Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 82
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[Page 82]
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One night we were hurried in off fatigue and made, "stand to", all the night, for word had come that Fritz was preparing for a new advance against Amiens; And weren't the planes busy laying eggs the gullies were ringing all night with their bombs destroying dumps and bombing crossroads. Our planes used that beautiful, curtain of gold flare here. It is shot out of the aeroplane and bursts giving a sharp light, then it hangs in a slowly falling curtain of golden sheen stars from the sky.
One of our sister (18th Batl) JKL batalions raided old Fritz and found everyone asleep except the old Sergeant major and, "they couldn't do without him" so they pinched him he was writing letters in his possy.
We were for in supports for 5 or 6 days and then went back to the old reserve overlooking the Somme and Ancre Valley. Same old Fatigues every night .
The country is beautiful now, the fields are bloodred in places with poppies and scarlet clover and blue in others with cornflowers. I often went to down Ville sur Ancre and into houses which were more or less smashed about. All the contents of the shelves were down on the floor littered about, post cards, nick nack's, little treasures, birth and marriage announcement.