On the east of the town several smaller canals joined the Yser, and at this point the Five Bridges—so-called, though there were really six—had to be crossed. There were also other less important bridges over these canals, by which the front of the St. Georges sector was reached. This right sector included the site of one of the finest golf-links in Europe, but much of it was now under water. The destruction of dams and locks brought the tide into the canals, causing them to overflow and flood our defensive works; and the Boche amused himself at times by refraining from molesting the sappers while they repaired a dam, in order to knock it down as soon as completed and filled. The repairing and rebuilding of dams and bridges was a severe drain upon the resources of the Engineers and the infantry working under their supervision. The 428 and 429 Field Companies had each more than thirty bridges of various kinds under their charge. Infantry were attached to the Field Companies, and every unit supplied a permanent working-party of a platoon with an officer to serve with the Tunnelling Companies, which, among much other excellent work here, helped the R.A.M.C. to construct three deep A.D. Stations in the Nieuport cellars. The R.A.M.C. had their first experience of mustard-gas, and were also called upon to treat and evacuate several hundred cases of phosgene gassing. There was little activity on these fronts other than artillery duels and aircraft bombing. The line was often under fire from heavy mortars, and the bridges, dams, roads, and back areas were constantly shelled. The enemy’s 15-inch guns bombarded Dunkirk, twenty miles behind the line, and the shelling of back areas increased in violence until on reaching the front line it frequently attained an intensity unsurpassed on any sector of the British front. The enemy had the advantage of slightly higher ground at Lombartzyde village, so his works and trenches were not affected by the floods. As he could see any movement on our side, and as on the least sign of this his machine-guns and “whizz-bangs” promptly opened fire, our men lay “doggo” behind the breastworks, or in small pill-boxes, during the daytime. This absence of movement gave one a sense of isolation and even the unpleasant feeling of being left behind by one’s comrades and forgotten. At night there had to be considerable movement, and the Lancashire men speculated on the length of stay that would be required to transform them into amphibians, and when they would begin to develop web-feet. Patrols sent out to reconnoitre posts alleged to be occupied by the enemy had a particularly difficult and nerve-testing task. Often they had to wade through the floods, and sometimes to swim across the canals, the one compensation being that as No Man’s Land was always flooded there was little chance of any surprise attack. Listening posts close up to the German lines were reached by