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[Page 28]
the earth was scared and blackened by the ceaseless rain of shells. Here & a body sometimes a German lay half covered in the debris waiting to be buried. Here and there a huge crater showed where some important works had been blown up. A few twisted rails & blackened sleepers marked the position of the German heavy railway while now & again an enemy howitzer or gun spoke of the trueness of our artillery fire. We occupied an old German communication trench to the left of Contalmaison. The Germans were situated in what at one time was a fair sized village but which now under the hail of shells which fell ceaselessly upon it nothing but a blackened waste amid which the scarred stumps of trees shorn of limbs & foliage reared themselves, for all the world like so many scarecrows. Lying both between our trenches & on "no man's land" were numerous blackening corpses both Brit of British & German – the result of the last attempt to take the wood.
All through the 20th & 21st our guide kept up a constant bombardment on the village. Shrapnel rained unceasingly, while the High Explosive tore up the ground or flung bricks on great trees skywards like as many feathers. At night German artillery replied with heavy shrapnel, but never a rifle shot broke came from their trenches.
We received instructions to take their first line on the night of Friday 21st June, but after making every preparation this order was for some reason or other countermanded
However on Saturday 22nd definite orders were given to storm the village at 12 P.M. The usual bombardment was kept up all day & at about 12.10 we went over. Simultaneously our artillery opened a