TheCompleteMemoirsOfGeorgeSherston

front of Delville Wood—we came back to Bonte Re-
doubt and got there soon after daylight on the 3oth.
That day and the next we were being shelled by long-
range guns. About ten o'clock on the night of the
3 ist, Kinjack decided to shift camp. That took us
two hours, though it was only 1,500 yards away, but
it was pitch dark and pouring with rain. I'd got into
'slacks'-and was just settling down in a bell-tent when
we got the order to move up to Montauban in double
quick time, Kinjack went on ahead. You can im-
agine the sort of mix-up it was—the men going as fast
as they could, getting strung out and losing touch
in the dark, and the Adjutant galloping up and down
cursing everyone; I never saw him in such a state be-
fore—you know what a quiet chap he usually is. We'd
started in such a hurry that I'd got my puttees on over
my 'slacks'! It must have been nearly five miles, but
we did it in just over the hour. When we got there no
one could say what all the * wind-up' was about; we
were in reserve all next day and didn't move up to the
Wood till the evening after that. We were to attack
from the right-hand corner of the Wood, with the
East Surreys covering our left and the Manchesters
attacking Ginchy on our right. Our objective was
Pint Trench, taking Bitter and Beer and clearing Ale
and Vat, and also Pilsen Lane in which the Brigade
thought there were some big dug-outs. When I showed
the battle-plan to the Sergeant-Major, all he said was
'We'll have a rough house from Ale Alley'. But no
one had any idea it was going to be such a schimozzle
as it was!... Anyhow by 8.30 on the night of Septem-
ber 2nd I got C Company inside the Wood, with
Perrin and his Company just in front of us. A lot of
the trees were knocked to splinters and most of the
undergrowth had gone, so it wasn't difficult to get

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