attraction for most of the bullets at night. It contained a Company
Headquarters, signal office, and the platoon on the ground floor, and
one platoon in the attic! Behind this, and partly screened from view,
were "Frenchman's" occupied by Battalion Headquarters, "Pond" where half
the Reserve Company lived, and "Packhorse" containing the other half
Reserve and Regimental Aid Post. This last was also the burying ground
for the sector, and rendezvous for transport and working parties. Two
other farms--"Cob" and "T"--lay on the Wulverghem Road and were not used
until our second tour, when Battalion Headquarters moved into "Cob" as
being pleasanter than "Frenchman's," and "Pond" also had to be
evacuated, as the Lincolnshires had had heavy casualties there.

The enemy opposite to us, popularly supposed to be Bavarians, seemed
content to leave everything by day to his snipers. These certainly were
exceptionally good, as we learnt by bitter experience. By night there
was greater activity, and rifle bullets fell thickly round Cookers Farm
and the surrounding country. There were also fixed rifles at intervals
along the enemy's lines aimed at our communication tracks, and these,
fired frequently during the early part of the night, made life very
unpleasant for the carrying parties. There were no communication
trenches and no light railways, so that all stores and rations, which
could be taken by limbers as far as Packhorse Farm only, had to be
carried by hand to the front line. This was done by platoons of the
support and reserve companies who had frequently to make two or three
journeys during the night, along the slippery track past Pond Farm and
Cookers Corner--the last a famous and much loathed spot. There were
grids to walk on, but these more resembled greasy poles, for the slabs
had been placed longitudinally on cross runners, and many of us used to
slide off the end into some swampy hole. One of "B" Company's officers
was a particular adept at this, and fell into some hole or other almost