therefore found billets in the Ramparts, etc., the other half and Headquarters went back to Goldfish Chateau.  During the afternoon of July 1, the Battalion suffered the most severe loss it had suffered for some time.  Four officers, Lieut.  W. C. Ronald, Lieutenant H. A. Wood, Lieutenant J. Halstead and Second-Lieutenant H. A. Barker, one officer from each Company, had started up to reconnoitre the line.  At Wells Cross Roads a shell landed and wounded all four.  Second-Lieutenant Barker died of his wounds a month later, but the other three have all recovered.”

The Lancashire Fusiliers’ Annual goes on to say that “On July 2nd the Battalion moved up into the Potijze sector.  We had a hot reception, the enemy sent over 1,500 shells all round Battalion Headquarters between midnight and 5 a.m.”  But, as the following extract from my diary will show, the move took place while I was otherwise engaged: