On June 16th, Mostyn and his colleagues have a busy night in the trenches. In his diary entry, he mentions a ‘Veri-light’ post. Very (sometimes spelled Verey) is a kind of pistol used to fire flares that would light up an area and allow soldiers to see what was going on.
Still some rain, before C.O., lenient, man gets 28 days No.1. At night took part demonstration before enemy’s position on Flat Iron. Moved out at 9p.m. & took up position in extended order. At 9.30 we opened rifle & machine gun fire on Flat Iron trenches & on advanced Veri-light post, after firing for 5 minutes we sent up red artillery rocket & our artillery lifted. Enemy sent up many different coloured lights & put up a heavy barrage of artillery & bombs, many near go’s but we reached our position with only one casualty. Turned in with bad headache from concussion & sulphur fumes from shells. H.Q. pleased with night’s work.
The trench song ‘When Very Lights are Shining’ recalls what the soldiers may have thought of the lights – they were both useful and brought a sense of foreboding:
When Very lights are shining
Sure ’tis like the morning dew,
And when shells begin a bursting
It makes you think your times come too.
One version is available at http://www.ww1photos.com/WhenVeryLightsAreShining.html