had introduced a steel helmet for their machine gunners, finally
extending the issue to all ranks. This had been found of the greatest
value, and there had been at once a marked decrease in the percentage of
head wounds. The British helmet now appeared, and was generally voted,
as it first seemed, a hideous flat object, though some humorists
admitted that it might have distinct possibilities as a washing basin. A
few soldiers of the vainer sort thought they looked more "becoming" with
a "tin-hat" over one eye, but the vast majority hated them, and it was
with the greatest difficulty that those to whom they were issued, could
be persuaded not to throw them away. This aversion, however, soon
passed, and within a few months the infantryman standing under an
aeroplane battle without his "tin-hat" felt distinctly naked.

It was now definitely decided that we were to relieve the French in the
Neuville St. Vaast-Souchez Sector, both places where the French had had
terrific fighting the previous year, and consequently a sector with a
bad reputation. The roads were still in bad condition, and a
char-a-banc, full of officers, who tried to reconnoitre reached no
further than the French Brigade Headquarters and had to return. On the
6th March we marched to Magnicourt and two days later to
Villers-au-bois, about three miles behind the line, going up to trenches
on the 9th.

Early in 1915 the French line North of Arras had run through la
Targette, Carency and over the East end of the Lorette heights to Aix
Noulette. In May our allies made their first attack here and, driving
the Boche from the heights, gained possession, after terrific fighting,
of Ablain St. Nazaire, Souchez and Neuville St. Vaast. Later, in
conjunction with our September attack at Loos, they had again advanced,
and finally a brilliant assault by the Zouaves carried the line to the