The entire crest of Le Mort-Homme is surrounded by smoke and dust. The German attack is gaining ground but only reaches, again with a great loss of troops, the lower crest of the hill Le Mort-Homme. The German lines are under constant fire from the C te 304. The shootings are considered to be worse than the ones later that year at the Somme-offensive. When you hear the whistling in the distance your entire body preventively crunches together to prepare for the enormous explosions.
Every new explosion is a new attack, a new fatigue, a new affliction.
Even nerves of the hardest of steel, are not capable of dealing with this kind of pressure. The moment comes when the blood rushes to your head, the fever burns inside your body and the nerves, numbed with tiredness, are not capable of reacting to anything anymore. It is as if you are tied to a pole and threatened by a man with a hammer. First the hammer is swung backwards in order to hit hard, then it is swung forwards, only missing your scull by an inch, into the splintering pole. In the end you just surrender.