The Henson Journals

[490]

Tuesday, July 11th, 1916.

708th day

There are the names of no less than 31 Second Lieutenants in today's list of the killed. Yesterday there were 21: and 26 on Saturday. Most of these are youngsters who have barely emerged from adolescence. The destruction of junior officers in these offensives is most afflicting.

I wrote to Cunningham expressing my high approval of his book, & offering a few criticisms. Also I sent a cheque to Dr Stuart in payment of the 50 gallons of petrol he secured for me a fortnight since.

After lunch Ella and I walked to the outskirts of Westgate along the cliffs, returning by way of Quex Park to Birchington in time for tea. We admired the crops of wheat, barley, & oats which covered the country. With my umbrella I measured some oats, & found them about 4 ft. 6 in. in height, though not yet changing colour. No better corn–lands than these of Thanet can be found than these of Thanet. Tenants pay as much as £6 per acre in annual rent, & flourish exceedingly. The bay at Westgate is protected with an elaborate barbed–wire fence: and at chosen points on the cliffs there are trenches & dug–outs. Marion and I walked round the cliffs to Minnis Bay after dinner, following the curiously indented line of the coast, on which the sea is making persistent and successful invasion. The tide was up: the night was still & warm: a soft evening light lay upon the world. Only the khaki–clad sentinels taking up their positions for their night's work of vigil–keeping, and the stretches of barbed–wire wherever the cliffs fell to the beach reminded us that the greatest and cruellest war of all history was in progress. As we regained the house, the sound of distant guns was again audible, and later the search–lights played on the sky.

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