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[Page 105]
Thursday 11th Nov 1915
The Turks don't intend to give us any peace. Shortly after 8 o'clock this morning they again opened on us & with deadly effect. Their second shell wiped out 4 men & seriously inured two others & one fell swoop. This party of men had commenced to dig a tunnel from the back of their bivouac dug-out ½ way up the hill: they had only got a few feet in when with a deafening roar the huge missile of death plugged cleane through the roof above them & then blew the poor devils to bits, one other chap was blown clear out of the door: he was blackened with powder from head to foot like a stoker just issuing from the grimy depths of a huge stokehole. He was completely blinded with grit & fumes from the shell & his eyes have been permanently injured. His shirt & trousers were hanging in shreds & he was trembling like a leaf in the wind. He was crying out incoherently & soon fell down in a deep swoon.
Orders were quietly given that all should clear out till the shelling was over, & the command was quietly & very willingly obeyed.
The shelling was continued for about an hour, then stopped as suddenly as it had commenced.
Work of tunnelling continues with unabated vigor, day & night, shafts 20 to 25 ft being sunk, from which branch tunnels are being spread out. Two exits will be provided to each tunnel. These are the only safe precautions against howitzers. They can search every nook & cranny of this gully. They fire into the heavens & come down practically at right angles. Gad! this is war. Give me bullets with a chance to smack back any day in preference to this "rat-in-the-trap" destruction & murder. Crouch where you may above ground you are not safe from these monsters.