I saw some brave things done. “Tanker” Gillespie endeavoured three
times, at great risk, to aid a comrade who had been seriously wounded.
The first time he got up a bullet grazed his head, and I saw him
rubbing it with rather comical grimness, and then seizing hold of his
rifle, the barrel of which had nearly all been blown away, and firing;
three or four shots at the Germans. He tried a second time to reach
his comrade, but again had to duck, and the third time he succeeded,
only to find that the poor fellow had died. In returning to his place,
“Tanker” was struck by a bullet which took away some of the hair on his
head, and he had to retire: _Pte. McMahon, Gordon Highlanders_.
Custom!
German shell fire is not nearly so effective shot for shot and gun for
gun as ours, in spite of all the fine things they claim for it, and
where great accuracy in range is necessary they are hopelessly out of
it. Their infantry can’t stand half the shelling our men will put up
with, and they get awfully panicky under fire from our guns. It is a
favourite trick of the Germans to keep a battery well masked for hours,
and then when our infantry are deploying within range, without the
slightest notion of what is coming, the German shells begin to fall
round like the autumn leaves. That’s very trying to the nerves, or was
at first, but we are now getting used to it: _Gunner T. Wall_.