Pages from the diary of Lieutant Boyd (sent to the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald) - Part 2

51
no military importance.
We are quite a long way from
the firing line, & life threatened
to become dull. Last night,
however, the Germans were good
enough to relieve the monotony.
I was in bed fast asleep
when suddenly there was a
tremendous explosion, followed
by another & then another. I
did not wake up properly at
first, & in my maized condition
I imagined I was in a tent
that the germans were shelling.
I was reduced to a condition of
abject terror — indeed I don't
think I have ever been so
frightened in my life.
The only thing that occured to
me to do was to bury my
head under the bed clothes.
Soon however, I realised
where I was, jumped out of 
bed, hurriedly slipped into a

52
few clothes and went out. The
terrific explosions continued
& by this time machine guns
had joined in, followed by
rifle fire. The din was terrific
and distinctly nerve shaking.
especially as I did not know
what it was all about. That
point however was soon settled.
A zeppelin was over the town,
and was busily employed
bombing the place. You could
hear the noise of the airships
engines, although it was two or
three thousand feet up. For a
time it seemed to hover right
above us, and it gave you an
unpleasant sensation to hear
the long whistle of the bomb
as it fell from the great height,
followed by the terrific report.
It gave you an uncomfortable
feeling in the scalp. It so
happened that we had a
machine gun detachment in our 

53
courtyard, so you may imagine
that the din was pretty awful
for a bit.  The whole show only
lasted a quarter of an hour,
but it was long enough. Next
morning I went to have a look
at the damage. There were
three enormous holes in the
aviation fields, quite close
to the machines but none of them
was touched.  This field by
the way is only 3 or 4
minutes walk from here.
It is difficult to give you an
accurate picture of the size
of these holes, but when you
see them it fairly takes your
breath away, and gives
you some idea of what high
explosives mean. The holes
were about 18 feet wide and 10
deep, & were quite circular.
Two bombs fell close to a house 

54
where several airmen were
billeted, they blew a kennel
to pieces, but the dog escaped
& the men were uhut unhurt.
I spoke to one man who was
sleeping on a wagon close to
which a bomb burst. He
was thrown some distance
off the floor of the wagon,
but was none the worse.
Several garden walls
in the town were knocked
down, a stable was hit &
5 horses killed, & a
house in one of the suburbs
streets was absolutely
demolished. I went to
have a look at it, &
found only two yards of
one end standing. The 
rest of it was represented
by a huge hole in the
ground. 

55
filled with shattered
furniture An old woman
of 70 was dug out of one
ruin, dead.  A baby's cot
with the baby (three months
old) in it, was blown
clean over a high archway
on to the flat roof of an
outhouse. The total bag of
the Germans was 2 women
1 baby, & 5 horses, all killed.
One sentry had a slight scratch.
The objective of the zepplin
was undoubtedly the aerodome
& the station, & it was guided
by flashes from a neighbouring
hill, which were distinctly
seen. I wonder if the English
papers will make a fuss
about this show. In my
opinion it was quite a
justifiable attack, for the 

56
town is military pure &
simple, & any civilians who
stay here must simply
take the risks. Although
this is far away the worst
attack they have had,
(about 12 bombs were dropped),
people here treat the affair
in quite a matter-of-fact way.
I wonder what would be
the state of mind in a 
small English town
if a Zeppelin dropped
a dozen high explosive bombs.
what questions in Parliament,
what letters to the papers,
(halfpenny) about the
culpable carelessness
of the military authorities.
Here they simply bury
the dead, double the
number of guns for night work,

57
and arrange that lights
shall not be shown after
9 p.m. Here again the
method is characteristic.
At home we might ask
that the lights should be
turned down, & gently
reprimand those who
failed to comply. Here,
as the clock struck the
first stroke of nine, every
light went out, for the current
had been cut off, & the
whole town was plunged
in darkness. So much
for the Zeppelin episode ......
A few days ago, when I
was sitting in the garden
of the doctor's house where
M^cNee is billeted, a
couple of distinguished

58
visitors came in, Rowlands
of the Lister Institute, who
is in charge of the No 1

Mobile Laboratory, & Sir
Anthony Bowlby, consulting
surgeon of the B.E.F., .....
Bowlby told us rather a 
good tale. Last week
our engineers fired a big
mine, which as a mine did
not do much damage to
the Germans. The mine,
however; was timed to go off,
at 8.30 to the second, & every
man in trenches for a couple
of miles was warned of
the fact. At 8.29½ every
man had his rifle ready,
sighted on the opposite trench
Then came a tremendous
explosion, whereupon
hundreds of German heads
popped up to see what had
happened & the waiting

Too old
Mr [[?]]
Whyte

59
rifles had a great bag.
War is a dreadful thing;
here were three respectable
members of the healing profession
listening to a blood thirsty
story told by a fourth, (and
he one of the most distinguished
lights of that profession),
and instead of being disgusted
at its brutality,
we heartily applauded it
as a most excellent device.
Perhaps that was because we
three were all pathologists.