Item 02: Arthur John Moore diary, 11 November 1916-11 January 1918 - Page 14

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[Page 14]

Thur. Nov 30. Paraded at 9 & got ready to go out & face the foe again. We went out to No. 3 Post (Battery) the worst of the lot. It is about a mile & a half long. There are duck boards the whole distance, but in places they are in very bad condition & a man stands a good risk of breaking his leg. Snowy Atherton, Stan Wright Jacko & I formed our squad. I felt very crook & carrying some of the heavy chaps nearly broke me up. An awful lot of trench feet cases came through but very few wounded. Our dugout is very small & 4 of us have to squeeze very tight to get in at all

Fri. DEC 1st Last night was awful. Our fire went out & it was freezing, the chats got busy & chewed us to pieces. A few cases came through up to midday, then she quietened down. To make matters worse no rum came to light last night. Jacko & I brought in a load of wood from Delville we got a fire going & cooked some Bacon. After Dinner Fritz put a good few shells over & livened things up a bit. About 6 p.m. the cases commenced coming through again. More trench feet. Some of the poor beggars are in an awful mess. I just returned from taking in a patient when something went wrong with the works & I broke down. Reg Hancock took my place in the squad. Fritz put over a barrage & got some of the 29th as they were changing over. One good thing it was moonlight & we could see our way quite plainly. The French & our guns replied to Fritz's challenge & the din was terrific.

Sat. 2. About 60 patients came through during the night & our crowd were knocked out. Bricky, Jimmy Woods & a no. of others broke down during the night. Our fire was burning low & Snowy Atherton went out & got a tin of kerosene to liven it up. He poured it on – & the fire went bang out. He made a mistake & brought water instead of oil. Needless to say he got some very uncomplimentary remarks hurled at him.

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