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dig a trench for the O.P. ground very hard and flinty, finished at 11.15 p.m. coming back nearly got in the way of a tommy battery's fire, just sung out in time.
Thursday July 4th
On S.O.S. midnight to 1 a.m. everything very quiet, with a lot of our planes flying overhead. At 20 to 3 a.m. we were all roused out of bed to stand to our guns. At 10 past 3 a.m. the stunt opened, it was just as if hell had been let loose, guns thundering everywhere over 500 of them, it lasted for two hours, firing as fast as we could load the gun. Fritz was driven out of Hamel, right over the hill through the Wood. The report we got was that our infantry had captured 999 men, two Colonels, two Adjutants, 40 trench mortors and 60 machine guns, very satisfactory, with the loss of very few men. While we were having breakfast (7.30 a.m.) 20 Hun prisoners went past our "dining room" carrying two strechers with wounded Fritz's on them. During the afternoon we dug our guns in for more protection At 10 p.m. we got an S.O.S. signal, as Fritz was making a counter attack, it was a repetition of the morning when the guns got going. Some of Fritz's planes came overhead and started firing at us with their machine guns, but didn't hit us, all the same it put the wind up. We were firing off and on all night.
Friday July 5th
My turn to cook again. Didn't get up until 11.30, had breakfast & dinner