Wittey diary, 12 June-27 December 1915 / Leonard Arthur Wittey - Page 11

<p class="page" id="a4810011">[Page 11]</p><p>Continued but none touched me. 7 <strike>around</strike> casualties resulted. Several dug outs blown away one shell unearthed a dead Turk. Dug out 10 yds from me shattered some of the equipment found 100 yards away.</p><p>Sept 9th<br/> Came of sapping duty and immediately had to go; into firing line at Holy Spur(Gaba Tebe) sniping all day with periscope rifle. Turks trenches about 100 yds away, but snipers everywhere. A few of our men wounded. More men sick (bad) leaving for Lemnos Island belonging to; the Greeks. Our gully hotly bombarded every morning and afternoon ,Thinking seriously of trying somewhere else. Cookhouse blown up by a shell. Several cases of shock (our Major McIntosh wounded during our first night in firing line) he has proceeded to England</p><p>Sept 10<br/>Still in firing line. It is impossible to leave it. What little sleep I get in the trench, meals are bought to me. Shall be in firing line about 7 days without spell.</p><p>Sept 11<br/>Still no move . In firing line .Snipers very busy. Rumours of Narrow<br/>Falling within a fortnight, sincerely hope so.</p><p>Sept 12th<br/>Mail arrived from Sydney conveying 5 letters for me (3 from L. 1 each from Hettie and The Glen. Start to reply immediately</p><p>Sept 13<br/>Still in trenches. Snipers very busy every night. In dangerous possy faulty sandbags.</p><p>Sept 14 to 18 as above snipers day and night</p><p>Sept 20th Last night barbed wire entanglements were thrown out. Snipers particularly active. No sleep at all owing to cold winds etc.</p><p>Sept 21<br/>Still sniping in firing line. Very cold day .Our portion of trench to be renovated tonight. Great care will have to be exercised.</p><p>Sept 22<br/>Still in firing line. At night-8oclock we had bright coloured flares lighted, the men in firing line had to keep waving their bayonets above the parapet to draw fire. At 8.10PM we fired off 10 rounds per man, which brought heavy gun fire bombs, we had a fairly warm time for an hour, when it gradually slackened off. Shells and shrapnel were bursting all around us. (7.5s)The idea of this demonstration was to tell the strength of the Turks in this particular spot. They imagine we are about to charge and being a bit nervous, which is a recognised fact they respond freely with every kind of fire possible. We had no casualties but 7 men were killed a little distance off.</p><p>Sept 23<br/>Sept 24<br/>Sept25</p><p>Still on duty in firing line.</p><p>Sept 26th<br/>This morning at 7AM the Turks attempted to blow up past our firing line, our underground tunnel, but misjudged the distance. They hurt no one in fact, did not injure our trench in the slightest. Ache Baba has been under a most heavy bombardment from our navel guns for the past 2 days. This morning an official cable came through from France</p>