There was a fly in the ointment, however,
for the enemy knew about this camp, and being in possession of a couple
of high velocity 5.9 guns for which this place was a suitable target, he
pooped them off at us occasionally in the evening time. The night before
we came, indeed, a shell dropped upon a hut occupied by 2/6th Manchester
officers, killing four of them. Although we were worried this way, there
being little feeling of security under a thin wooden or canvas roof,
we fortunately sustained no casualties. On October 2nd we took over the
front line from the 5th, and were now in the unique position of being
the left battalion of the whole Western Front.
[Illustration: NIEUPORT, AND COAST SECTOR.]
It was an extraordinary place to fight in--like having a real war at
Blackpool amongst the houses along the front. Nestling in the corner
made by the mouth of the Yser and the coast, is the seaside resort
ostensibly belonging to the town of Nieuport, for it is called Nieuport
Bains. The war had arrived here suddenly, apparently, for an engine and
trucks still stood in the station, much battered now of course, while
every cellar was filled with most expensive furniture which the people
in their rapid flight had been unable to remove. All the houses had been
of the new and large type, particularly those overlooking the promenade,
but they were now skeletons of their former glory, and to see property
of this kind in such a state only served to bring home still more
forcibly the cruel destruction of modern war.
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