On the 19th of December 1914 the Brigade was ordered to make an attack on part of the German trench which enfiladed the Hampshire trench. The attack was to be made in daylight, we were in support of this attack… …There were cries and screams, and we, who were in support, lay there for three or four hours. Then the order came, ‘The London Rifle Brigade will carry on the attack.’ The order was not actually to start, but we were to prepare for it. I noticed my friend Baldwin, on my left, had a white face. I felt drained out and when I tried to get up I couldn’t. My knees were wobbling and we lay there another half-hour, then heard with great relief that the attack was not to be repeated. We went out later and helped the stretcher-bearers to get in the wounded. I remember one man being carried back, and when he was safely inside he sang in a light tenor voice, ‘O for the wings, for the wings of a dove, far far away would I rove.’ He was said to sing in a church choir before the war. And far away in the woods as we went back rejoicing to have our rum ration, we heard this voice singing as the stars came out. But one poor chap with us, he took a first sip of the rum and gave a shriek and dropped the jar because some fellow back in the rear had stolen the rum and filled the jar with brown Condy’s fluid, a powerful disinfectant. This poor fellow had taken a mouthful and it went down into his stomach. We heard he died later. << less