The Ypres Times.
233
make any further headwaybut the gunner's pride was that somehow he had taken his-
gun far enough forward to give them protection and support.
And thus he likes to think of that sluggish little stream which runs beneath the wreck
of what was once the village of Langemark.
As the great battle progressed and our front line crept slowly forward it became
increasingly difficult, owing to the lengthening range, to meet hostile counter-attacks
adequately, or to bring harassing fire to bear sufficiently far behind the German lines.
Necessity therefore arose to push the guns up to the line of the Steenbeek. The
country eastward of the Pilkem Ridge was open and exposed, but on either side of the
Steenbeek itself was a narrow strip barely a hundred yards in width which could not be
directly seen into by the enemy's observers. The ground was a sea of mud, churned'up
by continuous bombardments and barrages, and the whole area was swept by intense
bursts of shell-fire coming, on many days, at intervals of about twenty minutes. Recon
naissance, digging of gun emplacements, and dumping of ammunition were therefore
matters of extreme difficulty. For about a week beforehand a subaltern or two and a party
of men from each battery ordered forward lived on the banks of the Steenbeek preparing
as far as was practicable, positions for the guns, and storing and camouflaging ammunition,
packed up by the drivers from the wagon lines. Then one dark and rainy night in
September batteries moved forward along the road to Langemark, to occupy their allotted
positions.
The road had been badly damaged by shells of all natures up to the heaviest, and was
for the most part so narrow that vehicles could not pass one another on either side,
almost touching each other, were deep craters filled with mud and water. A considerable
extent had been repaired with baulks of timber, but many vehicles in trying to pass one
another had overturned into the craters, and remained there beyond hope of extrication.
The road had been constantly shelled and gassed for weeks, especially by night, and was
dangerous at all times. Throughout this night there was a continuous movement of
batteries by this the only possible route, and many a gap was made in the living stream.
But the gaps were momentary and soon filled up. The doors of the Kingdom of Heroism
are flung so wide that the meanest may enter, and the right manoften merely the humble
driver in mud-stained anonymitywas always there to cut away dead horses, hurriedly
hook in a pair obtained from another team, clear the wounded and wreckage, and allow
the pent-up traffic to resume its flow. All this in black darkness, for the glimmer of a
light at once brought down a storm of fire. During these periods of delay men could
only set their teeth and steel themselves and gaze into the darkness wondering if they
would ever see the sun again. It is the motionless patience necessary in such circum
stances that sets men's nerves on the rack. When the guns moved on once more, relief
came at once, and as they turned at last off the road, the troublous sea of shell-craters
was faced with comparative cheerfulness. Now and again in the dark a gun would
disappear in one of the larger craters and instantly eager gunners would cluster round,,
put a purchase on the wheel, and pull till their hands bled or in their devotion throw
their coats down into the mud to give a grip, leaving themselves unprotected from the
pitiless rain. The guns must be in action by the morning—and in the morning it was so
all without exception were ready to open fire as required. And what a scene greeted the
day. Along this corduroy road lay men, horses and the wreckage of vehicles strewn
motionless throughout its length. But the road was cleared, the battle went on it had only
been a brief episode.
When the day dawned batteries looked around on a cheerless prospect. Mud in
every direction not flat mud as ordinarily understood, but billowing like the heaving sea.
in a storm. Each day the enemy flung shells in increasing numbers, which churned and
furrowed the surface anewand the rain continued without intermission, turning the
whole country into a veritable slough of despond. A little cutting in a shell-crater with a
piece of corrugated iron and a couple of blankets was all that some battery headquarters
