Item 03: Peter Turnbull diary, 1 January-31 December 1918: No. 045
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[Page 45]
[March 26, 1918]
Herliere
It has been a very cold night but me & the Sig who sleeps with me were fairly warm with the little straw which we laid on. After breakfast two of us walked to the next village about 3 miles, we caught up to a young woman who had been crying & after talking to her we found she had left some village which was being shelled. We met a Scottie from the line & took him for a feed, on our way back we heard all stories about Fritz breaking through & when we got back to our Bn we found they were packing up. I got ready to go up the line & afterwards found that I had to stay behind this time, as 33% are staying out. I went down to the street for to get some news, because troops artillery & red cross ambulance are coming back, also heartrending sights of woman men & children coming along with some little parcels. On walk down the street this evening a shell dropped about 20 yards from me & killed about 21 horses. It is very cold so I went into a chalk stone mine near the church & slept with the civies. Its a sight to see old men & woman & children sleeping in this mine. I just laid down and slept beside them.