Oct 7, 2017
Once the sighing whine of a shell in flight ended with a savage
hiss and an explosion just behind our dug-out, and I felt the
sandbag wall heave in several inches. "That one nearly smashed our
dug-out," I remarked, thinking it was a H.E., but the next moment a
strong smell of gas rushed in. "Get your respirator on!" I yelled
at Gus, making a grab for my own. I held my breath, but the
powerful fumes got into my eyes, and the tears poured from them in
streams. The tapes of my respirator were twisted up with the
mouthpiece somehow, and there was I struggling to get them free.
Had to open my eyes several times and endure a fresh flow of tears,
and it soon became impossible to hold my breath any longer.
However, just as I got a good deep breath of poisonous gas, the
mouthpiece came free of the tapes and I got it into my mouth.
That just about says it all, take a ride through the final days of
Passchendaele with Percy