April 28 - 29 th

April 28th

We went into action on the edge of some woods located on the left of Ypres. This spot seemed quieter than the place we had just vacated.

In the afternoon George and I ran our wire to an observation point just over the canal. Everywhere I looked was a scene of desolation. There were half-starved cattle and pigs roaming about or lying dead. Along with the animals all sorts of farm commodities were tossed about.

The French infantry had held this front and just to the rear of the trenches were four of their abandoned Howitzers, indicating how far the enemy had advanced.

We stopped to observe some big shells that were bursting near us. This was the first time we had experienced this type of shell. We promptly named it “Black Jack” because of the great volume of black smoke it gave off. While we were watching, one these shells burst directly over the heads of a few Frenchmen. It scattering them even though I didn’t think any of them were harmed.

When we got back to the battery the large caliber shells were continually passing right over our guns. Only one fell near me, landing about 20 yards from where I had made my dugout.

During the night two batteries of French 7.5 inch guns took a position about 50 yards in our rear.

April 29th

Our wire was broken in several places from the continuous shelling. It had been impossible to get to the observation post. We had to use maps and wireless communication between us and the observation airplanes in order to fire.

We must have been spotted by an enemy observation airplane, for the German artillery gave it to us warm in the afternoon.

In the evening the officers made a bivouac beneath a layer of trees, just a few yards on my left. A few shells, real coal-boxes, were bursting very near the officers, so they moved into a dugout further over to the left. This was good fortune because a few minutes later a shell hit the tree and snapped it like a match.

Since other shells followed we had to leave the guns for a while. When the shelling was over, we went back to where the officer’s dugout had been. The hits had blown the place to pieces. The two coats that hung on the tree were absolutely in ribbons and almost everything else was ruined.

One of the officers had been sitting on a box of biscuits that was now blown yards away. The box was reduced to a piece of twisted metal with not even one biscuit remaining. Everything was almost unrecognizable, including the bodies of the officers.

Mr. Dowling, one of the officer’s servants, got both his arms badly splintered. All night the enemy continually shelled the roads to our right rear.