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004 - The Battle Opens · Canadas Hundred Days The Battle of Amiens

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  Speaker 1: Part one, Chapter four of Canada's Hundred Days with the
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  Speaker 1: Canadian Corps from Amiel to months August eighth to November eleventh,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Slaviksyinzitski. Canada's Hundred
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  Speaker 1: Days by John Levesey, Part one, Chapter four. The battle opens,
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  Speaker 1: so at last all is ready. The story goes that
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  Speaker 1: the corps commander was asked how soon could he deliver
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  Speaker 1: the corpse in fighting trim at the appointed place. By
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  Speaker 1: the tenth he had said, too long, do it by
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  Speaker 1: the eight, and he did it an epic fit. It
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  Speaker 1: meant hardship. Some units only reached the ground to go
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  Speaker 1: straight into action. But everything was there, every field battery
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  Speaker 1: in place, with ammunition to burn, all the imperial heavies,
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  Speaker 1: the tanks, great and small, cavalry, supply columns, signers, ambulances, everything,
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  Speaker 1: And it was all done secretly and by night. For
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  Speaker 1: an entire week, the men of Canada were passing south
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  Speaker 1: from their old front, taking circuits and puzzling cruts. None
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  Speaker 1: knew where they went. They moved by night, sleeping by day,
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  Speaker 1: without gossip or undue curiosity. That was essential to the
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  Speaker 1: greatest surprise attack the war had produced. They were going
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  Speaker 1: into a fight, and they were ready. They sunk as
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  Speaker 1: they marched, a thing they had not done for two years.
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  Speaker 1: Foremost that night of nights was one's sense of wonder,
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  Speaker 1: and how it had been done, how by many tangled
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  Speaker 1: threads of railway and lorry and march. All that great
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  Speaker 1: and intricate machine, more complex far than Wellington had gathered
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  Speaker 1: on the field of Waterlow, had been assembled in perfect
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  Speaker 1: order to the minute. From Canadian Corps headquarters at Derry,
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  Speaker 1: a cross road runs through San Foussil and thence downhill
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  Speaker 1: into above, where we pass over the avre. Except for
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  Speaker 1: a scarrying despatch rider, all traffic is going the one way,
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  Speaker 1: miles on miles of lorries and dark masses of marching men.
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  Speaker 1: The night presents a sky clear and starry, with light
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  Speaker 1: just sufficient to illumine the truck and silhouette. The regulated
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  Speaker 1: avenues of trees inseparable from a French highway. Far above
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  Speaker 1: is the drone of our aircraft. Hain is not over
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  Speaker 1: or the curious scene could scarce escape his attention. The
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  Speaker 1: white roads are checkered with moving oblongs of black. All
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  Speaker 1: Canada is on the march. So down a steep hill
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  Speaker 1: into the interminable street of boughs that leads at length
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  Speaker 1: to the Avre. It is a puny stream, its ancient
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  Speaker 1: stone bridge, no bigger than a good sized western colvert.
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  Speaker 1: Later on our men are to bathe in the Lewis,
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  Speaker 1: waist deep in its biggest pul These rivers are poor affairs,
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  Speaker 1: but they have been inscribed by the blood of her
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  Speaker 1: sons upon the roll of Canada's history. Their trickling streams
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  Speaker 1: turn the crepit mill wheels, but their names march on
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  Speaker 1: down the generations, the Somme, the Avre, the Lewis, the Scrap,
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  Speaker 1: the Cogil, the Sonsier, the Shelt, the Souciers, or the Lees.
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  Speaker 1: On the far side lies the hamlet of Saint Nicola,
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  Speaker 1: and thence it is a long climb over chalk uplands
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  Speaker 1: to the wood of Genttelle. Up the winding hill go
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  Speaker 1: all the impedimenta of war, marching battalions, traction engines towing
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  Speaker 1: great guns, ammunition trains, long lines of red cross lorries everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: the pungent odor of petrol from every little wood belge
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  Speaker 1: forth man. They march silently. They might be phantoms, dim
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  Speaker 1: hordes of vallalla. Were it not for the spark of
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  Speaker 1: a cigarette a smothered laugh, There is no talking. All
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  Speaker 1: is tense excitement for miles and miles in a white
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  Speaker 1: concentric sweep. Every road and lane and bypath is crowded
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  Speaker 1: with these slow moving masses over the bare hill sides, lombered,
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  Speaker 1: the heavy tongues just keeping pace with the marching men.
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  Speaker 1: Should the enemy of a sudden lay down a barrush
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  Speaker 1: our losses must be appalling sheep for slaughter on these light,
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  Speaker 1: chalky uplands. The recent rain has drained away and the
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  Speaker 1: going is good at length, somewhat footsore. We pass through
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  Speaker 1: Gaunt Village, Unhappy Jonteale, where stars shine down through skeleton
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  Speaker 1: rafters and all is ruined. Presently the troops are dividing
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  Speaker 1: into their appointed place. The Australian support line for Australian
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  Speaker 1: units still man the trenches in front of us lest
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  Speaker 1: an enemy rate give the show away. So rigid have
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  Speaker 1: been the precautions that none of the Canadian officers and
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  Speaker 1: men on leave have been recalled. Not four days later
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  Speaker 1: do some staff officers rejoin their headquarters. A bitter disappointed
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  Speaker 1: lot Berlin things. We are in Flanders, London, that we
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  Speaker 1: are in the South. All is well. The sky is
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  Speaker 1: clear and empty. Only the stars shine down. These and
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  Speaker 1: an occasional flicker in the east, and the long delayed
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  Speaker 1: rumble of a bursting shell for against the eastern horizon
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  Speaker 1: is the usual pyrotechnique of trench warfare. Neither more nor less.
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  Speaker 1: Once every few minutes one of our heavy howitzers send
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  Speaker 1: across a shell, a dull report, and then a wobbling
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  Speaker 1: vibration before its steadies down upon its course. More seldom
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  Speaker 1: Fritzy makes reply, the perfunctory business of the night, a
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  Speaker 1: shrill messenger ending in a roar of explosion. The night
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  Speaker 1: is very still. It seems incredible that all this unpreventable
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  Speaker 1: hum and bustle can have failed to reach an alert enemy.
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  Speaker 1: The watch hunt is creeping round half past three, four
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  Speaker 1: ten past four, an interminable lagguard. It is to be
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  Speaker 1: the greatest parish of the war. What will this stunning
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  Speaker 1: experience be like? One can only imagine. Zero is set
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  Speaker 1: for four twenty, and the pointer has barely reached that
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  Speaker 1: figure when behind us there goes up a mighty flare,
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  Speaker 1: and simultaneously, all along the line ten miles to north
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  Speaker 1: and to south of us, other flares light up the countryside.
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  Speaker 1: At the same instant there breaks out the boom of
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  Speaker 1: our heavy guns, the sharp staccato of sixty pounders, the
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  Speaker 1: dull roar of howitzers, and the ears splitting clamor of
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  Speaker 1: wats bunks, a padlam of noise, shells, whistle and wine. Overhead.
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  Speaker 1: They cannot be distinguished one from another, but merge into
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  Speaker 1: a rushing cataract of sound. In front, right outward the horizon,
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  Speaker 1: so far as the eye can reach, spreads out a
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  Speaker 1: hell of flame and fire and bursting charge, reverberating back
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  Speaker 1: to us in mighty unison that the battle has begun.
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  Speaker 1: Bright from out this fiery furnace, break out quick flashes,
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  Speaker 1: shooting into the air, and there dividing into tween red balls.
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  Speaker 1: The s O S call of the German trenches for
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  Speaker 1: artillery support, but answer there is none. Our counter battery
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  Speaker 1: work is too perfect. Their batteries are neutralized. Not an
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  Speaker 1: enemy shell comes across in that murky inferno. All is
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  Speaker 1: confusion and terror. For a minute. The den is stunning,
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  Speaker 1: but the ear quickly becomes accustomed. The heavens are lightened
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  Speaker 1: up across their broad expands by a continuous sheet of lightning,
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  Speaker 1: playing relentlessly over the doomed lines. Now the fine light
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  Speaker 1: of dawn shimmers in the east and soon blots out
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  Speaker 1: the fireworks. A lark rises high, curling. Our own men
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  Speaker 1: can be plainly made out, walking leisurely, or so it seems,
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  Speaker 1: forward tongue lumbering ahead. Already, some of our field batteries
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  Speaker 1: gallop past hard after the infantry. It is a perfect
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  Speaker 1: plan working out without a hitch. The heavy batteries behind
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  Speaker 1: raise the barish step by step ahead of the man.
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  Speaker 1: All is coordinated to victory. Then down comes the fog,
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  Speaker 1: blotting out the spectacle but saving many casualties. The attack
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  Speaker 1: is such a complete and overwhelming surprise that the enemy's
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  Speaker 1: initial defense is peeble. Many of his batteries fall into
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  Speaker 1: our hands, wearing their tarpauline hoots, their crews deep in
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  Speaker 1: their dugouts. Our own artillery comes off almost scateless, except
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  Speaker 1: among the galloping whize banks. One two venturers being put
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  Speaker 1: out of action by a direct hit at point blank range.
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  Speaker 1: By nine o'clock, these filled guns are three miles inside
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  Speaker 1: the enemy front line. Six hours was set for the
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  Speaker 1: lifting of the barrush, but long before that its work
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  Speaker 1: is done, and the enemy in headlong flight after them
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  Speaker 1: go the wiped tanks, little uneasy beasts of still and
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  Speaker 1: petrol that can do their twelve miles an hour across
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  Speaker 1: country when the going is good. And here over these
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  Speaker 1: great rolling uplands and gentle valleys it is perfect. The
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  Speaker 1: fog lifts. It is eight o'clock the cavalry a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: sight appear on the scene. They have come up from
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  Speaker 1: unjest sore some and have lain overnight in the great
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  Speaker 1: park of Amiou, like a jug in the box. They
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  Speaker 1: have sprung from nowhere miles on miles of gay and
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  Speaker 1: serried ranks, led by the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, Lancers too,
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  Speaker 1: and many famous British regiments. This is the day so
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  Speaker 1: long awaited. Surely this is their chance to pass through
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  Speaker 1: the broken enemy line to Harry and to rate his
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  Speaker 1: back area. As is the cavalry way. They do reckless
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  Speaker 1: and incredible things, and heavy is the price they are
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  Speaker 1: to pay. They pass south of Villeys Botonneux, villay Botanyu
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  Speaker 1: of bright memory in darkest days of the much retreat
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  Speaker 1: now in the hands of the stout Australians. Neighbors on
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  Speaker 1: our left already prisoners are coming back in little knots,
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  Speaker 1: in squads, in whole detachments, sometimes under guard oftener left
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  Speaker 1: to their own device, mounting soon into the thousands, lodging
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  Speaker 1: figures in filled gray, among them grizzled veterans and mere striplings,
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  Speaker 1: but for the most part in the prime of life
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  Speaker 1: and of good physic. With them a number of officers,
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  Speaker 1: some swearing bitterly, others jauntly and spruce still rubbing the
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  Speaker 1: slip out of their eyes in good spirits. You Canadians
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  Speaker 1: have no business down here, says one, in excellent English.
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  Speaker 1: We were told you were in Flanders. How I would
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  Speaker 1: like to hang our folds of intelligence officers intermingled with them,
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  Speaker 1: come our walking wounded A good blithy, cried, A grinning
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  Speaker 1: lad wounded in the wrist. How is it going fine?
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  Speaker 1: You can't see his heels for the dust. He is
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  Speaker 1: in kilts. A highlander from the Pacific coast, one of
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  Speaker 1: the third Brigades He tells us how a piper a
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  Speaker 1: top of the tank dominion, led into action his battalion,
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth Canadian Scottish. The battle has streamed away to
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  Speaker 1: the east, and the battle field of a few hours
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  Speaker 1: ago is as peaceful as an Ontario landscape after storm,
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  Speaker 1: whose bowls and flushes still play over the distant horizon.
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  Speaker 1: The most striking thing about the battle ground is the
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary good target our gunner's mate. This was particularly so
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  Speaker 1: along the enemy front line and support in our northern
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: area immediately west of Machtselkove. This run over a wide
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  Speaker 1: sweep of prairie, pock mark throughout with shell holes in
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  Speaker 1: regular sequents, like one of those round boards on which
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  Speaker 1: children play at marbles. Nothing could have lived there. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: did leave, as it attested by hundreds of bosch death
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  Speaker 1: among the ungardened with It had afforded good cover to
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  Speaker 1: snipers and now to corpses. Here since much the tide
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  Speaker 1: of bottle apped and flowed, and the crop will not
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  Speaker 1: pay the ripping. Some of our men engaged in mopping
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  Speaker 1: up are ladden with great store of bosch gear. Hereabouts
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  Speaker 1: two we captured many heavy guns. Dead horses testify to
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  Speaker 1: the heavy shelling, which caught our cavalry as they pushed forward.
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  Speaker 1: They offered a clear target to distant gunners. Where a
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  Speaker 1: line of infantry patiently working its way along is almost
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  Speaker 1: indistinguishable from the dun color of the landscape, horsemen stand
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  Speaker 1: out boldly against the sky. This plateau, unlike the heavy
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  Speaker 1: wooded area on our center and right, which fell only
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  Speaker 1: after a bitter struggle, offered no natural impediment, and the enemy,
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  Speaker 1: over confident of his power in the open field and
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  Speaker 1: with the fixed idea of breaking away from trench warfare,
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  Speaker 1: had been too but small paints to dig himself in
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  Speaker 1: his trenches were rudimentary, and the bar rush wiped out
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  Speaker 1: much of their outline. There was surprisingly little wire. More
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  Speaker 1: might have been done, because a vast amount of it
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  Speaker 1: was captured. It lay in rows everywhere, but the bush
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  Speaker 1: was lazy and arrogant. The wondrous superman caught napping. It
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  Speaker 1: was over these trenches our airmen performed so gallantly they
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  Speaker 1: were to aid the attack by bombing the front and
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  Speaker 1: support lines. But the mist came down in such dense
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  Speaker 1: folds that they must either abandon their job or take
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  Speaker 1: Perilia's risks. So they flew as slow as fifty to
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  Speaker 1: a hundred feet, sweeping the trenches with their machine guns.
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  Speaker 1: Their losses were heavy, extraordinary to relate. An enemy trench
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  Speaker 1: mortar secured a direct hit on one of them, cutting
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  Speaker 1: it in two. Their crumpled frames lie here and there
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  Speaker 1: upon the plateau. Plodding across the fields are little knots
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  Speaker 1: of stretcher barriers and burial parties. Occasionally a shell braks
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  Speaker 1: among them, but they carry on their task unheeding. From
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  Speaker 1: that high level, one looks over what had been the
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  Speaker 1: smiling plant of France, dotted with bosque villages and grateful
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  Speaker 1: church spires. Along these roads children came singing from school,
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  Speaker 1: and from this plateau of Saint Terre was garnered much
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  Speaker 1: of the nation's agrarian wealth. Below that eminence, in the
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  Speaker 1: distant days of peace, the broad valleys shone in the
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  Speaker 1: sun like the bright pattern of a patchwork gilt, the
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  Speaker 1: many hues of the ripening grain, wheat, oats and valley, millet,
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  Speaker 1: wedge and beans, undivided by hatch or fence, but melting
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  Speaker 1: one into the other in their erratic little squares and oblongs,
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  Speaker 1: undistinguished indeed, save by the bright hues of nature's palette,
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  Speaker 1: now all desselation. The hand of the hand lies heavy
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  Speaker 1: on the land. Tottering walls and empty shells are all
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  Speaker 1: that are left of the villages. Church towers are leveled
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  Speaker 1: in sad heaps of stone and mortar, or less happy
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  Speaker 1: exposed to heaven scared flanks and the sacred altars. Not
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  Speaker 1: a living soul is to be seen save men in Khaki.
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  Speaker 1: Upon this road stands a monument to the heroes of
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  Speaker 1: the army who on this spot made their heroic stand
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  Speaker 1: in the War of eighteen seventy, mentioning them lovingly by
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  Speaker 1: name officer this, and soll at that it has been
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: torn in two by a shell already in a dug
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  Speaker 1: out wherein a few hours before the bosche sat secure.
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  Speaker 1: A forward dressing station is established here. First eight is
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  Speaker 1: given to all and sundry our men and bosch stretcher
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  Speaker 1: cases and walking wounded prisoners reinforce our overtaxed stretcher bearers
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  Speaker 1: working in parties under their own officers, good natured, ingratiating.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: The y MCA is here too, and serves out indiscriminately
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  Speaker 1: hot tea, biscuits, chocolate and cigarettes. There is a little
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  Speaker 1: grumbling because the Bosch fare as well as our own men.
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  Speaker 1: But it is a free handout and the supply seems inexhaustible.
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  Speaker 1: Especially are the tired troops grateful for the cigarettes, a
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  Speaker 1: scarce commodity. A young farmer from the Ottawa Valley, a
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  Speaker 1: walking cave, tells of his experiences. He is full of
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  Speaker 1: the bottle and with difficulties, persuaded to go back three
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  Speaker 1: or four days. It is all so long ago. Our
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  Speaker 1: battalion the second was at rest a few miles west
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  Speaker 1: of AHAs. He says, we knew something was in the air.
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  Speaker 1: Two days before we moved. All the pay books were collected,
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  Speaker 1: and when we got them again, a noticed was pasted
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  Speaker 1: on the back, warning us to be careful in our
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: talk with the French people, and ending up with keep
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  Speaker 1: your mouth shut. On the evening of August four, we
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  Speaker 1: got our moving order and marched about three hours to
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  Speaker 1: a small station where we entrained in box cars labeled
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  Speaker 1: forty men or six stein horses. We had our rations
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  Speaker 1: and banked on the straw. No, we hadn't the faintest
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  Speaker 1: notion where we were going, but the talk was back
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  Speaker 1: to Epach. Next morning we passed through a biggish town
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  Speaker 1: and someone said it was up Ville, and from there
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  Speaker 1: until noon, the railway followed a river valley. We the
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  Speaker 1: trained at a little station where we had tea with
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  Speaker 1: our bully beef, and then marched two or three hours.
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  Speaker 1: It was very warm and raining. Finally we came to
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  Speaker 1: a village we knew not what there. We had tea
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  Speaker 1: and expected to spend the night, but we were ordered
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  Speaker 1: to match again. We rested once in the field, and
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  Speaker 1: all of us officers included supplemented our rations with raw turnips.
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  Speaker 1: At about ten that evening, we crowded on to Lorri's.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Once going up a long hill, we stuck in the
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  Speaker 1: mire and got off to lighten the load away back
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: on the main road. Behind us, we could see a
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: solid line of head lights like a gigantic serpent, endless
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: lorries laden with troops. Early next morning, just after dawn,
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  Speaker 1: we got off at a village and marched into a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: wood where we bevooked all day. It was full of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: troops and guns and horses. Showers kept sweeping over us,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and the ground was sodden. But we were dead tired
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and slept most of the day. That evening, a few
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: men were picked out from each platoon to stay behind
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: as a reserve, about enough from the whole battalion to
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: make up a company for the first time. We we
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: were served our fresh meat, which we packed along. Then
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: when evening came, we started a long, heavy night match.
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  Speaker 1: The roads were choked with moving columns of men, guns
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  Speaker 1: and lorries. We passed down a steep hill through a village,
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  Speaker 1: and at two o'clock in the morning came to a
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: wood where we were to stay. Dog Tired, we lay
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  Speaker 1: down in the damp and pulled our ground sheets over us.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Shortly after sun up, the bush started to shell the wood.
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  Speaker 1: The whole wood was packed with men like sardines. We
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: ran across the thirty eighth Battalion, another Ottawa unit, and
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: sank out to them. We met many of our old
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  Speaker 1: chums and had a good time. We hoped for a
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: day's rest, but that for noon we were put on
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: fatigue packing up what and ammunition we slept in that afternoon.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: In the evening, a canvas bag was handed round to
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  Speaker 1: each man and we were given two days iron rations
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: with mills and smoke bombs. I was getting pretty well
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: loaded down for being one of the machine gun Unit
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I was carrying twenty pounds of ammunition. There were seven
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: of us, the NCO number one carrying the Lewis gun,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: number two carrying the spay parts, and the rest of
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: us the ammunition. Each platoon was given a map and
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: our officer and sergeant explained the lie of the land
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and our objective, and we were told to take particular
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: note of the Lewis River which we were to cross.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: This was the first hint we had as to where
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: we were. Some of us had an idea that we
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: were due in e of Amion, but we were further south.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Batteries were coming up and taking their positions. At half
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: past ten we were off again and marched up towards
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the line, getting to our positions at one in the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: morning of August eighth. We understood the British were holding
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the sector and were surprised when we heard it was
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the Australians. Rising ground lay between us and the front
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: line a mile away. We were tired out and opened
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: cans of bully beef and beans and had a little breakfast.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Then we lay down, but it was bitter cold. Nobody
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: of men could have been fitter physically. We were in
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: fine trim and excellent spirits, and had confidence the Canadians
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: would go through anything they were up against. But we
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: knew we were in for a hard job and a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: lot of us wouldn't be there next night. We weren't
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: exactly keen on going in, but meant to do the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: job right. Our officer was out in front, reconnaitering while
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: we were asleep. He was a fine chop and we
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: felt he knew what he was about and we could
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: follow him with confidence. At about a quarter to four,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: the corporal came around with a shot of rum, which
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: was welcome, for we were called all through. At four
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: twenty a six inch naval gun set the ball rolling,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: followed by twelve inch howitzers and a terrible racket of
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: wheats bank battery right in the valley behind us. We
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: waited twenty five minutes, our third brigade jumping off first.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: They were the Canadian Highlander battalions. The tanks were a
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: great sight all night long. We had heard them puffing
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and groaning as they took up their position, and wondered
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: why the bush didn't too, But our bombing planes flew overhead,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: drowning their noise. We couldn't see anything of the bottle
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: because of the slope in front of us, But soon
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: we were off and as we reached the front line
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: we passed the time of day with the Australian boys.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: The miast came down, but lifted again an hour or
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: two later, and by that time we were walking along
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: through wheat fields. Over on our flank. We saw some
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Bosh machine gunners beating it back, fighting as they went,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: and we started to work round them. Our own gun
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: was now in action. Suddenly I spotted a Bosch machine
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: gun seventy five yards dead ahead of us. We threw
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: ourselves down and tried to outflung him, but he got
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: me here and killed our number one. Our NCO took
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: the gun and in other man my harness and ammunition.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Our section commander was hit and he had to go out,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: but he took with him a Bosch machine gun officer
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: who had surrendered. He was hit in the leg and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: was leaning on his arm. I beat it out too,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: and ran across this dressing station. There won't be room
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: in the lorries, so after my arm is dressed, I
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: shall hike back to a casualty clearing station. He didn't
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: say much about himself this lad, but he had been
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: through some of the hottest fighting of the war. Roubar Rage,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: he said, didn't seem anything like so bad as what
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the Bosh put down on us. In March nineteen seventeen
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and of Part one, Chapter four recording by Swaveksyenzitski