During this period the sappers stationed at the forward test points had a most trying experience. Owing to the frequent breakdowns, they were perpetually working on the cable trenches by day and by night, employed in testing and substituting lines. The frequent use of gas shell made it necessary that at their isolated points they should secure the gas blankets of their dug-out entrances at night, and this inevitably produced an atmosphere little inferior to the gas itself. Two concreted test points in the “polder” area, taken over from the French, were conspicuous after shelling had destroyed all arboreal cover. The Germans apparently decided that these were gun positions, and favoured them with special attention, managing finally to secure three direct hits—two innocuous, however unnerving to the inmates; but the third on P.C. 6 burst square on the roof, and though only slightly bending the steel rails embedded in the concrete, killed a sapper of B.F. section inside. One small dug-out on the canal bank, P.C. 18, disappeared altogether after an eleven-inch howitzer bombardment of a neighbouring battery, but fortunately there was no occupant at the time. Corps Headquarters moved to La Panne at the beginning of September; but the location had evidently been given away by a spy, as it was heavily shelled by a long range gun a fortnight later, and consequently retransferred to Bray-Dunes. Though as the autumn drew on activity in the sector died down, all ranks had reason to welcome the relief of the Corps by the XXXVI. French Corps that commenced on the 19th November. On the 20th the Headquarters of the Company, under Captain Dingwall, who had been acting as A.W. Signals since September during Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison’s absence on sick leave, moved to Hinges near Béthune, and commenced to take over from the XI. Corps—then under orders for Italy—a sector between Béthune and Armentières. THE LYS AREA.