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[Page 35]
during the day and the Americans are pleased at our compliment to them. They and our chaps are sworn friends - it's most remarkable. This morning I made sketches of Hun prisoners, a woe begone, criminal looking lot. They were pleased as can be to be out of the brawl and wolfed their food like starved mongrels. The Americans who came to see them said "Guess you better turn 'em over to us, Aussies - we all've got otter-matics and all of us're pretty good shots." One of the escort told me that the Huns told him they think a lot of our diggers and don't want to get into anyone else's hands. That may be, but I'll gamble they wouldn't want to get into the clutches of some of our regiments. An American machine-gunner surveying them said: "They aint soldiers. That son of a...... he's a minister - that god dam etcetera's a purfesser - that one's a school teacher and that one look like he's got wotter on the brain. Thay aint soldiers." That was after lunch; since then I've been on my back, hut feel better how and soon will go out to watch the big barrage that is now warming to its work .When it gets dark it ought to be worth seeing.
St Gratien, France
5/7/18.
Last night, full of indigestion, I went to Fullwood's tent and we went to have a look at the Hun bombardment. It looked like a gigantic firefly display with summer lightning and a thunderstorm as background. It resulted badly for them and wound up with an air-raid for us with bombs a-plenty bursting round. One of their machines just skimming over the chateau was caught by the searchlights and looked like a monstrous silver locust, or a great shark, and presented a beautiful appearance, flying very, very low. Though a target for every archie and machine gun in the neighbourhood it got away and immediately after I went off to bed. With my indigestion and the racket that kept up all night I hardly had a wink of sleep so this morning after breakfast I lay down and from sheer fatigue went to sleep, not waking till nearly 2 o'clock. As it was past lunch time I went to the canteen and