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Our tunnellers were always mining and we would see them by day and night disappearing into mysterious holes in the ground, and it was only when Messines Ridge disappeared in fine dust that we understood that their groping in underground passages was not in vain.
Half a mile south from Dickebusch are cross-roads, and the sign-post tells you that the road to the left is the road to Wytschaete but Wytschaete faces Kemmel and Messines faces Wulverghem.
Then across the current of all our thought came the news of the Battle of Messines. Troops had been massing for some time on the sector of line which the Irish Divisions had now held since the previous October; and the day was plainly in sight which had been expected since spring, when they were to try and carry positions in front of which so much blood had been vainly shed.
It was a terrific bombardment; it was the biggest row I have heard since the Battle of Messines! After a few minutes we went and sat in C Company dug-out in the Estaminet. Captain Andrews was there too. Who should walk in but Gaulter, of Hut 5 at Gailes! He is in the 1/4th King's Own in our Brigade. I had a talk with him. We returned about 4 a.m. to Bilge Trench; and Andrews went back to Potijze.
Some of these myths are worth repeating all are worth noting, for they are in most cases founded on possibilities. The most popular myth or fairy on the Messines front was undoubtedly the "Mad Major."
During the next few days it rained the whole of the time, and there was little opportunity for photography; but I obtained some excellent scenes, showing the conditions under which our men were living and fighting, and their indomitable cheerfulness. About this time I arranged to go to the Canadian front trenches, in their section facing Messines.
It was one of the new plagues of war. The battle of Flanders began round Ypres on July 31st, with a greater intensity of artillery on our side than had ever been seen before in this war in spite of the Somme and Messines, when on big days of battle two thousand guns opened fire on a single corps front.
And the one thing that roused him and put him out of temper was the easy complacent talk of people who were sure of speedy victory and talked of 'knock-out' blows. Then six months later, after the capture of the Messines Ridge, in which he took part, he reappeared, and finding his father, apparently, almost intolerable, and Pamela and Desmond away, he migrated to Chetworth.
April 16 Germans capture Messines ridge, near Ypres; Bolo Pasha executed. April 23 British and French navies "bottle up" Zeebrugge. April 26 Germans capture Mount Kemmel, taking 6,500 prisoners. May 5 Austria starts drive on Italy. May 10 British navy bottles up Ostend. May 24 British ship Moldavia, carrying American troops, torpedoed; 56 lost.
Having been so successful at the strafing at Messines, our Colonel was anxious that we continue the game here and I was delegated to locate a good position and "go to it."
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