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[Page 96]
6 a m. We're ashore, a rather weird landing. In the dark we filed downwards into a Torpedo boat destroyer, some 200 yards of us, and silently slipped through the water towards the shore. Everybody was very quiet, and also a little damp, for it was raining. As we passed ship after ship of the transports it got lighter & lighter. Closer into shore we transhipped into boats & a string of us towed to the beach where we landed. The beach presented a busy sight. In front the clay hills are partially covered with bushes & amongst these the troops are being concentrated as they land. Lines of pack mules laden with ammunition, red cross men, smaller units filing into their places, everything busy but no bustle & no confusion. A few wounded men are on the beach, & a pair of boots poking out of a bit of sail shows that we are in for the real thing.
We are now on the side of the hill, but as I write this, there is a scream overhead, which makes everybody duck, and a shrapnel bursts a few hundred yards in front. This continues for a while, and it is wonderful that though the water is crowded with boats nothing is hit. We are now hearing