After a night of rain it is a sunny day and the place is drying, but it’s such a mess. Have been with Charlie all morning, then back for a talk with the officers about the attack. Now I want to ride over our ground, and have to go up about six miles to see an R.A. Group Commander about wire cutting. A bathe this morning. No B.M. [Brigade Major] yet.

9.30 p.m. Had a long afternoon over our practice ground, then on to see 1^st Battalion, and then called on Peake on my way back and had tea there. He told me he’d tried to get me back to R.A., but hadn’t succeeded. A lecture, about 2½ miles from here, on the Jutland fight, by a man who was there. Brew went, most interesting. The man was a Major in the next Div. home on leave, got a permit to visit the Fleet, arrived 6.00 a.m. on morning, was put on a battleship as a guest, sailed at 9.00 a.m. and took part in the fight. Saw it all in the fighting top. Jellicoe’s Fleet consisted of 24 Dreadnoughts. They didn’t see much of Beatty’s action, but saw ‘Defence’ blown up, and ‘Marlborough’ hit. She heeled over and then righted herself and went on firing. Says his ship sank ‘Lutzow.’ Admiralty claim to have sunk 30 ships, he says. Mine layers were sent round to lay a mine field between German Fleet and Wilhelmshaven, which they did successfully, and were the means of sinking some German ships. There was a Bosche raid into our bit of the line last night. Our casualties six killed and 14 wounded. We accounted for one Bosche officer, killed, and six dead in our trench, besides others wounded outside.

Footnote

The raid mentioned was against 15^th Royal Irish Rifles, one of the battalions of 107^th Brigade, holding the line while 108^th and 109^th Brigades prepared for the forthcoming attack. Nine men of the Battalion were killed.