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 318
You are here
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 318]
going to the hut, owing to the slipperiness caused by the snow freezing, one of the men belonging to the Sentrys Battn fell so heavily that he appeared to be badly knocked out & had to be carried into the hut, this necessitated getting something for the man.
Hearing that the Battalion was in the support line about half a mile ahead, the Sentry journeyed out & had the pleasure of greeting a good many men belonging to his Company again
What a sight greeted his eyes! They all appeared to be living in holes just like moles, & what with their unshaven & dirty faces & stained & muddied clothes, they looked more like a pack of worthless "hoboes" instead of spruce Australian soldiers. However they were pleased to be able to send what was wanted for the man, who was bad.
That night they renewed their acquaintance with the Huns. Three very big shells burst close to the hut, the third one so close that the mud thrown up into the air fell upon the roof of the hut. From this minute we were reminded of the seriousness of the work in front of us again.
The Next afternoon while being paraded to the Company Orderly "Dug out" to be enrolled again, a big shell was seen to strike one of the huts about seventy yards away & cut it completely in two, lengthways, that one could easily imagine that a giant knife had cut away one half leaving the other quite undisturbed except being exposed to the weather. The next Shell struck a hut about 20 yards further on & blew it into matchwood not a thing remained. Five men were killed by these shells but if the huts had been occupied the loss would have exceeded one hundred.
The shelling moved to a hill about a mile away & evidently disturbed a whole Company of men for they could be seen streaming down the hill side to the open ground below.
The same evening we joined our Company in the Support line, having