building and the barricade across the road were being rapidly hit.


CAPTURE OF A GERMAN TRENCH.

[Illustration: CAPTURED GERMAN TRENCH.]

Without their coveted observation post the German gunners got the range
of the town beyond the village so completely that one day they poured a
continuous stream of shells over our heads from 4.30 in the morning
till mid-day. It was, I remember, at day-break next morning that under
cover of our own artillery, we made an advance and took the trench here
depicted just as it was left by the turned-out. So hurried was their
exit when faced by British bayonets that they left behind them in the
trench quite a number of articles most useful to us--such as saws,
sniper's rifles mounted on tripod stands, haversacks, and a quantity of
other equipment, also a very fine selection of cigars, which came as
quite a godsend to us. Personally, I clicked on a pair of German jack
boots, which, as the weather was wet and the ground soft and muddy, as
usual, came in very handy. I also came across a forage cap and a pocket
knife, and picked up a photograph--that of a typical Fraulein, probably
the sweetheart of Heinrich, Fritz or Karl.


A NIGHT RELIEF.

Duty in the trenches and rest and sleep in our billets in their rear
alternated with something like regularity, but it was a regularity
always liable to interruptions, such as were necessitated by not
infrequent exigencies.