Diary of Percy Lay, 1914-1918 - Part 4

7.^th Spent a very quiet day

after Church Parade 8^th got

word to say the Brigade Sports

were to be held in two or three

days time 9^th Tug of war match

between D and B.Coy. B Coy won

Prize was Half a quid per man

10^th Held Bgde. Sports some of the

events been very exciting.Our

Battn winning Bgde.Sports

Championship also won the tug of war

11^th Quarrantine was lifted off

our camp.seventh Battn challenge

our Battn for tug of war for Half

pound.per man.8^th Battn

winning easily. 12^th Our Bgde.

got word to say that.we

were to be ready to move out

twenty hour hours notice

13^th 5^th and 6^th Battn left.

Lemnos to go back to Anzac

and we were to leave the following day

14^th Our move was again cancelled

and we were not sorry as it

was a very rough.15^th Out for a

route march - in morning and

went over to a Greek Village

in Afternoon 16^th Got word to

be ready to move next morning

17^th Left Sarpie Camp and seven

and marched four mile and

embarked abo on the Abbessiah

but after being on her for about 2

Hours. we had to disembark

and return to Camp. Heard that

the piers at Anzac had been washed

away 18^th Camped in Y.M.C.A.

Hut as all our tents had been

shifted 19^th Shifted up into

tents the third Brigade had

left.and went for a route

march in Afternoon.

Nov 20^th Went over to Field Cashier

and drew some money.

21^st Embarked on Princess Ena

at left Mudros Bay at seven a 

very rough sea. arrived at Anzac

at one in morning and camped.

in White's Gully. 22^nd Moved

over and took the position that

tenth Battn had just left on

Bolton Hill. 23^rd Started Sapping

up at Lady Galway in the

fifth Battn lines 24^th Our working

hours were from 7-45 until 12.

drinking water very scarce. ½

pint per day been our full 

allowance 25^th Snowed very 

heavy and in morning the 

snow was two or three feet deep

A party of us had to go down

to draw Rainproof Coats and

High top boots

26^th Freezed very hard and

that evening Turks bombarded Lone 

Pine trenches and got a lot of

24^th Battn chaps 27^th Still on 

sapping and our Artillery mixed

things a bit with the turks.

28^th Another Frost and very Hard.to get

water. Rainproof Coats issued to us.

29^th Andy Ward went away with Yellow

Jawaners. Syd Goodwin over to see us

Nov 30^th Artillery very active and

ten turks came in and gave

themselves up. Dec 1^st  No water

to be had on account of frost

and a shell came in and blew

one of our chaps to pieces 2^nd

Turks Battery at Olive Grove very 

busy. Beechy Bill dropped a

good few on the beach. 3r^rd A

Party of sixty had to go down to

Anzac Cove to draw Mail and water

Dec 4^th A heavy bombardment down

at Kritha The snow began to thaw

still on sapping 5^th  Held Church

Parade and in afternoon went

down to beach for a swim

6^th Beechy Bill pretty active

on beach and got a good few

of our lads. 7^th A large draft of

Reinforcements came over from

our Battn. 8^th off duty with a

crook Cold. 9^th on sapping

again at Lady Galway. 10^th

Bucchanty and a few other

cruises came up and peppered

Olive Grove for about two Hours

but did not silence Becchy.

11^th Went up into the front line

5^th and 6^th Battn went off the

Peninsular 12^th Heard that the 5^th

and 6^th Battn had gone to Imbros.

because there were too many troops at Anzac

13^th Heard the we were likely to evacuate

Anzac. but we would not believe it.

14^th Shifted Stores off and also ammunitions

as fast as possible and we could

get almost anything just for the

asking 15^th Spent day in destroying

Picks" Shovells" rum.and explosives

it seem to be a shame. 16^th Carting

bombs down to the beach.our Planes

up all day over their lines it was also

reported that a spy.had been caught in

our lines. 17^th  While on working party

we a a lot of the very best stores

also tipped out thousands of gallons

of rum. 18^th  Heard that we were

to leave same evening and left

things or that they would be no

use to the turks.also blew up

a few of our guns. Left the trench

at quarter past five and had

quick trip to the Beach. Beechy only

firing three shots.. A bit hard on us

old chaps having to leave so many

of our old mates buried there. And

we then embarked on the Abbessiah

Dec 19^th Went off Abbessiah on to the

Winifredan to await a boat to take

us ashore.to Lemnos and arrived at

Sarpie Camp and found most of it,

1^st division there. 20^th The last of

the die-Hards arrived they.having

got away without a shot been

fired at them 21^st. Went for a

short route march and got wet to

the skin Had to stay in our tents

till our things dried as we had no change

The C.O took us down to Ordaince

stores and got us which and under.clothing

as we were coming back

we brought up our Xmas billies

and Pudding. 22^nd Out drilling

in morning and in afternoon

got our mail. some of our troops left

for Egypt 23^rd Our P.O. brought

us in off parade and issued our

Christmas Billies to us as we were

likely to move at any minute

Had great fun opening the Billies

also had our move cancelled till

the New Year. 24^th Our Battn was 

div duty Battn and as we were

duty Coy we fill in for some

heavy work. Dec 25^th Church

Parade. and the parson gave us a

good sermon. Had a good Xmas

dinner our Cooks making us

puddings in afternoon went

over to the 13^th light Horse Camp

26^th A lot of Nurse's attended

Church Parade.after that General

Forsythe gave us a lecture and 

took us for a short route

march.

Dec 27^th Rain stopped the parade

and in afternoon the 6^th and 8^th

played football.and after a rattling

good go the 6^th won. 28^th Brigade

route march to the second Greek

village.had afternoon off . 29^th

Went for pretty stiff route march

Col Braund went to Hospital

we were very sorry to lose him

30^th Bgde Holiday and 6^th played

us football again and they beat

us again 31^st General inspected

each man and it being New

Year Eve we saw the old year out

and the New one in real good

style. All ships in Mudros Bay blew

their sirens and sent up rockets

Jan 1^st 1916. A Coy duty Coy.and

we got orders to pack up to

leave Camp next day 2^nd Revielle

at five and cleaned up Camp and

then embarked on the Empress of Britain

but did not sail till next day as

we had to take on more troops. 3^rd 5^th

and 6^th Battn came on board

also a lot of officers about five

thousand altogether. 4^th Moved off

early with a couple of destroyers

as escort and took a very Zig-Zag

course as they were very frightened

of Submarines 5^th Sea very rough

sighted another large Transport on 

our port side 6^th Sighted Port Said

early in morning and anchored

in Alexandria soon after and made

preparations for going ashore.Some of

our lads dead drunk 7^th  Went off

about one and entrained for Tel-el-Hebis 

and arrived there at 8 same

morning and found our Camp on Famous
desert where the great Battle was fought

Col Field and Lieut Catron two

of our Officers were there and

looked well Jan 8^th. but for drill

and they made it pretty hard as we

had to do six hours a day. 9^th Church

Parade in morning and Eric Watson

and Les Cudden came down to see

us and told us where a lot more

Ballan Boys were. 10^th Bobby Marshal

came down from Serapeum to see us

we got a surprise as we did not

know he had left Aust- 11^th

Div duty Coy and we had a pretty

sweet Cop down at Supply depot

12^th Drill in morning and Bdge

Half Holiday in Afternoon went for

a stroll over famous Battleground.

13^th Leave into Cairo granted Vic Gibson

and myself getting leave in our Coy

first 14^th Inspection by G.O.C.div

of all the Australian troops in 

Tel - El - Hebis after that a march past

15^th Inspected by General Murray

and got Complimented on the march

past.16.^th Church parade in morning

 and a Medical inspection in Afternoon

17^th Out drilling all day and that night

a lot of our lads broke Camp and went

into Cairo 18^th Out doing platoon drill

and Bayonet Exercises and in the

night out marching by the stars

19^th. Usual drill in morning, Half

Holiday afterwards and we went

over to one of the native villages

20^th Out to Rifle range for shooting

and there was some very good

shooting done only one in our Coy.

failing 21^st Got orders to say we

were likely to move on Monday 5^th

and 6^th orders to be ready to move

at any moment Lieut Catron went

into Cairo to be operated on

22^nd Some of our lads returned and

got 28 days 1^st Field Punishment 23^rd

Eric Watson came up and took a snap

of the Ballan boys J Graham over to see

us. 24^th fifth and sixth Battn left

for Serapeum 25^th Had a full marching

order Parade and also a Kit inspection

16^th Col Field called all old A and E.

Coy boys together to say goodbye to us

and he broke up badly. we were all

sorry to lose him 27^th  Had a very

easy day on account of rain

28^th Out doing Outpost duty as

we were to go in evening on same

job our officers lost us.and we

had to return to Camp. 29^th A
lot of our old lads left to join

Camel Corp. Scotty Harris being

amongst them 30^th Church

Parade in morning and in afternoon

some of us cleared into Zag.a-Zig

31^st  A full marching Parade an a

inspection of each man by Major

Coulter heard we were to move next

day. Feb 1^st Revidle at five cleaned up

Camp and entrained for serapeum

down on Suez Canal and our Camp

was a mile in Arabia side of Canal

2^nd Pitched our tents and fixed up

Camp and got orders that no one was to

leave the Camp 3^rd Some of our boys

out on Outpost duty the rest

of us went for a swimming

Parade 4^th The place we were

Camped in was very sandy

Sand being over our boot tops

5^th. Four large Boats passed] along

the Canal. rained fairly hard same

night 6^th One of our planes went

out scouting and that evening

we were outpost Company

and got back to Camp at seven

on morning of 7^th A beautiful

day and all we had to do was.

to hang about the lines as

we were inlying picket 8^th

Our Battn had to supply three

guards as we were div duty Battn

I was on Fatigue down at div head- quarters.

Col Braund rejoined us

9^th Col Had us out on drill

in morning and again in Afternoon.

The first we did since

arriving here 10^th A beautiful

day our Coy duty Company.

11^th On Fatigue down at div

Headquarters again 12^th Had to

go out as support to D Coy Outpost

13.^th After Church Parade a lecture

by Major Jess on outpost and we

were Outpost Company same evening

14^th The Col had the N.C.O's out and told

was that our Battn was to be split up

our left Half.forming the 60^th Battn

15^th All N.C.O.'s out and Col told

us there was likely to be a lot

of promotions for us 16^th Got a

large Australian Mail and that

evening I was in charge of Horse Picket

17^th off duty on account of been

on Guard the night before. Best of

Coy out on Parade. 18^th Fifth and

sixth Battn that were to form

part of New Brigade came in from

the trenches 19^th The boys that

were to go to 60^th were told

off and thirty of us had to go
out and relieve a party of our

chaps at the railhead. 20^th

Some of us rolling pipes out

on the desert.and others carting

them on camel's 21^st  Some New Reinforcements

arrived and one of

our Coy went down the Canal.

22^nd Had horse teams out carting

pipes.and it was extra Hot

23^rd Rolling six inch pipes out on

a new line as we had just about

finished the old line 24^th Had a

one Hundred and fifty Camels

and also eighty six Horse teams

carting pipes 25^th Thirty of our men

got relieved by our New Reinforcement

26^th Heard that our left Half Battn

had left to go to the 60.^th Battn

27^th Loaded one Hundred and fifty

Camels and also the Horse Teams

A.S.C. dump caught fire but we

managed to get it out before it

did much damage. 28^th Got.

my second stripe Had a lot of

stores sent out to us

29^th Got a case of Beer and other stores

sent out to us from our old Camp

March 1^st Got relieved out at the rail-Head.

and Coy Commander told me that

he wanted me to go to Instructional

school. 2^nd Started work in the school

Lieut Burrows being in charge. A

terrible sand storm blew up in the

afternoon 3^rd Sand storm still

continued and we had to put

off our afternoon Parade on that

account. 4^th Out on drill all

day and in evening a very

interesting lecture by Major Jess

5^th  Church Parade in morning

and sports were held out at

the railhead 6^th  A lot more of our

wounded returned from England

Lecture in evening the 7th Capt Levy

7.^th A Chap in the 7^th Battn

shot.himself. Col Braund

gave us a lecture in evening 8^th

Started on Platoon drill and a lot

of our details returned from Malta.

9^th Very Hot and in evening we

held a concert in evening and 

it was a pretty good turnout.

10^th Fifth and sixth battn rejoined

us from the trenches and

a lecture by Captain [[Derum]]

of the Brigade Staff. 11^th Only

did a half day. drill and had

another severe sandstorm 12^th

spent a very quiet day Special

sermon by our New Parson 13^th. but 

doing Company drill and in

evening a lecture by Major Jess

Heard we were to rejoin

our Battn 14^th  Went back to our

Battn and in afternoon

went down to Canal for 

a swim

Wed 15^th A farewell speech by Sir

General Chevat our division was

taken over by General Walker. Inspection

of each man by our New Brigadier

Got forty eight hours leave into

Cairo and stayed at the Metropole.

16^th Went out to Fourth light horse

and met a lot of Ballan boys

amongst them being Norm Flack

Bert Pearpoint and the two Cullens

and they came into Cairo and

spent a enjoyable evening.

17.^th Went out to Zietoun to

see Andy Ward and he came

into Cairo and same night

we went back to Serapeum.

18^th Some of our chaps went

out shooting rest of us got

Inoculated. 19^th On Guard with

Sgt Brown and Prince of Wales

General.Birdwood and his staff