If this meets the eye of a friend, I beg
that he will inform my wife," etc.; after which follows the wife's
address. These underground fortifications proved as much a snare as a
protection to our enemies. I smile to remember how after our infantry
had advanced three miles, they captured a Hun major busily shaving
himself in his dug-out, quite unaware that anything unusual was
happening. He was very angry because he had been calling in vain for
his man to bring his hot water. When he heard the footsteps of our
infantry on the stairs, he thought it was his servant and started
strafing. He got the surprise of his venerable life when he saw the
khaki.
From the gun-pit the hill slants steeply to the plain. It was once
finely wooded. Now the trees lie thick as corpses where an attack has
failed, scythed down by bursting shells. From the foot of the hill the
plain spreads out, a sea of furrowed slime and craters. It's difficult
to pick out trenches. Nothing is moving. It's hard to believe that
anything can live down there. Suddenly, as though a gigantic
egg-beater were at work, the mud is thrashed and tormented. Smoke
drifts across the area that is being strafed; through the smoke the
stakes and wire hurtle. If you hadn't been in flurries of that sort
yourself, you'd think that no one could exist through it. It's ended
now; once again the country lies dead and breathless in a kind of
horrible suspense. Suspense! Yes, that's the word.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109