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[Page 5]
August & September 1916
Our train ride was very short & only lasted about twenty minutes & we disentrained at the southern end of the town of Ypres where guides met us. Our path was through the main streets of the town which is absolutely blown to atoms & there is no sign of civilians at all as the Huns still shell it with their big guns. It has been a fine city for the ruins of the Cloth Hall & numerous other big buildings are the only sights to be seen of the old city. At the far side of the town we had to go through a big archway known as Lille Gates in the City Wall then pass over a metal bridge which goes across a small lake. Our path then lay until we reached the reserve trenches a road crossing two Railways. We releived the Dublin Fus about midnight & remained in reserve trenches till following night. At 2pm on the afternoon of the 1st September I had to go to front line to have a look round platoons front & it was not till after dark that the company came to the front line. It had been raining for a couple of days previous & the mud & slush was knee deep in the front line & there was no shelter at all. Our platoon (No 4) was just to the left of Hill 60 & we remained in the firing line for 3 ½ days & were releived by "D" Coy on the morning of the 4th day & moved back to supports & while there we had to do ration fatigue of a night & Engineers fatigue of a day. The dug outs we were in, in supports were built in the sides of the cutting of the main Paris to Brussels railway line which is now a mass of shell holes & sand bag barrackades. The whole time the Battalion occupied the front line things were very quiet but the monotony was often broken by both sides opening out with