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[Page 18]
7/5/1915 (12th day)
the Australians – They go mad. (12th day) Things generally have been very quiet except at odd moments when an exchange of shells serve as a reminder that the war is still in progress. Today whilst preparing midday meal a battery of the enemy got our range splendidly. For a quarter of an hour it was duck all the time as the shrapnel came across like hail. A few of our men were wounded slightly but my sorrow was for the poor horses – 14 of which had to be destroyed owing to injuries. I counted 18 shots fired at a landing stage, where pontoons were berthed, & only three succeeded in touching the vessels. The funny thing in connection with this bombardment was, a number of men were inside the pontoon employed in various ways when the first shot struck & the various methods of coming ashore were indeed comical notwithstanding the gravity of the situation. I invited a fellow comrade to share my dug out with me, & in jocular tone was discussing the plomping of the shells out yonder. He remarked that he preferred to being alive, a coward, than dead, a hero – that was why he sought my hospitality. It was obvious that he was going to get a whack because a splinter off a bursting shell, over in the