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[Page 397]

stakes or fixing the wire, an immediate shelling would start, but not a single man was hit for on the first sound of the screech of the first shell the men would at once rush to cover & remain till the shelling had been transferred elsewhere.

The almost feverish hurry in which these wire entanglements were being erected even as far back as two or three miles behind the present firing line did not tend to instil confidence & when officers were asked for the reason they could only say "It is well to be prepared".

Having held the line without the necessity for these wires for nearly twelve months, the hasty erection of them made the men think that the head officers were certainly of the opinion that the Huns were about to make a big offensive, but of course the men in the line could see no indication of it.

The laying of all the surface wires in a large cable underground confirmed this opinion and certainly indicated that a "stay" of some duration was being looked forward to, & yet the men could not believe such an event possible. It was very hard indeed to even think of the possibility of this portion of the line being driven in.

Probably on account of the large numbers of men who were working "in the open", being in view of the Hun observation posts, the shell fire from the enemy seemed to be getting heavier & remained longer each succeeding day. Later on it was noticed that the shelling was kept up by guns of the largest (field) size & these certainly did more damage whenever they struck a trench or dug out, then for a week or ten days the Hun shell fire continued in such a manner as almost to make one think that they were preparing for a very heavy barrage prior to an attack. Under these

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