When we took stock we found that D Company
had not suffered a single casualty on this occasion! This struck me as
being extraordinary when one takes into consideration the fact that our
trench was simply packed like sardines with various returning working
parties which had all got congested here--working parties from various
companies and regiments; there were some Irish amongst them. It was
amusing to listen to the language: men shouting, with all kinds of
unmentionable oaths, to each other to get a 'bloody move on for ----
sake!'
"It is amusing what a number of new men, 'obviously Derbyites and
conscripts,' as Beesley said the other day, have got the wind up. One
incident of the kind, related by Captain Bodington, was very funny. He
was walking along a trench last night and a man came rushing along as if
the whole German Army were chasing him; and he bumped right into
Bodington, nearly sending him flying. Bodington asked him whatever was
the matter; and the man replied in a voice of abject terror, 'They're
sniping at us up there, sir!'
"At 2.30 this morning I retired to rest--in my clothes of course; we do
not undress in the trenches. At 5.40 I rose and took on officer of the
watch until breakfast at 8.45, when I was relieved by Sergeant-Major
Stanton.
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