Lance Corporal Webb, D company 1st Bedfordshire Regiment

Once again I am pleased to say I have managed to scrape the great battle of Hill 60 after 28 days in the trenches. It has been nothing more or less than murder. It is impossible to call it war. I had one very narrow escape whilst being relieved by another Regiment. I was coming down the line when one of our enemies’ big shells dropped between the line and there were more than fifty men with me and not one of them was hit. I was knocked down by the explosion, it fell about two yards from me. I got up after I got my breath back and went on with the others, and still the shell kept dropping behind us ; it is a miracle how we all got out alive ; it was heart breaking to see all the poor fellows coming down the line wounded – some with hands off, some with half their heads blown away. And what makes it worse, they sent us some asphyxiating gas to poison us. They cannot beat us with shell and rifle so they are trying to poison us; they are a cowardly lot , they cannot fight fair like men, they drove us from our trenches with gas and charged, and our maxim gun did some deadly work, there were Germans lying all over the ground afterwards. We made a counter attack and drove them back with more heavy losses to them. I got a little gas, but not enough to take effect, as we were told that the gas was coming, so we put our pads over our mouths to stop it a little. I was very busy bandaging a poor fellow up who was wounded and who had run to get away from the gas. There are one or two of our men from the Old Country wounded and dead, some are almost dead with poison. I am sorry to say that my brother was seriously wounded in the same trench as me, he had his arm smashed above the elbow with a shell, one piece in his left thigh, and one in his right. I can tell you it is horrible to see poor fellows dying with wounds. What a blessing it will be when this is all over. I would like to tell you more, but I am not allowed.