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[Page 11]
Madeline Bafeor
rue In eul In sue
estaires post
france
living from the scraps & the rats which swarm through the ruins.
The quietness of the trenches was rather surprising. Here & there a bullet cracked & at odd intervals during the afternoon. the artillery from both sides fired a few shots. Late in the afternoon the Germans shelled the road holding up the battalion for some time in the dreary rain & wind swept road. The following day (Thursday 20th) they continued with the bombardment of the billets in the rear accounting for numerous casualties. The same night saw considerable activity. Flares mounting on the intervening spaces between the trenches, lit the lines like day for a time only to die out leaving all in a bewildering darkness. Machine guns traversed the trenches on both sides the bullets cracking overhead with their numerous snap & at intervals the search lights flashed skywards as if anticipating the presence of air-craft. Good-Friday broke with sunshine, our first for a week or so & the still day gave the aircraft the opportunity for which they waited. The whole day biplanes & other airships displaying the bulls-eye of the allies or the Maltese cross the Germans alternately whirre overhead each licking a salvo of shrapnel from as it approached enemy lines. But anti-aircraft gunnery with its many difficulties, has not yet reached any formidable dimensions so that when night again fell with its attendant rain no aeroplane had apparently been injured on either side. Saturday passed very quickly with rather heavy rain which again eased at night, giving us