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[Page 10]
On Saturday the 22nd July we got word that we were to attack the village that night, & during the day we were kept busy perfecting plans as far as possible. We each wore a patch of pink cloth on the back of coat collar & went over in the charge with coat sleeves rolled up, small precautions against Fritz trying to pass himself off as an Austn. In addition a distinctive coloured ribbon was worn on the shoulder by those detailed for 1st line (or wave) 2nd wave, & 3rd wave, the object of these being to indicate whether or not a man was shirking & hanging back. All officers were dressed like privates & called rifles.
Of course I was not able to take my ordinary diary into the trenches from Warloy-Baillon & only had the tiny diary that Daddy gave me last Xmas. In this I was only able to make the scrappiest entries & then had to keep in mind the possibility of the book falling into Fritz's hands. The entry on Sat. 22nd, made that night before the