You can hear the Zonk Zonk of the shell

TCD MS 10853 folio 76 recto

TCD MS 10853 folio 76 recto

[1915]

shells. You can hear them being fired and you can hear the Zonk Zonk of the shell coming your way. You can see them coming down and with a mighty rush of air they are on top of you and as they burst 10 or 15 yrds away they hurl showers of stones and earth all over you.
A dozen must have dropped quite close by us that morning.
It was a hot corner. We had the breach made up to a height of one yard and could crawl in safely past it and had nearly finished our supply of bags when a Corporal of the Bedfords and 6 men came along with about 2,000 more bags. (I met that same Corporal in James St. Hospital, Birkenhead later, Corporal Fish).
We were, however, promised a relief and during a brief rest in the operations we reported to Lieutenant of A Company