ever experienced, the shelling was heavy & then came the rain & you were over your knees in mud & water. What further trial than this could there be & yet all this did not lessen your determination to be at the Bosch which you did completely on the day. Am proud to have you under my command & I know when the time comes round for another fight you will be ready & anxious to take on the Bosch again & give him another such beating. I am so sorry that Col T.D. is not here.] [Insert: manuscript pages of notes for speech by WDS to the Royal Engineers Royal Engineers Officers, NCOs [Non-Commissioned Officers] and men of the Royal Engineers: I am glad to be able to get you together & to tell you how much I appreciate the hard work you put in during the time we were in Guillemont & after the battle. I have always looked on the work of the Royal Engineers in this campaign as the hardest & very often the most dangerous of any; night after night you have had to dig trenches, put up wire entanglement within a short distance of the Germans and no work is more trying to the nerves than this. On the day of the Guillemont fight you had to follow up close behind the infantry and in previously selected places you had to construct strong points