Diary Entry - 8th October, 1916

Walford: I came to the guns, arriving there at nine forty five a.m. and I stopped at the Mess all day, to answer any telephone messages or orders that might come in. It rained hard all morning and I was not sorry to be undercover, except that it was darned cold sitting in a big draughty 60-pounder gun pit with no fire and the rain dripping through the roof. All the other officers were at the main wire cutting position in front of the Succerie. They returned at dusk. About seven, it was reported by the NCO in charge of supplies that Br. Spencer, our orderly to brigade, had been found dead on the road, one of the 4.2 we had heard bursting on the outskirts of Mailly Maillet must have got him. He had been riding a bicycle when the shell struck him and the front wheel had a piece blown clean out of it. Our luck seems to have deserted us.

Bee: It has been a brute of a day. It rained hard this morning and we were wet before we got to the position. It was rather a tiring day running about all the time, watching the different parties. You are really a foreman. They shelled our old position with 8-inch armour piercing, like yesterday, and gave us a few splinters. Walrond started cutting wire, which kept us going all the afternoon. There are dozens of guns coming in here every day. Heavies are as thick as flies. I expect there will be some show here shortly. Rumours says this is the biggest concentration of artillery there has been yet.