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 165
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[Page 165]
it, & would continue to do so all the time. They replied. Let us hear how you will answer that question? We will give particulars & you can give the answer!
After taking the first trench we dashed forward to what appeared to be the second, but on arriving there, found that what looked like a trench was merely a drain, the width of a trench, not more than a foot or 18 inches deep, which would not only offer no protection, but could not have been held for more than a few minutes. Under these circumstances we had to decide what to do and as we could not wait very long in such a place to deeply consider, after the slightest hesitation we made up our minds that this was not the second trench and again charged forward to find it, after running about a "bally" mile.
It did not take long for us to take it but Oh! hell! What a time we had trying to hold it. We thought it bad enough "from the Huns" but after a little while we could see that the worst of the losses were being caused by the shells from our own guns & at once sent back a message notifying the Artillery, but as the fire still continued we had no alternative but to come back "on our own".
We could have held out against the Huns but to be shelled from the rear as well as from the front, was more than we could stand & back we had to come & what sort of a time getting back! none of us ever expected to get here! The last thirty men left in the Huns first trench after our withdrawal from the third trench were penned up with Hun bombers on the right & left & what was worse with a party of Huns throwing stick bombs, who were trying to get between us & our own firing line.
For some minutes they kept us running back & forth like a "pack of dingoes" as we ran to the left they would throw bombs & make us turn & run to the right, and as we had exhausted all our ammunition & bombs, we could not