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 459
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[Page 459]
to be traversed the breath of every man was "coming & going" at such a rate that it was almost painful. The trench still seemed a terrible distance away, as each man was "getting done".
At this particularly trying time it seemed to dawn on every man that this was just the proper time to give a cheer. A rousing hair raising cheer rang out high above the awful din from one end of that line to the other!
The Hun trench seemed to be reached in an incredibly short space of time & it felt as if one had hardly touched the ground in the last finishing dash. But Oh! What a terrible surprise awaited the leaders of that charging line.
The "charge" disclosed the fact that the men on the "left" were racing up more quickly & reached the trench while the "right" was swinging into position, but instead of the Hun trench being unguarded, the foremost men in their final sprint had to dash out their left hands to prevent them rushing on to the most murderous looking barbed wire entanglement seen.
Here was a mess to be in! It was impossible to knock the wire down or cut it, so there was nothing else to do but to drop on the ground & prepare to shoot. The wild expressions of men caught under such conditions need not be recorded. Some nearly cried with anger.
Just at this moment the fourth man on the left called out Here's a [dash] gate! (a gate is an opening left in the wire to enable patrol parties to go out into No mans land & are left about every half mile in a long line of wire).
The men clustered round him. It took but a moment to smash the wire across the opening & into the trench they dashed, the Sentry although fourth from the man opposite the gate was on account of the crush & rush to get through eighth man into the trench which was being entered on the left flank.
The barbed wire guarding this