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Saturday 7 January 2012

Diary Entry - 7th January, 1917

Walford: Our brigade were at rest in Albert and Colonel Parrie was commanding the group. At seven a.m., I was awakened to the now familiar sound of shells and found that one of our dugoust had been blown in and Corporal Bing was just emerging from under the ground when I arrived. However, no one was hurt, but the men seemed a little shaken, and one could not wonder at it. It was a rather hazy day but Bailey and Hoyland managed to shoot the battery in the afternoon.

Bee: A foggy morning. Kershaw and I started out at seven thirty a.m. to see what we could find in Courcelette in the way of stoves and coal. It was very peaceful and we spent two hours wandering into cellars and dugouts before we found what we wanted. There have been lots of others on the same game I should think, by the looks of things. There is very little left – just piles of broken bricks and hundreds of rounds of ammunition (German). They still shell it a lot. Just before starting out, they got a direct hit on one of our gun pits and set it on fire. It blew the ammunition all away, but none went off. Luckily, all the men were away from the gun. We spent the rest of the day [illegible] the floor of our Mess and I can now stand upright in it, which is much more comfortable.

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