They make cover for themselves from the bodies of their dead comrades and many of us fall in the fire. We shoot into the wire shreds, into the belt of barbed wire that winds to the earth. The hail of bullets breaks up at the wire and strikes downwards as an unpredictable crossfire into the protective slope. Soon the enemy fire dies out here as well. Fresh waves appear over there, half-emerge from cover then sink again behind the parapets.
Officers jump onto the thrown-up earth and try to encourage their men by their example.
Flat-helmets emerge in numbers once more only to disappear again immediately. The hail of bullets from our infantry and machine-guns sprays over their defences. The English officers no longer leave the trench. The sight of the field of attack takes the breath away from the attacker. The attack is dead.