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 356
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[Page 356]
Drill or Inspection. "Absolutely rotten"! These men really are getting very slack they will have to have more drill & their rifles & equipment properly cleaned!! Not a single word of encouragement for good work done, not a congratulatory work spoken. Always the same "Absolutely rotten" & therefore more drill must be done.
Although the work of rebuilding trenches & building them up when blown in, & digging dug outs & carrying timber etc to the line for the work, is real hard, the Sentry never thanked his lucky Stars more than when he joined the "detail" carrying out this work. Of course this brought one under fire each day & each night but it was very much to be preferred by the Sentry at least, than the monotonous & continuous unnecessary drilling, by men who simply would not try to do such work well, for they knew trying to do work well actually made no difference. Well or badly done, it always "was done". Doing it well gave no respite.
It was a great satisfaction to know that until there was a prospect of the Brigade going into an action, there would be no necessity to rejoin the battalion even when going back time & again into the line, for it was considered that all working on this dug out work were already in the line, & were all the time, so that even although the Company's front was only a couple of hundred yards to the right none of these men would be called upon to rejoin it, till an action was imminent
Any where near the line one can always see numbers of aeroplanes, both our own & the enemy's but for the six weeks or two months spent on this Transloy front one was enabled to see hundreds of planes & a fight singly & in Squadrons almost daily & while journeying to & from the dumps for material, the whole of the battle ground could be minutely inspected & all the details examined. In fact it afforded opportunities for seeing & understanding the progress of the British advance in all its details. It enabled an inspection & close examination of all the various kinds of guns & artillery, that one would never have an opportunity of seeing