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[Page 12]
15/4/17
Norrieul
About midnight reached Batt HQ and there found guides to take us forward. [indecipherable] Coys of 24th alongside ours. It was early morning before all were in and on their own ground. All stuck along a sunken road thickly crowded with men – as many as could dug in. too many lights and shelling was frequent. Carried shoulder high stretcher cases passed us. Pulled up in a miserable shelter into which one had to crawl on all fours to enter. Crowded with H.Q. officers. Parties passing and runners arriving I decided to go up the line walking over green fields led by a guide. Pitch dark except for a flare now and then. When one went up we froze statuesque. Machine gun bullets flicked overhead and a few shells lobbed occasionally. The firing line was an old railway line manned some troops in front and some in rear. Got back before light to tune of skylarks greeting the dawn. Heavy shelling in anticipation of an attack