Cocks letter diary, 1916-1919 / Verner Cocks - Page 560

[Page 560]

In front of the next dugout was a shellhole contg. the bodies of ten Germans.   Time had not allowed to cover them & they lay just as they fell.   This was the worst spot in the locality. Elsewhere the bodies - none the less in number had been covered except for legs & arms which protruded from the mud.   One would often kick a skull from its resting place in the mud.

I hardly like to relate these things but it is to be a record for myself although I don't think I could forget it.

3/10/17
 €‹Relieved at 2 p.m. for a few hours rest previous to stunt.   Went back to our billets in the town.   Passing the artillery saw Lt. Ron Frazer & Jack Shiels from the Bank - their battery was in action.   Had a look round the town & at 10.30 p.m. had supper & then a sleep.

4/10/17
 €‹At 2 a.m. we were awakened & made our way back to the line to our different posts, Jack & I going back to the place we had left.   At 4 a.m. was the barrage time & the "hop over" an hour later.

The first case soon turned up & we took it Jack & I, Harry Brown & another chap.   Light rain had fallen & made the place very muddy & we tried to find our way over shellholes to the next relay (wounded had to be carried for about two miles over this country before reaching the ambulances).   After a long carry we got the patient through & started back.   Meanwhile Fritz had started a barrage & was putting it all along where our R.A.P. was.   We walked right into it & got fairly amongst the shells so all by mutual consent dived for shellholes.   As each shell burst we got all the mud & debris so I suggested from my hole at the top of my voice to run for it & we ran back.   On the way I stopped a piece of shrap with my steel hat & another with my chest but was disappointed to find that the latter was only a bruise instead of a blighty.   We made two more attempts to get through but had to duck for shelter behind an old tank of which there are many (these old derelicts make very safe dugouts).   The third time we had just started when our barrage opened - 4 a.m.   The roar was deafening & the sight wonderful.   Over the brow of the ridge behind we could see the thousands of flashes of our guns like myriad electric lights flashing - the scream of shells overhead so thick as to keep the rain off & the line of bursts along the slope of the ridge in front we were to take.   But the prettiest of all were Fritz verey lights and S.O.S. signals. A firework display was nothing to it.   Rockets bursting into red & green & orange lights & others bursting into the "shower" you have often seen at displays.   We were pretty safe now as we knew that Fritz would concentrate wholly on the front line so we proceeded, the trouble is in these cases you can't hear a shell coming & have no warning to duck.

Worked all day amidst mud & rain & had some experiences - I never want another - I never did such solid stretcher bearing.   The mud was up to our knees and the rain wet us through, rations went astray and the wounded were coming in in dozens.   Soon the prisoners started to come in and they relieved the situation - we had them all carrying stretchers.   Jack & I had two very decent chaps they were quite happy to be prisoners, we fed them well & one did not want to leave us.   After 16 hours bearing we were relieved by infantry & got a few hours sleep.   During the day Harry Brown had to leave us - he couldn't carry on and no wonder.   Water was scarce and we lived on biscuits which were scattered along the road, having been upset off carts and pack mules by shells.   We worked along a road which was under constant shellfire & were very lucky in missing everything.

Many mules were killed along the road but it was marvellous how the traffic escaped.   To see a road in the forward area during an advance makes one wonder at the marvelous organisation.   Every department is represented and is carrying on independently and bustling for places along the road & through this stream you can see the line of stretchers wending its way.   No one cares for others so long as you get your own job done.   That night I managed to get a bit dry & warm over a Tommy cooker & got a few hours sleep.   Next day we carried all day and eventually got the line clear and got a sleep, the second night objectives easily gained & Fritz had stopped shelling where we were - advanced about 2 miles.

6/10/17
 €‹Nothing doing, Fritz very quiet.   Relieved at 11 a.m. and reported back to H.Qrs. at once put into lorries and rushed out of the line back to