Face to face with the enemy

"On reaching our objective about a half a mile past what was once the town of Messines we dug in & remained there for eighty hours..."

"...we got orders at nine o'clock at night that our whole company & eighty out of another company were to raid to a depth of six hundred yards. ... We met his men in 'No Man's land' in shell holes & then there was hand to hand fighting not with bayonets as much as bombs."

"The greatest surprise I got was when we first met them for I was going along calmly when there was a flash of a rifle about five yards in front of me & I noticed one of our men fall that was next to me on my left & saw a figure crouching in a shell hole. This of course was all in a second. What followed need not be explained but there was terror in shell hole. Well we reached our objective & came back but did not bother much of prisoners. Well we started with about 160 men & finished with ninety odd. Well Will this will give you some sort of an idea of what modern warfare is like."

"Don't let mum see this letter as I will not tell her anything about the war but about my holiday. Kia ora."