TCD MS 10822 folio 33 recto
[Aug 23rd 1917] were in good spirits and did not seem to be having too bad a time. The smells there were awful – dead corpses and mules everywhere, I was almost sick. I nearly got bogged when crossing the marsh as I had to make a detour owing to shelling.
Aug 24th. A fairly quiet night but soon after 3 a.m. our guns started firing and the Boche very soon opened barrage fire. Our dug out under the Menin Road unfortunately lies in the line of their barrage fire and from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. we had hell. The Boche counter attacked with a new division and regained some of the ground he had lost the day before. There was great confusion all the morning as the situation was very obscure. I sent a pigeon message back to Division as all other methods of communication were broken, power buzzer, lamp, telephone, wireless all were smashed. The whole day we sat under a hurricane of shells expecting every moment that the dug out would be blown in. One entrance was blown in and much of the roof exposed and the whole landscape by evening had altered in appearance. The trenches near by had been flattened out and all along the road were dead – some blown to pieces with fragments of arms lying here and there, others that had been disinterred and formed evil smells all down the road. It was a vile spot. Our cook in spite of all difficulties managed to cook us excellent meals on the Primus Stove though at times rather covered with sand and dust from the shells bursting overhead. By evening we were all of us quite deaf. During the night we were relieved by the 23rd London Regt. Luckily it had quietened down very much and we had only eight casualties going out. During the four days in the line we had two officers killed, two wounded and 150 O.R. killed and wounded.
Aug 25th. Early this morning we moved back to the Halfway House to our wet dug out. Everything was very quiet and peaceful and no shells fell near us as we came out. We have been very lucky in the weather, beautiful weather every day that we have been in the line. In the evening we were relieved by the 8th KOYLI and we then