War Diaries (April 26) (nonfiction)
War Diary entries for April 26.
Previous: April 25 - Next: April 27
Diaries
Philip Owen Ayton: April 26, 1915
At day break the enemy started to pour shrapnel* into us and sent heavy shells* out to sea at the ships. Nearly all that day a terrible cannonade* raged. The noise was beyond description. I had a most awful headache from the row and want of sleep and was almost exhausted for want of rest. We had a short rest in the afternoon and I fell asleep on top of my shovel. Most of my mates were the same. All the shells and bullets in the world couldn’t have kept us awake. After that we worked on till dark, having, by that time, some decent trenches dug, which the New Zealanders immediately occupied. We dug ourselves in and went to sleep, completely knocked out. I felt like a new man next morning after the good sleep and a feed.
- [1] - "Monday, April 26 — my 26th birthday" - Philip Owen Ayton was 25 years old and working on the Sydney tramways when he enlisted* in the 1st Field Company of Engineers soon after World War I was declared. He took part in the Gallipoli landing and later fought on the Western Front, all described in vivid* detail in a diary of about 106,000 words.
