The Bosches started a big “strafe” yesterday, and so kept us all busy on counter battery work; that is, spotting the flashes of the “hun-guns,” and wirelessing down their positions to the artillery, who either fire at them or note their positions for a future occasion. With all the German guns going, the woods behind the lines were a blaze of flashes, and we sent down as many in the afternoon as the battery had got in the previous six weeks. The artillery were naturally rather bucked. It was a wonderful sight seeing all the shells bursting along the miles of trenches, and the huge white spreading gas shells at intervals. One could hear the bang of our big guns when they fired salvos from under us, and at times we got bumps from the shells passing near us in the air. “Shell bumps” are fairly common, and I have had them before. I don’t know how near the shells pass, but moving at that speed they would affect the air for a long way round. I felt them at 5,000 feet once. They were not being shot at us, but shells which pass through to Hunland, so: [Illustration] * * * * * We got a wireless report here of a naval battle and not a cheery one at that. We are all waiting to see what the papers will have to say about it to-morrow.... Later: The C.O. has just been on the ’phone about the naval battle, and we are relieved to hear that it was not so bad as we had heard at first, or rather that the German losses were not so few as we were told. I must stop, as I have some letters to censor. “Hoping this finds you as it leaves me, in the pink.” * * * * * We have had two or three days of rest, as the weather has been too bad for flying.... The naval battle was not a defeat after all, and it seems a case of “as you were” in France; so we just sit here and play ping-pong and wait for the Army to win the war. * * * * * We have just had the papers with the news of the loss of Kitchener. We got the story by wireless a couple of days ago, but could not believe it until we saw it actually in print. It is a big blow, though probably morally more than in any other way.... Bad news has come through from the wing. Our ten days’ leave will in future be cut down to seven days from time of leaving here; that means five clear days in England. I only know this, that I shall be pleased to have leave in England, however short it is. It is a case of “so near and yet so far.” An hour and a half or two hours’ flying on a clear day would land me at home for tea--always providing I did not miss my way. But we don’t have such a bad time here on the whole, and I am perfectly frank with you in my letters. On carefully analysing my feelings, I believe I am actually enjoying the life, for we certainly do have the best time of any branch of the Army when our job is over. * * * * * [Sidenote: Looping the Loop.]