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[Page 70]
When things had settled down my platoon was taken forward to another sunken road having to make it a fighting position for we were to act as supports to the front line. After making ourselves comfortable dug outs we set out to explore the positions which had been captured that morning. The Hun dug outs in the vicinity proved to be very fruitful to the troops for Fritz had evidently received a big parcel mail. that night & had not had time to open his parcels before our attack. These parcels contained eggs, bacon, german sausage, & several other luxuries & besides these parcels there was any amount of beer, wine, brandy & whisky, all these being confiscated by our boys who treated them the same way as Fritz would have done. This sort of thing proved conclusively that the men who engaged in fighting the enemy's rear guard action were being treated exceptionally well, at the same time being grogged to enable them to hold the positions until it was time for them to evacuate. The enemy's outpost system at this particular place was very strong & well concealed for the posts could not be seen for more than a hundred yards away but at the same time they could command the ground we had to advance over for hundreds of yards. It was a wonder to me how our battalion had managed to capture such a position with so few casualties. Whilst in this position I witnessed the Tommies on our right advancing in daylight which was a great sight for our position was only a few hundred yards away & the fighting which was of a mild nature could be seen quite plainly but the positions were easily taken with very few casualties. During the morning of the 10th I was sent with three other N.C.O's to have a look at the positions occupied by the 2nd Battalion in front of Hermies. This was carried out in daylight & during our return journey the Huns amused themselves by sniping at us but luckily all his shots went wide but at the same time we finished the journey in a run being out of breath on reaching supports. That same night our platoon was taken forward with the remainder of the company to relieve the 2nd Battalion at Hermies. That night I was put in charge of three men on a post in the banks of a railway cutting running direct to the Huns line at the same time being the most advanced post of the company. This post was an extremely ticklish one for the Huns were able to enfilade the position with machine guns which meant it was impossible to move about during the day & every precaution had to be at night for it was never known when the hun may open out with his machine guns. During the whole time here it snowed & rain heavily which made things very uncomfortable for the troops for they were exposed to all weather for there was very little cover available. We also experienced some fairly heavy artillery fire which kept the boys quiet for we had not been troubled by shells for some time, but this went to prove to everyone that the Hun had practically completed his retirement to the Hindenberg Line. patrols were sent out during the night to explore the country ahead & on several occasions out patrols met similar parties of the Huns which resulted in small skirmishes but we suffered no casualties nor captured any prisoners. From the information given by these patrols it was found possible for the battalion to advance which was carried out during the night of the 13th of April. On this night we advanced several hundred yards my platoon being taken to the left where we received orders to dig a trench astride a road leading towards the enemy so as to command the road in the event of an attack. This movement was carried out very cautiously for it was known that the enemy was in the vicinity but we reached our objective uninterfered with & started to dig in as quietly as possible. After getting down about three feet it was found that the enemy was working round our right flank owing to the company on our right not coming up in line, this information being supplied by a small patrol of the company who were