A typical slit trench
...It was obviously important to get him back to our lines for interrogation, but I was keen to stay alive at the same time! Happily it wasn’t that far and as soon as I got him back, they took him away.
I immediately set off back to join my brigade. Aside from the snipers, there was heavy calibre machine gun fire raking the area from time to time and often accompanied by mortar fire which was pretty accurate. The slightest movement set it all off. On my way back I was caught in the open and had to dive into the nearest trench. Everyone did the same and I soon had four or five men on top of me. I could hardly breath and passed out for a while. I could see my bren carrier withdrawing and they were shouting my name. I ran like hell and managed to jump onto the back of the carrier.
There was a factory nearby with a tall chimney. It was clear the enemy was using this as a lookout point. This explained their accuracy and command of the immediate area. We had to find the best ways to screen ourselves from view and used old doors to form cover. As dawn broke we managed to prepare some sort of a breakfast before we faced the day. The ground was all red clay which was sticky to dig but one can manage under consistent sniper fire; the bullets were hitting the ground around us as we were digging in. One of our tanks came along, all covered in camo netting. You would think we’d be pleased to see that but actually it attracted heavy mortar and artillery fire. One of the men with me cursed loudly, "Now we’ve had it, with that f****** thing here!"
Suddenly the sky was filled with shellfire and we scattered as best we could just to stay alive! We were on the edge on an orchard and I dived for cover, whatever I could find. My tin hat fell off as I lay down trying to scramble into the earth. I managed to find my way into a trench. Before long I had to move as it became full of blood and shrapnel – it was a right old mess. The fighting was hard and continued throughout the day. It was horrific.
Later on I found my way into an abandoned enemy trench. This was always a real problem, whatever the circumstance. Most of the time the Germans left us 'presents' in their trenches when they were forced to fall back. I had to jab a bayonet around at arm’s length. By this time the light was fading and it wasn’t much fun feeling around for booby traps in the dark...
