Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-17

"Ar present and correct, sir." :" re- ported the company sergeant major 4 Company A. Fourth Canadian Mounted Rifles. as the officers came on parade for what was to be the last time We were quite proud of our company because we had just receiv- ed a re-enforcing draft of forty men which brought our numbers up to about 120-slightIy more than: one half the number we should have had. But in those days men were not as plentiful as they are now. We had 10 get along somehow.
 Every man was carefully inspected to see that he had his steel helmet Two gas masks and his iron rations. The latter consisted chiefly of tin bully beef and some hard biscuits. These were most necessary, as We never knew when the Germans might attempt a flank movement at the base Of the Ypres salient. and if this were successful those of us who were at the nose of the salient might have to subSist for two or three days on our iron rations until a wG-, could be cut through again. That tin, of bully beef . struck the men as being piece Of which it was advisable to ditch if possible
 To the Front Line. IL was just getting dusk as the in- Epection was completed Every man Eitched his pack un into a comfort
 
 tug at his belt and in a few minutes we were off on that long journey Of seven miles past Nlamertinghe- and Ypres. right up the salient to the front line Every man looked as though he were just going. back to work after his summer holiday We had had an eight-da rest and we were now go- ing in to do sixteen-da tour. ' The Fourth c. II. R. were. taking over new part of the --iine- They If1r in the trenches which ran south =fTon1 the gap at HooGe.t commencing at tile Appendix, and ending about opposite the Bird Gage, that famous concrete snipers' post in the German Hires 1l.ich seemed to laugh at our artiI- lery and continued to take it's daily folI among our men.
 But on the night of May 31, 1916. we. were going into trenches which ran in a soithWester,Y direction in n1agh Wood. The right of' our line was about 5e0 yards from H:jl 6e and rested on q short gap which separated us from the Second Division.- We had the good fortune fer the first time in ages to be loaded on train that sneaked up as far as without q light Here We. detrained. and af- ter some marching reached Shrapnel Corner, where VIC turned east toward ziIlebeke. At Transport Farm, to the south Of ZiilebeIe Lake, we were met by the guides of the Seventh g3attaI- ion, from whom we were talk ing over. From this point each company ad- vancsd separately with it's .cyvn guides. The night was dark illum;ned only by the flares from the front line, which swept in a large sennicircle to- rieht and left. The flares threw into relief the broken and twisted stunps of trees and uneven sandbag para pets of the trenches, The night was very still, except for. the occasional crash of a hand grenade or the crack of a rifle -<--ss. e- = t-~-' :
 Fritz's 'TspeWriters."
 We moved along the open road. un- td the rising ground brousht us in line with some of the lead from one of Fritz's '.tspewriters" which was traTersing that part of tiia scenery. times, and then turned to>tbe left be- tween Observatory Ridge anb Maple Copse. --+79..
 shortly after this we epl tered. the coniInunicatfng trench which took us to the. front line. 2 The ordinary trench -is.e marrow enough for q man wearing full equip n1ent. but when q relief is going on the trench is filled with men loaded down like pack mules waiting to go out as soon as the relief. is completed. We. bumped and squeezed our. way along to the accompan iment of many calculations never heard in Sunday school. At length we came to the It was on the extreme right of '1the Third division.
 During the. day Colonel Ussher.. ac-