Item 02: Arthur John Moore diary, 11 November 1916-11 January 1918 - Page 65

[Page 65]

Thur. May 10. Last night was quite exciting. We had quite settled down to sleep when bang! came about a dozen Fritz shells. Just got settled down again when the Serg. rushed in & told us to put on our Gas Helmets as the wind was favourable for Fritz. I was sleeping between Bricky Howard & Prescott. Bricky slept peacefully through it all. Prescott suffered from nightmare & sung out in his sleep "Oh, this war, this awful war!" Altogether it was a most eventful night. 18 of our chaps, Billy May, Snowy Atherton Towney, Ross, Stan Wright among them went out to the A.D.S. about 8 o'clock. This morning we pitched Tents & unloaded waggons. It is quite hot & the crowd are getting quite tanned.

Fritz had a Balloon up & soon sent a number of shells around our Camp. Several motor Lorries were coming along the road & the way they broke the speed limit was real amusing. About 20 men got knocked & we had a busy time for a few hours. A 2nd Division Transport sergeant was killed. Hippersly was at work in the Cookhouse when a lump of shrapnel came through & hit him on the Leg. Three motor Amb. were smashed up & had to be towed to the workshop. We fell in at 5 o'clock for Gas Helmet inspection & after fooling around till nearly 8, we set off for the Line. Stan Wright, Billgy May & party at the A.D.S. made us some cocoa which we greatly appreciated.
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