meantime, in comfortable billets in Fresnoy and Bohain, settled down to systematic training for its next leap forward. These few days when the Division rested, flushed with a series of successes which, they felt, equalled the record of the best of the fighting troops of a fighting Army, will not soon be forgotten. The records of the past three weeks were written with blood and iron across a stretch of twenty miles of captured country. Over 7,000 prisoners, seventy guns, and machine guns too numerous to count, had been sent back to swell the tale of captures taken by the victorious British Armies in this, the zenith of their career. Exhausted by the recent heavy fighting, ail ranks were in a condition thoroughly to enjoy the test that had been merited so well.
Yet, while the enemy still stood at bay, rest could not be allowed, even for a week, to monopolize our minds and bodies. A carefully prepared training programme provided both organized recreation and the more serious preparation for future operations which was essential if the Division was to maintain its high level of effort. Each morning, the rolling downs round about Fresnoy and Bohain were crowded with officers and men engaged in tactical training. The afternoon saw dozens of football teams engaged in mimic battle, while, evening after evening, the crowded houses at the cinema and "Whizz-bangs"[1] were sufficient witness that the lighter side of life was being catered for so far as open warfare conditions would permit.
Meanwhile, the news from all points was such as must cheer the least sanguine heart amongst us. Bulgaria and Turkey were down and out, and Austria was on her last legs. In France, the chief enemy was being slowly but inexorably beaten back; the roar of the conflict receded,
- ↑ The 46th Divisional concert-troupe.
