And so twice in the next three weeks the German artillery fired about
£30,000 worth of shells, and a party of picked men stole across the
open, and in spite of a certain loss on one occasion they took back a
few prisoners. And the query went out of the index.

It would be quite easy to present to the German for a penny the facts
which it cost him £60,000 and good men's lives to obtain. When you know
this, you can understand why the casualties reported in the papers do
not any longer state the units of the men who have suffered them.




CHAPTER XI

THE GREAT BATTLE BEGINS

_France, July 1st._


Below me, in the dimple beyond the hill on which I sit, is a small
French town. Straight behind the town is the morning sun, only an hour
risen. Between the sun and the town, and, therefore, only just to be
made out through the haze of sunlight on the mists, are two lines--a
nearer and a farther--of gently sloping hill-tops. On those hills is
being fought one of the greatest battles in history. It is British
troops who are fighting it, and French. The Canadians are in their lines
in the salient. The Australians and New Zealanders--it has now been
officially stated--are at Armentières.