officer and a few N.C.O's. per company had been sent forward to learn
dispositions and other information about the line, and the thousand and
one minute details about rations, tools, Lewis guns, water, guides,
intervals between platoons and sections, etc., etc., had all been dealt
with when we got on the move once more in the early evening.

Everyone expected to take over trenches such as we had in Gallipoli or
had read about, but we were rather staggered to find that the battalion
front was not vastly different from the outpost positions we had made on
the desert. This is explained by the fact that the front was just in
process of solidifying from the liquid state as a result of the German
recent retirement to a safe position. The enemy therefore looked calmly
down upon us from his elaborate Hindenburg system of trenches beyond
Vendhuile whilst we expanded our isolated outposts into organised
continuous lines. He himself, however, was also busy digging a sort of
outpost work in advance of the main line of defence, for he had held up
any further British advance principally from a bulwark of land mass
called the Knoll on the western side of the canal, while his main line
was really on the eastern side.

Because of the disjointed condition of the front there was always a
danger, when going from one company to another, of men wandering into
the Boche lines. This unfortunately did occur one night to a couple of
men of the 7th who had to make their way with L. G. ammunition from the
Quarry to the Diamond (a forward isolated redoubt) for they struck a
wrong direction and walked into a hail of enemy bullets. One was killed
and the other wounded. Pte. (afterwards L.-Cpl.) Summers and Pte. Johns
distinguished themselves on this occasion, for, realising what had
happened, they volunteered to go out and recover the men. After being
away for more than two hours, constantly sniped by an obviously-startled