Handwritten transcript of diaries of Apcar Leslie De Vine, 1 January 1915 - 6 October 1918, Part 16 of 26

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the tail of the machine fell off when the machine gun

amunition exploded, causing him to fall a mass of flame

Shelling vey constant during the afternoon. During the evening

the Coy moved further up the trench about 500yds to our left

this was caused by A Coy of the 3^rd relieving our D Coy, so

causing us to moove up bring us in front of a quary & in

front of Mouquet Farm. As soon as it was dark we

swung our left flank round nearer to the Farm &

dug a new firing line about 100yds in front of our old

one so straightening up the line, this was done in total

darkness & under shell fire all the time. Was detailed

with two men to act as a covering party & laid out in

a shell hole all night in front of the boys digging the

new line, to give the alarm of any patrol approaching.

We were not molested. Several large shells fell near us

but we all managed to get back just before dawn

Several showers of rain fell during the day & night

everybody wet through, the ground is now very muddy

& sticky, making it very cold tonight

 

18/8/16   Early morning very cold, a little sleep obtained during

the night, just a doze or two in the mud. About 8am the

sun came out & dried us a bit & we felt warmer. At 10.30

am was detailed with two men by Major Brown to find

the exact position of Mouquet Farm which is on our left

front, we crawled out about 100yds from our line, making

our way from shell hole to shell hole then changed direction

¾ right for about 50yds, which brought us up to a trench

protecting the farm and running in front of it, we

entered this trench managing to get a good view of the

farm & its surroundings. It had been very considerably

knocked about by shell fire, this point is situated

on high ground, whilst making my observations & taking 

notes, could see from here right over a large area of

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flat country where an English Division was making an

attack on Thiepval. We could see very plainly the

troops attacking in open order, having an excellent

birds eye view of the whole county for a few miles

around their objective, Whilst so occupied after

completing our notes we met a German patrol patroling

the trench, luckiy for us we saw them first, as

not suspecting our presence they were not vey carefull

about making a noise & were talking loudly. We got 

our shots in first at very close range, after this

several more appeared, we then hastily retired from

their line, as we had gained our objective, & had 

an accurate report of the condition of the farm

we decided to rejoin our own line, so we hid

in a shell hole for a time untill things regained

their usuall quietness as Fritz was bombing several

shell holes endeavouring to find us. Fortunately we

were a little too far off for him. later we managed

to join our lines again & reported result of the patrol

Later in the day about 4 pm was sent out again

with 2/Lt Turnbull & 4 men, we entered the trench

again at a different point & discovering one of their

bombing posts, after having a good look around

we retired to a shell hole in order to keep the

post under observation & to wait for the rest of

the Coy to come up after dark, as we are under

orders to take the trench tonight. After

remaining in the shell hole for two hours we were

sent for by the Coy Commander & returned to our

line at 7pm to await the advance. At 9 pm

the whole of our line moved forward to occupy

the trench in front of the farm. A heavy artillery

barrage was dropped on to the farm from 8.30 to 9pm,

when we moved foreward under it and dug in, our

 

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objective was secured with little opposition. Was detailed

with a party of 6 men & a Lewis Gun crew to lie in a

shell hole about 20 yds in front of our new line when the

barrage lifted. After a while Fritz came from his

shelter trenches near the farm, to see what was doing

his patrols soon found us in our new position, & bombed

us pretty freely, we reply with our Mills & Lewis Gun &

kept him back, they attacked us several times during

the night, but each time managed to hold them off

Meanwhile behind us, the rest of the Bn assisted by some

of the 2^nd Bn & Engineers who make up our casualties

dig themselves in. The post lost heavy during the night

being in an exposed position casualtis being replaced,

by the morning Cpl Johnston & myself were the only two

of the original post that were not wounded. We

maintained ourselves all night & returned to the new

firing line at dawn, which by that time had been

consolidated 

 

19/8/16  Established in our new line by day break, we dig

deeply to avoid the shelling which we expect will be

pretty hot during the day, however we are not shelled

very much during the day due to the fact that we are

very close to their outposts in front of the farm which has

been turned into a fortress, that there would be great

danger of hitting them instead of us. Several heavy

showers of rain fell during the day, making us very

wet & muddy, by midday we are thoroughly sodden

through & covered with mud & clay. A good deal

of sniping is going on all day making it very dangerous

to move about the Trench, as some parts are not

very deep you become exposed without knowing it

& as we are so close to their outposts the sniping

is pretty deadly causing heavy casualties. Our snipers

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return as good as he sends us, so leveling up the

score a bit. Our losses for these last 4 days

have been very heavy. We hope to be relieved

during the night, as we have very little fighting

strength left in case of an attack. At 10pm

we were relieved by the 9^th Bn who relieve A &

B Coys. C & D Coys on our right were relieved by the

12^th Bn. We leave the trench at 11pm making

our way back to Albert overland, we are billited

in some small private houses at dawn & we get

our first rest & sleep since the 15^th. 

 

20/8/16 Sunday Spent all day sleeping & having a good

rest, during the later part of the day had a good ramble

over the ruins of the battered city of Albert. We are

mooving off tomorrow according to orders issued late

tonight

 

21/8/16  Left Albert at 9am for Warloy arriving at

11.30am where we are billited for the day

 

22/8/16  Left Warloy at 9am marched 10 miles to La

Vicogne bivouacing in the same orchard as we did

on 28.7 & the 7.8.16   Paid 60₣ = £2.3.0

 

23/8/16  Bn parade 2pm for inspection and speech by

Gen Birdwood. before leaving the Bn parade

ground the Colonel spoke of the work we had done

last time in the line, reading out a list of names

of men recommended for their work at Pozieres &

Mouquet Farm, much surprised to be among those

mentioned. Afterwards we marched to the Brigade

parade ground to be reviewed by General Birdwood

who presented decorations to previous winners.

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24/8/16 Left La Vicogne at 11am. after seeing the Brigade

of Guards marching in the opposite direction towards

Albert on their way to the line. We marched 10 miles

to Longuevillette where we bivouac for the night

Detailed with 3 men for Bn guard, mounted at 5pm

expect to be mooving off again tomorrow

 

25/8/16 Bn guard all day, final orders issued to

move off tomorrow morning early. Sports held in the

village during the afternoon to commemorate the

formation of the Bn, relieved from guard 5pm

 

26/8/16  Reville 4am, move off 6am marched to Doullens

and entrained there, left about 8am detrained at

Hapoutre just outside Poperinghe in Belgium much to

our surprise as we all expected to detrain at [[Baillail?]]

this is our first entry into Belgium, being only a few miles

behind Ypres a town we have heard very much about

and on the most important sector of the British 

Front. Marched to a camp of huts called Scottish Lines 

 

27/8/16 Church parade 9.30. Several showers fell during 

the day, making the camp very muddy, we find the 

weather conditions here very much colder than on the 

Somme, during the afternoon visited Poperinghe & spent

the evening there. It is a very quaint Belgium town

now full of troops, mostly Canadians whom we are relieving

The Town Hall & main square are very old & interesting

the town has been shelled a good deal being so near

to Ypres, still there are very many civillians here

doing business with the troops, plenty of estaminets &

tucker shops, which we are pleased to take full

advantage of. All lights in the town are shaded &

covered up as there is a great danger of bombing at

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night, in fact that is the moist danger here, as it

happens more frequently than shelling, because of the

large number of troops camped round the town

           

28/8/16 Training starts again. Physical drill 6.30-7am

Morning parade 9-11am Afternoon parade 2-4pm, so we 

do not get much time for actually resting, when we

are not either in the line or marching we are on

parade, a complete day to ourselves seldom comes sometimes

not even on Sunday

 

29/8/16 Physical drill 6.30-7. Parade for hot baths at 8.15

when we march into Poperinghe to the Divisional baths

where we are issued with a clean shirt & socks. return 

to camp at 1pm, no parade this afternoon, rained very 

heavily all afternoon & evening making the camp a sea 

of mud

 

30/8/16 Heavy rain all day, the camp is simply a lake

no parades, rained all night, bitterly cold wind blowing

the worst day we have had yet

 

31/8/16 Camp very muddy, Physical drill 7.30-8. Parades

9-11 & 2-4. Very cold wind blowing all day, we hope

it will  dry up  the ground quickly

 

1/9/16 Orders issued today that we are leaving this

camp tonight for Ypres, before taking up a sector of the 

line. Three parades today as usuall. Packed up full

marching order & on the Pm parade by 6.30 pm ready to moove

off, marched off 6.45 to entrain at Brandhock for Ypres

we detrained near the Asylum just outside the town &

march in along the railway track, passing through

the town to our billets, situated in the vaults of 

  

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Notre Dame Hospital arriving there after dark safely,

all shells passed over us as we marched up. Our billets

are situated on one side of the main square, which has

suffered very much from bombardment, costing the the

ruins of the Cathedral & Cloth Hall which can never

be replaced, the Cloth Hall is very mediaeval & a

national loss, only a part of the wall remaining, with

part of the main tower, and a smaller tower at 

one corner, the whole town is in an utter state of 

ruin

 

2/9/16 Spent all day in the ruins of the city & had a 

good ramble over the remains of the Cathedral &

Cloth Hall, many shells are still falling in the town

as it is under observation all day, no movement or

traffic may take place during the daylight. This continuous 

shelling causes us some casualties as billets are frequently 

hit, and as the men are not allowed outside in any 

numbers one shell frequently gets a lot of victims, burying 

them in the debris of their billets. The town itself is

so very much knocked about that it seems hardly possible

to do it any further damage, but even among these ruins

there is quite a lot of shelter in the cellars etc of the

town, shells falling among them cause a pretty good scattering

of bricks etc. At night am warned by the Adjutant to 

proceed to Étaples for one month, to attend the school of

instruction ordered to leave with the ration cart at midnight

for Poperinghe & stay with the LMS all night

 

3/9/16 Sunday Left in the officers mess cart for Poperinghe 

station to catch the 1.20 for Étaples. Reported to Capt 

Hamilton of the 3^rd Brigade who is in charge of the party.

There are only two Sgts being sent from the 1^st Brigade

A Sgt from the 2^nd Bn & myself. At Poperinghe we meet 

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two other Sgts from the 2^nd Brigade we all travel together

We changed trains at Hazelbrouck & Calais where we have 

to wait for 1 ½ hours which is spent in wandering around

the town, left at 7.10 pm for Étaples arriving there at

10.30pm, we stayed for the night at the rest camp before

reporting to No 1 Training Camp (The Bull ring) in the

morning

 

4/9/16 Left Étaples rest camp at 10am & reported at

the training camp during the morning, rest of the day 

off, resting after yesterdays journey

5/9/16 CO^s parade 7.30 am. afterwards saw the CO 
Maj Chapman & was placed in the bombing section to

instruct in the use of the Mills Grenade. In the evenig

visited the village of Commieres

6/9/16 CO^s parade 7.30am, rest of the day in the

“Bullring” instructing the various drafts of men 

both English & Australian who came here for a final

14 days polish up before proceeding to the line.  Personally

I am working longer & harder than I would be if I

had remained with the Bn, this is supposed to be a

rest, as I have not yet left the Bn for wounds or

sickness since its formation over 2 years ago, my service

being contineous.  I think I have struck a bad bargain & 

would much rather be back with the Bn. During

the evening visited the Div 2 M at Étaples for a complete

rig out of uniform & boots

7/9/16 First parade 7 am. very busy day, not feeling

very well today

8/9/16 An easy morning but a long afternoon, took

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drafts of the A.I.F. for 3 hours in the afternoon, they are

much more difficult to handle than the "Pommies"
& make the work of instructing very much harder

am feeling very weak today and very sick

9/9/16  Felt very weak this morning when I got up but

managed to crawl on parade.  While taking a class

during the morning I collapsed twice & was taken

away in an ambulance to No 26 General Hospital 

& placed in ward 22 with a temperature of 103 & a

pulse of 104

10/9/16  Sunday  Temp 101.4 pulse 88, in afternoon temp

dropped to 100. Have got a bad attack of fever

 

11/9/16 Temp rose from 101 in morning to 104.6 in the

afternoon. pulse 100, feeling very bad & weak

 

12/9/16  Temp 98.6. Afternoon 98.2

 

13/9/16  Got up today without permission, feel much

better. This is my first experience of a military hospital

and do not like it, Temp 98

 

14/9/16  Feeling pretty fit today Temp 98

 

15/9/16  Feeling pretty good.  Asked to be returned to

duty, was refered to the Colonel who promised to

see me tomorrow. Temp 98.8

 

16/9/16  Feel quite fit today. Fever entirely passed

off. Will return to duty this afternoon. Temp 98.4

Discharged from Hospital at 4.30 & returned to camp

 

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17/9/16  Sunday  3½ hours " Bullring" we work here

even on Sundays, & keep going all the time  no

instructions during afternoon. Visited Etaples returned

at 9pm

 

18/9/16  Very wet day, rained all day without stopping

wet through. 3½ hours instructing in morning

 

19/9/16.   Eight hours today, heavy day, rained heavily

during afternoon, wet though again, did not finish

with the drafts untill 7.15pm

 

20/9/16  Rained heavily during day, 6 hours duty

today. wet through again

 

21/9/16  Very fine day, sun shining all day. 6 hours

duty

 

22/9/16  Heavy day, 1/2 hour CO parade before

breakfast . 3 hours instructing in morning, 3 hours in

afternoon, relief of trenches at night, 7-10pm.

Heaviest day I have had yet, not much chance of a

rest here

 

23/9/16 Orderly Sgt all day, easy day 

 

24/9/16  Sunday Attended 2 hours lecture on the 

use of rifle grenades in the morning, Afternoon off

Visited Etaples

 

25/9/16  Long day. 6 hours instructing

 

26/9/16  Another long day, drafts are continually

arriving