"The whole company streaked like mad across the four hundred yards gap." Officers and N.C.O.s encouraged a few who were straggling behind, "Come on, keep going" ... "You ought to have been there by now" ... "Only a few more yards to go" ... because if any had been left on that perilous "course" when the smoke screen lifted they would have been popped off easily by the German machine-gunner.

During a period of rest and consolidation at St Hubert in Belgium, the battalion seized the opportunity to run a structured five-day cadre course for junior NCOs drawn from every company. Capt JB Cranston was placed in charge, with Capt A Macaulay as his assistant. The subjects covered — weapons training, fieldcraft, map reading, mine handling, man management and drill — paint a vivid picture of exactly what skills the battalion felt its junior leaders needed to sharpen befor