The
shell
fire was made even more terrible and
unnerving by the added crash of
broken boughs
and smashing tree trunks.
The net
result of the day's fighting was that
the wood remained in our hands,
except for
a portion at the north & north east. The Huns
counter
attacked freely and shelled unmercifully
but the gains were held. During
the day the 6th
Brigade had been used as carriage parties up
Loungueval
Alley and in many ways I think
they had as bad a time as anybody.
The night
following was most disturbed, as the
state of tension was so high that
it only required
someone to fire their rifle, for lights to go up &
a barrage to come down. On one occasion this
occurred and the pioneers
battalion, the Duke
of Cornwall L I were carrying up rations to the
99th
Brigade at the time. Panic seized them
and they started streaming back
over the top
shouting that the wood had been recaptured.
They collected
in New Cub Trench and nearly
caused confusion among our own men, as
they were
charging to and fro utterly disorganised. There was
no one
with them who knew what to do,
and it was with difficulty that I got
my own men
on the firestep in the crowded and over
flowing trench. However
we managed to herd
them into a wide part of the trench, where they
were
ordered to stay on pain of fearful penalties
and as the shelling gradually
subsided, order
was ultimately restored. These sudden outbursts
of artillery
fire were most unnerving, and we used
to stand to arms amid a terrific
racket,
suffocated with smoke and fumes and covered
with debris, not
knowing what was happening.
It was a wonder we did not have more casualties,
on these occasions, as things used to come very
near, and shrapnel was
bursting open the trench,
but I think the barrage line was behind our
trench.
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