In Flanders Fields And Other Poems [12]
up,
as if to say, "Wasn't that well done?" It makes you want to kiss
their dear old noses, and assure them of a peaceful pasture once more.
To-day we got our dressing station dugout complete, and slept there at night.
Three farms in succession burned on our front -- colour in the otherwise dark.
The flashes of shells over the front and rear in all directions.
The city still burning and the procession still going on.
I dressed a number of French wounded; one Turco prayed to Allah and Mohammed
all the time I was dressing his wound. On the front field one can see
the dead lying here and there, and in places where an assault has been
they lie very thick on the front slopes of the German trenches.
Our telephone wagon team hit by a shell; two horses killed
and another wounded. I did what I could for the wounded one,
and he subsequently got well. This night, beginning after dark,
we got a terrible shelling, which kept up till 2 or 3 in the morning.
Finally I got to sleep, though it was still going on. We must have got
a couple of hundred rounds, in single or pairs. Every one burst over us,
would light up the dugout, and every hit in front would shake the ground
and bring down small bits of earth on us, or else the earth thrown
into the air by the explosion would come spattering down on our roof,
and into the front of the dugout. Col. Morrison tried the mess house,
but the shelling was too heavy, and he and the adjutant joined
Cosgrave and me, and we four spent an anxious night there in the dark.
One officer was on watch "on the bridge" (as we called the trench
at the top of the ridge) with the telephones.
Monday, April 26th, 1915.
Another day of heavy actions, but last night much French and British artillery
has come in, and the place is thick with Germans. There are many prematures
(with so much firing) but the pieces are usually spread before they get to us.
It is disquieting, however, I must say. And all the time the birds sing
in the trees over our heads. Yesterday up to noon we fired 3000 rounds
for the twenty-four hours; to-day we have fired much less,
but we have registered fresh fronts, and burned some farms
behind the German trenches. About six the fire died down,
and we had a peaceful evening and night, and Cosgrave and I in the dugout
made good use of it. The Colonel has an individual dugout,
and Dodds sleeps "topside" in the trench. To all this, put in a background
of anxiety lest the line break, for we are just where it broke before.
Tuesday, April 27th, 1915.
This morning again registering batteries on new points.
At 1.30 a heavy attack was prepared by the French and ourselves.
The fire was very heavy for half an hour and the enemy got busy too.
I had to cross over to the batteries during it, an unpleasant journey.
More gas attacks in the afternoon. The French did not appear
to press the attack hard, but in the light of subsequent events
it probably was only a feint. It seems likely that about this time
our people began to thin out the artillery again for use elsewhere;
but this did not at once become apparent. At night usually
the heavies farther back take up the story, and there is a duel.
The Germans fire on our roads after dark to catch reliefs and transport.
I suppose ours do the same.
Wednesday, April 28th, 1915.
I have to confess to an excellent sleep last night. At times anxiety says,
"I don't want a meal," but experience says "you need your food,"
so I attend regularly to that. The billet is not too safe either.
Much German air reconnaissance over us, and heavy firing from both sides
during the day. At 6.45 we again prepared a heavy artillery attack,
but the infantry made little attempt to go on. We are perhaps
the "chopping block", and our "preparations" may be chiefly designed
to prevent detachments of troops being sent from our front elsewhere.
I have said nothing of what goes on on our
as if to say, "Wasn't that well done?" It makes you want to kiss
their dear old noses, and assure them of a peaceful pasture once more.
To-day we got our dressing station dugout complete, and slept there at night.
Three farms in succession burned on our front -- colour in the otherwise dark.
The flashes of shells over the front and rear in all directions.
The city still burning and the procession still going on.
I dressed a number of French wounded; one Turco prayed to Allah and Mohammed
all the time I was dressing his wound. On the front field one can see
the dead lying here and there, and in places where an assault has been
they lie very thick on the front slopes of the German trenches.
Our telephone wagon team hit by a shell; two horses killed
and another wounded. I did what I could for the wounded one,
and he subsequently got well. This night, beginning after dark,
we got a terrible shelling, which kept up till 2 or 3 in the morning.
Finally I got to sleep, though it was still going on. We must have got
a couple of hundred rounds, in single or pairs. Every one burst over us,
would light up the dugout, and every hit in front would shake the ground
and bring down small bits of earth on us, or else the earth thrown
into the air by the explosion would come spattering down on our roof,
and into the front of the dugout. Col. Morrison tried the mess house,
but the shelling was too heavy, and he and the adjutant joined
Cosgrave and me, and we four spent an anxious night there in the dark.
One officer was on watch "on the bridge" (as we called the trench
at the top of the ridge) with the telephones.
Monday, April 26th, 1915.
Another day of heavy actions, but last night much French and British artillery
has come in, and the place is thick with Germans. There are many prematures
(with so much firing) but the pieces are usually spread before they get to us.
It is disquieting, however, I must say. And all the time the birds sing
in the trees over our heads. Yesterday up to noon we fired 3000 rounds
for the twenty-four hours; to-day we have fired much less,
but we have registered fresh fronts, and burned some farms
behind the German trenches. About six the fire died down,
and we had a peaceful evening and night, and Cosgrave and I in the dugout
made good use of it. The Colonel has an individual dugout,
and Dodds sleeps "topside" in the trench. To all this, put in a background
of anxiety lest the line break, for we are just where it broke before.
Tuesday, April 27th, 1915.
This morning again registering batteries on new points.
At 1.30 a heavy attack was prepared by the French and ourselves.
The fire was very heavy for half an hour and the enemy got busy too.
I had to cross over to the batteries during it, an unpleasant journey.
More gas attacks in the afternoon. The French did not appear
to press the attack hard, but in the light of subsequent events
it probably was only a feint. It seems likely that about this time
our people began to thin out the artillery again for use elsewhere;
but this did not at once become apparent. At night usually
the heavies farther back take up the story, and there is a duel.
The Germans fire on our roads after dark to catch reliefs and transport.
I suppose ours do the same.
Wednesday, April 28th, 1915.
I have to confess to an excellent sleep last night. At times anxiety says,
"I don't want a meal," but experience says "you need your food,"
so I attend regularly to that. The billet is not too safe either.
Much German air reconnaissance over us, and heavy firing from both sides
during the day. At 6.45 we again prepared a heavy artillery attack,
but the infantry made little attempt to go on. We are perhaps
the "chopping block", and our "preparations" may be chiefly designed
to prevent detachments of troops being sent from our front elsewhere.
I have said nothing of what goes on on our