At Aubers Ridge, near Fromelles, in October 1918, my chum and I were
engrossed in a game of chess, our chessboard being a waterproof sheet
with the squares painted on it, laid across a slab of concrete from a
destroyed pill-box.
The Germans began to drop 5·9's with alarming regularity about 150
yards to our rear, temporarily distracting our attention from the game.