Diary of Percy Lay, 1914-1918 - Part 7

the enemy. Three Enemy flares bought
down Just near our trench there
was four tanks that had been
just out of action 4^th Had to supply
parties to Bgde. H. Quarters and also a ration
Party to firing line. Putting in a pretty
miserable time as it was nothing done
but slush and mud. 5^th Relieved
the fifth in support. our new position
been very warm as they use to shell
it every half hour or so. 6^th Came on
to rain like the very devil. most of
us had to sleep standing up and
we were also up to our hocks in mud.
A lot of our Chaps going to Hospital with
Colds and bad feet 7^th that night
we had to go up to dig a hop out
trench and we must of been 
spotted as they shelled us for
about a hour and a half. I was
in about as tough a little corner
as any one would wish to be. As We had
a party of fiveteen out digging in
no man land when a snipper got
on to them and wounded the Lieut
and three men. I got the officer and
wounded me into the trench alright
and also six of the other men but
the other five had to stay out in shell
Holes. I was told off to get them in as
soon as the moon went down. I got the
first three in alright but he got
on to us when I was fetching the
second party in. Killing one and
wounding the other two. I don't 
know how. he missed me as he was
not more than thirty yards away.
The nearest he got was putting a couple
of bullets through my coat. Anyway
we got the three into a shell hole
and next question was how to

get then back to out trench as all the
rest of our Coy had gone home. So decided
to take another [[sick?]] and carry them
in on my back and luck was with
me as he did not fire till I had got 
the last man in 8th The boys were
in a terrible mess after their job
of the night before. Mud up to their
waist and wet to the skim. A terrible
lot went to the Hospital Our
Casualties amounted to thirty the
night before 9^th Very Quiet all
day and in afternoon we witnessed
a big fight in the air also saw
several planes brought down 10^th
We were relieved that night
by the sixth and we went
back to Barnafray Camp. 11^th
Cleaned ourselves up a bit and
that night had to supply
a Fatigue Party up to Bdge. Head Quarters
Nov 12^th Had to take a Party up to Derville
Wood to lay tram line the rest of Battn
moved to Pommiers Camp and we followed
on in evening 13^th Left Camp and
moved to Fricourt Camp. General 
Birdwood came along and spoke to us
as we passes along the road. 14^th Left
Camp and moved and marched to Ribemont
a distance of about 8 Miles - Div Head
Quarters and Brigade were also there
15th Spent day in cleaning up our cloths
and equipment and in afternoon went
into Hally for a bath. 16^th Went for a short
route march in morning and it was
bitterly cold all day. 17^th During
the night Hostile Machines came over
and dropped bombs but did not do
much damage. 18th. When we woke
up we found there had been a
heavy fall of snow. Got word to 

say we were to move off in buses so
left camp for place where the buses
was and after a wait of two or
three hours we moved off and had a
good trip to a place called S^t Vart.
about eight mile from Amiens Nov 19
Very Cold and to make matters worse we
had no breakfast as no rations had 
turned up. Church Parade at Half past
ten 20^th Coy bid Sgt. Rest of Coy out on
Parade. Fifeteen per Coy allowed in to
Amiens  but as the boys had no cart
it was hard to get the numbers. 21^st
Parade in morning and a route 
march in Afternoon. Very wet and cold.
22^nd A and B. Coy played C. and D 
Football but C and D beat us
by 6 points 23^rd Eight Battn played
the seventh Football and eight
won rather easily
24^th Boys very disappointed at not getting
paid and a lot of them cleared into Amiens
without any money. 25^th Got paid a fiver 
each and a lot of our lads broke
leave into Amien's 26^th Church Parade
in morning and then our lads went
in all directions Next morning we had
twenty absent in our Coy.  27^th Three
Cpls in my Platoon were absent and there
was a General Check Parade and we got 
a bit of a roaring up by the Major 28^th
Put in Rifle Range for Shooting Practice
that night most of our boys returned.
29^th Battn Held Sport A Coy won

Dec 1st Left Camp as five and marched
five mile to Vigancourt where we
entrained for Buerre where we
billeted for night 2^nd Went down
to Heally to Baths Also got a
large Australian Mail 3^rd Church 
Parade in morning and prizes 
that were won at our Sports were
given out. 4^th Moved up to Sydney
Camp. Very wet and cold. 5^th
On Fatigue in morning in afternoon
a lecture on the care of feet.
6^th Went up to Barnafray Wood
and had a rotten trip the the Mud
been up to our knees 7^th Sgt
Henderson went on leave. Battn
Church Parade in Afternoon. 8^th
Our Coy out on Fatigue but I 
missed as I was Battn Ord Sgt
9^th Out on Fatigue at Bgde. H.Q.
Coy rejoined us from leave 10^th Had a
Party on Fatigue up to Longeuval
Circus repairing and cleaning the
roads. 11^th Fritz shelled our dump
but did little damage. Coy out on 
Fatigue 12^th Moved out of Camp and
relieved the 6th BAttn in the
trenches 1 and 2 Platoon going into
Firing line and 3 and 4 in close support
13^th 3 and 4 Platoons relieved 1 and 2
and we found the trench in a awful
state mud up to our hips and we
had to pull a lot of chaps out that 
got bogged but on Patrol same evening
14^th 1 and 2 Platoon relieved us again 
as twenty four hours was enough
for any one to do in the Front line
out on Patrol again that night
a bit of a scare on in front of B-Coy
15^th 3 and 4 Platoons relieved 1 and 2
again and that night we laid a

couple of barbs across to the tenth
Battn about 500 yards away. We
got shelled fairly heavy during the
dat. 16^th Got relieved by C.Coy
spent a good night in Tunnel of Nattn
Head Quarters 17^th Had to supply Ration
Parties to the Firing line night and morning
18^th Had to take up a party that evening
to Comcet up some German dugouts
that we had captured from Fritz's a
few nights ago 19^th Had to supply
two Fatigue Parties. Snowed very heavy
all day. 20^th Some of the Relieving
Battn came up to have a look
over the position. Four of our chaps
got wounded just outside Battn H. Quarters
21^st Got relieved that night and
went down to [[Bazentin?]] C. Camp
where we camped for the night
22^nd Moved out of Camp at 12
and arrived at Melbourne Camp and
we were camped in the Bow Huts 24^th
A Holiday and we had all our Xmas
Gifts issued out to us 25^th Christmas
Day we we had plenty of Gifts but the
weather was awful and we spent a
quiet day but livened things up in
the evening 26^th A few of our old lads
returned and also a large draft
of Reinforcements 27^th Had to supply 
two large Fatigue Parties and one was
to Willow Dump the other one had to
salvage all the old German dugouts 28^th
A Coy duty Coy all our Coy out on 
Fatigue 29^th our Coy out on Fatigue
and it rained heavily all day
30th Still Raining and C Coy Had to
shift up nearer the line. Captain
Kay went to take charge of the dis school
31^st Seen the old year out and the New 
one in in real good style.

Jan 1^st 1917. We did not get a holiday
because the work we were on was 
very urgent. Spent a good evening
2^nd Out on same job and the weather
was very wet and disagreeable.
3^rd Out Pulling down German dugouts
Got home early. 4th Col.
Coulton and Jess got their D.S.O.
Col. Braund and staff rode through
the Camp. Major Mitchell went to
a three months school in England
5^th On Road work in morning
and went down to the baths in
afternoon 6^th Left Camp and
marched to Buire distance of 
about 6 mile and we were
Billeted in very cold Billets
7^th Spent day in cleaning our
clothes and equipment 8^th Inspection
in morning after which we went
for short route march.
9^th Got Fitted out with New Clothing
Went for Route March in Afternoon
10^th Bathing Parade in morning
Route March to Heally in Afternoon
11^th Route March to Ribemont in
morning on Brigade duties in 
afternoon 12^th Battn moved out
and marched to Warloy. Very cold
13^th Got paid in morning. Had a 
very heavy fall of snow same afternoon
14^th Out on Parade. Very cold as
the snow was a foot deep on
the ground. 15^th Went for Route
March in morning and in afternoon
we had to change our Billets
16^th Brigade did an attack on
Vadencourt wood. Had the afternoon 
off. 17^th Doing Company xx attack
in morning - down to the Baths 
in afternoon.

Jan 19^th Coy drill in morningn and
we had Football match in afternoon
20^th Church Parade in morning
and very Cold standing out in the 
snow. 21^st Got orders to say that
we were to get all our men fitted
out. A lot of Reinforcement joined
us. 22^nd Left Warloy early in morning
and it was the coldest day we 
had in France so far the Glass req-
20 points below zero. billeted that 
night at Albert. 23^rd Spent very
quiet day but had rather a wild 
night 24^th Moved to Bazetin
Camp and camped in Bow Huts
25^th C. and D. Coy went up to
go in Firing line and we had 
to move camp a little further on
26^th Had to supply Ration Party
to Firing line rest of Coy having
an easy time
27^th Snow about two feet think on the
Ground and it use to Freeze every 
night give you a idea how cold it was
28^th Fritzs dropped a few heavies
around our Camp rather
unpleasant 29^th About one oclock
we opened up a pretty heavy bombardment
as the tommies were
going to do a bit of a raid. 30^th
That night we went up and
relieved our other two Companies
in the firing line 31^st Very quiet
except for a few trench Mortars
Feb 1^st That night as the Platoon
was changing over we got mixed
up with a Fritz Barrage but
suffered only a few Casualties

2^nd Had three Casualties through
the night. Bitterly cold in the
outposts'. 3rd Had to put out Barb.
that night but the ground frozen to hard.

Feb. 4 Sixth Battn relieved us and
we went back into Reserve Trench
at the Cough Drop. 5^th Supplied
several Fatigues during the day 
6^th Had to keep well undercover
as Fritz use to shell our trench
a lot out on Fatigue 7^th They
just a few heavies on to our 
Position. Fritz plane brought one
of our's down 8^th Had Party
up to Brigade Head Quarters on
a tunnelling job. 9^th Things
very quiet all day but very 
cold. 10^th Had to put in a few 
more dugouits and in evening 
we had party in Salvaging our 
trenches of all the old Rifles
11^th Fifth Battn was to make a
raid that night and our Artillery
put up a good barrage but
the raid came a gutzer. Heavy suffered
very heavy casualties 12^th A bit of
a fight in air between a few 
place but none of them were
brought down. 13^th Seventh Battn
advance guard and same evening
we were relieved and went 
back to Bazentin Camp. 14^th Spent
day in cleaning ourselves up a 
bit and it was a great change 
to get a wash 15^th Supplied
one Fatigue to Front line and
another one on a Salvaging
job up near high wood. 16^th
C.O. call me over and told
me that I had won the French
decoration called the Croix De Guerre
17.^th. Had to supply every avaliable 
man for Fatigue and that evening
we were up at Factory Corner
laying cables.

18^th Had a Party up to High Wood
picking up and bagging empty
18 pounder cartridges cases 19^th
Heavy bombardment on our right
Fritz's dropped a few heavies 
over our Camp 20^th Got orders to
say that we were to move forward
as Fritz had started to Evacuate
and same evening we moved up
to Flers - 21^st Had to supply a bombing
team to clean out Bailey Trench
same evening we had to move
Forward a little 22^nd Out Companies
got relieved and came back into 
reserves 23^rd Our Planes up doing 
good work and we heard that 
Fritz  had evacuated on a 20 Mile Front
24^th Lieut Catron took over A Coy on
account of M^r Davidson not
been able to get about.
25^th Heard that we were to go up into
Forward Position again 26^th Had to 
go up to have a look over Position
we were to go in same night
the sith captured a couple of Patrols
27^th Had a godd relief and that
night was out on Patrol but found
Fritz a long way from us except 
for a few snippers 28^th Had to keep
well down during the day out on Patrol
that night and reached soem German dugouts
but foudn no one in them. March 1^st
at Coy. Headquarters one of our lad
must of touched a trip line of a
mine and it blew up a dug out and
caught our Coy. Commander and five 
other men and blew them to pieces
March 2^nd Out on Patrol that night
and we had a good trip but
could not strike any Fritzs. Got 
relieved the same night

March 3^rd Moved from Albury Camp
down to Melbourne Camp. Spent day in 
clearing out Clothes and Equipment
4^th Right Half of Brigade went to
Dernacourt and Captain Kirsch was
given command of A Coy but he had
to take on job of Town Mayor of [[Marntez?]] .
5^th Started drill again and it was
pretty tiresome as most of the
lads were out of Condition and the
hours were fairly long 6^th Parade
in the Huts as the snow was too
heavy to get out in 7^th Out doing 
outpost work under Lieut Joyned.
We were reserve Platoon and had a
easy time 8^th Out doing New attack
formation and Brigadier out having
a look round. Leave started to England
9^th Heard that Fritz had retired
further back Down to Baths for 
wash in afternoon.
10^th Church Parade put off on the wet and
J. Alford was over. Heard that my Cousin
A. Slack had been killed 11^th Heard that
we were to go to Dernacourt and sent 
our advance guard away. 12^th Moved 
off about nine and had a good
trip to Dernacourt and we had a 
jolly fine Camp. 13^th Started Parade
in earnest and General Walker around
having a look at the different lots
14^th Had to go before General Birdwood
to get Croix. De Guerre Ribbon
presented but he did not have 
any of the Foreign Ribbons with him
15^th Captain Kirsch rejoined A Coy
We also started a Sgt Mess
16^th Heard that Bapaume had fallen
heard that they had evacuated it
at that our fifth division 
thay went through it First