Item 01: Frank Hurley war diary, 21 August-28 October 1917 - Page 156
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[Page 156]
Chateau Wood without incident, when a fleet of 14 Taubs & Gothas came over us. The dropped their bombs vigorously a few hundred yards away & peppered the roads with machine gun fire. We took refuge close beside a big tree stump & escaped the machine gun fire, the bullets pelting a few yards off. Our safety was but momentary, however, for a 5.9 shell lobbed only 15 paces off & showered us with mud. A narrow squeak.
Chateau Wood must have been a glorious spot, with its lake on one side & heavily foliaged timber. It is now so lonely & desolate that one feels as if death alone dwelt there. The trees are smashed & splintered & only stumps; the ground is heaved up into wave like ridges with shelling & here & there along the lonely duckboard track lies a stricken soldier