Our captain asked for volunteer observers, and I offered. We went into
the place where once was Maple Copse Woods, but it was no more; here and
there was a standing tree, but not a leaf or limb left of it, and the
trunks were littered with pieces of steel and iron. Before the battle
commenced, this spot was one of the loveliest places in the country
round about that one could well imagine. Flowers, shrubbery and the
rarest of plants of all kinds were there in abundance. This day it was a
scarred ruin; the savagery of destruction was so terrible it is
indescribable.
We wound our way amongst the dead and the wounded to the top of Mont
Soreul, first stopping to take a peep at our old guns; they were still
there, but badly battered up; Fritz evidently thought it was barely
possible we might have a chance to use them again. We reached our old
telephonist's hut on the hill, looked around for Lieutenant Matthews,
but he wasn't there; he had been wounded and taken prisoner.
We established lines of communication at once, to hold the Germans back
while we built up our own front.
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