Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 121
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[Page 121]
and rifle, a spare water bottle full, 2 mills bombs Lewis pannier containing 200 rounds, 2 bandoliers each containing 50 rounds and last but not least a spade stuck down ones back. The point is that every one of these things is absolutely essential, and one is takeing a risk by throwing any of them away. We walked along for a bit, and run up against some of the 19th Batt, we were going too fast so we stayed there, dodging about in shell holes and an old trench for Fritz was trying to put a barrage up, and a few shells were bursting here and there.
Our No1 got out of the trench and started along the road and a shell burst and wounded him. So we waited in the trench, and a shell blew a portion of it in and a tank came along and we thought it was going to run over us, so we got out and followed it for a bit. Then we followed the Cambrai road. Another of our section had taken No 1s gun and we lost No 2 and the spare parts bag, so I picked up one that someone had dropped, and acted as one. We heard a noise in front and here they were, the first prisoners, a mob of them 4 deep coming down the road, we rushed over to them and commenced to rat them, but they had mostly been ratted. They weren't