Edward Walford Manifold was born on 28th April 1892 and grew up in the Western District of Victoria. Together with his older brother William Herbert (Bee), he travelled to England to join the Royal Field Artillery when World War I broke out. Day by day, this blog publishes his letters home and the entries he made in his diaries, from 1915 when he was first sent to France until 1918 when his service ends. (To follow on Twitter: manifold1418)
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Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Diary Entry - 3rd August, 1916
Nothing of much importance happened. A lot more sand bags were put upon the end of the trench nearest the enemy as he started shrapnel in the morning and a couple of bullets whistled in amongst us. Luckily no-one was hit. Last night, Boschie did the dirty on us. SOS was sent through at nine and we all opened fire at the usual rate - guns fire 30 secs. In the middle of it, two Bosche aeroplanes were observed dropping lights. The whole show was arranged, we think, so as he could get onto a mass of batteries and search and sweep them with 8-inch or other heavy stuff. Capt Titler was killed during the night by a shell. He was sleeping in a trench and a 42 HE hit the parapet above him, killing him instantaneously. Luckily, the two other Subs who slept close to him were at that moment up firing the battery or they would have met with the same fate.
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