Item 01: T. J. Cleary diary, 8 March 1916 - 15 August 1917 - Page 151
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[Page 151]
Sunday 13-5
All members of the 4th Div. left the mill today. I believe the 4th is going North. Heard today that at Bullecourt our 2nd Div. were massed in the trenches preparatory to attacking at 4.15 A.M. Fritz must have "smelt a rat" for he opened a Bombardment just ¼ of an hour before our curtain fire was timed to start. Our Guns replied & our Infantry went over but the curtain fire did not creep forward as expected with the result that the first wave was blocked. wave after wave came on until 7 or 8 waves were amassed behind our Barrage. Fritz artillery & machine guns pasting them all the time at last the push of the rear waves pushed the leading ones into our own curtain fire. A few days later we got some of our own back. Fritz planned a stunt it is believed & when everything was ready sent up his S.O.S. for his Artillery. By a wonderful coincidence his S.O.S. & ours were the same & our Artillery opened up immediately with disastrous results for Fritz.