Item 01: James William Dains diary, 21 November 1916-4 June 1917 - Page 50

[Page 50]

took part. The dummy bombardment began at 10/50 to 11. It was terrific. We were sitting in one of the old houses at the Regimental aid post & the guns opened all around us, one burst & spattered shrapnell on our wall. At 11, it died down, we had one or two slight cases in.
At 12.30 the Bombardment proper began & the raid took place. The barrage was on from 12.30 to 1.45 & it was hell in the sense that word is used nowadays. Wounded began to come in soon after. I have never seen many casualties in the dressing room before but soon it was crowded with our strong able bodied fellows wounded badly some of them, & a heavy sickly smell of human blood mixed with mud and slush of the trenches. The Blackened faces of the raiders made the scene more gruesome. The Spirit of the men was marvellous. I got them