Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 69
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[Page 69]
were in similar possies by 1 o clock we had done as much as we were able to for we were pretty near exhausted having marched 18 miles that day. It was pretty gruelling for a start as we were carrying about 40Ibs or more.
At 4 o clock we got the order "stand to" which means buckle your equipment on and fix bayonets. It was a fine sight for we were back among the 18 pounders and 42s which were doing a shoot and it seemed to me a new land to be lightning and thunder everywhere, at daybreak it died away, and except for an occasional thud and burst all was still and quiet.
The trench or pothole we dug in the earth was a miserable affair and we couldn't all sleep in it. I went on fatigue that morning and we went and got some water from a place with a lot of dead animals around it. We also passed through a gully that smelt of gas.
We got some milk and cocoa from the comforts fund supplied to us here The only incidents at Gentils were gas a couple of mornings and a few shells our cooker being blown out I saw a gun that had been smashed here.