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 181
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[Page 181]
clean off the rifle together with the bayonet boss & standard, the next shell bent another mans rifle it had the top of it, for about 6 Inches, bent at a right angle, & in every instance the man standing nearest this spot, which appeared to be the very centre of the bay, was always amongst those who were "hit".
Whether it was that the firing was so accurate or not, the men tried to avoid this part as much as numbers would allow, of course the trench at the bottom is so narrow to pass a man one would have to "crush by" him.
In our platoon there was one man who was so quiet & reticent that for a long time before reaching France every one thought he was suffering from a mild attack of melancholia. Nor did he utter a single word before or on the night of the action, till a shell burst clean overhead, when after recovering from the shock & the ringing in the ears of the awful din, he looked up to where the shell had burst & fiercely ejaculated. The [dash dash] Huns
His constant declamations at every overhead burst eventually caused quite a laugh – after the effects of each shell had disappeared – even in such incongruous circumstances. The "Silent" man had spoken – & had spoken very emphatically.
During all this murderous din messages were being passed from bay to bay and eighteen out of twenty were asking for Machine Gunners.
Machine Gunners wanted on the right! Machine Gunners wanted on the let! & in not one instance was there ever a man that could be sent. No one seemed to know anything about a Machine Gun excepting the original crew, who no doubt had been severely cut up.
This night clearly showed the absolute necessity for every man in the line to be in a position to take his place at a Machine Gun in the event of the crew being wounded or killed, yet not a man from our bay although so many kept coming in could be sent to help with the Machine Gun.