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 407
You are here
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 407]
In an attack the men immediately opposite the wire indentation would continue running on, & those striking the straight line wire close by, would, on seeing the men continue runing into the V naturally follow them when massed in a regular mob the Huns would by heavily bombing from the saps on either side create a regular shambles for the men would be caught jambed close like rabbits in a race.
While inspecting the effect of our shell fire amongst the ruins of houses & dug outs, along the side of a road when looking for shelter from a very heavy fall of rain three of the men discovered one of what was afterwards described as "Pill Boxes". These were built in the side of a sunken road, from the "land" side of it, & were really little concrete houses with a position for a Machine Gun, comfortable seats for gunner & lookout men with an opening or "slit" along the top of the front wall to enable the barrel of the gun to sweep the whole front. The thickness of the concrete was such that when the door was shut only a very heavy shell would have had any effect on the Huns inside the "box". From this a stairs led to the dug out below, 20 feet deep, where a large number of men could be held in readiness for action.
Nothing whatever could be seen from the opposite side of the road, to lead any one to suspect that a Battalion of men could have been mown down along that road & not a single Hun likely to be touched except a possible haphazard bullet by chance passing through the very small slit.
Even when knowing the "Pill box" was there only the slit was to be seen & that was so masked by the grassy bank that it only could be detected when within a few yards of it
This particular one would never have been discovered but for the fact that a heavy shell in bursting close at the back, had