I bore a charmed life. A bullet went through the elbow of my jacket, another through my equipment, and a piece of shrapnel found a resting-place in a tin of bully-beef which was on my back. I was picked up eventually during the night, nearly dead from loss of blood: _A Private of the Black Watch_. The Seventh Time I am all right, but very nearly got shot in a trench by the Germans. I got on my knees to dig a bit of earth to get comfortable when they spotted me. Then about ten shots came in quick succession. One sent my cap off. Down I got, and jolly quick. This is the seventh time I have escaped being hit: _Pte. Oliver, Yorkshire Light Infantry_. Making a Hole I was standing with a chum, watching the artillery fire. “Look at the smoke,” I said to him. A moment later a shell came screaming down, and I was knocked kicking by the suction. My chum simply said, “Lordy, look at the hole,” and then I saw I was lying on the edge of a hole made by the shell large enough to bury a horse in: _Pte. J. Charley, East Surrey Regiment_. A Hero Indeed When I got hit, I couldn’t say how long I lay there, but a chum of mine, Tommy Quaife, under a perfect hail of bullets and shells dragged me to safety and said, “Cheer up, Smiler, here’s a fag. I’m going back for Sandy (his other chum).” He never got there. Poor Tommy got a piece of shell and was buried the same night. If ever a hero lived he was one: Sergt. _J. Rolfe, 2nd Batt. King’s Royal Rifles_. A Changed View We put in some wonderfully effective shooting in the trenches, and the men find it is much easier making good hits on active service than at manœuvres. The Germans seemed to think at first that we were as poor shots as they are, and they were awfully sick when they had to face our deadly fire for the first time: _Pte. M. O’Keefe, Royal Irish Rifles_. “Oh, Bill!” Just as I was hit, I said, “Oh, Bill, it has knocked my foot up. Pick it up for me.” He said, “It is all right. Keep still,” and he tied something round my leg to stop the blood running. Then the doctor came up. He said, “The stretchers will be up just now”; but as soon as he went away I was making for the field hospital on my hands and knees. I got so far, and was having a rest when the doctor gave me a lift: _Pte. Wilde, Worcestershire Regiment_. “Hell on Earth” About midday a German aeroplane, flying the Union Jack and the French colours, came flying down on our positions. We thought it was our own craft, but wherever she dipped the German artillery took range, and as soon as she got up out of our reach they simply poured their shells upon us. Within ten minutes we had five killed and forty-seven wounded, and a number we cannot account for. One shell came blowing my knapsack off my back, and made a hole through my waterproof sheet. It was just like hell on earth: _Pte. A. Fricker, 1st Gloucestershire Regiment_. His Kilt Torn