Diary of Percy Lay, 1914-1918 - Part 5

paid a flying visit to our division

20^th A General. Inspection and a

lot of men were picked

out as undesirable and they

were to left behind 21^st Went

for short route March - and down

to Canal for swim in Afternoon

First Brigade moved out of Camp.

22^nd Handed in our old Rifles

and got the High Velocity ones

issued to us. Down to Canal

for a swim in evening 23^rd

I was Battn bid Cpl and

rest of Battn went for a

short route march. 24^th Finished

bid Cpl duties and went

down to Canal again

25^th Out on Parade in morning

and in afternoon we packed

up our kits and had tea

over the other side of Canal.

 

and then entrained in open

Cattle trucks for Alexandria and

arrived there at half past six

on morning of the 26^th and 

embarked on the passenger boat

Myantic which was a very

fine boat. We all had Cabins

Moved out of pier at Half past four.

27^th Our Coy Had to supply both

Ship and Submarine Guards

and we moved off at ten.

28^th Got inoculated in

morning and also sighted

land on Port-side and caught

up to two large transports

29^th Keeping a pretty sharp

look out for Submarines

also had a good time in Sgt

Mess. 30^th Taking a very

erratic course on account

of the Submarines

March 31^st Sighted Sicily in morning

Heavy Swell on board most

of boys sea sick. Arrived at

Marseilles at half past three

and it seemed to be a very pretty

place: disembarked at seven

and entrained at nine same evening

April 1^st Travelled all night

in train and next morning 

we got Coffee at a station

along the road. The country

on each side being very pretty

we also got a good recaption

at all the station's along 

the track. 2^nd Got within

twelve miles of Paris and 

then bore away to the left.

We were very dissappointed

at not going through Paris

3^rd Still travelling and

just as we were arriving

 

at our last station a Canadian fell

under the train and got cut to pieces

after disentraining we had a seven

mile route march to Steinwerch 4^th

Got up early after our sixty five

mile ^ hours route march train journey

and we could hear the thunder 

of the Heavy Guns. Heard we

were ten mile from the Front 

line. 5^th A Lecture on the effects

of Gas and the use of the

Helmet's B.C. and D. Coy's

also arrived at Steinwerch.

6th Went for Route March in 

morning and Had smarting

up drill in Afternoon that

evening we went into

Ballieul. 7^th Went for Route

March out towards Sally.

and we were building Rifle

Range in Afternoon.

April 8^th Went down to go

through a trial Gas Attack

The Second division moved

up and took over the trenches

9^th Church Parade in morning

and same evening we

went into Steinwerch Got

praise about our Conduct in

France. 10^th Went for a Route

March out towards Armentieres

and same evening we went

into City and had a [[?]] supper

11^th A lecture in Billet in

morning on account of rain

Route March in afternoon
12^th Went for a route March

in morning but had to

come in on account of

the rain 13^th Usual route

march in morning and in

afternoon we went down to

 

the baths for a wash 14^th

WSent advance guard out to
[[Erquinghem?]] to find fresh Billets

for us 15^th Left Billets to go

up nearer Firing line and
Billeted in a Barn Known as
Jenis Farm 16^th Started on
Coy bid Cpl. Battn Church
Parade: Our Planes were very
busy 17^th Very wet and
we did some Rifle Excerises
in No 3 Billets. 18^th Up very
early as we had to go into
Steenwerck to do some rifle
shooting got back at five.
19^th Out doing PHys Excerises
under Sgt Walker. who had
been to a school in Erquingham
20^th Out near Fleurbaix on a
Fatigue job and found it
to be making Barbwire Entanglement

April 21st. Good Friday but it

did not make any difference as

we were out on same job as the

day before. 22nd Our job was taken

over by the fifth. Coy Comm.

told us that we had been very

lucky as we were the first

body of troops that had been

over same ground without getting

shelled for the last 18 months

23rd Easter Sunday and Church Parade

in morning. Our leave was cut

down as they were frightened the

tours would get shelled. 24th Drill

in morning and afternoon we

picked out and fitted out a

section for the sports on the following

day. 25th Held sports to Celebrate

our landing at Anzac. A Coy.

winning tug of war and also

the Anzac Sprint.

 

Same afternoon we were inspected by Gen.

Walker. Held a Concert in evening. 26th

On Canal Guard and leave was started to

England. 1. Off. and seven men being allowed

away out of Brigade at once. Lieut Trail

was the first of our lot to go. 27th A Heavy

bombardment in the sector Held by the

seventh Brigade. Inspection of our Brigade

by Sir Douglas Haig 28th. Bay. and Phys. Exe.

in morning and was told by our Coy.

Comm - that Sir Douglas Haig was very

pleased with the conduct and appearance

of the 2nd Brigade 29th Half Holiday and

we held a Concert in evening. 30th Church

Parade in morning and in evening

we moved up to Chapel. Farm to act

as reserves to the 6th Battn. May 1st

Fritz's gave us a welcome by putting

over three shell's close to our billets

Gas Alarm same evening 2nd. Our

planes up scouting and one of

Fritz's planes was brought down Wed 3rd

On Areoplane Guard. Had a party up

repairing the trenches 4th Had to

Stand to as our Artillery were

going to start a bombardment

but it was cancelled 5th Very Quiet

up till about five and then our

Artillery opened up a hellish bombardment

and Fritz returned it

pretty heavy and we had to go up

and support the sixth. we were

lucky to get off without a casualty.

6th On Cross Road Guard Lieut Trail

returned from England. Got praise

from Sixth Col about the

way we got up to support them

the night before. 7th Things very

great and we had our Brig.

up having a look round.

8th On Gas Guard and Sgt

Crawford returned from England.

 

9th Had a Fatigue Party up to the trenches

and went into Fleurbaix in evening

10th Had to go to Bomb Instructional 

School at Fleurbaix and first day

we had three very powerful bombs

explained to us. 11th Down to school

again and had Weston Spring

Bomb Thrower explained to us.

12th Had to throw live bombs and

also had Halis and Newton Piper

Rifle Grenade explained to us.

13th Went down to school but had

to come back as Captain had to

go to Div. H. Quarters. 14th Church

Parade by Major Dexter. and same

evening we relieved the 6th out

of firing line 15th Out on Listening

Post night before and spent

day in General straighting up

our trenches. 16th that night as

we were going out to the listening

Fritz must of spotted us as he played

a Machine. Gun on us but we

were lucky as he did not get any

of us. 17th. General Walter up along

the trenches and we did not go

out that night as it was to

moonlight. 18th Artillery very busy.

and that night one of our Chap,

named Lewy. got shot through the

head. 19th. When we were out on our

listening Post we discovered a Party

of Germans working out on the

Barbwire and we got our Machine

Guns to play on them. 20th Got Paid

and in afternoon had to stand

to. as our Artillery were going

to open out. 21st Fritz's got

a couple of our lads with

their trench mortar 22nd Enemy

got relieved in front of us and

there was a bit of a stunt on our right

 

23rd Saw a bit of a fight between two

planes. but after a bit of Machine

gun Fire. Fritz cleared off. 24th They

put a couple of trench Mortars over

into B.Coy. Trenches and caught

Lieut Grant and Cpl Elliott. 25th

Started to rain early in evening

and we spent a rotten night out

on our post as the mud was up to

our necks. 26th Lieut Fay and myself went

out to see if we could get to Enemy.

trenches but got stopped by his barbwire

discovered a Party of the Enemy out in

Front. 27th General Walker along

the trenches. they brought down

one of our planes behind their lines

28th 7th got relieved and same

night a German came over and

gave himself up at our post.

I had job of taking him down

to Bdge Headquarters.

Monday 29th Got relieved out of the trenches

and had a ^rotten trip down to our Billet

we were billeted at Barrier Farm

30th Had a good sleep and same

evening we were in Fatigue at

ration dump 31st but on Fatigue in

evening with Sapper Alford in Tin

Barn Avenue. during the day

they gave Battery on our left a

pretty solid shelling. June 1st

During the day our billet got

particular Hell as they were shelling

the Battery just behind us. Altogether

they put over 840 Shells. 2nd They

started to shell us again and we

had to leave our Billets 3rd Our

Billet declared dangerous and

we had to shift to a Billet in

Fleurbaix. On Fatigue in Gunner's 

Walk same evening 4th More

contented in our new billet.

 

A German by Captain Miles in evening

5th Up on Barrier Farm on Guard. and

they shelled. The 7th Headquarter's and

burnt it down. 6th On Fatigue at

the Ration dump and we got mixed

up with a heavy bombardment.

Things pretty lively for a while

7th Had a day out with Yank Davis

and J.Alford. Working in Tin Barn

Avenue same evening. 8th Up to

London Wall repairing trenches

and it was a very dirty job.

9th Seventh Brigade raiding Party

went out and got a box of

Fritz Flares that they had been after

for some time. 10th Our Brigade

got relieved by the first and we

went into Sailly to Billet.

11th Church Parade in morning

and we went to Picture Palace

in evening.

12th but making a dugout for the

Underground Cable. with the Div

Eng. Coy. and met Bert [Pearf?]

13th Very wet and we went out

and finished the job we were on

the day before. 14th A raiding

Party got picked out of our Battn

and I was one of the lucky ones

as I got picked as Cpl. Had to

go to Div Bomb School to start training

15th Started Training by having a early

morning sprint and after that we

did Bayonet and Physical Exercises

16th Got Paid and that evening

we went into Estaires and had

the best of times 17th Into Sailly

for a bath and heard that there

had been a Gas Attack the night

before. We all could of early

been gassed. 18th but on Parade in

morning and then had the afternoon

 

off. went into Estaires again same evening

19th While out on Parade we got orders

that we had to rejoin our Battn

as they were moving off. And

we had a pretty stiff march to

Neuve Egltse and had to bivy in

the open. 20th A pretty rotten place

as there were no canteen's of any

sort. and we had some pretty

rough work to do laying cables.

21stOn Cordon Picket rest on Battn

out on Fatigue all night 23rd

Got orders to say we were to take

over trenches at Messines and

as usual when we are relieving

it rained heavily and we had a

hell of trip up 24th Enemy gave

us a welcome early in morning

by bombarding us and they

put one of their large shells

into the dug out next to mine and

made a terrible mess of the 4 chaps

that was in it. 25th Had my

old job of Listening Post we had

to go and lay near the Huns wire

and listen rather a weird job

Enemy patrol tried to get into 

B. Coy but our bombers marked

them up. 26th Our Planes went

over and brought down five of

their Observation Balloons. Rained

very heavy that night while we

were out on our Post a heavy 

Artillery due. opened out and

were not in best position

laying out in No Man's land.

but we did not suffer any

casualties. 27th Very wet and

it was the quietest day we

had spent in trenches so far.

 

28th Got word to say we were to expect

a very willing night as we had to give

covering fire to a raiding Party that

was going out. and after that we were

to launch a Gas Attack. We had a

very willing couple of hours. Had a couple

killed and several wounded. Put

off the Gas Attack. 29th That night

three of the men got wounded out on

my post. I seem to be very lucky

as I was between the three of them

and did not get touched. 30th They

parted Hell into us and they would

not let me go out to my post as they

said things were to willing. Same evening

as I was looking for four men to get

them to put on their Gas Helmets

I got two of my fingers nearly

cut off. I did not bother to get

them dressed till next day.

and the doctor would not let me

stay in Front line but sent me back

to supports. He also told me if I

liked to go away I would get a trip

to England. Sat. July 1st. Hand very

sore and they got a shell on to

one of our transports that was

coming along the road and blew the

Horses to pieces but the driver got

off very lightly. 2nd Having a very

quiet time of it in the trenches

but not before we wanted it

Put a few big Coal boxes over

near Headquarters but did no damage

3rd. Put a shell over amongst a

two up school and killed two and

wounded six officers. 4th Our

lot got relieved by the West.

Kents and just our luck to have

it wet for Relieving Billeted that

night in La.Grand Munty Farm

 

5th After a good night sleep we went

back to Bullfort Camp at Neuve Eglise

6th Had to go to doctor with my hand

and got put off duty. A twelve inch

Gun opened out alongside us. 7th

A fair number of our old lads returned

from England. 8th Sixth Battn came

back from Support trenches. Our

Planes very busy. 9th Church Parade

in morning and in afternoon we

marched to Ballieul where we

billeted for night. 10th Had a good

look around the town and same

evening we entrained at Ballieul 

Station 11th. Travelled in Cattle trucks 

all night and arrived at Doullin's

at four next morning and had

Breakfast and marched some

fiveteen mile to Bertrancourt.

where we bivay for the night.