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[Page 85]
With the terrible detonations when the bombs exploded put the wind up all hands. Along both sides of the cordroi roads which led up to these parts of the front were dozens of dead horses & mules, every kind of military limbers even to Red Cross waggons which had been hit by enemy shells the sights being cruel but with all this the troops carried on in good spirits. The artillery ammunition columns experienced some terrible times here for the shells had to be carried up by pack horses & mules, each man laving two horses or mules under his charge. Owing to the excessive traffic on the cordroi roads & not being allowed to use the duck board tracks these artillerymen were compelled to take the ammunition overland. Tis was an awful job for the poor animals often became bogged in the mud & shell holes often having to be dug out & in several occasions the animals became so fast & deep in the mud that they had to be abandoned or shot for it was impossible to get them out of it. One good thing about this job was that we had real good comfortable huts to live in when not on fatigue always being able to get a good square meal. The Divisional Concert party established themselves in a big hut near bye our camp which enabled us to attend their shows of a night which greatly added good pastime for the boys & I spent many pleasant evenings there. We were often disturbed from our slumber of a night by the enemy's planes which used to visit us dropping bombs uncomfortably close to the camp but thanks to providence the Battalion suffered no casualties from this practice but it had a very demoralizing effect upon the troops especially the later arrivals. Late one afternoon the 22nd Battalion arrived & were put into tents in rear of our camp then when they had settled down fires were lighted inside the tents by the new comers for the night was cold. Just after dusk had set in the familiar buz of the Huns planes could be heard overhead suddenly followed by explosions of bombs very close to our camp. It was not long before help was called for as the Huns had dropped bombs among the 22nd battalion inflicting about fifty casualties the biggest per centage being killed. This incident was attributed to the fires when the men had in their tents for the reflection could easily be seen through the canvas & from this on fires were absolutely forbidden after dark so as to prevent any further disastrous results. It was whilst engaged on the fatigues from this camp that I received my first wound since joining the service. I was leading my platoon home after work one day when the Huns started to shell our track & one of the shells just missed the party by a few feet landing very close by me. I received a small piece of shell in the top lip but after having it attended to at the Field dressing station I was able to rejoin the battalion for it was not serious. During the morning of the 4th of November orders were issued to pack up ready to move which we did about midday being marched to an old mill on the western side of Ypres. On arriving at the mill we received instructions to get our gear into battle order, stack our packs in heaps by companies, & roll all blankets in bundles of then then stack them in heaps for we were not to take them into the line. We remained at the mill until dusk when we started to move forward, through Ypres, then along the Menin road until we reached the duck board track which branched off to the left. After a very long walk about three miles along this duck board track we finally relieved the 11th Battalion in second supports in front of the shattered village of Zonnebeke. The duties in this position was chiefly ammunition carrying this being an extremely heavy task for the ammunition had to be carried from Zonnebeke to the first support line a distance of about two miles this having to be done through the mud.