Intermittently throughout the whole night firing continued. A
searchlight had been played continually on the lines, and if anything,
the artillery duel began before it was light.

This was his first opportunity to watch shell fire. The shells sailed
overhead so slowly that he half expected to see them in their flight.
The noise they made was very difficult to describe. They hurtled, they
whizzed, they shrieked, they sang. He could imagine the thing spinning
in its flight, creating a noise something like steam escaping jerkily
from an engine.

An English battery was firing from somewhere unseen on the right, to
meet an attack apparently launched on the left. Furious messages were
passed up the line that the artillery were firing on their own men, and
whether this was true or not, soon afterwards the attack ceased.

At about seven o'clock the Major gave orders to withdraw his Platoon
when the Company on his right should retire. This surprised him; for,
knowing nothing of the general situation, he had felt that they would
hang on, and fight the battle out then and there, to the last gasp. He
gave orders to his section commanders, and then lay down to await the
development of events.

At about nine o'clock a general retirement seemed to be taking place on
the right. It is a very difficult thing to pick upon exactly the right
moment to retire. If you retire too early, you allow the enemy to
advance without having inflicted sufficient loss, i.e. you allow him
to succeed too cheaply, to say nothing of rendering the position of
units on your flanks precarious. On the other hand, if you hang on to
your position too long, you become committed to a close fight, from