Diary of Lindsay Robert Turner, 1918 (Vol. 4) - Part 10

89
so concentrated was the artillery that
there was an 16 Pdr to every 25 yds of
front. The Tanks were to precede the infantry
and break down the wire entanglement.
and the planes to bomb the approaches
and during S.A. Ammunition for those
of the Infantry. Great secrecy had been
preserved as the idea was to make the
attack one of complete surprise to the
enemy. I was on the scene early almost
as bad as booking a seat for the fireworks
display but on what a gigantic scale.
The preliminary bombardment was
a success and on the second at 3.10
down came our barrage It was a
most thrilling and awe inspiring Sight
to see along continuous line one
sheet of flame and in the time proposed
completely developed into a pandemonium
terrible. Shells of all sizes flew
over our heads on their death dealing
errand and the smoke and dust would
have obscured ones view even if it had
been daylight still here and there 

90
we could distinguish our tanks
flitting about everywhere and as they
mounted higher we knew they were nearing
the crest of the hill and the objective and our
lads not far behind you would wonder
how anything could live under that mass
of metal that poured down as it
crept back in 100 yds' lifts every few
minutes. By the time the artillery
protective line was reached on hour
had gone by and then we could distinguish
the tanks moving clumsily along
over trenches down the graded banks.
and infantry in every direction now
in our trench now in another looking
for souvenirs and incidentally bayonetting
a Hun who refused to surrender and
sending the more fortunate back
to the collecting bases. The aimless
fashion in which our infantry
fight is most amusing but they soon
settled down after the whetting their thirst
for souvenirs and blood to digging in
and consolidating the position while
the artillery continued the barrage

91
for another hour on the protective barrage
line prisoners were collected  the Huns
commenced to return to their bases and
the infantry settled down to hold the line

against counter attacks. It was a huge
success as it afterwards transpired
our casualties were slight as the
retaliation was most feeble and we
captured 1000 unwounded other
ranks 13 officers 90 machine guns
and 40 Trench Mortars and there were
a considerable number of killed and
wounded left to be totalled up. We
anticipated there would be Counter
attack and sure enough just as we
were thinking of turning in the familiar
S.O.S. came thro' and every gun in the
barrage blazed forth afresh. We had
no sooner left the guns when the
signal was sent down again. The
usual means is to send up prearranged
flares from the front line and the
"Sos" is sent down immediately they are
seen. Apparently both attacks were
repulsed as nothing further transpired. 

92
5/7/18. The day opened very peacefully
I was due for OP again immediately
after breakfast but that was rather
a late one we as we hadnt recovered
from the effects of the day before
The Hun Commenced early with.
his retaliation tho most of the
shelling took place over the area
captured from him. Our troops
religiously avoided the trenches
and dugouts that had been
his and dug in for themselves
and just as well because it
was the old trench system that
came in for most of the strafing
I spent the day at O.P. and
it was glorious lying out in
the sun especially with the shells
a respectable distance off. We
expected another Counter attack
at dusk the Hun is as a rule
a difficult man to circumvent
and only gives in when he sees
he's beaten. Sure enough just 

93
as we were carrying out a
counter preparation shoot the
S.O.S came thro' and it didnt take
long to send it off. I waited up
until 1 in case he counter attacked
again but for the remainder of
the night except for occasional shelling
he remained silent.
6/7/18 It seems hardly a week
since we pulled out of Bourdon
on our way back to dire toil
again but when it's made so
interesting yet so burdensome
one can hardly wonder at the
rate the hours pass by. Im
afraid we won't have our
Sunday rest of Civilian days
tomorrow we must always be
on the alert. I was up at 7 again
tho' dead to the world when I was
called and at O.P. by 8 I looked
forward to another day in the
sunshine but at 1 I was
relieved by an N.C.O. thro' dearth

94
of officers at the Bty. They have been
gradually going under to a prevailing

epidemic of influenza and now the
last Subaltern with the exception of
myself has turned it up. Even the
Major is ill but he refuses to be
relieved so in one way and
quite early in my career I'm as good
as Be. Ill be up tonight in case
of the S.O.S. and there an sure to
be one or during two duty shoots to
carry out. We came in for a
mild strafe this afternoon quite
50 shells fell on and around 
our Bty position tho' no-one was
rendered a casualty. Some of
the time we were obliged to dodge
the shells behind trees but on
the first cessation we made
tracks for our cellar habitation
The Hun must be tiring of Counter-
attacks because Ive had no further
S.O.S. signals. It has now transpired
that last nights signal was sent off
by the Hun himself. 

95
7/7/18 This proved to be a typical
Sunday - more or less, the same as
any other day, I had been up on duty
all night the Major was down with
influenza and we had to resort to
the necessity of borrowing an officer
from another Bty. otherwise the
staff would have been reduced to one.
I remained in bed until 9 but the
sun and fresh air tempted me
otherwise I'd have remained until

midday. I spent the afternoon at
O.P. it was very pleasant tho' perhaps
a trifle on the warm side. We were
left religiously alone but our front
line and obvious trench systems
in the "conquered land" came in
for much of it without a doubt
it was a splendid achievement for
our casualties were extremely light
whereas the prisoners have increased
to 1500 as well as more machine
guns added to the booty. The General
Staff has been very commendatory
of the Austral-American Victory 

96
8/7/18 At 12.15 this morning a minor
operation following on that of the 4^th
was carried out by the 12^th Brigade
with the object of straightening out the
line on the left. Our troops had actually
wandered across this area but  found
little opposition so it was decided to take
it. We put down a barrage tho a very
small one compared with "Independence
Day" and succeeded in reaching the final
objective I was awake when the attack
was made but no counter attack
followed nor was there one tonight altho
the front area was heavily shelled all
day. I was at O.P. during the morning
and came back at midday to have
a rest and spent the time writing letters
We're still working shorthanded tho'

theres been a lull in the number
of cases going back to wagon lines
and consequent isolation suffering
from influenza. The other Batteries in
our Bge. have had to move forward as
they were found to be too far in rear

since the latest advance was made 

97
9/7/18 I scored a good night's sleep
at last and not before I wanted it either
We were off duty except for the ever-
expectant S.O.S. and as that didn't
come along there was nothing to
disturb my rest except the guns around
us but I was too fatigued to notice
them. There was little activity
during the day tho' our front line
came in for its usual strafe
One cant help but admire the
infantry subject as they are
to this intermittent shelling
but we isolate them as much
as possible and the old systems
of front line trenches has been
substituted by advance push
so that while remaining effective
the number is reduced to a
minimum. It is my turn on
duty tonight and we have to
carry out the usual harassing
fire. It certainly gives the Hun food
for thought whatever else it does 

98
10/7/18. We had the smallest trace
of excitement early this morning
We had just finish a 5 minute
concentration of fire on a Hun
stronghold when we heard some
[[time?]] H.E. shells coming towards us
and bursting just over on our left
They were the typical "Coal-boxes" so
named from the curling black smoke
that issues where they burst usually
high up. They are very disquieting
when only 50 feet up and one
loses no time in getting cover It
was plainly just guess work on the
part of the ignoble Hun. He saw
Batteries firing and chanced it.
Another quiet day with the usual
desultory shelling tho' a hostile
plane created a diversion by bringing
down one of our balloons in
flames. It turned out a wet afternoon
and proved disagreeable
as I was at O.P. all the afternoon
and the place is absolutely devoid
of cover.