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[Page 80]
next morning 7th they all gave themselves up, about 9 o'clock that night, while we were all busy getting our trenches in order for the expected counter attack, volunteers were called for to go over & bring some sand bags & shovels back, for we did not have enough, & they were shelling us pretty heavily, I & 4 others volunteered & I can tell you it's a funny feeling you have as you pick your way across that "no mans land" among the dead, dying & wounded, & the bullets whistling all round, we lost no time as you may guess getting across, we went to Bde, Hqrs, & the Bde. Major said we need not take any back with us, for he would see that they were sent across at once, so back we went & reached the trenches safely, we worked hard all that night, at times we had
to drop our tools, grab our guns, & fight like the devil for a while, for they were just about to start the counter attacks by 9 oclock next morning the battle was in full swing, every inch of ground was being fought stubbornly for by both sides, the losses on both sides were awful but still it never slackened time after time they rushed us only to be beaten back at the very parapet you might say, bomb fights were every where, & these accounted for most of the casualties on our side, the artillery fire was deafening, & combined with the salty acrid smell of the cordite, the rattle of machine guns & rifles the bursting bomb's, the heat & flies & dust, & the cries of the wounded men, made the blood run hot or cold in y
our veins, according to the way you looked at it