before the end, our opponents managed to score the winning goal.

[Illustration: Lens from the Air
(showing Fosse III. and Bois de Riaumont).]

[Illustration: Sketch map of Gommecourt to illustrate the attack of the
1st July 1916. ~German trenches in RED~]

[Illustration: Lt.-Col. J.B.O. Trimble, D.S.O., M.C., with the Officers,
Marqueffles Farm, June, 1917.]

On the 24th May the heavy rain had made the trenches so wet that the
garrison was unable to keep them clear, and in consequence we had to
send a large working party up the line to help the Sherwood Foresters.
The line, which we now saw for the first time, ran from about half a
mile North of Hébuterne, just East of Foncquevillers, and northwards
towards Monchy-au-bois, held by the enemy. Foncquevillers was the centre
of the position, and opposite it lay Gommecourt, a small village and
Chateau, with a wood on one flank and the Chateau park on the other--a
strong position strongly held. Further North, Pigeon Wood and a little
salient of trenches called the "Z" were opposite the left of our
Divisional front, while in the middle of No Man's Land, which averaged
about 400 yards wide, stood the ruins of Gommecourt Sucrerie, twenty
yards from the main Foncquevillers-Gommecourt Road.

Our trenches were in a somewhat curious condition. During the winter the
Division occupying this sector had found that they were too weak to hold
the whole trench, so had selected certain positions which they had
strongly fortified and wired, and then filled the remainder of the
trench with loose wire. The bad weather soon caused the disused sections