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[Page 15]
the burial. Here an arm is exposed, here a hand, just a sodden remnant of bone and muscle, there a leg and there two Blucher boots, pointing skyward, suggesting their Hun owner had been buried head downward, or had been thrown that way by a subsequent explosion. Some British soldiers' graves were marked by simple wooden crosses with the names pencilled on them, others with the words "Unknown British Soldier". Some marked by his damaged rifle, standing iverted [inverted] at his head, others with their steel helmet or a cross formed of shrapnel shell cases laid on the ground. (Such graves as are recognisable at a later date have erected upon them suitable crosses by a Commission).
The night was spent in two hour watches, my "sentry go" being first in my section. Standing on a fire step in a position to watch for anything occurring in front I gave my attention to studying the sounds in comparison with peaceful ones such as I could best describe them to you by. Immediately in our rear were several batteries of 18 pounders which fired, with noisome rapidity in salvos the whole night long, the shells screaming a few feet overhead with a swishing sound like hissing steam but there are variations caused by the copper driving band being in some cases loose and in which case it may whistle or scream, the sound dying away in the distance. The large shells simply tear through the air with a fluttering rushing and redning sound and near the front line, after a long flight from the rear and their velocity has diminished, they make a queer fluttering sound at intervals as of a huge bird were on wing, before bursting with an appalling crash on the enemy's lines. Their explosion varies, of course, with their size, the explosive used and their object.
Fritz supplies the fireworks as a rule, that is to say, the illuminating flares which are sent up at a few hundred yards interval all along the lines are sent up by the Germans who are in a perpetual state of fear that they should be surprised. These flares are of a most intense white, magnesium light and
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