The band slowly played the Russian national anthem, and we
all dropped our baggage and stood to attention. As the strains died
away we again seized our grips and began to push forward when the
band struck up the Marseillaise and again we dropped everything and
stood to attention. After an interval of about ten minutes the last
bars of the tune died away and for the third time we seized our things
only to hear the strains of the British national anthem rising on the
air. Again we dropped our stuff and smartly came to the salute like
good loyal subjects though we heartily wished that the delegation had
gone by the Archangel route, for we felt certain that the band would
play the national anthems of Belgium, Japan, Serbia and Italy.
However, like most things, it came to an end and we filed off after a
delay of what had seemed to be a good half hour. It is strange how we
were all keen to get back to the front to the work which we got so fed
up with and would sometimes give the whole world to get away from.
[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS AS USED IN THE FLANDERS OFFENSIVE.]
The summer of 1916 was the period of the battle of the Somme and most
of our interests hinged on that offensive. At the beginning of July
the British began their big advance to the south and the fighting in
our area consisted largely of trench raids, artillery bombardments,
gas attacks, aeroplane raids and other events incidental to trench
warfare.
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