Ten days later
If there was one thing that Wally was scared of about being on the front line, it was sentry duty. Having to stand on the edge of the trench with your rifle aimed out across No Man's Land could not make you feel more scared. With your head exposed and the most likely threat of getting a bullet through it made even the toughest soldiers feel scared about being on the front line. Wally would do anything to get out of this sentry duty and get rid of the threat of him having his head blown off.
Further down the trench to his right were three men in the machine gun nest, one on the gun; one holding ammunition to the right of the gunner and a soldier that was holding a tiny pair of binoculars to the left of the gunner was looking out over No Man's Land at the German trenches, to which beyond them was the ruined village of Thiepval. Whilst the machine gunner and the soldier holding the ammunition were lying down, the soldier with the binoculars was partly sitting up, exposing the top of his head. If a German sniper saw him, he was dead. He would just have to hope luck was on his side.
"Stay sharp, men," a voice further down the trench said.
Wally groaned. That voice belonged to the one person he really wished had stayed up in the last trench. He looked down the trench and saw Gomer walking up it. He had just been telling the men on the machine gun position to stay sharp and now he was walking towards him, no doubt he had something to say to Wally.
"I hope your keeping your eyes on the Boche, Wallace," he said, stopping next to Wally. "Don't go running off now,"
"Go away, Gomer," Wally muttered as he turned to look back out across No Man's Land.
Gomer chuckled. "Is that all you can throw at me?" he asked mockingly. He chuckled again. "You'll have to do better than that, Wallace,"
"That's enough, Gomer!" a voice barked sharply, making him and Wally jump.
The two looked down the trench to see Adam walk away from the dugout entrance. He looked very angry and was glaring at Gomer.
"What are you doing?" he asked Gomer as he stopped in front of him.
"Just…making sure Wallace here stays awake, sir," Gomer replied, a hint of fear in his voice.
"Well move on!" Adam barked. "I'm sure he can manage without you pestering 'im all day!"
Gomer stared at Adam for a second, completely shocked. He had never spoken to him before. In fact, they were like best friends and now, all of a sudden, he had turned against him. Then, he nodded and walked down the trench.
"Thanks, Adam," Wally said to him when Gomer was out of earshot. "He was really getting on my nerves,"
Adam nodded and turned and walked back to the dugout. Wally resumed looking out over No Man's Land.
WHOOSH! BOOM! WHOOSH BOOM!
Two explosions erupted further up the trench near the machine gun nest, throwing a cloud of dirt and debris into the air. A scream followed not even a millisecond later as one of the men in the machine gun nests fell to the ground, dead.
"GET TO COVER!" an officer from a nearby section of trench that led to the rear trenches shouted.
Wally did not need telling twice. He dived to the ground, ignoring the pain when his rifle hit him in the back, and covered his head with his hands as more shells exploded around him in or behind the trench or in No Man's Land. More screams filled the air as they landed, meaning they were either the last cries that person emitted or they were to suffer painfully for a long time now because of shrapnel injuries.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Wally looked up half-way and saw a soldier crumple to the ground about ten feet ahead of him. He could see that the soldier's coast was torn, as was his tunic around his chest, which was now stained with blood. The soldier struggled to move as his body felt like it had been stabbed a thousand times. Thankfully, he did not have to wait long as a medical personal soldier, who was tall and quite heavily built, ran up the trench and picked up the soldier and carried him back to another section of trench that led to the rear trenches.
"Wally!" a voice shouted to him over the noise of the barrage. He looked over his shoulder and saw Adam kneeling down in the doorway of the dugout moving his arm through the air towards himself. "Get over here!"
Slowly and carefully so as not to be hit by shrapnel, Wally got up so he was crouching, turned and, keeping his head low and picking up his rifle, ran down the trench over to Adam, who grabbed him and threw him into the dugout and followed him in.
As Wally stood up, he saw two other young looking soldiers sitting on the bottom bunks of the dugout's two beds. One of them, a brown haired soldier who looked to be about sixteen and was from Cornwall, was sitting on the bunk bed below Moe, who was reading a book and acting as if nothing was going on, with his hand over his ears as if he were trying to block out the noise of the shells, but to no avail. The other, who was blonde haired and looked about seventeen and was from Manchester, had his head in his hands and was cradling it back and forth and muttering and moaning under his breath as the shells crashed overhead. Wally sighed at seeing these two young soldiers affected by the shelling. They had only arrived yesterday and even then they were met with a barrage that made them witness many men being killed or injured.
They were what the soldiers called 'The babies of the front' because they had only been here a short time. Adam took off his hat and dropped it on his bed and walked over to the soldier from Cornwall and sat down on the bed next to him.
"You'll be alright, Robert," he said as he placed a hand on his shoulder to trey and reassure him he was okay. "You'll get used to it,"
The soldier looked up at Adam, revealing red marks around his eyes from lack of sleep.
"They've been launching shells at our lines almost non-stop since yesterday," Robert replied in a hopeless tone. "How much longer?"
Adam did not reply and looked into Robert's eyes that were filled with sadness and despair. He sighed and patted his shoulder and looked ahead of him at the floor.
"Not too long," he said. "Not too long,"
An explosion erupted almost just outside the dugout, throwing up a large pile of wooden boards that made up the trench floor. A man's voice shouted from outside and two pair of legs ran past the dugout entrance, carrying a stretcher between them. Lying on it was a wounded soldier who had a bloodied bandage covering the side of his head.
I'd hate to be him Adam thought as the men disappeared from sight from the dugout entrance.
Wally walked past Hans, who was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling, entranced in a daydream, and sat down on his bed. He placed the end of his rifle on his lap and reached under his bed and pulled out his backpack and opened it and took out a piece of white cloth. He began to wipe the end of his rifle, staining the cloth a brownish/black colour as the thin layers of dirt came off it. Another shell crashed overhead, making a small cloud of dust fall from the ceiling of the dugout. The men looked up with wide eyes, silently praying that it would not cave in. Thankfully, it did not.
Then, after a few more seconds of explosions, the shelling ended. Wally stopped cleaning his rifle and Hans immediately sat up. No sooner than a second passed before a voice shouted: "Right lads, get into positions!" Instantly, Wally, Hans, Auto, Robert, Moe, who jumped down from the top bunk, and the soldier sitting on the other lower bunk of the other bunk bed, leapt to their feet, put on their helmets, grabbed their rifles if they did not already have them, and rushed outside into the trench.
It was a lot different than when they had been out there a few moments earlier. There was a huge hole in the trench floor, two enormous holes on the right side of the trench (the side that was on No Man's Land) and there were pieces of metal or wood scattered across the floor. Six other soldiers with their rifles were lined up along the trench, their rifles aiming out across No Man's Land. The two men that had previously been on the machine gun nest had been joined by another soldier.
Wally, Hans, Moe, Robert and the soldier from Manchester lined up along the trench and aimed their rifles out across No Man's Land. The seconds ticked by. One, two. One, two. No movement across No Man's Land from the German trenches. Was this just a shelling? Or were they preparing for something el-
WHOOSH! BOOM! Another explosion erupted further down the trench, followed by a scream as a soldier a few feet from the right side of the machine gun nest collapsed to the trench floor. Another soldier next to him grabbed him and pulled him away towards a section of trench that led to the rear trenches.
"Here comes Jerry!" Robert shouted all of a sudden.
The men looked back across No Man's Land and saw a seemingly endless wave of men rushing towards them. Germans! Instantly, a barrage of gunfire flew out from the British soldiers towards them. A few of the Germans fell but they just charged on, filled with determination to destroy their enemies.
Wally watched as the fighting ensued around him. He still could not do it. He just could not find it within him to fire at the Germans.
"Keep firing, lads!" an officer shouted as he walked past Adam up the trench, heading in Wally's direction.
Wally went wide-eyed and thought quickly. He aimed his rifle at the Germans and fired. A German fell to the ground and did not rise afterwards. Wally fired a few more times, joining in the firing chorus of his comrades around him.
The officer walked past Wally and began shouting at a group of other soldier to start firing. Adam looked over at Wally and went wide-eyed when he saw him fire.
"Wally," he said over the noise of the gunfire, drawing Wally's attention. He went to speak when another explosion a few metres behind the trench cut him off. Another mortar shell probably.
Finally, the wave of Germans, now numbering to about forty or fifty from It's previous hundred when they started the trench raid, retreated back towards their own lines. Some of them turned and ran as fast as they could, diving into shell holes to avoid gunfire, whilst others were running backwards, firing their rifles at the British. One of them threw a grenade at the British trench at the machine gun nest. The men, who were firing away at the retreating Germans, failed to hear their comrades shout to them of the coming danger, or even notice them as the soldiers either side of the machine gun nest dived away from it.
BOOM! The grenade exploded as it landed a few feet behind the men in the machine gun nest. They yelled out and collapsed to the ground, dead. More gunfire filled the air, followed by more Germans falling to the ground in No Man's Land.
"Let's get 'em, lads," an officer shouted, taking out his pistol and pulling himself over the parapet of the trench and rushing out into No Man's Land. The men followed suite, swarming en masse out of their trenches towards the German trenches.
Wally ran across No Man's Land a few feet to the left of Hans and a few feet to the right of Robert. Moe and the soldier from Manchester were not far behind them with Adam. The men fired at the German trenches, only to be met with the same barrage from the German trenches that they had given to the Germans a few moments earlier. Now it was the British's turn to lose men across this attack, counterattack game across No Man's Land. Many British soldiers fell as they were hit by the wave of bullets. Wally, like all the other men charging towards the British trenches, he was just praying he would not be hit.
Please don't hit me! Please don't hit me! Seemed to run through his mind constantly, and it only increased as he got closer to the German trenches.
BOOM! BOOM! Two explosions erupted not far behind Wally. He looked behind him and saw two soldiers about ten feet behind Adam yell out and collapse to the ground and did not rise afterwards. He recognized one of them as the soldier from Manchester. Another young soldier fallen in combat, and it was obvious he would not be the last.
Then, just like with the Germans moments earlier, the British force turned and ran back towards their trenches. Also like the Germans moments earlier, some of them were running backwards, firing as they went. Wally was not, though. He just wanted to get back to the safety of the trench quickly before he became the target of a German soldier.
He looked around him and saw Hans, Moe and Robert also running back towards the trench. A small sigh of relief passed his lips. They were safe and soun-hang on. Where was Adam?
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened with shock.
Lying on the ground and clutching his leg was Adam. By the looks of it, he had been hit by a bullet. He tried to crawl on but he only made himself yell out in pain and clutch his leg tighter.
Wally skidded to a halt and looked from Adam and back at the British trenches. He did not know what to do. He wanted to get to cover but he did not want to leave a fellow soldier out in No Man's Land either. What was he to do?
"Wally!" a voice shouted from the British trench. He looked and saw it was Moe. "C'mon, get over 'ere!"
Wally took a step towards the trench but stopped, his mind still locked in the tug of war between getting to cover and rescuing Adam.
Finally, he turned and ran back out into No Man's Land over to Adam. Hans, Moe and a few other soldiers shouted after him but he ignored them.
He skidded to a halt, kicking up a load of dirt, when he reached Adam and grabbed him on the shoulders.
"Wally, what are doing?" he shouted furiously. "You'll get yourself killed!"
"Well I'm not leaving you out here," Wally replied as he tried pulling Adam back towards the trench, but it turned out he was a lot heavier than he looked.
"Argh…leave me! Get away, leave me here!" he hissed as Wally, out of both anger and the pain flaring from his leg, but Wally ignored him and was trying to find another way to get him and Adam to the trench.
Finally, he grabbed Adam on the chest and, with an almighty grunt, lifted Adam up off the ground. His arms were shaking with the extra weight but he managed to hold onto Adam. He ran back as fast as he could to the trench. A few soldiers in the trench, three of them manning the machine gun in the machine gun nest, fired at the Germans to provide some covering fire. It did help a bit, but it was obvious the Germans were not really going to waste ammunition in trying to kill a wounded enemy soldier and the soldier carrying him to safety.
Finally, after a few moments of carrying a tall but heavy person to safety, Wally reached the trench. Moe and Hans grabbed hold of Adam's upper body and took hold of him from Wally, who breathed a sigh of relief and stepped down into the trench, resting his back against the side of the trench as two stretcher bearers came over with a stretcher and placed Adam on it.
"Wait," he said as the stretchers were about to leave. They stopped and Adam looked up at Wally. "I'm glad you've finally seen sense, Wally," he said.
Wally smiled meekly and nodded. The two stretcher bearers picked up the stretcher and ran over to the section of trench that led to the rear trenches. They ran into the trench and disappeared from sight.
When he was out of sight, Wally sighed and cursed himself for lying. Truth was, when he was firing at the Germans, he was actually firing at the ground not far from them to make it look like he was firing at them. Well, even though he had finally gotten Adam and the officers off his back for firing at the Germans, he had still lied and he could not think of what would happen if Adam found out.
He sighed and walked back to the dugout. Around him, his comrades were picking up the bodies of those that had fallen in the raid and were taking them away to the stretcher bearers for them to dispose of.