Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/148

126 the crunching of spades in earth and the thud of dirt on the dead leaves.

Our guide took all this in with a sweeping gesture.

"We have already got the new battalion command post well started here. You have only to install yourselves and complete it as you go along."

Nearby we found the battery under the tutelage of which our Battery A would be placed until the final relief. Captain Des Vignes, the officer commandiny, took us over the position. We marveled at the neat and efficient arrangement of the positions and the ammunition dumps. We had never imagined such trail logs as the French had here.

The captain showed us, not four hundred meters to the right, the temporary position suggested for Battery A. There was plenty of natural cover. Just to the rear sloped a steep wooded hillside, perfect for the construction of dugouts. At the edge of the forest was a rough road which men and carriages could track safely, Captain Dana was satisfied and returned to the eсhelon to arrange for getting the first platoon up that night.

It was understood that morning that the French group would remain with us for a week or more. On their departure we would leave the temporary positions for the ones they occupied now. All that was altered the next day, and, except for the first platoon of Battery A, the guns of the regiment went directly to the French emplacements.

It was noon, The French habit obtruded itself. Why, the captain wanted to know, shouldn't we lunch? Captain Des Vignes' one officer appeared, Lieutenant Riveau, executive, reconnaissance officer, telephone officer, department B man, and popotte, as the trench call their mess officer. In front of a round, white tent a table had been laid beneath the pine trees with cloth napkins and china. It wasn't