Item 01: James William Dains diary, 21 November 1916-4 June 1917 - Page 65

[Page 65]

of campaign life when men who are behind the line make their official position felt as much as possible.
His company had lost a primus stove, smashed in a bombardment & he requisioned for a new one. After some delay, an answer came like this, "I am not clear about your requisition for a primus. I cannot understand how such a thing could be destroyed in action. Was it a hostile shell?" He was very indignant & replied as follows. The requisition was signed by myself as C.O. of the company, that should be sufficient guarantee of good faith. The details are as follow.
On the – Mch. a shell known in the trenches as a 5.2 fell on a cookhouse near our gun emplacement. It was a hostile shell. When we had picked up from the ruins, one man killed & two wounded, we found at last the damaged primus. I shall be glad if you will forward new one.
I mention this to show how officialdom sometimes makes unconsciously the most humorous (if it were not so annoying) requests