tried hard to reach trenches but had had to give up and fall out on the
way. The rest of us, marching slowly and by short stages, did eventually
relieve the Sherwood Foresters, but so tired as to be absolutely unfit
for trenches. Fortunately for two days the weather was good and the
Boche very quiet, there was time for all to get a thorough rest, and by
the 20th we had very largely recovered our vigour--which was just as
well, for it proved an exciting tour.

The excitement started about a mile away on our left, when, on the
evening of the 19th, the next Division blew up an enormous mine at
Hooge, and, with the aid of an intense artillery bombardment, attacked
and captured part of the village, including the chateau stables. The
enemy counter-attacked the following night, and, though he made no
headway and was driven out with heavy loss, he none the less bombarded
our new ground continuously and caused us many casualties. Accordingly,
to make a counter attraction, the Tunnelling Company working with us was
asked to blow up part of the enemy's lines as soon as possible; the blow
would be accompanied by an artillery "strafe" by us. There was at this
time such a network of mine galleries in front of "A1," that Lieut.
Tulloch, R.E., was afraid that the Boche would hear him loading one of
the galleries, so, to take no risks, blew a preliminary camouflet on the
evening of the 21st, destroying the enemy's nearest sap. This was
successful, and the work of loading and tamping the mines started at
once. 1500 lbs. of ammonal were packed at the end of a gallery
underneath the German redoubt opposite "A1," while at the end of another
short gallery a smaller mine was laid, in order to destroy as much as
possible of his mine workings. The date chosen was the 23rd, the time 7
p.m.

At 6-55 p.m., having vacated "A1" for the time, we blew the smaller of