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[Page 12]
& gave some of the boys quiet a fright as they did not know where the shells were coming from for a while, after about 30 shells had been fired, we advanced & got to where they had scooped places in the side of the road just so as to hide one man & so as he could fire down the straight road, niggers were posted by the germans every mile or so to give them the tip when we were close up to them, about half way we established a Hospital & found that the Germans had retired from one trench & that as we passed along the road we came to where one of the Encounters shells had hit the road & ploughed it up, also some cocoanut trees had been blown down we kept marching on & in the afternoon rain came down in Torrents I expect the Heavy firing caused the rain to come, anyway it was very welcome as it was terribly hot & I was delighted at getting soaked through & through, we had a naval 12 Pounder with us & we men of G Coy who were just behind the Gun relieved the sailors & helped them to pull the gun along as a gun of that size gets heavy as we went along, the Cocoanuts were a great treat to us, as at every halt we sent niggers up the trees to get us some & the milk out of them were quite refreshing, even officers rushing to get them when we got a chance. A march like this lives in ones memory the distance being 12 miles each way, & 24 miles in a Climate like this gives one quite enough for a day or so, when we arrived at Toma which lies on a hill, we opened fire with the 12 Pounder, & the first shot landed right into their first trench which was on the side of the Hill about ¾ of a mile off, they had another trench almost on the brow of the Hill & after the first shot had got them you could see the niggers running for their lives, casting away their rifles & making for the bush, the second one landed just between the two trenches, we got a few shots our way & returned them with interest presently down the road came a German officer on Horseback carrying a white flag, we halted him &