Having a devil of a time with the damn rats in our dugout and round about La Targette and Neuville St. Vaast.
Enemy shells our area.
A few more inches and he would have got our dugout. However he makes the walls shake and parts fall in.
*Trench conditions were ideal for rats. Empty food cans were piled in their thousands throughout No Man’s Land, heaved over the top on a daily basis. Most soldiers who served on the Western Front would later recall how rats grew in boldness, stealing food that had been lain down for just a few moments. Rats would also crawl across the face of sleeping men. Although shooting at rats was strictly prohibited – it being regarded as a pointless waste of ammunition – many soldiers nevertheless took pot shots at nearby rats in this manner. (www.firstworldwar.com)
