railhead. This area was to be the Battalion's battle station for several
months to come, and many times were the companies to repeat the journey
they had just completed. It was to take part in two big battles in the
vicinity and add greatly to its honours and leave many of its members
entombed in soldiers' graves in what was to be perhaps the biggest
graveyard of its kind in the world.

The Ypres sector was very quiet, but there was every danger of a gas
attack, and the Battalion received the strictest warnings from the
relieved unit, which had lost many men two months before through
inattention to precautionary measures. The first night that the Battalion
went into the line there was an alarm, but as the wind at the moment was
in a safe quarter its falsity was immediately recognised. The men at this
time had only the then out-of-date P.H. helmet. These helmets were changed
in the course of a week or two for the more efficacious box respirators,
which remained with slight modifications until the end of the war as the
soldiers' protection against enemy gas. The enemy artillery was very
quiet, and obviously the British had the artillery ascendancy, and it was
surmised that this was attributable to the fact that he had removed his
artillery to the Somme. The minenwerfers were active and so were the enemy
snipers. After a tour in the line the Battalion repaired to Ypres. A few
days afterwards it went to take over the "L" defences at Brielen, with
Headquarters in Elverdinghe Chateau. Only one tour was done here and the
Battalion then returned to Ypres. Until January it did three tours of duty
in the line, either in Ypres itself or the front line to one in reserve at
Brandhoek.

While in the front line the routine was practically the same as at Wailly,
but the conditions were different. In the Salient it was not possible to
dig deep trenches as the land was so low lying that water was met on