A corpse to stand on [Bryan]

OCTOBER 28, 1916

In trenches by Les Boeufs. This part of the line is the worst in which I have been. All the land has been churned up by shell explosions, and for many days the weather has been wet. It is not possible to dig more than a foot without coming to water. The soil is more like thick slime than mud. When walking, one sinks several inches, and because of the suction it is difficult to withdraw one's feet. Men who are standing still or sitting down get embedded in the slime and cannot extricate themselves. As the trenches are so shallow, men have to stay where they are all day, and then we have to spend most of the night digging and pulling them out. The only way to do this is to put duck boards on either side of a man and then work at one leg, digging, poking, and pulling until the suction is relieved. Then a strong pull by three or four men will get one leg out, and work can begin on the other. Going to and from Battalion Headquarters, one hears men who got stuck calling out for help that often cannot be sent to them. All the time the [Germans] drop shells promiscuously. He who has a corpse to stand or sit on is lucky.

From the World War I diaries of Captain Alexaruler Stewart (as published in Somme: The Experiences of a Very Unimportant Officer)