State Library of NSW
[Page 85]
[Page 5 of a report on enemy trench fortifications]
The enemy's parapet was 18' to 20' thick. The borrow pit was about 6' wide and from 4 to 5' deep, filled with wire - gaps every 9' or so. This pit had about 3' of water in it. Dug-outs were in front parapet, below level of trench, steps leading down and small doorways (size of our own dug-outs). Parapet revetted with brushwood hurdles, height about 4'. Depth of trench about 7' 6" to 8' from duckboards with width at bottom about 3'. Good batten bays and traverses about size of our own. Small communication trenches leading from trench extended for a distance of a few yards only, and were only brushwood hurdle with no earth behind. A small communication trench with overhead cover lead into an ordinary dug-out. One man reports that this dug-out had another exit, but this is not confirmed. A loophole with a rifle in it was a wooden box arrangement with a steel plate in front in the parapet.
[Sketch of arrangement]
Two listening posts were discovered. The left one 25 yards in wire, had a 3' deep duckboard sap leading to it, the post protected by 4 steel loopholed plates strongly wired round. A copper bell and a box of bombs were found, also a heavy iron life preserver. The post would hold 4 men. A doorway lead through the parapet.[Remainder of page torn]
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