"C" Company (Moore), which went to the Cabaret Rouge--now used as
Brigade advanced Headquarters.

The East side of the valley, where the Support Battalion's dug-outs had
been built, was immune from German shells owing to the steepness of the
hill side, and here for six days we had comparative rest, except at
nights, when we most of us went digging on the new line. The Battalion
Grenadiers under Serjeant Goodman particularly enjoyed themselves, and
their dug-out in the valley became a regular anarchists' arsenal.
Fiendish missiles were made out of empty bottles stuffed with ammonal
and other explosives, which they managed to obtain in large quantities
from the French miners, while the strength of various poisons and gases
was tested against the rats, against whose habitations they carried on
an endless war. A catapult was erected for practice purposes, and our
bombers became adepts in its use, knowing exactly how much fuse to
attach to a T.N.T.-filled glass beer bottle to make it burst two seconds
after landing in the Boche trench. The valley was a little dangerous
during practice hours, but nobody minded this so long as the enemy
suffered in the end.

At the same time another innovation was introduced in the shape of the
Stokes light trench mortar--a stove-pipe-like gun firing a cylindrical
shell some 400 yards at the rate of 8 in the air at once. It was simply
necessary to drop the shell into the gun, at the bottom of which was a
striker, and the rest was automatic and almost noiseless, the shock of
discharge being rather like a polite cough. Brigade Trench Mortar
Companies were formed, in our case 2nd Lieuts. A.N. Bloor and W.R.
Ashwell, with several other ranks, went to join the first company.

On the 2nd March, having received a draft of three N.C.O.'s and 106 men,