During their time in Louvencourt they had not seen much of their officers, who had probably been receiving their final instructions; but now there was continual wind-up. A hot and exasperated officer would suddenly appear outside the huts, and the men were fallen in to receive his orders. The first was about overcoats. Each man was to go over the top with his overcoat, which was to be worn en banderole; and as most of the men did not know how to roll up their coats in this fashion, they had to learn the art from the few regular soldiers who did. It tried the patience of everybody concerned. When the overcoat had been rolled up into a tubular form, one end was inserted in the other and fastened there, and a man put his head and one arm through the kind of horse-collar which it formed, so that it rested on one shoulder and passed under the other arm. The first man to achieve this difficult feat of arms was an object of admiration to his fellows.

‘’o’s the bloody shit ’o invented this way o’ doin’ up a fuckin’ overcoat?’ shouted Glazier indignantly.

‘It’s a bloody wonder to me ’ow these buggers can think all this out. ’ow the ’ell am a to get at me gas-mask?’ asked Madeley.

‘You put on your gas-’elmet afterwards, see,’ said Wilkins, an old regular who was explaining matters to them. ‘But it beats me ’ow you’re goin’ to manage. You’ll ’ave your ordinary equipment, an’ a couple of extra bandoliers, an’ your gasbag, and then this bloody overcoat.’

‘A can tell thee,’ said Weeper, ‘the first thing a does when a goes over the bloody top is to dump it. What bloody chance would us’ns ’ave wi’ a bay’net, when we can scarce move our arms.’

‘It’s fair chokin’ me,’ said Madeley.

‘Fall in on parade,’ shouted Corporal Marshall putting his head through the door; and divesting themselves for the moment of this latest encumbrance, they turned out into the twilight. This time it was Captain Thompson, with the R.S.M. in attendance, and he went through a list of the things the men would be expected to carry: two extra bandoliers of ammunition, two bombs, and either a pick or shovel. But at least there was one unusual piece of foresight: the men were ordered to go to the shoemaker’s shop and have bars of leather fixed across the hobnailed soles of their boots, to prevent them slithering in the mud; and, with the initial unreason which so often accompanied orders, they were forbidden to leave billets until this order had been executed. There were only three cobblers, who started on the work at once, and it was arranged almost immediately afterwards that the work should be carried out section by section, so that the men did not have to wait about indefinitely. It was characteristic that the men did not grumble at this latest order, as they saw at once its utility, and the precaution seemed to give them some confidence. It soon became equally clear that the order about overcoats worn in banderole was a matter for some misgivings with the officers themselves.