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 491
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[Page 491]
all in authority of A Coy & he considered the Sergt still in the same position temporarily as O/C. The Capt of B Coy then said, I suppose you had better go! According to official red tape proceedure the Sentry knew he had no right to answer a Sergt summons when under a Capt's jurisdiction, but he knew the Sergt considered the Machine Gun position was in danger & wanted quick support so there was no time to consider the question of military etiquette on such an occasion.
Although the A Coy men "doubled" out they were shocked, before going more than a hundred yards at seeing the Sergt & the Machine Gun crew coming back to the trench.
The Sergt explained that the position had been heavily shelled & eventually was blown in & that C M[dash] in charge of the Gun had been wounded so severely in the abdomen that it was impossible to move him & he had to be left till a quieter time, that the other expert gunners G[dash] & G[dash] had been wounded one in arm the other in the shoulder, the remainder of the crew escaped & the gun saved. The Sergt was told the circumstances of the delay in answer to his summons, & was recommended to report the present position to the Capt in charge & ask for instructions
The Sentry having camped in billets with the machine gun crew made it his business to see the wounded men. They spoke of their own injuries very lightheartedly but considered poor C M[dash]'s injuries too severe to give him the least chance. It was quite impossible to remove him without the proper appliances.
This news was very depressing as the Machine Gun crew were all very fine men & the wounded men, also G[dash] absent sick, were splendid gunners.
The Sergt came back with instructions to dig in as best as could be done & await developments. After waiting about half an hour as nothing but shell fire eventuated they went back to the trench.
At this time the snow commenced