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 519
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Transcription
[Page 519]
immediately but in about a quarter of an hour the whole of the seven men in the post were suddenly knocked down by the explosion of a shell, a "whizz-bang" just about 3 feet beyond the trench.
After recovering from the "roar" & shock & brushing the dirt out of the eyes enquiries were made, Any one hit? before replies could be given another shell burst just immediately in front.
Again the shock knocked every man down & they kept down till all the splinters had stopped falling. Some of the men were then really wishing that the pieces of mud (frozen) that kept falling on their backs, would really prove pieces of metal so that it would be their turn to go out to the aid post, but shortly after each man stood up without hurt of any kind.
Within half a minute of the second shell bursting, a third came along but this one "flattened" them all out & covered them more or less with mud & dirt. From the force with which they were thrown down & the "stunning" effect of the explosion the men knew the shell had burst, in the trench itself.
Immediately upon getting clear of the mud & dirt each man as he recovered from the horrible shock stood up and asked very anxiously Who's hit?.
It could scarce be possible for a shell to burst right in a trench not more than fifteen or twenty feet long by two feet wide, without doing some damage.
The Sergeant like all the others had been standing with his back to the parapet but this shell in bursting had turned him right round & thrown him on his back on the parados which was several feet lower than the parapet and as the men could see on his left arm just
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