An RE [Royal Engineers] wiring party in front of the trenches. Until about late 1915, wiring was exclusively the work of the RE, but the casualties sustained in doing this work, thereby creating a shortage of technical men to do more important work, made it imperative for the Infantry to undertake their own wiring. Annotated on back of picture - No Man's Land, Wiring at Neuve Chapelle, March 9th 1915. 'By the light of the flare' de Breuze (possibly Bois de Biez) in the background. By Lieutenant Major John Empson Tindall, MC (b.1885). He joined the Royal Engineers as a Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Captain in the 1st Home Counties Field Company, Royal Engineers (later the 490th Field Company, Royal Engineers), 8th Division, BEF and then became Major commanding the 505th (Wessex) Field Company, 57th Division, BEF.