LAND AND WATER 
January 27, 1916- 
unheeded by them, men fought, and suffered wounds and 
died, or fought on in the scarce lesser sutlenng of cold and 
wet and hunger. 
Fluctuations of the Fight. 
In the signallers' room all the fluctuations of the 
fight were translated from the pulsing fever, the human 
living tragedies and heroisms, the violent liopes and 
f^ars^nd Lxieties of the battle line, to curt cold words 
to scribbled letters on a message form. At tunes these 
messages were almost meaningless to them or at least 
their red tragedy was unheeded. Their hrst thought 
when a message was handed in for transmission usually 
Their tirst question when the signaller at the other end 
called to take a message, was whether the message vvas 
a long one or a short one. One telephonist was handed 
au ui^-ent message to send oft, saying that bombs were 
running short in the fonvard line and that further s^uppies 
were reciuired at the earliest possible moment, that he 
line was being severely bombed and unless they had the 
means to reply must be driven out or destroyed Ihc 
signaller took 'that message and sent it through but his 
instrument was not working very clearly and he was a 
^uod deal more concerned and his mind was much more 
fully taken up with the exasperating difticulty of making 
the signaller at the other end catch word or letter correctly 
than it was ^nth all the close packed volume of ineamng 
it contained. It was not that he did "ot understand 
the meaning ; he himself had known a line bombed out 
before now, the trenches rent and torn apart, the 
shattered limbs and broken bodies of the defenders, the 
horrible ripping .rash of the bombs, the blinding tlaim 
the .umbing shock, the smoke and reek and noise of the 
explosions; but though all these things were known to 
also that fairly heavy fire was being maintained on the 
open ground. After that there was silence. 
When the signaller had time to look about him. to 
light a cigarette and to listen to the uproar of battlc 
that filtered down the cellar steps and through the closed 
door, he spoke to the sergeant about the nf/f^ /^"^ the 
sergeant agreed with him that it was getttmg louder, 
whkh meant either that the fight was getting hotter 
or coming closer. The answer to their doubts came 
swiftly to their hands in the shape of a note from the O.t. 
wUh a message borne by the orderly that it was to be sent 
through anyhow or somehow, but at once. 
Now the O.C. be it noted, had already had a report 
that the telephone wire was cut ; but he still scribbled liis 
note, sent his message and thereafter P^t the matter out 
of h s mind. He did not know how or m what fashion 
the 1^- sage would be sent ; but he did know the Signalling 
Company^nd that was sufficient for hmi. In this he was 
doing nothing out of the usual. There are many com- 
manders who do the same thing, and this, if you read 
it aright, is a compliment to the signalling companies bt- 
Void all the praise, of General Orders or the sweet flattery 
of the G O.C despatch— the men who sent the messages 
put them out of their mind as soon as they were written 
and handed to an orderly with a curt order, bignalhng 
company to scn^^^ s.^.^ ^^.^ ^ ^^^^^^ .^^^ ^^^^ ^.jj^^ ^ 
consider it, allowing due time for its journey, as good 
as delivered at the other end ; by so doing you pay an 
unconscious compliment to all manners and grades ot 
men, from high salaried managers down to humble 
Vjorters and postmen. But the somewhat similar com- 
pliment that is paid by the men who send messages across 
The battlefield ^s paid in the buk to one little sdc 
explosions; but though all these things were l^n'^^ " to ^JJ- ^-^-^ ^^ ^^^f^^^^l ^rawn and blood, the spiritual 
him, the words " bombed out " meant no mo e now than arc e ^ t ^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^ ^^^ ^ 1^ 
nine letters of the alphabet and t^he "^^ddenuig^s^tuF^^^^^ ^^^^ perseverance, the endurance, the grit and the deter- 
mination of the Signalling Companies. 
Very Urgent. 
. ^t and the maddenhig stupidity ^^^^^:''^ ^^^ ^e grit and the deter- 
o the man at the other end, who would misunderstand tlt^fJ^^'J^fZ^l^Mu,^ Companies. 
the sound and meaning of " bombed and had to have 
it in time-consuming letter by letter spellmg^ 
When he had sent that message, he took otf and wrote 
down one or two others from the signalling station he was 
in touch with. His own station it will be remembered 
was close up to the for^vard firing line, a new firing line 
which marked the limits of thg advance made that 
morning. The station he was connected with was back 
"n rear of what, previous to the attack, had been the 
British forward line. Between the two the thin insignifi- 
cant thread of the telephone wire ran twisting across the 
iumble of the trenches of our old firing line, the neutral 
ground that had lain between the trenches and the other 
maze of trench, dug-out, and bomb-proof shelter P.its that 
had been captured from the enemy. 1 hen in the middle of 
sending a niessage, the wire went dead, gave no answer 
o repeated calls on the " buzzer." Ihe sergeant, cal ed 
to c<ksultation. helped to overlook and examine the 
instrument. Nothing could be found wrong with it, but 
to make quite sure tlie fault was not there, a spare instni- 
ment was coupled on to a short length of wire between it 
and the old one. They carried the message perfectly, so 
and the old one. Ihev carnea tne message pciic^ui>, ^ ^^^-^^ instructions, drew tneir wet coaxs auuut w.... . 
with curses of angry disgust, the wire was pronounced ■ shoulders, relieved their feelings in a few- growled 
disconnected, or " disc " as the signaller called it. ,. ^^^ntences about the dog's Ufe a man led in that Con 
and departed into the wet night 
When the sergeant took his message and glanced 
through it, he pursed his hps m a low whistle and asked 
the signaller to copy while he went and roused thrc^ 
messengers. His quick glance through the note had to d 
him, even without the O.C.'s message,that it w-as to the 
last degree urgent that the message should go back and 
be delivered at once and without fail ; therefore he sent 
three messengers, simply because three men trebled the 
chances of the message getting through without delay. 
If one man dropped, there were two to go on ; if two tell 
the third would still carry on ; if he fell-well, after that 
the matter was beyond the sergeant's handling ; he must 
leave it to the messenger to find another man or means 
to carry on the message. 
The telephonist had scribbled a copy of the note to 
keep by him in case the wire was mended and the message 
could be sent through after the messengers started anc 
before they reached the other end. The three received 
their instructions, drew their wet coats ^^^o^t |heir shivejj 
Company. 
Repairing a Break. 
This meant (hat a man or men had to be sent out 
along the line to find and repair the break, and that until 
this were done, no telephone niessage could pass between 
that portion of the forward fine and the headquarters m 
the rear The situation was the more serious, inasmuch 
as this was the only connecting line for a considerable 
distance along the new front. A corporal and twcj men 
took a spare instrument and a coil of wire, and set out on 
their dangerous journey. 
The break of course had been reported to the U.L., 
and after that there was nothing more for the signaller at 
the dead instrument to do. except to listen for the buzz 
that would come back from the repair party as they pro- 
gressed along the line, tapping in occasionally to make 
ture that they still had connection with the forward sta- 
tion, their getting no reply at the same time from the 
rear station, being of course sufficient proof that they had 
not passed the break. 
Twice the signaller gota message, the second one benig 
from the forward side of the old neutral ground m what 
had been the German front line trenclV; the report said 
The sergeant came back, re-read the message and 
discussed it with the signaller. It said : ' Heavy attacl 
is developing and being pressed strongly on our centre 
a-a-a.* Our losses have been heavy and line is con- 
siderably weakened a-a-a WHll hold on here to the las 
but urgently request that strong reinforcements be seni 
up if the line is to be maintained a-a-a Additional artillery 
support would be useful a-a-a." . , , . 
"Sounds healthy, don't it?" said the sergeant 
reflectively. The signaller nodded gloomily and listened 
apprehensively to the growing sounds of battle. Jsow 
that his mind was free from first thoughts of telephonic 
worries, he had time to consider outside matters, i'oi 
nearly ten minutes the two men hstened and talked 
in short sentences, and listened again. 1 he rattle ot 
rifle fire was sustained and unbroken, and punctuated 
liberally at short intervals by the boom of exploding 
grenades and bombs. Decidedly the whole action wa^ 
hea\ier— or coming back closer to them. 
* lliic- us indicate a lull stop. 
