ding out
carrying parties for extra ammunition for bomb guns, they all turned in
to snatch a few hours' sleep, with the exception of the officer on duty.

At twelve o'clock I turned in. Rolling myself in a blanket and using my
trench-coat and boots as a pillow, I lay and listened to the continual
crack of rifle-fire, and the thud of bullets striking and burying
themselves in the sandbags of our shelter. Now and then I dozed, and
presently I fell asleep. I suddenly awakened with a start. What caused
it I know not; everything seemed unnaturally quiet; with the exception
of an isolated sniper, the greatest war in history might have been
thousands of miles away. I lit a cigarette, and was slowly puffing it
(time, 4.15 a.m.), when a tremendous muffled roar rent the air; the
earth seemed to quake. I expected the roof of our shelter to collapse
every minute. The shock brought my other companions tumbling out.
"Something" was happening.

The rumble had barely subsided, when it seemed as if all the guns in
France had opened rapid battery fire at the same moment. Shells poured
over our heads towards the German positions in hundreds. The shrieking
and earsplitting explosives were terrific, from the sharp bark of the
4.2 to the heavy rumble and rush of the 9-inch "How." The Germans,
surprised in their sleep, seemed absolutely demoralised. They were
blazing away in all directions, firing in the most wild and
extraordinary manner, anywhere and everywhere. Shells were crashing and
smashing their way into the remains of the outbuildings, and they were
literally exploding all round.

Captain ---- instructed his officers to see what had happened to the
ammunition party. They disappeared in the hell of shell-fire as though
it were quite an every-day incident. I opened the door, climbed the
steps, and stood outside. The sight which met my eyes was magnificent in
its grandeur. The heavens were split by shafts of lurid fire. Masses of
metal shot in all directions, leaving a trail of sparks behind them;
bits of shell shrieked past my head and buried themselves in the walls
and sandbags. One large missile fell in an open space about forty feet
on my left, and exploded with a deafening, ear-splitting crash. At the
same moment another exploded directly in front of me. Instinctively I
ducked my head. The blinding flash and frightful noise for the moment
stunned me, and I could taste the exploding gas surrounding me. I
stumbled down the steps i