continuing Con's letter to family, June 1917: 'The bombardment had been going on for a fair time when we got the order to advance. For awhile the Hun seemed too stunned to reply seriously, but soon his big guns at the back directed their fire on to us. Twenty minutes after our first wave went over, German prisoners were coming back to our line.
They put up no fight at all for a start. As I was not in the first waves I had no hand to hand fighting to do, although the first lot over are the best off, as Fritz sends all his big stuff back to keep reserves from coming up. The artillery knows where these are but do not know where the first lot are. As we went forward we passed over corpses, mangled and torn, while others were in their death struggles crying for water, which no one had time to stop and give them. I passed two of my mates dying but could do nothing for them. The only thought t