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 342
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[Page 342]
Sergt & the Sentry raced for the line & two thuds announced the fact that they had arrived by jumping into the trench, these thuds were followed almost immediately by two others & turning they saw the Corporal & the other man had also arrived after them. The explanation came to the Sentry at once, the two men in "grey" were really our own men but the brilliancy of the flares threw their white uniforms into shadow & therefore made them appear as if dressed in grey, although they would appear "white" from the Hun trench.
Of course the first thing that was wanted to be known, was why after all the instructions being given, a shot had been fired. However the officer in charge who had sent the instructions, by this time had reached the spot, having rushed down the trench to ascertain the reason, & as soon as he found out that the four men were alright, he pretty forcibly asked what d[dash]n fool had fired, even if he knew the men he saw were Huns?, What right had he to fire when special instructions had been given to the contrary? However recollecting that he was censuring his own man in front of 56th men he postponed the inquiry.
The Sentry when asked by the officer how he "got on", just held out both hand & said, "This is all! both hands were frozen. Two officers each one taking a hand, with snow, thawed them out, but unfortunately the tips of the fingers & thumbs were overlooked & for three weeks the Sentry had no feeling in them & eventually all the tips came off in a hard lump of Skin.
During these three weeks he could not tell whether he was touching anything with the tips of his fingers or not. For instance if taking a match out of a box he would drop it on the ground unless he watched the operation.
After Changing out of the White uniform a start was made to go back & on arriving at the place appointed for the motor waggon to be met, bad luck