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 103
You are here
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 103]
tension as to the uncertainty of what might occur next. We did not then know, but afterwards learned that the heavy gun fire & the Artillery fire generally, was bursting a long way back from where we then were.
After the next halt, the order was passed to "keep close in to the right". Every man, without exception appeared to be of one mind in thinking that we were about to feel the effect of a bombardment of heavy guns, although the machine gun fire never stopped, but soon we could make out a file of silent figures of men passing on our left side, the "sap" is just wide enough to let a man pass another, if both keep close to the proper sides. This proved to be the Company our men were relieving, & from them we obtained the history of their stay in the line.
Practically, if we did not fire at the Huns they would not fire at us. All the time this particular Coy had been "in" scarcely a shot was fired, any one could get upon the parapet & even go to "our" wire without drawing fire from the Huns. This Coy looked upon this part as quite a "Home", which they were very sorry to leave & all the time they spent there, some weeks, not a single casualty occurred. This was reassuring, but we knew it was just for this inactivity they were "going out", & we were "coming in" to make the place a bit hotter for the Hun – and ourselves. Although we were greatly envied they appeared pleased to be going out, but it would not be long before they would be "in" again lower down the line.
After the Coy had passed out our progress was much quicker & before long, in fact, much to our surprise we were told we were actually in the firing line. By this time everything was spoken in a whisper, men were being drafted in their sections to take positions in the "bays" of the trench, it was here, a breastwork built up, not a trench dug down, the parados or back of the