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[Page 41]
the Germans artillery had vented its wrath on the much feared monster so that now nothing remained save the battered frame work. A guide was found & scrambling out of the trench we scrambled on towards the distant flares. Men slipping fell headlong into pools of mud & water. Others bogged & had to be helped out. Eventually we reached a dry trench & say down for an hours spell. Then after, a further two hours struggle we reached our destination in the front line about 12.45.
Sleep being an unknown thing in this part of the line, the remainder of the night was passed in watching & shivering. With dawn reciprocated bombardments commenced our guns keeping up a heavy thunder all the day. Rain fell heavily in the afternoon, filing the trenches with water & causing the holes in the sides graced by the name of the "dug-out" to cave in. Parpaets toppled in upon the water caused a thick mud knee-deep to be soon beaten up. Night fell with the men in the line wet & half-frozen & in this condition they remained until dawn of the 31st. Fritz here commenced a rather heavy bombardment in reply to our guns & this was kept up intermittently throughout the day. About 4 P.M. the sky cleared & there was great aerial activity on our side.
Hundreds of our planes were up the whole air seeming alive with the buzzing.
Another miserable night was passed & we were relieved on the morning of the 1st Nov. After wading waist-deep through the accumulated mud