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 443
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[Page 443]
Carried in this manner the pack is put on last (over everything) & so can be "dropped off" at a moments notice.
The men all agreed that the packs would be carried in this manner & before the order to charge was given every man would "dump" his pack & leave it where it lay. In fact the men could picture the whole length of that march to the line, "marked out" by dropped packs, for just so soon as its weight would begin to "tell" on a man, that same moment he would dump it & "be d[dash]d to every one".
The men considered their lives just as valuable, to them, as any officers & they were not going to be hampered in their work by & for such a thing as an "accursed" pack.
However it is possible that the determination on the part of the men reached official ears for a few hours before the "fall in" was given, an order came, for all packs to be "handed in" to the Quartermaster's store, which was the only sensible thing to do.
While the sentry was on duty the Sergeant of his platoon came along & explained that he had obtained permission from the O/C to enable the Sentry to join the party "told off" to look after the rations being forwarded & therefore it would save him taking part in the action that night.
The Sentry asked In what order is the Advance to be made "Battle" or "Marching order"? The Sergeant replied Dress would be "Battle order"!
The sentry then thanked the Sergeant for his kindness in trying to "get him off", but if it is "Battle order", he said, You can go straight back & tell the O/C that the Sentry would take his place "in the line" for in "Battle order" he was just as good as any man in the Section & he did not want to be out of his place.
The Sergeant did not like to go back, at first, but when he saw the Sentry was determined he did so & came back & reported that it would be alright & further that the Sentry would act as senior Soldier, in