asualties in shell
shock, etc. Curiously enough, during the days 'D' Company held the
line they suffered no casualties, although the trench was battered out
of all recognition. When it was dark on 'W' night we marched to
Bouzincourt. Here we spent the night in huts. Before daybreak we were
shelled and had one man killed. Day showed an extraordinary sight.
Bouzincourt stands on the hill, the battle area stretched out like a
map below. Near the Crucifix on the Aveluy road a long naval gun
barked. Just behind us was a 15 inch howitzer. Its shells could easily
be watched in their flight overhead. In front were an infinite number
of guns all in action. A long line of observation balloons made a
crescent round Albert. One could count over twenty, and not one
German. The air was thick with our aeroplanes. The German lines looked
like long ribbons of white fur. The air was full of shrapnel balls,
especially over the woods, and the villages were burning. The heavy
howitzers were causing dreadful eruptions on the German strong points.
La Boisselle, believed impregnable, was a concentrated hell. The
Germans were putting shrapnel into the woods that lie in the triangle
between Hamel, Bouzincourt and Aveluy. Here our guns were massed. And
now and then a mushroom of smoke would spring up in unexpected
places. The noise was so terrific that it became monotonous. We were
served out with cotton wool for our ears, but in spite of this the
concussion on the 1st of July was so great that we all became stone
deaf, and for days after almost without the use of our voices. We
prepared for 'battle order.' All our belongings we packed into our
valises, and these were stored in an empty house in Bouzincourt. We
wore steel helmets, at that time they were without sandbag coverings,
and in strong sunlight reflected almost as brilliantly as polished
steel. I noticed on the 1st July, looking back from the advanced line
to the German original front line, how the helmets of our reserves
holding that line shone up and made their wearers clear targets. We
wore the haversack on our back containing mess tin, small kit, two
days' rations, 'iron rations,' pair of socks and waterproof sheet. We
carried four sandbags just below. Then we had the usual equipment,
pouches containing 120 rounds, bayonet, water bottle and entrenching
tool. Another 100 rounds in bandoliers, and I had extra an apron
containing 12 Mill's bombs and butterfly wirecutters. The whole formed