worn as much as dark that Sam Brownes are a necessity (I have yet to see an officer wearing webs). You can get everything here except good boots & trench coats, it is well to have a sleeping valise of some sort & when one leaves England nothing more than a valise will be permitted.

So far they have not been strict about weight - I have not taken water bottle, compass, binoculars or periscope, trench dagger or knife or anything like that. For trench attacks the handle of an entrenching tool which is armed with iron, loaded with some barbed wire twisted round it is considered best.

We are now face to face with the most brutal aspects of war & are told there are only two things to remember "to keep oneself alive & to make as many German widows & orphans as possible".

The Colt automatic is all right & a good thing to have