heavy shelling had upset our chaps pretty badly.  Many of them sobbed.  To see and hear a man sob is terrible, almost as terrible as some of the wounds I have seen—­and they have been very awful.  However, as quite a number of the men had only recently come out, it was natural enough that we should be upset by this ordeal.  Time and repeated experiences of this kind toughen if they do not harden a man—­but for many this was the first experience.

“Early the next morning the whole battalion made a move nearer to the Hill.  For the greater part of the day we stood to in dug-outs on the side of the railway embankment, but at dusk we lined up and received instructions as to the work we had to do that night and the following day.  Our officers told us that we were going to the Hill to hold off all counter-attacks, and that if any man on the way up was wounded no one was to stay with him.  He must be left to wait for the stretcher-bearers.  Every man would be needed for the coming struggle, and although it seemed almost too hard that one must see his chum struck down and be unable to stop and bind up his wounds, there was no doubt that the order was very necessary.

“We started off in single file by platoons.  This time we did not go up the cutting, but made our way round by the reservoir and the dilapidated village of Zillebeke.  The first man to go down was one of my own section.  We remembered the order not to stop, although the temptation was very strong.  So we left him, wishing him the best of luck and hoping that he would soon be in Blighty.  After this the casualties came faster and faster as we entered into the shell-swept area.  The machine guns were sweeping round and were making havoc in our ranks.  Gradually we drew near to the little wood just beside Hill 60, and were told to occupy any dug-outs there until further orders.  It was at this time that the whizz-bang shell made its debut.  We had not encountered this kind of shell before; it was one that gave absolutely no warning and was used for quite small ranges.

“We had been in these dug-outs for about half an hour when we were told to fall in and each man to carry two boxes of bombs.  We then went into the communication trench of the old front line.  At this stage our company commander was wounded.

“However, we got on to the Hill, and each man was detailed—­some for firing, some for bombing, and some for construction.  All the trenches were blown in entirely, and a large number of us, including my chum and myself, were detailed for this construction work.  Under heavy shelling we tried to build up the blown-in portions of the trenches.  This was just at a corner leading right on to the Hill and part of our old front line.  We laboured here all night through.  Just before dawn the shelling increased, and the bombardment grew very terrific.  All possible were rushed up into the crater to take the places of the fallen.