Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 80
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[Page 80]
We had a fairly good time here at night we dug trenches and lts and in the daytime we slept and or went for a swim, or a fossick around the town of Ville Sur Ancre. There were some fine waterholes here for swimming in, and I had many a dip in one that was quite close to the village.
One night on fatigue we had to dig a trench across the Bray, Corbie road so our officer got some German Stick bombs, and inserted them under the hard casing of the road and exploded them breaking the hard surface, thats what a brainy officer does, saves the men hard work.
One day here we had to go on fatigue over a rise in full view of Fritz, but out of Bullet fire, he took no notice to men walking about singly, so we thought it was allright, and the party of us there were six or so, walked across as bold as brass. When about ½ way across there was all of a sudden a whizz zz bang! and a cloud of black smoke suddenly burst behind us. Oh! didn't we run for the gully, I would have been first but the other fellows were too fast. A couple more came but luckily they were a bit out.
In the gully one of of our sister battalions were camped, and one of Fritz's bombs had caught their transport and two dead horses were in the roadway.