Diary of Harold William Riggall 1916 - Part 5

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Sunday May 14^th
Put a gun into a new position in the open

the night before last, it is hidden in a little dip in
the ground behind a hedge. Fired it yesterday
to verify the line (worked on the map) & found
the line of fire accurate. Incidentally I destroyed
some works the Germans had erected the night
before. When I had fired 21 shots I shut up
& returning thro' the trenches an infantry officer
stopped me & said "You baged one German at
least". I said "Did I" He said "Yes after one
of your bursts of A E into Hun work I noticed
a German rush out of the place holding the 
seat of his pants with his hands". I suppose
he got the back blast of the shell a bit & felt
sore about it. Fired four rounds on to
Radingham Station to register it so as to catch
the next train that stops there if possible.
Major Stevenson came round to see me
during the afternoon & he asked after you.
He told me I will be relieved at the end of
the month by the 23^rd Bty & go back to a
rest camp. What rot fancy only one month
of this & then a rest for a fortnight away
from the firing line. It seems like playing
at soldiers. Things as so quiet here that
the men are resting all the time. England
will never win the war if she pampers her
troops like this. Anzac would do them good.

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Monday May 15^th
Everything very quiet weather dull &
misty no observation
Tuesday May 16^th
Fired 34 rounds at different targets
from the mobile gun. Leave is granted to
the officers for leave to England. My leave
starts from June 2^nd so all being well I
leave here early on that morning for eight
days leave in London, where I think I had
better go. I feel like a schoolboy with
the Xmas holidays coming close. How I
wish you could be waiting over there for me
darling but perhaps it is just as well that
you are not there because fancy how awful
another good bye would be & eight days
would pass like wildfire. But what I
do envy Englishmen for is that they can
get a mail every day & answer it & the
answer is received with a couple of days
from the time it is sent.
Wednesday May 17^th
Got the six photos of Bill today dearest & my
room looks like a picture gallery. I have hung
them up on the wall. I have cut one of the
small ones & put it in my wallet. They
seem awfully nice dear but of course he has
changed so since I left home that I cannot
tell whether they are like him or not. I wish
I had one of you dear full length.

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Thursday May 18^th to Monday May 29^th
Just the same old game every day
nothing out of the ordinary happening
except that we have now practically as
much ammunition as we want. We have
had a lot of early morning firing lately in
response to calls from the infantry for gun
fire in retaliation on the enemys parapet.
The Hun has been trying to find one but
although he has come very close he does not
yet quite know where I am.
Tuesday May 30^th
Had a quiet day never fired a shot.
Was relieved this afternoon by the 23^rd
Battery under the command of Capt. Rus. Manton
and marched out at 10 o'clock at night from
my wagon line for a fortnights rest at Trou
Bayard. Arrived in new billets at midnight.
Wednesday May 31^st
Received order that my leave to England
is stopped as I am appointed to sit on Court
Martial tomorrow.
Thursday June 1^st
Attended Court Martial which was
comprised of Gen. Smyth, myself, another
major & two captains. We had to hear a
charge against Lieut Whitlam (Artillery)
Friday June 2^nd & Saturday June 3^rd
Sat both days on Court Martial

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which was held at Sailly sur Lys & met
Frank Derham who was defending the accused
& Levi another Melbourne barrister who was
for the prosecution.
Sunday June 4^th
Trial finished this morning & I
am off to London tonight.
Gen. Birdwood called at lunch time & I
attended with him while he inspected my
vehicles & horse lines. He is a fine man
dear always as nice as nice can be.
Rode over to D.A. tonight & got my
warrant to London, being in deadly fear
all the time less I should be stopped.
Came back to my billet & had dinner & afterwards
rode down to La Gorge & caught the train to
Bologne. Bennett returned from leave to
London today.
Monday June 5^th
Arrived at Bologne early this
morning after having had a good sleep
curled up in the train. Had breakfast at
the Louvre Hotel afterwards had a walk
round the town & later caught the boat to
Folkestone. Took 1½ hours to get across &
oh heaven dear it was rough. I offered up
a prayer that I might be allowed to see
London before I went under. The waves
were washing right over the deck & the

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men had to hang onto rails to prevent from 
being washed overboard. I was lucky as
although my feet were continually being washed
by the waves I was on the lee side of the chart
room & kept dry. But some of the poor men
were wet to the skin & most of them were very
sick. I'm a good sailor thank goodness. It
was only a small paddle steamer we were
on. At length we reached Folkestone & after
two hours run through Kent we reached
Victoria Station.
Tuesday June 6^th to Tuesday June 13^th
Spent this time in London & arrived
back at my billet at about 9 o'clock. at
night on a terribly wet day.
Wednesday June 14^th
Moved out of Trou Bayard & took
our position relieving the 3^rd Battery near
Laventie.
Thursday June 15^th to Sunday June 25^th
Same old days as we had at our
previous position except that I am not
doing so much firing as my guns are in a
very important enfilading position in case
of an attack & I don't want the Huns to know
where they are. The air is full of rumours
as to what is going to happen to us, but
nothing is known definitely yet. But
I think we will go up to Ypres soon.

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Funny dear even although I do not want
to go up to Ypres yet I cant help feeling very
proud that we are considered better than their
own troops & that they entrust us with the
holding of the hardest part of the line. There
are a great quantity of cavalry camped well
behind us which looks as if there is going
to be a push forward soon. Well the sooner
the better for it must come someday if we
are going to win this war & now seems as
good a time as they could wish with the
Russian advance & the Germans attacking
hard at Verdun. But it will be a great
loss in men as the Germans hold all the
commanding ground and have strongly
fortified it & have guns & ammunition in
abundance.
Monday June 26^th
I had two men in "A" sub hit today not
seriously (Sergt Morley & Gnr Macindoe) all
owing to carelessness. The 7^th Bty gun attached
to the 4^th Bty is in position just behind my
No 1 gun & owing to the sergeant in charge not
troubling to see whether the gun would clear a
tree in front. The gun fired H.E. & the round
went clean through the tree & burst injuring my
two men. I have written to Major Biddle of the
4^th & Capt. Crisp of the 7^th to have the matter
fully gone into & an explanation forwarded to me

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Tuesday June 27^th
Rained all day & very misty. Rode back to
have a look at my wagon lines. Saw Geo. Stevenson
who said he had had a letter from his sister which
was full of you & Bill & all about what a
beautiful child he was. At about midnight the
Huns began bursting shells over the billet but
beyond knocking off a few tiles did no harm.
Slept peacefully through it all.
Wednesday June 28^th
Raining again today. Mud awful.
If this is midsummer what will the winter be
like. Well darling the push has started, but it
will be some time I expect before the forward
movement is made. At present all that is being
done is to raid the enemy's lines each night at
different points of the line when we generally capture
& bring in a few prisoners. Our losses so far have
been very slight. Things fairly active today. We are
doing a great deal of artillery shooting as ammunition
is practically unlimited. A young Australian with an
English Battery has been seeing me lately. He wants
to transfer to the A.N.Z.A.C. but I don't think such
a transfer will be countenanced. It would be
unfair to our young officers who have been with us
from the beginning & have won promotion in action if
the Australian Officers who have got commissions in
England (where anybody can get them) should come
to us now After we have made a name for

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Australians & block them for promotions. Why did
they not join the A.I.F. at the beginning? There are
lots of them with the English & they all want to join
us now after we have made a reputation. They get

small change from any of us. I dont know whether
I have told you but I occupy the same billet as
the officers of an English battery & altho' they are very
nice men they are very green (all Oxford men they
told me) & nearly every night they come to me for
some advice or other. They have all been training
for 16 months in England & altho' they know the
theory of gunnery they are inclined to stick too closely
to the Book & not hit out for themselves. They get
quite upset at some of the things we do, but the other
day I took them over my guns & it was an eye opener
for them the work & improvements we put into our pits.
Thursday June 29^th.
Weather clearing up a little today but
mud very bad. All our artillery very active
last night when 2^nd Div. made a raid.
Have not heard results yet but believe it was
successful. These raids every night have
certainly made the German very jumpy. As
a soldier our lads can thrash the German man
for man. These raids prove that. Each time
we inflict heavy loss on them & bring back
some prisoners while our losses have always
been slight. Our infantry battalions are
showing great rivalry against each other

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with regard to these raids. For instance there
is a raid coming off in a couple of nights by
the 9^th Battallion & another one further North on
the following night by the 11^th Battallion. A lot
of wagering is taking place between the men as
to which Battallion will do best, & they have
both gone into training, the men have knocked
off smoking & are going for runs every day after
which they are rubbed down by their trainers.
I feel sorry for the 11^th as they have the worst
place to attack & may get cut up a bit. I
have carefully registered all my guns & will
give them all the help I can, & from my position
I should be able to give them a lot. Sergt. Smith
of "B" sub section is doing very good work & his
gun is shooting better than any gun I have ever
shot. She answers to every move given most
perfectly. At present he has a detached gun
at Weathercock Ferme, & has made a splendid
pit there. Practically safe against anything.
The 103 How. Bty (Major Jopp) lost a Sergt
last night by machine gun fire & I am transferring
Cpl Christie J  to them at his own request. The
103^rd are just behind my enfilading section (left
section) & it is impossible to move about there after
dark on account of machine gun firing but I
have dug deep saps & so far the men have
escaped all hurt. To show how things are livening
up I alone fired 349 rounds today

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The inhabitants of the French towns near the firing
line do not love us. They have lived in safety in
there houses while the English batteries were here (for
the reason that they hardly ever fired when they
were in & the German never fires back if he is left alone
& the English have occupied this line for 18 months
past & to put it bluntly done nothing). Well as
the inhabitants say "Oh Australia non bon".
We fire more in a day than the English batteries
who were in before us fired in six months & we have
got the Germans on the jump, with the result that
they fire a lot in return without doing much
damage. But the inhabitants do not like it.
Most of our firing is directed against the wire
entanglements of the Germans & we are tearing
it about a lot, in some places putting great
gaps in it that our infantry to advance through.
I was complimented for the accurate shooting of
the battery today by an Infantry Colonel, 108 shots
fired at the front line & 108 shots right in to their
trench with lovely bursts right on the parapet.
It was lovely shooting from the enfilade section.
Friday June 30^th
At about ten minutes past three this morning
I was woken up by a terrific cannonading on
our right. I jumped out of bed & went outside &
listened. But it came no nearer to us & after
about an hour it died down & as dawn broke it
became all quiet again. I was merely a