To get information before the Somme offensive, the new idea of making
daylight raids on the German trenches was adopted. It fell to our
battalion to make the first big raid.
Our objective was the "brick-fields" at Beaurains, near Arras, and our
orders were to take as many prisoners as possible, hold the trench
for half an hour, do as much damage as we could, and then return. A
covering barrage was put down, and over we went, one hundred strong.
We got into Jerry's trench all right, but, owing to the many dug-outs
and tunnels, we could only find a few Germans, and these, having no
time to bolt underground, got out of the trench and ran to take cover
behind the kilns and brick-stacks.
And then the fun began. While the main party of us got to work in the
trench, a few made after the men who had run into the brick-fields, and
it was a case of hide and seek, round and round and in and out of the
kilns and brick-stacks.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, one chap, a Cockney, entered
so thoroughly into the spirit of the thing that when, after a lengthy
chase, he at last clapped a German on the shoulder, he shouted, "You're
'e!"--_E. W. Fellows, M.M. (late 6th D.C.L.I.), 35 Dunlace Road,
Clapton, E.5._