Page:Ambulance 464 by Julien Bryan.djvu/181

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IV

June 5th, 1917.
Les Grandes Loges.

On the first day of June we departed from Ste. Menehould for good and all. Section Thirteen which last month was worked to death in Champagne, has taken our place. We are delighted to be able to try our luck at some real action once more. The little town where we are now staying, Les Grandes Loges, lies on the main road between Châlons and Reims. We shall probably remain here for a week "en repos" and then go up to the front for three or four weeks of heavy action. As usual in the smaller towns our quarters are in a barn and our cars are parked in the courtyard; there is a high hill behind the village, and every day we go to the summit to watch the artillery duels around Mont Cornillet and Moronvilliers, eight miles away. Last evening we saw a German gas attack roll over the French lines; great clouds of a creamy, yellowish vapor, stretching along the lines for a mile or more, were carried forward by the wind and poured into every nook and cranny of our trenches. In the midst of this a great puff of black smoke arose from

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