23 July 1916; Sunday

[Above the printed date – ] Heard that Pozières 1 had been captured.

About 1 o’clock a shell struck the road about 6 feet off our trench and blew the side in burying Denham and Hughes. A machine gun played over us the whole time and we had to dig them out with our hands. Like a nightmare. Spent a few hours in the proper dug-out. Took down two stretcher cases before breakfast and then got some tea in Captain Newton’s dug out. Duggins and Gibson sent up to relieve Bascombe and I. Received orders later to go down. Paddy and I carried a case to the relief and then came down. Passed an 8” battery. A tremendous number of guns. The bombardment through the night was deafening. Some hideous sights in the wood. An Engineer sergeant badly wounded left to die and was breathing when I saw him last. Also decomposed bodies stirred up with the shells.


  1. The Battle of Pozières was a two-week struggle for the French village of Pozières during the middle stages of the Battle of the Somme. Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle and ended with Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village.