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 417
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Transcription
[Page 417]
3 days. A close watch was kept on these movements. Part of this floor which was solid concrete about 9 Inches thick did fall, from a height of 15 or 16 feet, but luckily the men camped underneath had gone to draw water & thus escaped "going under".
It would have only been a matter of a few days for the whole of this rickety building to collapse into a heap of broken bricks & tiles, if the guns had remained.
None of the civil population are allowed to inhabit these shell battered buildings, for although in 1916 it was quite common to see villagers living their ordinary lives in their homes, within four miles of the firing line, thus being very considerably inside the range of shell fire, in 1917 whether from a question of safety or the prevention of the possibility of spies "getting in their good work" or from both, no civilians were allowed within a good twenty or thirty miles of the firing line.
The miserable existance that one indures in these broken down billets ought really to break the hearts of the highest spirited, but the men although sourly growling every now & then, seem to settle down & treat very light heartedly, the irksome discomforts of muddy floors, shaky attics, wind traversed walls, & leaky roofs.
As a case in point the night before the Company moved out the men summoned for guard duty, could get no sleep all night, for the ceiling above them kept falling down in such masses that a direct hit would have crushed any man to death.
One half of their floor being covered with water, the floor was earth, & the weather outside being either soaking rain or soft falling snow those of the guard "off duty" had simply to keep awake, sitting huddled up with arms clasped round the knees, so as to be able to move quickly should further falls of ceiling
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