On the 16th August we went once more to the line for a six-day tour,
which proved to be the first in which our artillery began to show a
distinct superiority to the enemy's, not only in accuracy but in weight
of shell. Several 8" and 9.2" Howitzers appeared in the Salient and, on
the evening of the 18th, we carried out an organized bombardment of the
lines opposite "50" trench, paying special attention to the
neighbourhood of the Minenwerfer. The accuracy of these large Howitzers
was surprising, and they obtained several direct hits on the Boche front
line, the resulting display of flying sandbags and trench timbers being
watched with the utmost pleasure by almost every man in the Battalion.
The enemy retaliated with salvoes of whizz-bangs on "50," and a few on
"A6" and "A7," but did not carry out any extensive bombardment, though,
when relieved by the Lincolnshires on the 22nd, we had had upwards of 45
casualties. Among the killed was L/Cpl. Biddles of "A" Company, who had
risked death many times on patrol, only to be hit when sitting quietly
in a trench eating his breakfast. This N.C.O., old enough to have his
son serving in the company with him, was never happier than when
wandering about in No Man's Land, either by day or night, and from the
first to the last day of every tour he spent his time either patrolling,
or preparing for his next patrol. Early in the morning of the 23rd we
reached once more the huts at Ouderdom, having at last had the sense to
have the limbers to meet us at Kruisstraat to carry packs, which at
this time we always took into the line with us. We had been away from
even hut civilisation for twenty-four days--quite long enough when those
days have to be spent in the mud, noise and discomfort of the Salient.

Our rest, while fortunately comparatively free of working parties,
contained two features of interest, an inspection by our new Brigadier,
and an officers' cricket match against the 16th Lancers. For the first
we were able, with the aid of a recently-arrived draft of 100 men, to