Handwritten transcript of diaries of Apcar Leslie De Vine, 1 January 1915 - 6 October 1918, Part 20 of 26
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31/7/17 Parades outside billets, morning & afternoon
1/8/17 Pouring rain all day, parades inside billets, ground
very muddy, route march postponed on account of the bad
condition of the roads
2/8/17 Rained all day, everything very muddy
3/8/17 Attended no parades today. Detailed at Bn Hdqrs
re Sgt Chandlers F.G.C.M. The court did not sit
4/8/17 Route march, full marching order to Cassel in
morning. Afternoon Coy parades, drill
5/8/17 Sunday Church parade 9.30 warned for BO Sgt
for tomorrow, mounted with guard at 5.30pm
6/8/17 Relieved BO Sgt early by Sgt Grant, warned to
attend Sgt Chalmers Court Marshal at Le Nieppe
where the 3rd Bn are billited
7/8/17 Two parades today 8.30 am & 2 pm, drill, marches,
etc
8/8/17 Parade in morning, Coy drill, afternoon for 1/2
hour only, warned to be ready to move off tomorrow
morning early
9/8/17 Revelle 4.30 am, left 6.30 full marching order
we met the rest of the Brigade on the Cassel Armentiers
Rd and march to La Motte au Bois just outside
Hazerbrouck which is under long range gun fire
of the German heavies. Many women & children
refugees are leaving & we meet very many of them
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on the road as we gradually approach the town
hundreds of them are sleeping in the fields & under the
hedges at night for safety
10/8/17 Parade 8.30 am with a short route march
Hazerbrouck again bombarded this morning. All the
shells pass over our billets at La Sourverain a small
cluster of houses along the banks of the canal. We can
clearly see the houses in the town being hit about 1
shell in 10 minutes. We are the closest Coy to the
town being only about 1 mile away. Spent evening at
La Motte returned to billets 10 pm
11/8/17 Parade this morning, battle order 8.30 for 1 hour
route march. Afternoon short route march & drill
heavy shower of rain during the march. all wet through
12/8/17 Sunday Church parade in morning. Afternoon
walked to Meriville about 8 miles away which is the
Hdqrs of the Portuguese Army. The town seemed to
be quite different to any other we have seen in
France, there is not a British soldier to be seen
anywhere. All cafe's were open & the town quite lively
returned to our billets at 11 pm
13/8/17 Parade this morning 8.30. Afternoon visited
Hazerbrouck, the town is very deserted and considerably
knocked about by heavy gun fire, many of the women &
children are camping out in the fields around the
town
14/8/17 Parade 9 am for 10 mile route march, returning
to billets at 2.30
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15/8/17 Usual parades today
16/8/17 Parade 8.30 am for 15 mile route march returned
to billets by 4 pm. Hot tea was issued on march by the
Coy cookers
17/8/17 Parade 8 am for two hours, no parade in afternoon
Sports in afternoon to commemorate the 3rd anniversary
of the formation of the Bn. Sports & Swimming Carnival
held in the La Motte Canal, with a concert in the
evening at Bn Hdqrs. Detailed for piquet at La
Motte at night
18/8/17 Parades as usual in morning, short route
march in the afternoon
19/8/17 Sunday Church parade 9 am. rest of the day
spent at La Motte
20/8/17 Marched to Steenvorde to the Div baths in
the morning, about 5 miles each way. Short parade
in afternoon
21/8/17 Parades morning & afternoon as usual
22/8/17 Special parade for musketry at Bn Hdqrs
rest of the day a holiday
23/8/17 Parades morning & afternoon as usual
24/8/17 Long route march today. 10 miles. on our return
paid F70 = £ 2.11.4
25/8/17 Parade as usuall. detailed for Coy O Sgt for a week
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26/8/17 Sunday To 3/9/17 Coy O Sgt all this
week we are still at La Motte
4/9/17 Returned to my platoon. route march full
marching order 8 miles
5/9/17 Parades as usual during day, practising
advance guard work, our long rest is now beginning
to draw to a close, we have been resting & training
since early in May. We are now fully reorganised
& up to full strength & fully trained ready for
a strenuous winter
6/9/17 Route march today 10 miles
7/9/17 Bn R O S all day, attended no parades
8/9/17 Parades as usual
9/9/17 Sunday Church parade this morning, nothing
else doing, warned that we will soon be leaving
for the trenches to take part in a big Belgian offensive
soon to be delivered
10/9/17 No duties today. sick today with Myralgia
11/9/17 " " " "
12/9/17 Easy day, warned that we are leaving for the
trenches tomorrow. Dissappointed to find myself
detailed to remain at the reinforcement camp to
reorganise the Coy after they come out of the line.
paraded before Capt Judge to obtain permission to
leave with the Bn for the line. As I had been
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detailed by the Colonel Capt Judge could not alter
it, feel very dissappointed
13/9/17 Bn marched away to Meteren on their first
stage towards the line. Had to remain behind with
a few sick men, who were unable to march & disposed
of the Coy stores acording to instructions. Afterwards joined
up with the other Sgts & men detailed for the
reinforcement camp, we all marched off at 12am
for Caestre near Bailleul where we pitched a camp
14/9/17 Organising the camp all day
15/9/17 Parades 9-11 & 2-4 pm
16/9/17 Sunday Church parade 9 am, warned for camp
O Sgt for tomorrow
17/9/17 Camp O Sgt all day, very easy day
18/9/17 Parades 9 am & 2 pm
19/9/17 Parade 9 am only rest of the day Divisional holiday
20/9/17 Attended no parades today. Warned for Sgt of
Div guard. mounted 6 pm
21/9/17 Sgt Div guard all day. easy day. on returning
to camp was warned to hold myself ready to attend
a Trench Mortar School
22/9/17 Under orders to attend Trench Mortar School
at Terdeghem, left camp 11 am & walked to Terdeghem
a distance of 8 kilometers away reaching there about
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3.30 only to find that we were 6 days late
23/9/17 To 30/9/17 At Trench Mortar School Terdeghem
30/9/17 Sunday Left TM School in motor busses
for Hazerbrouck which we reached at 9.30. Cought
the 2 pm tram that left at 6 pm (4 hours late in
starting) arriving at Caestre at 8 pm, spent the
night in the 1st Anzac reinforcement Camp
1/10/17 1st Brigade marched here from Steenvorde
joined them up at 2 pm in the old Brigade camp
from where I left to join the TM School
2/10/17 Tents struck today to let the ground dry
out, easy day, no parades
3/10/17 Parade only in morning 9-11. Div half holiday
in the afternoon
4/10/17 No parades today, drafts are being sent up
to the Bns
5/10/17 No parades today, very few left in camp
6/10/17 No parades, very cold, raining all day, mounted
Div O Sgt at 6 pm
7/10/17 Sunday Div Brd Sgt all day. At midday
news reached camp that the whole nucleous of the
Division had to rejoin their Bns, packed up full
marching order and marched to Caestre railway
station in drenching rain, we waited on the station
from 1 pm until 4 pm the train being 3 hours late
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We were taken to Ypres, where we detrained about half
a mile in front of the town which we reached at 6.15
pm and marched to Cafě Belge, through oceans of
mud. The roads are in a very bad state & terribly congested
being blocked with G S wagon, gun limbers, troops etc
being relieved from the foreword area. Reached the
Bn transport lines at 8 pm where we stayed for
the night
8/10/17 In camp until midday, am warned for the
advance party for the front line tonight. Left camp
at 12.30 pm for Brigade Hdqrs. The roads are in a
terrible state & very muddy, being under constant shell
fire, dead horses are lying about in dozens with broken
GS Transport wagons on each side of the road, blown
to pieces by shell fire, the roads are often knee deep
in liquid mud with the dead transport drivers lying
on the side of the track, everybody is hurrying forward
as this sector of the road is under constant HE
shell fire. Managed to reach Hdqrs without casualties
taking special notice of the route. After a rest we leave
Hdqrs & return to Half Way House where I pick up the Bn
& wait for darkness when I will guide the Coy up to
Brigade Hdqrs where we will pick up other guides
who will take us to our position on Anzac Ridge which
is about one mile behind our advance posts. Here we
relieve the 3rd Bn in reserve. we spend the night in
a trench full of mud & water, it is raining heavily all
night, everybody being wet through & terribly cold &
miserable this being a very exposed position
9/10/17 Early this morning the heavy guns covered the
advance of the 2nd Division, who are making an advance
on our left and gained all their objectives. The weather
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cleared up during the day, the sun coming out for
a few hours giving us a little warmth & making things
a bit cheerfull. There was much aerial activity
during the afternoon, one German plane falling in
flames in front of our lines. four other German planes
then attacked one of our airmen bringing him down
he fell just clear of our lines, fighting all the while
the German aviators following him close down untill
they came under our machine gun fire which drove
them off, this is one of the best aerial fights we
have seen in France, one machine fighting five &
bringing one down. When our man fell some of
our boys rushed up with a stretcher, expecting to
find him badly hit. after disentangling him
from his wrecked machine they brought him in,
he was not very badly hurt, one bullet had opened
his forehead badly but nothing very serious. We were
relieved about 5.30 pm by the 60th Bn & marched
to Half Way House where the Coy cookers were waiting
for us with hot stew & tea, a welcomed hot meal
Fortunately during our relief there was little shell
fire on the roads & we suffered no casualties. After
our hot meal we marched from Half Way House to
our transport lines at Cafė Belge where we stayed
for the night
10/10/17 Remained all day at the transport lines
orders issued to move off tomorrow
11/10/17 Reveille 5.30 am. Fall in 6.45 marched through
Dickebusch to Ypres, where we entrained for
Poperinghe, detraining there & marched to a camp about
6 kilometres outside Poperinghe called Dallington Camp
at Wippenhoek This camp is in a terribly muddy
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state. Visited Poperinghe in the afternoon returning
to camp at 9 pm
12/10/17 In camp all day, raining heavily, this camp
is in an awfull state of mud, being ankle deep everywhere
13/10/17 Rained heavily during the morning. It has
been descided to leave this camp at 2pm, which
is now simply a small lake. we marched to Abeele
about 5 miles away, where we are billeted in a farm
between Abeele and Steenvoorde. Heavy rain has
been falling all day, and the roads are in a very
bad state making marches very heavy. Abeele is
a town situated exactly on the Belgian border we are
situated on the French side
14/10/17 Sunday Sun shining today, although everywhere
is an ocean of mud. Church parade this morning
15/10/17 Parades 9-11 am & 1.30 - 3.30, no rain today
for a change. Detailed as Sgt of piquet at Steenvorde
tonight returning to camp at 10 pm
16/10/17 Parades 9-11 am & 1.30-3.30. Sun shining all
day, ground drying up
17/10/17 Full parade for an inspection by the Div
Commander General Walker at 10 am. We marched
up to the parade ground much before time but
the General did not turn up, so after a long wait
we had a short route march instead. Parade in
afternoon as usuall
18/10/17 Inspection by the Div General this morning
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who made a short speech, complimenting the men on
their work in the last offensive, then we
marched away in the mud, Sports were held
in the afternoon
19/10/17 Parade only in the morning, afternoon
games & sports
20/10/17 Placed in charge of a Brigade fatigue
party to build a rifle range at the Brigade
School with a party of 30 men. The Brigade
School of Musketry is situated near Steenvorde
we completed the job by 3 pm, returning to billets
by 3.30, finished for the day
21/10/17 Sunday No church parade. Visited
Poperinghe to buy Xmas presents for the Australia
mail leaving this week, returning to billets late
at night
22/10/17 Parades as usual 9 am & 1.30 pm. The
weather is getting very cold now
23/10/17 Parades as usual
24/10/17 Parade only in morning, warned that we will
be moving nearer to the line tomorrow, remainder
of day spent in packing up
25/10/17 Left billets at 8 am, taking buses near Abeele
at 10 am, passed through Dickebusch to a camp on the
banks of the Ypres Commune Canal on the South
side of Ypres
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