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[Page 102]
"No Man's Land"
24/6/16
hear them talking & coughing) when shells started landing on their trenches as our artillery commenced a bombardment. It was a very rotten position to be in right on their wire with a heavy strafe commencing. We tumbled into the ditch & crouched down. It was now as bright as day and their batteries and machine guns opened up and we lay flat only once getting a little shrapnel.
When it was quieter we crawled right back with nary a halt & breathless pause as we made a flying leap back over our parapet into the firing line.
Bed 2 am.
25/6/16
Work as usual but finding out that it was Sunday I let the chaps off with an easy day. Padre Stewart had his farewell today and will be much missed having made himself a living force in his Regiment.
Saw the Brigadier in the morning and discussed some details with him. This Halfway House conforms to the local rule and its courtyard is surrounded by the house on one side and barns, cowsheds & outbuilding on the others. The place is most capacious and capable of holding many men in billets in war time and plenty of stock and fodder in peace. Our battalion lines got "well strafed" today in retaliation for last nights strafe and we had some casualties.
One of the men in my special party was hit .. Jock Munro also stopped one and is away.
Officers in my "stunt" : Capt Corvian Lt Cull Rositer Lt Machell Sale Sandford, Lieut Carwick, Kerr Smythe, Hunter, Mackay Fussell. Our vocabulary has acquired some terms which I used violently to detest but am now habitually using as everyone does "Stunt", "strafe" & "Hun" are a few of these.
In the evening we had a full dress rehearsal with phones &c. on the whole it was not too bad. The phones worked well in spite of scratch connections & men tripping over wires.
Bed 1200