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 505
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Transcription
[Page 505]
otherwise he would have been "skittled".
The only time that a chance did occur was when the snow fell so heavily that the firing did not appear so accurate, but notwithstanding, this on Tuesday the men being so very tired & stiff they took the risk to get out to have a stretch & a lie down on their oilsheets, but quickly got back again.
All Monday day & night the men had to stand or lean against the back of a narrow hastily dug trench so close together that they touched one another without room to lie or even sit down & owing to the continual shell bursts it was impossible to go to sleep. The men having to leave the original trench in such a hurry, had left their "iron rations" in the dug outs or shelters there, so that since leaving the billets at Fremicourt on Sunday night they had had nothing to eat except what crumbs might be scraped from the bottom of their haversacks, & with nothing to drink, notwithstanding all the snow, & rain & sleet, for the water in their bottles was frozen hard. The men would take the bottle from its holder, place it under the arm then shake it smartly with the hope of thawing out a few drops.
The explosives from the shells had covered all the snow with a coating similar to coal dust, and to take a mouthful of this caused dysentry.
The tired men would carefully place their rifle on the top of the bank so that the barrel & breech would not be muddied & would then lean forward with their arms on the mud to try to sleep but were kept constantly nodding from the shock of the shells bursting in close proximity.
After nightfall the strain became awful. Some of the men at times almost cried in sheer desperation at the futility of getting sleep.
As the night grew darker, the sentries had to be posted out of the trench itself & had to stand
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