partition wall, and there was only one further casualty--a man who was
actually having a slight hand-wound examined at the moment. He was
killed instantly by a shell fragment which whizzed through the door-way.
The two doctors, after a first hasty examination of the new casualties,
held a hurried consultation. The obvious thing to do was to move, but
the question was, Where to? One place after another was suggested, only
for the suggestion to be dismissed for some good and adequate reason. In
the middle of the discussion a fresh torrent of casualties began to pour
in. Some plainly required immediate attention, and the doctors fell to
work again. By the time the rush was cleared the question of changing
position had been forgotten, or, at any rate, was dropped. The wounded
continued to arrive, and the doctors continued to work.
By now, late afternoon, the fortunes of the fight were plainly turning in
favour of the British. It was extraordinary the difference it made in
the whole atmosphere--to the doctors, the orderlies, the
stretcher-bearers, and even--or, rather, most of all--to the wounded who
were coming in. In the morning the British attack had been stubbornly
withstood, and thousands of men had fallen in the first rushes to gain a
footing in the trenches opposite. The wounded who were first brought in
were the men who had fallen in these rushes, in the forward trench, in
the communication trenches on their way up from the support trench, and
from the shell fire on the support trenches. Because they themselves had
made no advance, or had seen no advance made, they believed the attack
was a failure, that thousands of men had fallen and no ground had been
gained. The stretcher-bearers who brought them in had a similar tale to
tell, and everyone looked glum and pulled a long face. About noon,
although the advance on that particular portion was still hung up, a
report ran that success had been attained elsewhere along the line. In
the early afternoon the guns behind burst out in a fresh paroxysm of
fury, and the shells poured streaming overhead and drenched the enemy
trenches ahead with a new and greater deluge of fire. The rifle fire and
the bursting reports of bombs swelled suddenly to the fullest note yet
attained. All these things were hardly noted, or at most were heeded
with a half-attention, back in the dressing station, but it was not long
before the fruits of the renewed activity began to filter and then to
flood back to the doctor's hands. But now a new and more encouraging
tale came with them. We were winning . . . we were advancing . . . we
were into their trenches all along the line. The casualties bore their
wounds to the station with absolute cheerfulness. This one had 'got it'
in the second line of trenches; that one had seen the attack launched on
the third trench; another had heard we had taken the third in our stride
and were pushing on hard. The regiment had had a hammering, but they
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