Diary Entry - 16th September, 1916

There was not much sleep to be had in the night as the 9th Battery kept firing about every hour or so and, as two rats trotted down from my feet towards my head, I did not feel very much like sleeping. Dixon came up to the OP from the 71s with a bad cold and the Major was also up for a short time with Murdoch, who has now gone to the 71s as acting captain. At midday we noticed a large streak of smoke reaching from the sky to the ground and something was smoking on the ground behind Puisieux (north end) and, as all the other Bosche balloons came down with a rush, it looked as if one of our aeroplanes had set one on fire. About three, Bosche started shelling the 9th with 10-cm gun and kept at them till about six thirty. The signaller Gibbs came down a different track so as to avoid being shelled but the signaller later in the evening shot himself through the leg with a revolver, but it was quite an accident. Soeul arrived with some reinforcements and, as he offered to take on servant, I sent Bates back to the detachment and let him carry on.