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[Page 370]

to the shafts leading to the dug out, as did every fatigue party carrying material or rations & strange to say more casualties occurred amongst these men just passing to & fro, than amongst the men stationed there the whole time the work was going on. Men passing in two's & threes had been wounded & killed & an officer was hit in the knee when leading out only 12 men, although in this instance to see how the shells were bursting one would have thought the whole 13 men would have been killed instead or only the officer wounded.

Similarly 6 or 7 cooks, who had their kitchen fires in the trench, would have to "leave in a hurry" once or twice every day & the stew was covered with a fair scum of dirt & yet not a single casualty occurred amongst them.

While here the men working on the top witnessed a very bad example of men getting scared ("having the wind up") A party of about 50 or 60 Pioneers were carrying timber & material from a dump, three or four miles back, to the front line. The officer supervising the work had gone into the line on the right to make arrangements, & the party was being led in by a very fine Sergeant, a man who had been on Gallipoli, and the rear was "brought up" by a corporal.

The Sergeant on arriving in the "workers" trench explained that his men were new, coming into the line for the first time, & were just a bit scared, so he would rest them in the trench for about ten minutes. Of course the workers did not object, it also meant a spell for them. While resting a couple of the working party two youths of about 20 years of age started to inquire how the new men liked that kind of work. Some of the answers made them smile.

After resting the Pioneer party moved on having to go a couple of hundred yards further to the right.

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