Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 101
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[Page 101]
each five. In this manner we reached a place where a road had to be crossed. An officer was here, giving murmured instructions, for each five men to rush across the road very quickly but quietly this spot being exposed to machine gun fire.
A further walk of about 50 yards close alongside a battered broken down building and the communication sap or trench was entered. By this time the rattle of Machine gun fire seemed an unbroken sound, while the artillery from both sides kept up a lively roar. The walk along this sap proved a very long one with constant halts & starts. After getting used to the light we could make out that we were walking on what appeared to be a trellis bridge just clearing about two feet of water in the bottom of the trench. We afterwards learned that these were the "duck boards" many of which it was our lot to handle afterwards.
The trench varied in height & in parts the sides had to be kept in position by means of stakes & hurdles. Whenever a low part was to be passed an order would be quietly passed to every man to keep down, & most nearly bent to the ground. Particular care had to be taken that the numerous telephone wires running along the trench were not entangled or broken.
What was really most confusing was the fact that every now & then the firing would be heard coming from the right hand side & shortly afterwards from the left side. This afterwards was found to be accounted for by the way the trench turned in & then out the general direction being a segment of a circle.
While halted at a certain part, the machine gun fire became so hot that the grass on each side of the "sap", hardly six inches above our head, was waving about & being mown down by the mass of bullets as if the movement had been caused by a howling gale of wind. It seemed hard to believe that hundreds of bullets were passing so close without doing us the least harm, at the same time it made very clear the stern reality of war & our nerves were in a state of great