They were double promoted and assigned to defend the company’s base in the rear. They could stay safe inside a pillbox as reserves and prepare for the counteroffensive. One thing I learned while flying, though, was that…for artillery, an immobile pillbox is nothing but a sturdy target.
Before we knew it, though we’d only just arrived, we’d been hurled into the trenches and were getting showered with periodic “deliveries” from the Republican Army.