Aug. 1917.
On the 3rd August the Division made a side slip to the left, our left sector now becoming our right; for the new left sector we took over the rather unpleasant piece of trench (the old Hindenburg line) which ran from due south of Riencourt to about 500 yards west of Bullecourt, and which included the latter village. On this readjustment the 35th Brigade, of the 7th Division, was added to my command, in positions in the Ecoust valley. I moved two batteries of the 312th Brigade across into the same valley, while A and C/312 remained on the Lagnicourt side temporarily.
About this time we heard from a prisoner that part of the artillery acting against our front was the 49th Field Artillery Regiment; "but we call it," he said, "the 48½th, because they never quite reach their target, and are always firing into their own trenches." This was satisfactory hearing; at the same time we were uncomfortably aware that they managed to reach their targets rather more often than their own infantry seemed to suppose.
Good news reached us on the 4th from the Ypres front of 6000 prisoners having been taken and St. Julien occupied. Operations had, however, been brought to a standstill in the north by the vile weather; really it seemed as though the elements were always on the side of the Powers of Darkness.
Lieut. A. G. Bennett was wounded on the 8th August.
On about this date one of my trench mortar batteries went into action in Bullecourt.
They are in a ruin in the middle of the village. You get to them by first entering an old cellar in another ruin, and then scrambling down a sloping tunnel to an underground chamber about 30 feet below the surface of the ground. Here the detachment live. Then you crawl up another tunnel, and emerge into the ruin which holds the mortar emplacements.
I think that the trench mortar batteries had, on the whole, while they were in action, the most uncomfortable and dangerous job of any troops in the line. The infantry, while recognising their great value, objected not unnaturally to have such favourite objects of the enemy's attentions in any position near their dug-outs or much frequented trenches; and, as it was necessary that the mortars should be sited as close as possible to the enemy's front line, and yet, for the above reason, not too near the infantry, it followed that the only available positions were usually in unpopular spots shunned by all who had any choice in the matter, and generally bearing such significant titles as Hell Fire Point, V.C. Corner, Deadman's Gulley, etc. The unfortunate detachments lived underground for practically the whole of their tour of duty, as it was often impossible to get to and from their emplacements during the daylight; and, owing to shortage of men, their tours of duty were generally two or three times as long as those of the infantry. When I went to visit them, I could nearly always promise myself an exciting walk with plenty of thrills in it. I retain lively recollections of crawling with Lindsell or Anderson, guided by Powell, the D.T.M.O., along shallow trenches, or places where trenches had been before they were demolished, and finally diving down into the ground to find ourselves, when the eyes got used to the subterranean darkness, in the midst of a party of smiling jolly looking gunners. They were a cheerful lot, and, after all, they had their compensations. There were times when there was no scope for the use of trench mortars, and then they would sometimes get a rest for several weeks at a time, in some pleasant billet well back from the firing line; and when they did get a rest, it was well deserved.
On the 11th August C/312 was accurately bombarded, and lost two men killed and two wounded. The casualties up to this date amounted to