Item 02: Leslie Kemnitz Stuart diary, 4 March-28 December 1916 - Page 231
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[Page 231]
[Friday 4 August]
Sent back in the morning to H.Q. with a note. Nearly got caught by Shrap on several occasions near Contalmaison. We charge tonight. Our is the only gun out of 16, going over the parapet. We began moving up to our positions at 7p.m. Our artillery preparation had been quite effective. At 9.18 the attack commenced. We had to go over at 9.18 ½. When the order came I jumped onto our parapet fair into a H.E. shell which blew me back into the trench & giving me several wounds in the left hand also the left arm. I was just about unconscious & light headed from shock. I went down & was trampled on, I had barely got up when another shell almost buried me. I lay under the parapet for a while & at last decided to get back but found the sap blocked so I lay there till about 1 AM. By that time we had the captured trenches consolidated & were bringing in prisoners & during a lull in the bombardment I jumped out of the trench & started back to our starting point of 7p.m. across no mans land. It was a rough trip with shellholes, broken trench shrapnel & darkness but I got there at last & found that Mac had been sent up to help consolidate the position. We took 2 lines of trenches on a 3,000 yds front. Our orders were to get it or not come back till we did.