Mon. Apr. 2 -
Cold in night and frost on ground. Some heavy firing. Much ammunition going up these nights. Very much mud. Observation balloons up. Spent morning helping to fix up horse lines. Rations are rather scanty. Very good supper last night of bread, butter, tea, cheese, dates and jam, but not enough and never feel satisfied.
Rain and snow in afternoon and evening. At about 9:30 p.m., we left with five or six ammunition wagons for the lines. Was soaking wet before I started. Greatcoat felt like lead and boots full of mud and water. Fortunately it stopped snowing after awhile but cold wind made it chilly. Roads to and from the gun pits are packed with wagons and lorries every night. Long waits at different crossroads. Roads are good but heavy traffic and wet weather is hard on them. It is a long hard pull for horses or mules, especially in some places where mud is deep. We often see dead horses along roadside. They fall dead from exhaustion and are left where they fall, as the work of bringing up ammunition and supplies must not be delayed.
As we approached the gun pits, many star shells could be seen along horizon and flashes of light from different parts as guns were fired. We could as yet hear no sound from these except occasionally a report from a larger gun or an exploding shrapnel shell. It reminded one of fireworks. About midnight, we turned off the road and drove up to the gun pits and dug outs. Here we unloaded our ammunition. It was 4.5 howitzer we had this time. There was a row of howitzers about 100 yds in rear of another row of 18 pdrs. The howitzers, of course, were silent as we drove up in front of them, but the 18 pdrs were hammering away. The guns here seemed to be only 10 or 15 yds apart. The gun pits were rather elaborate and practically shell proof. It was formed of a semicircular hoop or cylinder of corrugated iron, well covered with sand bags. On either hand, just in rear of gun, were similar pits or tunnels for holding ammunition etc. and back of these was the dugout. After unloading, we went on back by a roundabout way, passing infantry trenches and arriving back about 4:00 in morning. These trenches are wonderful. Away down in the ground, we could see lights twinkling and soldiers about. Millions of sandbags must be used in these and they must be comparatively safe and comfortable.
