NEXT ENEMY THRUST. BRITISH PREPARATIONS.

A senior officer of ours went round the lines the other day and asked one of the men what he thought would happen if the enemy attacked on his sector. The man thought for a moment to measure things up in his mind, and then said in the driest way: “Well, sir, if he comes over here we shall make things darned interesting for him.” That word “interesting” covers a deep and terrible meaning which that private soldier of ours had in his mind when he thought of all the defensive preparations that have been made during recent weeks to tangle up the enemy and put every bunker in his way and to make death-traps into which his men will stumble when they are ordered forward in assault. All along our front our officers and men are full of confidence that the Germans will “take the knock,” as they call it, when they try to smash through next time, and, however horrible it is to think of another series of battles having to be faced before this year is out, it is good to know that our men have this belief in their defensive strength. We are not in a hurry for the enemy to begin. This time of inactivity may seem very trying to people eager for war news, eager to know that another stage has passed bringing us towards the end, but it suits our men and our plans admirably. Our men and these young lads of ours who have come out to join the veterans have a pretty exciting time along the roads which the German gunners have registered, in villages which get knocked about at odd hours by high-velocity shells, and in trenches where they have to be quick with their gas masks and handy with their machine guns and steady when a barrage comes down before a night raid on the outposts. Minor operations which do not make much show in the newspapers are as important as any other kind of battle to them, and they are not out to make big history unless it is strictly necessary. When the time comes they go through with it in the usual way which the British soldier has done through all the battles of this war, to the wonder of all men who have seen him in action. So now life is normal on the front, with just the usual amount of shellfire knocking out a few men here and a few men there on this sector, providing the normal amount of work for field hospitals and casualty clearing stations, and demonstrating that there is a war on to people who are not likely to forget it. The business of the day proceeds – a vast business impossible to describe – as one travels from the base to the front and along behind the lines for a hundred miles or more, with the transport columns moving up with their usual supplies of rations for men and guns, with labour companies working on the roads and digging new trenches, with battalions “in rest” training hard in the open fields, and battalions in support putting their new drafts through their paces, and all the activities of millions of men doing a hundred thousand jobs which have only one purpose and meaning, which is to perfect every part of that highly complicated machine known as an army in the field. The German guns were active yesterday also on the Hazebrouck Front and up in Vlamertinghe and Ypres, where no amount of shelling will make much difference to the view of the things. Our guns were fairly busy in reply, and our airmen have been out and about in spite of a foggy morning yesterday after heavy rain. Bapaume is one of their favourite haunts by day and night; poor old Bapaume, won by so much sacrifice, and ours until three months ago, and now an assembly-place for German troops. For them it must be a fearful cross road, and no place for lingering. Two tons of bombs were dropped there by our aeroplanes by day, and another two tons by night on one day of this week, and there is hardly a day or night in which it does not get a visit of this kind.