Allied soldiers fortifying shell craters after an advance. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot, 1918 Edition.
A startling new situation confronted the Allies in their recent advance against the Germans. They are fortifying in a concealed way chains of shell craters due to intensive artillery firing of months.
"This morning, every face is racked with exhaustion. As for me, I was seized by a strong urge to vomit while walking through the Caurettes forest. I survived thanks to a few drops of mint liqueur. I fell into a shell crater full of water and I got drenched up to my belt. I fell asleep at three in the hot humidity of this wretched sap. These night reliefs are the worst thing about this war."
French Captain Paul Tuffrau writing on February 19, 1917. Tuffrau had fought since the Battle of the Marne in 1914, and had been wounded twice. He was deployed to Verdun in September, 1916, and was in the sector in February, 1917. The bitter cold of which he wrote on February 4 had broken in the middle of the month.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 208, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
1917-02-19, 1917, February, shell crater
