er
nights of 1914 and 1915. If there are enthusiasts who will be satisfied
with only the most intimate personal view of the trenches, if there are
those who would try to understand the hardships and discomforts of trench
life by living it during a summer vacation, I would suggest that they
remember Private Shorty Holloway's parting injunction to me:--

"Now, don't ferget, Jamie!" he said as we shook hands, "always 'ave a box
o' Keatings 'andy, an' 'ang on to yer extra shirt!"

CHAPTER VII

MIDSUMMER CALM

During our first summer in the trenches there were days, sometimes weeks
at a time, when, in the language of the official bulletins, there was
"nothing to report," or "calm" prevailed "along our entire front." From
the War Office point of view these statements were, doubtless, true
enough. But from Tommy Atkins's point of view, "calm" was putting it
somewhat mildly. Life in the trenches, even on the quietest of days, is
full of adventure highly spiced with danger. Snipers, machine gunners,
artillerymen, airmen, engineers of the opposing sides, vie with each
other in skill and daring, in order to secure that coveted advantage, the
morale. Tommy calls it the "more-ale," but he jolly well knows when he
has it and when he hasn't.

There were many nights of official calm when we machine gunners crept out
of the trenches with our guns to positions prepared beforehand, either in
front of the line or to the rear of it. There we waited for messages from
our listening patrols, who were lying in the tall grass of "the front
yard." They sent word to us immediately when they discovered enemy
working parties building up their parapets or mending their barbed-wire
entanglements. We would then lay our guns according to instructions
received and blaze away, each gun firing at the rate of from three
hundred to five hundred rounds per minute. After a heavy burst of fire,
we would change our positions at once. It was then that the most exciting
part of our work began. For as soon as we ceased firing, there were
answering fusillades from hundreds of German rifles. And within two or
three minutes, German field artillery began a search for us with
shrapnel. We crawled from one position to another over the open ground or
along shallow ditches, dug for the purpose. These offered protection from
rifle fire, but frequently the shell fire was so heavy and so well
directed that w