Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 109
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[Page 109]
The bombards used to stir them up and then they smelt strongly by way of Rprotest. One morning here I was on watch, and a little early morning mist hung over the fields in front but not enough to obscure from sharp eyes. Looking out in the further middle distance I descried a something moving about, at first it looked like an elephant, moving about feeding in the field and I began to think, he had fetched the zoo along to help his transport. I watched carefully and then I discerned what it was. He had limbers out carting in hay, I could see it plainly now, the man forking it up, I had done too much of that myself not to know what it was, though they were so far away as to be indistinct. I got the Lieutenants glasses and sure enough there were three out, about 2½ miles away. There was no phone on to the outpost unluckily or there would have been a bit fall in hay, that morning. Just as the limbers left the field our artillery must have observed some thing for they fired a few shots into the field. It must have been Fritzs custom to cart in the hay at night but something must have delayed him that morning and he had trusted to the little mist that hung around to screen him from view. At night in the front line or outpost everyone, "stands to",