"The thundering line of battle stands, And in the air Death moans and sings." JULIAN GRENFELL. [Sidenote: June 1917.] In the next few weeks trench warfare pursued its monotonous course--long periods, as it has been aptly said, of unutterable boredom varied by moments of inexpressible terror--but June was, on the whole, the quietest month the Division had in France. On the 15th the Divisional Headquarters at Achiet-le-Grand was shelled by a 15-inch gun firing from a range of about 20 miles. Two or three shells burst within 50 yards of our mess, but the only casualties were one of my clerks and my Reconnaissance Officer Anderson's servant, both slightly wounded. On the 19th orders came for the Division to go into the line again, relieving the 20th Division on the front opposite Riencourt and Quéant, a side slip of a mile or two to the right of our old position. The artillery were all in their new positions by the 22nd, on which date I reassumed command, moving my headquarters to the Monument Camp on the Sapignies-Bapaume road. I received the following letter from the G.O.C.R.A. 58th Division:-- "The B.G.R.A. 58th Division wishes to express his gratitude and appreciation to all ranks of the 62nd Divisional Artillery, whom he has had the honour to have under his command during the past month. "Despite heavy shelling of their positions and continual firing night and day, they have never failed to respond quickly and efficiently to every call which he has made upon them, and it has been largely due to their excellent and energetic shooting that the operations which have just concluded have attained the measure of success which has come their way. "All ranks of the 58th Divisional Artillery unite in thanking the 62nd Divisional Artillery for all their help, and wish them the best of luck. "E. J. R. PEEL, "_Brig.-General_." The 310th Brigade were now in positions in the Noreuil Valley, which had been given not inaptly the name of the Valley of Death, and the 312th in the neighbourhood of Lagnicourt. Early in the morning of the 25th they supported a successful little raid made by our infantry on the Boche front line south of Riencourt. No prisoners were taken unfortunately, but the infantry found several dead bodies, killed by our artillery fire. We now began to get the trench mortars into action. Up till this time they had not had much chance of proving their value, although the personnel had done much useful work in helping the D.A.C. with the ammunition supply. They were now to take up their legitimate rôle in the front trenches. On the 26th D/312 underwent a severe shelling, but although two howitzers were badly hit, no men were hurt.