Item 01: Alan Keats Gordon letters to Nellie Clark, 18 August 1914-30 August 1916 - Page 333
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[Page 333]
4. was said that it was worse than Verdun. The ground was so soft, having been ploughed up so by the shells, that where ever a shell fell, everything fell in, & we were digging out all day. Despite all this we held it & it is ours now for keeps. We were up against the famous Brandenberger's & some of the much vaunted Prussian Guards, but ten of them would not be a match for any one of our lads. I always said that if I ever met them, I would kill without mercy, & I & all the others did so. I must have been a bit excited after we got them running as they tell me that, I was laying on the parapet sniping them off, & kept saying , Blimy" its better than duck shooting." I get that all day now. We even shot those who threw their hands up, & walked towards us to surrender. They would not believe that we were Australians as they said we could not get over, owing to their fleet. One who could speak English asked what we were going to do with them & when