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[Page 19]
The following day 12th saw considerable artillery activity, & at night our guns aided by numerous trench mortars delivered a sharp & short bombardment against the trenches opposing us. The Germans replying sowed our lines with shrapnel but a raiding party managed to get into their first line capturing six men & one Machine gun, returning with two men slightly wounded as their total casualties.
After a week of rain, cold & slush the wind veered in the 16th to the north & the sky cleared. German patrols were beginning to get rather audacious. On the 15th they sent one of our bodies in with 5 men peppered with bomb splinters. As a result several patrols watched our front on the 17th. The usual machine fire whipped our parapets with unusual violence. At stand to it was that covering fire for these patrols. At dark this died down & the sentries watched for the approach of a hostile body. We has been watching with the M.G. to sweep the track along which the German ration party could usually be seen moving & had just taken the gun down when some seven or eight bombs burst along side of us. Luckily no one was hit, neither were the German bombers for although we could see them bolting right in our field of fire we were unable to fire owing to our own patrols being in front. The party returned later & landed several bombs in our view. A heavy bombardment was carried on opposite Armentieres & about ten thirty the banging of bullets empty shell cases & the noisy blare of the horns proclaimed that a gas attack was being launched. It failed however to reach as far as us & we again stood down at 1 AM.