midnight
Haines varied the digging by making us practise a horrible manoeuvre called `` relieving trenches . '' This was always done in the middle of the night , between twelve and one o'clock . Part of the corps went out early -- about 10.30 p.m. -- and manned the trenches . The rest of us marched forth at midnight and relieved them . The worst evening we had all winter was December 8th . It was blowing terrifically from the south-east The sea was tumbling in on the beach in enormous waves , fringing the whole line of the shore with a broad stretch of white foam . The rain swept over the country pitilessly .