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 368
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[Page 368]
wood, & light the fires in the "braziers" at least half an hour before reveille, to thaw the boots out.
The work of carrying the bags over the top & dumping the dirt in the open was not very inviting, more particularly so, after the first half hour as the bags became so wet that the contents had all the tenacity of mud & took "some dumping" to get the whole of it out. Of course what caused the most worry was the "ping" of a bullet or the screech of a shell. Luck seemed to be with this particular working party for on more than one occasion when most of the men were working exposed on the parapet & parados shells landed close enough to do a lot of damage but proved to be "duds" that is did not burst either from defective detonators, or by landing in soft places.
On one occasion when being shelled each of the shells which were landing 25 yards beyond appeared to be a dud. Something up with Fritz's powder! some one remarked. The number of "duds" seemed extraordinary. At last one of the men went back to pick one up, when he discovered they were gas shells. The men immediately took cover & donned their gas masks & awaited cessation. Luckily the wind was blowing away from the working party, & more luckily the shells did not land 25 yards in front of the parapet instead at the back of the parados.
Further whenever shells landed in the trench, whether shrapnel or high explosive, the men had had time to take cover.
Amongst this party only two Casualties occurred & neither of them very serious. One man was shot through the elbow the other through the thigh, both by Machine Gun bullets.
Every Company holding the sector on the right had to pass through the trench guarding the entrances