Unlike their artillery, the German machine gunners and riflemen were extremely active. The Rue des Bassiéres and the Convent Wall were always dangerous spots, while at night the enemy traversed the front line parapet with great accuracy. His snipers were very wide-awake and excellent shots; they had all the advantages of superior observation and high command, and some of them were certainly equipped with telescopic sights. It was almost as much as a man’s life was worth for him to show his head above the parapet for a few seconds in the daytime. Nearly all the casualties in the Fleurbaix Sector were from bullet wounds. As has already been said, the British positions were held at this time almost entirely by rifle fire. Few heavy guns were in use then and, though there were a fair number of field guns, no really effective barrage could be put down owing to the scarcity of ammunition. A very few rounds daily were all that the artillery could fire. Some of their ammunition was of poor quality. “Prematures” were not uncommon and caused much worry to Battalion H.Q. One day a 4.7 shell lodged in the breast-work just outside the Orderly Room, but did not explode. The two old Maxims which the Battalion had brought out with it were disposed to the best advantage, but, both in attack and defence, the main reliance had to be placed on the rifle. And the amount of rifle fire on that front was colossal. This was particularly the case at night. Often, somewhere far away and for no apparent reason, a perfect storm of firing would open; company after company would take it up, and so it would travel quickly along the line until, literally along thousands of yards of front, every man would be working his bolt as rapidly as possible. Sometimes this would go on for many minutes, and then it would gradually die down. The good old custom of “Five rounds rapid” at stand to was always encouraged in the Battalion. Occasionally rapid fire, to harass enemy transport or carrying parties, would be opened on some back area. In the daytime the use of the rifle was restricted to sniping, but in this the enemy had most of the advantage owing to his higher command and his greater experience in constructing positions. Yet every man in the Battalion was immensely keen to “bag a Bosch.” Often one man would hurl the most insulting remarks across No Man’s Land, or even show himself above the parapet, in the hope that some very simple-minded German would appear, and thus present a target to another Britisher who was anxiously waiting his chance in a neighbouring bay. But no successes have been recorded. The enemy was much too cute and usually retaliated only in kind. Hand-grenades too were just coming to the fore. When they were relieved the 3rd Worcesters had left two men in the line to instruct the Battalion in the manufacture of “jam-tin” and “hair-brush” bombs. About this time the Brigade Grenadier Company was formed, one platoon from each