Sunday, April 19, 2015

Memories of 1914-18 - Two

You can imagine that, with trenches so close, we potted at each other day and nght. One chap a German, was dsigging his particular part of the trench deeper, and every time he raised his head to shovel the soil out we greeted him with a volley, and he then put his spade up and signalled "miss". It takes something to be humorous when you've been 72 hours up to your waist in clay and water, 51 hours of which it has rained.
- The Times, quoting a letter from a private with the Liverpool Scottish, 5 February 1915.

During the East African campain hostilities were not carried out so ruthlessly as they were in other parts of the world. A sergeant was taking three German prisoners back to the base when they came upon some eland The sergeant halted his party and took several shots but he missed badly. One of the prisoners, forgetting his position for a moment, asked if he could have a shot. The sergeant promptly gave him the rifle, and the prisoner succeeded in bringing down an eland at a distance of about five hundred yards - a featwhich called forth much appause form the entire party. He then gave the sergeant his rifle back, and the party marched on.
- Gordon Makepeace, Safaru Sam, 1933. 

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