When the smoke barrage began the enemy opened heavy rifle and machine-gun fire which he kept up for half an hour. Judging from the intensity of this fire he must have been manning his parapet in strength. At the same time the enemy field guns and howitzers severely shelled our trenches, creating a barrage along the 60th Brigade front. Most of the shells seem to have fallen on the support trenches and on the old assembly places, for the 12th R.B. had only two casualties, and this they attribute to the fact that all men of this battalion were kept in the front trenches during the bombardment and none behind in support. The trench mortars also came in for fairly heavy shelling. One of the detachments had bad luck, for when the gun was being packed up the officer and two men were killed and the third man wounded by the last shell that the Germans fired in the course of these operations. Our bombardment ceased at 2.10 P.M. and by 2.45 all was quiet. There is no doubt that the demonstration was a success. The enemy must have suffered a good deal from our shell fire, while the casualties in the 20th Division were only about 50. The dummies were most realistically worked so that the enemy was thoroughly deceived and certainly concentrated his artillery on the area of the 60th Brigade. A German communiqué dealing with this demonstration came later into our hands. It ran: “A strong attack by the enemy was stopped at his trenches.” All this time mining, sniping, and other activities inseparable from trench warfare continued on both sides. Patrols were constantly at work at night examining the German line, noting the state of the wire and the position of new works and showing much coolness and daring in collecting all the information they could. 2nd Lieut. M. L. Cope of the 11th R.B. won the M.C. while out with a patrol on the night of the 16th of October. He raided and bombed a German listening post, killing two of the enemy and routing the rest, and obtaining two greatcoats and a rifle. When his bombs were exhausted he followed up with his revolver and emptied the chambers into the Germans at six yards’ range. Having no more ammunition he immediately went to the assistance of a severely wounded man, whom he helped into cover. The action for which Lieutenants G. Meredith and H. H. de D. Monk, both of the 11th K.R.R.C., were awarded the M.C. may also be given here, though it occurred on the night of the 24th-25th of November. These two officers were reconnoitring with their company officer when the latter was killed. For over an hour, under continuous and heavy fire and over flooded and difficult ground, they dragged the body back until they reached our trenches.