Mercer papers, 9 December 1917-19 June 1919 / Harold Mercer - Page 35
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[Page 35]
was pleased to find that I had no windiness at all – I was more concerned about falling into shell holes than by the machine guns, though the bullets "pinged" pretty close over us sometimes when we had to go down. The purpose of these fighting patrols is to support the idea of the Australian Command that wherever we go we are to be "Masters of No Mans Land". We are supposed to tackle & drive off any German patrols we find; and these methods have established a moral ascendancy over Fritz which causes him to be very windy when opposite to us. We met nothing however, & did not stay out long. Stevenson, who was in a pretty lively condition, said that if it wasn't good enough for the O.C. to go swimming in No Mans Land it wasn't good enough for him. He found a pill-box, & we stayed there for an hour or so, when he took us back, having written out a