Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. And there is Albert Jacka ahead, crouching behind the traverse in the firing line. Well, that is one good thing.
On the field, Jacka is the man most likely to lead a charge, and off the field a man quite likely to get one. For, yes, Jacka can be a bit rough around the edges – and only a couple of months before Sergeant Jim Cowey had charged him twice in a single day for insolence – but it is already obvious that he is a hell of a soldier, and never better than when under heavy fire. For Jacka’s part, he feels both great relief at the sight of Lieutenant Crabbe coming his way down the communication trench – and alarm, shouting: ‘Look out, sir! Turks are in there!’ “What’s the situation?” Crabbe yells back.
“I am the only one left in the trench. The others have been [knocked out] by the bombs the enemy threw before rushing this section of the trench. I’ve been holding the Turks back from advancing further into our trenches for a quarter of an hour.
” “If you are given support,” Crabbe shouts to Jacka over the continuing cacophony of fire, exploding grenades and shrieking men, “will you charge the Turks?” “YES! I want two or three.” Jacka must hold on till they get here, and with a deathly calm that surprises even him – a man never knows how he will go until an actual crisis hits – he continues to keep the Turks in the next bay pinned down, firing at the.
