TCD MS 10821 folio 20 recto
[June 27th 1916] & underhand trick, but the Boche was the first <to start it>. However I shall be glad to get rid of it from our trenches, as we have had it there now for eight days & I was always afraid of a shell hitting one of the cylinders & gassing our own people. At 3 o’ clock in the afternoon though it was raining slightly the gas was let out: it was a most uncanny sight to see the greyish yellow vapour pouring out of the pipes & flowing along the ground towards the German lines. It kept at first very low only about four feet deep, but as it spread further on it rose a little & formed a regular wall of fog about fifteen to twenty feet high. The fog took only about 30 seconds to reach the nearest German trenches so that they had not much warning. There was a little rifle fire at first, but this soon stopped & for about five minutes there was silence. Then the guns & trench mortars on both sides started & for an hour & a half there was a terrific bombardment. We were well scattered in small trenches everywhere & in spite of the tornado of flying missiles, we had very few casualties. Ferard was wounded but not badly & three men: another one became deaf & dumb & one or two suffered from shell shock. Two were gassed: on[e] of them a R.E. corporal who died very soon after. It is a most deadly stuff, a couple of strong whiff[s] are sufficient to