Sun. May 13 -

Dawned bright and clear but proved rather unlucky for the batteries along the railway track. There were evening observation balloons up and they must have done some rather good observing for from 10:00 a.m. to about 2 p.m., shrapnel and heavy 4.5 came flying over thick and fast. We had to keep to the saps which were safe from the flying splinters, but a direct hit on one of them would likely have caved it in so it was not pleasant hearing them come so fast and wondering if the next would bury you in the sap. Some of our ammunition was blown up and the coverings on a couple of the guns set on fire, but otherwise we escaped rather luckily. I believe some of the batteries near us had a few casualties and some guns put out of action. We don't seem to be as much master of the air as we are led to believe. Our guns are certainly in a bad position on a sharp palient(?). We get fire from the left & right flanks as well as from the front. The fire of today seemed to come from the left. Lens can easily be seen over to our left front. The Huns no doubt have many observation towers there and many big guns hidden away. It would seem that our best course would be to shell Lens, but the French, I understand, won't let us. In the evening, we worked some on our empalement. No ammunition came up - we have lots on hand. Bdr. Reynolds got a letter from R.A. Macdonald and we were all pleased to hear that he is getting along nicely. He is somewhere near a base and has had the piece of shrapnel removed from his neck. He had a close call but, as it is, will get along nicely.