Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-21
CAPT U R ED

Fer haK an hour or+so we sat by kfa1n dressing station wondering what kurr fate was to be. Our minds mad fazErfenffy wandered back to the hours t1f stain that we had just come k<frough. and. as in a dream. the horri- f1ie sights we had witnessed passed kzzUtd1y before OUT eyes We could not fzzelp thinking of all the men we knew so wen who had gone West and wondering what had happened to our 1zeads in other parts of the line It did not seem possible that the whole L-egiment, and perhaps the division, had ssU1fered such terrible losses as our town company had endured
 ! We were rudely awakened from our t1<rerle by being ordered to climb into "a truck of the little train standing on F1he tracks of the engineers railway kcAose by The train consisted of szznau engine and four cars. which krzere about five feet wide and ten feet Hong and closed in to the height of two feet. On either side was a wooden tl,encz1- It was only a step from the .ground ups but that was more than Scouid manage in my weak condition ts1znding close by saw my predfcaInent and gave me a hoist LTD. I was so .Erareful for this little attention that I Exve them my gas masks as souvenirs 1 expected to have them taken from sue. so did not mind giving them to sorns one who had been kind to me.
 For Parts Unknown.
 E Before long the train was loaded and kze started of for part unknown Sit Ting across from Wells and myself was "a little fair German who was in a ter .-ihie state of shell shock On either sEfde was a big buriy chap holding him by the arm At frequent intervals the little fellow would roll his eyes and
 Erithe in a frantic attempt to escape l1rom his guards We could not help :feeiing sorry for him. but were glad to pIry1r7 fzhem a little of their own back.
 There were also a few slightly wounded Germans on the train and some others evidently going back on fpaezsed about it and lit up their pipes and cigars One man sitting next to us was apparently interested. and see ing by the looks on our faces that we FEEere dying for a smoke gave us each Ia. cigar. We murmred ~Danke schon" Land lit up. They were filthy weeds, K5ruEably made of cabbage leaves chem iicz1ly treated. but they tasted good to us Three of these are issued to the sGgman soldiers as part of their daily iEz6ons-
 Wandered slowly back past numerous sEun positions from which there came gxrrceasingly the long red tongues of flames as the guns fired
 u We often turned around to take look at the place which the artillery Twas directing it's fire The ground sslDped gradua1Iy up to the front-line yxrenctes. The whole skyline was bril- iziantly hit by the flash of exploding .xhezls Illuminating flares and red and sgreen & O. & signal lights which were scoutiuuaIly going up all along the line. We knew by this that our artillery was fznd that they had the wind up" The spounding the new German trenches display was wonderful to watch, but i've knew only too well what a terrible might 1t meant for all those in the front line
 About midnight we arrived at what we judged to be Merlin Here we found some more of our wounded and we were ali piled into motor bus. We were again seated on wooden benches and packed in like sardines. Near the door were two or three German sen- tries with fixed bayopets-
 A sicI<Iy Engine.
 The engine of the bus was so weak That it could not start without as- H1stmce Several German soldiers were ordered out to lend hand and with the aid of many guttra1 oaths they at last got the old ark moving. The driver dared not slow down for fear he would never get started again and we bumped along over railway tracks and ruts in the road The con- rtr1zla 5arrfng gave rise to many mUff1ed groan from those inside
 Fortunately the journey across the town was not long and we soon ar rived at the main railway station As came to the half-open door of the main waiting room in which we could see more of our men My heart Jumped with excitement I knew that if we got in there. some of them might De able to give me some information about my brOther-in-Iaw, and also ssorne of my other friends in the regi- meut However, we were not allowed to stop. We concluded that these men were leSs severely wounded and that the German mania for system and sckzssffcadcn would not permit of our being mfxed with them.
 We were taken to a small wooden frz1Rdfng filled with tables and benches where we were told to sit down We Fsdg3aed with relief for we saw we were to be given food
 The room was lit by electric light