Late in the afternoon two of the air birds wanted to get down a little closer, undoubtedly to satisfy themselves as to how the work of destruction had progressed, and one of our little observation planes gave battle to the visitors, engaging the nearest one first.  His companion bird made for ours, but before he could get underneath to do anything, the first German bird had been winged and downed.  Our anti-aircraft guns now made it so warm for the other bird that he beat it.  The visit, however, must have had beneficial results for Fritz, for immediately after the plane returned to their lines, he ceased paying any attention whatever to the dummies.  That night we put the real tanks behind the dummies and the day following not a single shell broke over or near them, and that same night they crept down into Pozieres Valley under shelter of a bombardment made to prevent the keen ear of Fritz detecting the throbbing of their engines.

By this time batteries had been and were being installed everywhere at Pozieres where there was room to place a gun:  like beavers the men were working as busily as men could work, although they were constantly subjected to the severest strafing; but on the Somme it seemed that nobody minded.  For my part I had the firm conviction that death would come when it would come and not till then, and I went about my work absolutely careless of any possible hurt.  And I can positively testify to the same state of mind in each one of my comrades,—­not one of whom seemed to think of his personal safety in any way whatsoever when there was work to be done.

Here the British soldier’s fatalism was exemplified in the superbest manner!

On that same night that the tanks went forward again, I was detailed to go to the trenches to assist the telephonist, who was hard pressed for help, and in the morning I was in the front-line trench assisting the Captain with his observation work.  All the time on the Somme all hands were busy doing something.  Immediately after dawn, at five o’clock, the guns belched forth with an ear-splitting, deafening roar and simultaneously over the top appeared the five behemoths, one of them passing within a few feet of me.

The gunfire from our pieces at this time was immensely superior to the enemy’s and his trenches had been flattened, but the wires still stood, and here it was the tanks did the work.  On they came!  Rolling through and making gaps 10 to 15 feet wide the Infantry plunging along in their wake.  Forgetting my orders to stay where I was, I hopped in with the Infantry and reached Fritz’ second-line trench.

“Gawd!” yelled a Tommy.  “Wot the bloody ’ell will Fritz think of these beauties?  ’E’ll think its Satan’s advance guard!”

On and yet on they reeled and rolled, one of them dipping nose first into a crater, and when I saw it going over the top of this huge hole my heart gave a bound of fear, as I surely thought its usefulness was now over.  In this crater there were about 300 German soldiers when the tank plunged into it, and under its huge bulk 75 of them had their lives mashed out.