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 185
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[Page 185]
amongst "the Stormers" & right up in the front at that, in order to bomb a passage for the attacking infantry, and ordered him (& his party) to wait where they were, till the officer would send for them
What a silly order to be given by an officer who the very minute he put his head above the parapet to make a charge, might have had it knocked off. It is almost unnecessary to say the Corporal & his bombers were into the Hun trench before that officer.
After 8 am on Thursday when the whole of our Artillery again got going in full swing the deadly shooting of the Huns slacked off to such an extent that every one knew that the Huns would never force our position however much they tried & therefore every one's spirits rose and the tremendous strain of the furious bombardment passed away & apparently removed a very heavy load from the minds of those remaining in the line.
Men commenced eagerly to talk, each one describing his experiences his thoughts & feelings at various seemingly critical times. The conversations were carried on to the accompaniment of humourous & chaffingly good natured remarks, every one feeling as if a regular nightmare had passed & things would again settle down to their normal condition as before the battle.
While this was going on the sentry watching the Hun line, noticed a gun firing from behind a battered building quite near to their front line, not as would be expected straight at us, but apparently as if on their own trenches on their right but as this was absurd, and as he was looking through a periscope, he hopped down off the fire step to the bottom of the trench & called to the man sitting fourth from him, that he wanted to test the periscope & therefore would he move his right hand to the right. This was done & the glass in the periscope was found to be correct. Immediately after this a shrapnel shell burst overhead & the Sentry, standing in the fatal spot, was wounded in the arm holding the