Mercer papers, 9 December 1917-19 June 1919 / Harold Mercer - Page 87
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[Page 87]
in the street village square, or centre of the town, houses like barns & pig styes, and a people dull and dreary, who all look worn out & tired of life. And the wine in all the places is enormously dear, and very bad.
There seems to be no clear knowledge at all as to where Fritz is; but guns are starting to the south, & at night we can see flares – the invariable sign of the German front line. Fritz has made a big bite; and whether he is held even now, is doubtful. Some believe that Amiens must fall; and we hear the big shells already, sailing over to its destination, now & then, at night.
Rumor, for we get no papers, is busy talking about what the Germans are doing in the north, too: in fact it is more or less officially announced that he paid us the compliment of coming over directly our backs were turned & has made big headway.
It seems inconceivable that he should have taken the ridges from Messines upwards however; we always claimed that we could hold them against the aggregate German armies; and, here, we are confident of keeping the Hun back; but we are fearful of our wings. A lot of the boys talk about the inevitability of our being cut off & annihilated.
April 8th
It is said that a German spy was caught dressed in the uniform of an Australian officer. The spy system, by all accounts seems to have