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[Page 122]
12 Thursday
Received a letter from Lilly Beck & one from O. Turner. We went to Ouderdom during the morning by red cross motor cars. Done gas picket from 3.30 am till 6.30 am, very monotonous. We left Ouderdom about 7 pm for Bedford house, passing through Ypres, which now in places is nothing but heaps of ruins, while in other places it has been blown down to the ground. Ypres has been a very large city. We arrived at Bedford House about 9 pm & took over from the 2nd Field Amb. Rather heavy bombardment on.
13 Friday
Bedford House is just outside Ypres, It consists of three houses (which have all been battered about by shells etc) surrounded by a moat. Baron Rosenthal (a German spy used to own & live here, he was shot in the Tower of London). The place here is overrun with rats which through the want of food are very poor. Last night we were very busy with stretcher cases until about midnight, but tonight we only had one case & a few sick fellows.
[A Robert Rosenthal was shot in the Tower, but he was not "Baron Rosenthal"]
14 Saturday
We are right in the middle of the salient here & the carry down to here is about a mile, but we are only about 800 yds from the closest point from which the Germans send over a good few machine gun bullets, it is dangerous to walk about on the north side of the house after dark. Did nothing during the night. Very big bombardment on at intervals during the night, there are guns all round of us, & the sound is deafening.
15 Sunday
This morning Fritz is putting a good few shells very close to us, he is trying to locate the battery that was firing last night, but they went away early this morning.