that, in some platoons a rifle section of eight men was able to get as
many shots on the target as the Lewis gun, and it was noticed incidentally
that after two hundred rounds the Lewis gun became far too hot to handle.
It was a much over-rated weapon, and was only effective in the hands of
highly trained men.

Several reconnaissances were made by the officers while at Hénu. The
forward area was visited again and again. Defence schemes were studied and
prepared, but these tended to become a little too complex, and had it been
necessary to put them into operation something would surely have gone
wrong.

The morale at this time was low. The extent of the losses on the 5th and
2nd Army fronts were known. The enemy was using British 60-pounder guns
against the area occupied by the Battalion, but as the enemy gunners did
not thoroughly understand how to set the fuses, the shells were all blind.
The Germans seemed to be able to advance whenever they wished, whereas the
British had miserably failed at Ypres the last year. The men were not in
very good fettle owing to the several recent marches, and the chance of
complete victory seemed to be remote. Nevertheless there were many who
kept cheerful and intended like game cocks to fight to the last.

The first week in May the Battalion went into line at Gommecourt. The
other two units in the Brigade were in the outpost line, and the 9th
King's was in close support in Gommecourt Park. It was accommodated in
what were formerly the front line enemy positions in 1916. It was an
education in military engineering to examine them. The trenches were deep
and wide, and there were traverses every few yards. They were revetted
with hurdles and planks of timber which were kept in position by iron
pickets, which were securely wired to anchor pickets driven sideways into