DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, May-July 1917 | 1917-06-29 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel Williams Page 3

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, May-July 1917

1917-06-29 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel Williams Page 3

of it all makes it very hard to carry out such instructions.
This uncertainty is the only thing about the camp that I don't thoroughly enjoy.  Some of the things we do are a bit stimulating to the imagination but they are not half so unpleasant as the constant feeling that some of the powers may consider you too nervous, or too slow, or too hesitating, or too impetuous, or too something else.
Yesterday afternoon we had a battalion problem with war strength companies.  Some trenches had been prepared by another battalion earlier in the week so we attacked these, finishing up with a bayonet charge in four waves across a two hundred yard open space and up a steep hill.  It seems hardly possible that men can do these things as we saw them done in the movies the other day.  We were all out of breath when we reached the trenches.  Imagine men fighting for the trenches after they get in them, then digging in so as to meet a counter assault, and then having to defend the trench for thirty six hours before reinforcements arrive.  It's been done - more than once, too.
In our lessons on tactics we have used big maps (6 in. to the mile, V.I. 5 ft.) of the important sections of the trenches in

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of it all makes it very hard to carry out such instructions. This uncertainty is the only thing about the camp that I don't thoroughly enjoy. Some of the things we do are a bit stimulating to the imagination but they are not half so unpleasant as the constant feeling that some of the powers may consider you too nervous, or too slow, or too hesitating, or too impetuous, or too something else. Yesterday afternoon we had a battalion problem with war strength companies. Some trenches had been prepared by another battalion earlier in the week so we attacked these, finishing up with a bayonet charge in four waves across a two hundred yard open space and up a steep hill. It seems hardly possible that men can do these things as we saw them done in the movies the other day. We were all out of breath when we reached the trenches. Imagine men fighting for the trenches after they get in them, then digging in so as to meet a counter assault, and then having to defend the trench for thirty six hours before reinforcements arrive. It's been done - more than once, too. In our lessons on tactics we have used big maps (6 in. to the mile, V.I. 5 ft.) of the important sections of the trenches in