Diary of George Booley, 5th Battalion, AIF, 1918, Part 14

SEPTEMBER—1918.
18 Wednesday—Sun rises 5.39, sets 6.9.

The stunt opened at 5.30 AM
it was raining heavily &
was very dull,  5 Tanks went
over with Div & many dummies
were used. The organisation
of the Artillery was good &
as soon as it was possible
the back lines would limber
up & move forward to prearranged
position where
little heaps of shells had
been previously put & camouflaged.
The stunt was
a great success our Div
advanced to their objectives
6000 yds took 1500
prisoners & 35 guns &
had very light casualities

SEPTEMBER—1918.
19 Thursday—Sun rises 5.41, sets 6.6.

Things were fairly quiet
today after yesterdays
stunt, only an occasional
shells going into Roisel.
Hun counter attack on,
Tommies on our left in
evening.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
20 Friday—Sun rises 5.43, sets 6.4.
1h 1m After.

In the morning packed
up ready to go to the line
& about dinner time was
told I was to proceed
to Aust by first draft
going so late in the evening
I left the Bn near
Rosiel & went to wagon
lines. In the morning saw
a train in Rosiel, it is only
7 days ago I walked along
the line between Buire &
there & the line was blown
up & looked a hopeless
wreck almost every rail
being damaged. Trains of
a dozen tanks each passing
through. Got my hand
gashed with a piece of
roofing iron.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
21 Saturday—Sun rises 5.45, sets 6.1.
St. Matthew.

Day spent making preparations
for departure,
wrote letters galore had a
wash, change of clothes
etc & the day passed very
quickly. Jack Helyar came
to see me. The Bn moved
into line at night.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
22 Sunday—17th after Trinity.
Mg.—Jerem. v. Gal. i.
Evg.—Jerem. xxii. or Jerem. xxxv.
Luke i. 1-26.

Left Wagon lines near Buire
& marched to the Div Reinforcement
Camp near 
Perrone. Syd & I went all round
in search of Sister Walsh
at the 47^th CCS & found.
out too late where it was
situated, we got wet
in our wanderings

SEPTEMBER—1918.
23 Monday—Sun rises 5.48, sets 5.57.

Marched from Perrone to
Bray-sur-Somme a distance of
about 18 Kilos, the march was
practically all the way over
one of the most notable part of
the Somme Battlefield, but
it seemed a quiet desolate
spot today & the war was
far away. All the way along
at least once we came near
the Somme we were crossing
bridges rebuilt after being
blown up by the Hun on retiring.
Arrived at Bray about
11.30 & were billeted in a
large building near the
Place. I went to an ambulance
train & had an Anti
Tetanous injection & had hand
dressed.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
24 Tuesday—Sun rises 5.49, sets 5.55.

Put in the day writing a few
letters, went about 3 Kilos to a Camp
& got paid.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
25 Wednesday—Sun rises 5.51, sets 5.53.

In the afternoon Gen Birdwood
came to say au revoir to his
Boys, he was a bit broken up
& said in his 33 years of soldiering
the 4 years with the AIF
were his happiest & most
successful. He gave his speech
from the Balcony of the Town
Hall of Bray.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
26 Thursday—Sun rises 5.53, sets 5.51.

Boarded train at Bray leaving
about 11 AM, the first 3 hrs was
through the old Somme Battlefield
or at least the part of more recent
fighting, after passing Amiens
we ran into Country untouched
by war & it was welcome, the
travelling became better through
the day & the further South
we came the better the Country
was. We had some straw in the
truck & made ourselves very
comfy for the night & our
truck only had 22 in it.
The trucks are Italian
so the European Railways
must be the same
gauge.

SEPTEMBER—1918.
27 Friday—Sun rises 5.54, sets 5.48.
4h 39m Morn.

Passed round Paris in
early morning, travelled
through some nice
Country but very few Towns
the largest was Troyes & Dijohn
about 10.PM, it was
amusing to see the
troops getting down to
the Buffet to try & buy
something to eat, some
of them just put their
overcoats on over their
shirts. We did not travel
very far in the night

SEPTEMBER—1918.
28 Saturday—Sun rises 5.56, sets 5.46.

Awoke to find ourselves
at St Germain where we
disentrained & marched
up to a Rest Camp where
we had a shave wash &
breakfast, there was a
good EFC there but like
most EFCs these days the
things you want cannot
be procured. Continued our
journey about 1 PM & at once
ran into some very pretty
Country along the Saonne &
Rhone rivers where they join
near Lyons, we caused
a stir with our yelling
& hooling going through
the City

SEPTEMBER—1918.
29 Sunday—18th after Trinity.
St. Michael.  Michaelmas Day.
Mg.—Gen. xxxii. or Jerem. xxxvi.
Acts xii. 5-18.
Evg.—Dan. x. 4, or Ezek. ii, or Ezek. xiii. 1-17.
Rev. xiv. 14.

Found ourselves on the outskirts
of Marseilles in the morning
but I course took us round
it where we ran along the
sea for a time then into the
Country which was miles &
miles of vines & olives. We ran
back on to the sea just before
reaching Cannes & from then
on kept along the coast,
we passed Cannes in daylight
& got a good reception, Nice
we passed just after dark
but woke a number of people
with our noise, we also passed
Monte Carlo & across the Italian
Border by 10 PM when we
retired for the night

SEPTEMBER — 1918.
30 Monday—Sun rises 5.59, sets 5.41.

Well on our way through
Italy, have been travelling
along the sea all night &
nearly all the morning,
along the coast the Italian
trains are run by motor
engines making it much
nicer travelling through
the myriads of tunnels
of various lengths, one of
them 5½ miles long. In
the afternoon left the sea
at Genova & went on to
an inland route again.
Once we left the coast
it became less interesting
At one station in the
night a dago Soldier was
playing an accordion
& our Boys dancing
 

OCTOBER — 1918.
1 Tuesday—Sun rises 6.1, sets 5.39.
Pheasant Shooting begins.

We travelled until well
into the afternoon before
we came on to the Adriatic
Coast, but the scenery
on this side was not
to compare with that
of the Mediterranean
being flat & sandy, The
line runs right on the
beach in places close
enough to throw stones
into the sea.
Rested for some hours
in a rest camp at Faenza
where most of the fellows
got more or less drunk,
we marched through
the town.

OCTOBER—1918.
2 Wednesday—Sun rises 6.3, sets 5-37.

All the morning travelled
along the coast but in
the afternoon went in
land again, at one place
Foggia where we were held
up for some time an epidemic
of Enteric Fever was
on & we saw many hurses
going & coming from the
Cemetry we were told that
160 died in one day & they
were averaging over 100
a day. We left the coast
again in the evening

OCTOBER—1918.
3 Thursday—Sun rises 6.4, sets 5.35.

During the morning ran
out on to the Mediterainean
again & finished up at
Taranto in a rest camp
where Soldiers from Egypt
Salonika, & Messipotamia
rest on the way out &
Home, I am told the
English mail is also
dropped there since
the war started.
Put in the evening writing
at the EFC. 

OCTOBER—1918.
4 Friday—Sun rises 6.6, sets 5.32.

Reveille at 4.45 AM &
were on our way to the
boat at 5.30 without
breakfast, we were
soon on board & had
breakfast about 10.
The Boat is an Orient
liner ORMONDE. a sister
ship to the Boat we
left Aust in, she is
a fine big two funneler
& unless more heavily
loaded with troops
will have plenty of room
on her, a fellow can
get a good walk on
the promenade deck.

OCTOBER—1918.
5 Saturday—Sun rises 6.8, sets 5.30.
3h 5m Morn.

Still in the harbour
at Taranto & are evidently
waiting for some more
troops to arrive. I went
to M-O this morning but
was not able to get much
satisfaction as we are
only on this boat for a
few days. Food is not too
bad aboard.

OCTOBER—1918.
6 Sunday—19th after Trinity.
Mg.—Ezek. xiv. Eph. vi. 10.
Evg.—Ezek. xviii. or Ezek. xxiv. 15.
Luke vii. 24.

Nothing very exciting today
we lay in the harbour
all day. In the evening
a bit of a Church parade
on board. We were given
our alarm posts &  ordered
to carry lifebelts

OCTOBER—1918.
7 Monday—Sun rises 6.11, sets 5.24.

About 8.30 AM. our Boat
& another named, Kaiserhelm
loaded with troops, some
1914 Aussies, pulled out
from the inner to the outer
harbour, between the
two is a narrow canal
to admit only one big
boat at a time, it is
about 1000 yards long &
the Town is built on
either side, the Town
is a peculiar old place
& the people we lined on
either side clapping &
yelling like one thing.