Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Fifth Leicestershire - A Record Of The 1/5th Battalion The Leicestershire Regiment, - T.F., During The War, 1914-1919. by J.D. Hills
page 109 of 333 (32%)
out of the trench and lost for several hours. Captain Farmer was perhaps
the quietest, certainly the bravest, officer of his time, for he feared
nothing, and nothing could shake his calm, while it was said of him
that he was never angry and never despondent. When he was killed, "C"
Company lost their leader, and every man his best friend, while the mess
lost one who was the most cheerful comrade of every officer.

This bombardment left our front line in a terrible condition, and
General Kemp decided to build a new main line of resistance 50 yards in
rear, holding the front with odd posts only. Meanwhile the front parapet
must be repaired, and the night was spent in doing this as far as we
could--a hopeless task, for the following afternoon we were again
hammered. This time "A" Company suffered most, and Corporal Williamson
and one man were killed, Serjt. Staniforth and one other wounded, while
the trench was blown in for several yards and a dug-out demolished.
Dug-outs were few, and consisted only of little hutches formed by
putting a sheet of iron over some slot. Even Company Headquarters of the
centre Company had little more than this, though Battalion Headquarters
and the other companies had a half-deep dug-out.

The bombardments now became daily, and all our efforts at retaliation
either with artillery or trench mortars proved entirely ineffectual.
There was nothing we could do except clear as many men as possible away
from the danger area, and come back at dusk to rebuild our parapet.
Towards the end of the tour the Boche started firing rifle grenades
before each mortar, so that we should stoop to avoid the former and so
miss seeing the flight of the latter. The tour ended with a four-inch
fall of snow on the 26th, which melted almost at once and filled the
trenches with water, which no amount of pumping would remedy. After
relief we went to the "Talus des Zouaves" in Brigade support, except for
DigitalOcean Referral Badge