As I was saying the conditions are absolutley atrocious. The sides of the trench are a thick, sticky, smelly, yellow mud which we can hardly climb over. The mud has puddles of blood scattered about all over the place. The stench is unbearable. It smells worse than horse manure. I am always nervous so I am always wetting my self. There is a german body about ten meters away from where I sleep. It has just been left there to rot into the ground. The smell from it is absolutley disgusting. I am also very weak as I have not had any proper food for days, if not weeks. All we get is a bowl of grool three times a day. I would not eat it if we were not forced to eat it. Half the time it is cold and I have not had a proper hot meal in months. I have only had one battle all of the time I have been here.
It started with a loud shriek of the whistle. We all scrambled over the thick, sticky mud. About seventy five British soldiers piled into the german trench with about fifty germans there waiting. There was no room to aim and fire bullets, so every one was thrusting their bayonets at any opposition they could see. We took control pretty easily. I nearly got a bayonet put straight throuh my head, but I ducked just in time and shot him in the leg. He fell to the ground and i knew what i had to do, finish him off. I hesitated at first but I did it. after about ten minutes of battle it stoped. There was one german left crying in the corner of the trench. A british soldier went up to him and said "ssssshhhhh, don't cry" in german. Then he shot him in the head and walked away. Then we start to set up the trench so we can attack more of the german trench when a grenade comes flying in. It instantly kills about fourteen of our soldiers and injure about seven. I remainded unhurt, but then another grenade came in. a bit of shrapnel hit me in the leg.I managed to scramble back over the germans trench and back into our trench, but as I was scrambleing a cross I saw an unexploded grenade and started to panic. But thankfully it did not explode.
Another attack from the germans involved gas. We were bent double like old beggers under sacks. we were tired and quite a lot of the men were injured. We were low on equipment and we were low on food. So we were very weak. Then a gas bomb lands in the trench. Every one reaches for their gas masks and fits them just in time. But someone was still yelling out and stumbling. He was chocking on the poision gas. As under the green sea , I saw him drowning. when the gas had cleared away his face had been melted and completly disfigured. But to the generals he is just another unlucky soldier who was in the wrong place in the wrong time.
It is not just the fighting that kills us out here it is also the freezing cold weather. We sit out all night just waiting for something to happen but most of the time nothing ever happens. we are just sitting out in the cold killing ourselves. We sit in the pouring rain or in the snow blizzards. One time when the snow was extremly bad we had to sit out and wait for the germans. We are short on blankets and on fire wood so it is hard to keep warm, especially when you can not move around much unless you want to get yourself killed. I think that more people have died because of the cold than because of the fighting. One poor soldiers eyes were actually ice because his tear ducts froze. On a really cold night at least five soldiers will freeze to death. It is absolutley atrocious.
Oh well back to sitting in the cold waiting to be killed. Hope to speak to you soon and hope you are all okay.
Lots of love From
Anthony Reynolds
xxxxx
