29th he was hit, fatally, as he sat beside me. Strewn over the ground here were many unburied German dead, and we would come across rifles sticking in the ground with upstanding butts and cards attached stating that a certain number of unknown Germans were buried there. Early in the morning of September 28th orders were received from Regimental Headquarters to withdraw at noon. At 9:00 o'clock a British artillery Colonel occupied my headquarters. It was plain that if artillery was going to take over ground held by infantry a "big show" was scheduled. A great change had taken place in less than four days; not an artillery gun was to be seen on September 24th, but now they were standing hub to hub scattered all over the open country. The battalion made its own protection about 1,500 yards to the rear of the headquarters I had been occupying and among the British guns on September 28th. Here and there dead gunners lay, killed by shells that continually plowed the ground.

The Germans knew something was to happen, for their shellfire increased during the afternoon and again in the evening. At about 7:30 P. M. a regimental runner brought me an order to report at "7:00 P. M." He had been trying to locate me since 5:00 P. M. I was informed by the Commanding Officer that Lieutenant-Colonel Berry would command the first battalion in the attack next day. I was thankful for the opportunity to be again with my own company. In March, 1917, I had declined a majority and my heart was still with my company. At the conclusion of a conference, however, the Commanding Officer informed me that I was not to take command of my company.

Our mission was to capture two villages, involving severe fighting, as a quarry ran through one of the villages. Our information was that we would meet no opposition until late in the afternoon as the ground up to the villages had been "mopped up." I never learned why the original order relieving me of the command of the battalion was not carried out, and until 11:30 P. M. was busy collecting information from all sources as to the next day's program. We were to carry two days' rations, were to be supplied with a British water bottle for each man in addition to our own canteen and were to rendezvous at a given point at 5:30 A. M. September 29th, necessitating our moving

from our former sector at 3:00 A. M. Lieutenant Sheldon, the Australian officer, had just returned from a trip over the ground which we were to cover between 3:00 A. M. and 5:30 A. M. the next day. He was to be the "eyes" of the battalion. He had been fighting over this sector for two years and knew the ground thoroughly. An Australian officer was placed with each battalion for this same work.

We were to step off" at 5:50 on the morning of September 29th under the protection of a barrage which was to lift its fire 100 yards every five minutes until 10:30 A. M. My battalion was ordered to make arrangements for an advance at 3:00 A. M. This left two hours to issue rations, water bottles, shovels, hand^ grenades and to get the water carts up, and it seemed an impossible task. But Lieutenant Sheldon took charge and by 2:30 A. M. we were ready. I lay down then for a few minutes' rest, when at 2:45 a Lieutenant of Company B was led to me in a state of collapse. When his gas mask was taken off it was found he had been gassed and water was streaming from his eyes. He reported that a shell had exploded in the company trench, buried a number of the men and that Lieutenant O'Connor had been fatally wounded. In ten minutes more we were to move. A lieutenant was put in command of the stricken company, but Lieutenant O'Connor and his shell buried men had to be left where they were, to be picked up later by stretcher bearers.

It was a heart-chilling morning; a heavy fog enveloped us and the air was gas laden. It was impossible to march over the ground in gas masks and it was left to each man to judge when to use his mask. Most of us breathed through our mouth-pieces without putting on the mask. We reached our rendezvous at the ordered time under Lieutenant Sheldon's guidance, the Germans shelling us incessantly. Each company commander was ordered to place his company in yawning holes made by the shells. I shuddered to think that if a shell should strike in one of these holes a whole company would be wiped out. At last the zero hour arrived, and we moved forward under British artillery fire that seemed to dwarf the German fire. We went over open ground, across trenches and over barbed wire, meeting no one,

but suffering shell casualties, leaving the men as they fell, after administering first aid.

My battalion advanced in artillery formation-diamond shape -Company A led, Company D on the right, Company C on the left, Company B in the rear and the machine-gun platoon 50 yards in the rear of the diamond. At 7:30 A. M. a smoke screen enveloped us until it was impossible to see a radio compass, but we could tell, by the flash of the exploding shells when we got too close to our barrage. Then we got no response from the right company. The smoke screen was pure white, without odor, and when it lifted a little Company D was not in sight. Lieutenant Merz, with Company C, was ordered behind Company A and Company B was the third and last company. The machine-gun platoon had lost its direction in the smoke screen and I never saw it again. A second smoke screen was dropped as we were advancing along a sunken road. As it lifted I saw to my right the back of a German trench, which was cleared by Company A, who brought back a German prisoner. We continued along the sunken road, and at 10:00 A. M. the smoke screen lifted and we found ourselves marching parallel to and about 100 yards in the rear of a long line of German trenches on our right. The Germans were standing looking back at us in a surprised and startled way. Our road was then level with the ground and there was no protection. The battalion was advancing in column and if the Germans had opened fire our casualties would have been great. We charged the trenches over 100 yards of open ground, and their cry of "Kamarad" was soon heard and their hands were raised in surrender, although some of them ran from the trenches and into shell-holes and dug outs. While the companies were engaged in this round-up about 20 men, battalion and company runners, were ordered to take whatever protection they could in the broken ground near the road, as machine-gun nests and snipers were to be expected. While standing watching the good work of Company C, under Lieutenant Merz, these men shouted that there were more Germans who were running from another trench away from us. As I led this detail toward the trench it was met with upraised hands and "Kamarad." The prisoners were assembled in open ranks with arms in the air and I made a personal inspection for grenades,

etc. Their fright gave way to relief and one of them exclaimed, "Oh, Messieur, you are so good to us! My wife, my children!"' and made an effort to throw his arms around my neck. There were 33 of them, members of the 184th regiment of Infantry from Hamburg. They were well uniformed, looked well fed and only three weeks at the front, but they had no fight in them and were happy not to be killed. When the companies assembled their prisoners, a total of 2 officers and 77 men was found, taken without a casualty on our side.

We had been marching at the rear of German trenches with the ground infested with machine-guns and our only safety from their fire was their fear that they would hit their own men whom we had taken prisoners. The prisoners were marched, well spread out on the flank, toward the German trenches and we got safely away without the loss of a man. I was informed that the Third Battalion was in trenches about 200 yards to my left, so as I marched along the road the enemy was on my right with their backs 100 yards from my flank and the battalion of our own regiment on my left with their backs about 100 yards from my left flank. They were back to back, lost in the smoke screen and my battalion had been marching in column between them. I was guided, by an Adjutant, to where the Third Battalion was and found them in good trenches. I met Captain Bulkley, its commander, who had been wounded in the head and had a bandage wrapped around his forehead. Blood had run over his face and dried and he was a sorry spectacle. But he was what was needed just then, as he was an example to his men at a time when it took an example to steady the men in a trying time when dangers surrounded us. My battalion was placed in shell holes about 100 yards in advance of the trenches occupied by the third battalion, while we made an estimate of the situation. The Lieutenant-Colonel said on the night of the 28th that this ground would be "mopped up" and that I would meet no opposition until the afternoon, when I was to fight for the villages, but at 10:00 A. M. we had taken prisoners and the ground we had passed over was filled with scattered Germans from the trenches and it was certain that machine gunners were in our rear. The ground had not been mopped up.

Guides had been sent to a designated spot to meet a tank