Item 02: William Peterson diary, 1 November 1916-3 May 1917 - Page 65
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[Page 65]
things on that basis it means getting up at 3 AM and remaining on duty till 5 (the coldest time of the night in these latitudes) so I shall remain on duty till 2 am and then sleep till 6 when everyone has to get up. Besides the other two will have a longer sleep.
The telephone receiver is close to my ear and I can hear the various outposts calling to Brigade and telling the operator there that so & so is "all clear" each hour and periodically Brigade call us all up and get the "all correct" report just to see that all the operators are awake. Some one is speaking now from the extreme left of the whole line of outpost lines back to Division asking about times of trains running to Kantara. All this is many miles away. Occasionally some one on the outpost line calls the Brigade operator and asks the time, which is given, and silence – the silence of the great desert world around us reigns supreme.
As I lay here and write this it brings to my mind the last time I did any duty on the telephone and that was on the 18th of December 1915, the night we evacuated the trenches we had held at "Destroyer Hill" on Gallipoli.
I had been specially told off by the Colonel to remain behind and send