Diary of Alexander Jackson Cunningham, 1914-1916, Part 5

March 13^th to 17. Word came in that we
should all go back to Serapeum, we
have been doing a little work with our
Sappers & 9^th Light Horse. We move
out of camp today N^o 1 & N^o 2 Sections
& are going to camp in Serapeum
In away I am quite sorry to leave
here altho' last week or so has been
rather monotonous but its very healthy
out here & you are right out of the
way from everyone.
March 17^th to 20^th. Came in to Serapeum
& are now all in camp here - N^o 1
Co are going off tomorrow (21) and we
will be the next ones to follow - had a
full dress Kit parade this morning.
We are all ready to move off, we all
think it practically certain now that
it is France we are going to. Yesterday
(Sunday) We had an inspection
of all troops by General Birdwood
and Altho’ we did not Know until
he actually came round the Prince
[*Inoculated for para-typhoid 18/3/16 *] 

of Wales was with him, no one Knew
that The Prince of Wales was even
in Egypt so it was a great surprise
to everyone. March 20^th to 22^nd 
Got word that we were to go off but
the Company split up. Setevenson
with 40 men went off with No 1 Co
as they had to make up numbers,
Brockman went off with the Horses
and most of the Drivers so only
Major Mather & myself are left for
the bringing onlong the rest of Company.
March 23. We left Serapeum with
Sappers and got on train at 12
o’clock mid-night on 22^nd, only
had open Cattle trucks to go in
and was very cold about dawn
as we had no cover and the breeze
failry hard we travelled all
that night & got to Alexandria
at 10.45 in morning, got off &
got on here the S.S. Simla not
a very big boat but very comfortable 

have about 1500 troops on board, Major
Mather is O.C. Troop ship so I am the
only Officer to look after our
Company. March 24. Good calm
weather and all going well. I
believe we are going to Malta
first and then on to Marseilles,
Had our boat stations allotted to-day.
March 25^th to 30^th. Got to Malta
early in morning but did not stay
more than a few hours & stayed
right out in bay, got signals &
off again – We passed Sardinia
& sited French shore last night (29^th )
& about 10 o’clock got in to outer
Harbour of Marseilles, this morning
we came up against wharf and are
to get off at 2 o’clock this afternoon
we are entraining to somewhere but
do not Know where, so far. Saw
no submarines on our way, but
hear now that the “Mineapolis” was
torpedoed a few hours in front of us.
- At last we are out of Egypt –-  

March 30^st to Apl 1^st. We got into train at
Marseilles (4^th. Battn, Field Amb, 2^nd F. C^o. Engs)
and started on a long journey at
3 o’clock on 30^th & went northward, we
stopped at Orange for an hour and got
hot tea there & got bully beef stw served
out for rations 10.45 p.m. travelled all that
night & all next day passing through,
Lyon & Dijon, Tonnerre, stopping
for meals where we got hot tea or
coffee served by Red & x people, then
on through following night passing
Paris in the middle of the night
& going East & stopped for breakfast
^at Epulches at about 9 a.m. on Apl.1^st, Then passed
through Creil at mid-day. All the country
looks beautiful, the blossom is all out &
the grass green, it is such a change from
Egypt and this country is as pretty & fine
as any I have ever seen, the roads too strike
you very much they are all so perfect.
We travelled all rest of day and reached
Abbeville at 1700 for tea but only had  

found cold water & no time to heat. we then
went on & travelled through the night
till 4 am on 2^nd when we reached Steenbecque
where we got off, it was dark & pretty cold
& our feelings were not the brightest when
we found our camp was 20 miles away
and we would have to walk there, we loaded our
baggage on 4 motor lorries and the Major went on
ahead to H.Q. to get information so I was the only
Officer left to bring the Company on, so we marched
for an hour & then halted & so on, we stopped at Borre
for some breakfast at about 0800 where I got
some coffee & eggs the first feed worth having since
we left Marseilles 3 days ago and the first hot
drink I got for 30 hours, we then passed through
Strazelle and got to Merriss, where our H.Q. are
and I picked up Major Mather there, we then came on
and reached here about 1400, very weary and
footsore in fact we all had large blisters on our
feet & the last mile or two was agony, we got here
and its a big farm house the men are sleeping
in a large barn and the Major & I have a
room upstairs. April 3^rd. Feel very stiff &  

foot sore this morning but the weather is beautiful
and had good feed its great to get decent butter
and eggs & bread again. We can hear the roar
of the guns from where we are, we are about
6 miles from the firing line and about 5
miles from Merriss our H.Q. at present we
are not doing anything, we are living in the
farm but getting our own food and cooking it.
March 4. April 4^th to 8^th. Major Mather & myself
are still the only officers, Stevenson &
his Section are over with N^o 1 C^o. & Brockman
with the horses is down at Marseilles still. We
have now a French Interpreter attached to us
who lives & meals with us. Doing a certain
amount of training but not a great deal.
Weather pretty cold still. go for about 8 to 10
mile walks to get feet in order have been
to Merriss, Steinwerch, Bailleu,& Doleur last
named place has fine Church which was burnt by
Germans & bullet holes all over brickwork.
April 8^th to 17^th. Brockman (who is now Captain)
turned up with the horses and Stevenson
came with his Section & a new  

Officer Reid came bringing reinforcements
so are now pretty well set up, got all
our transports here including pontoons –
The weather has been very cold & nasty &
wet here & cannot do much. We have
to move holus bolus over to another
farm to day about 3 miles from here,
This farm is called Ferme - du - Bois the
new one is Ferme du froid Om. later 
Came over this afternoon our Company is
split up 2 sections in one farm 1 section in
another & the horses, drivers & No 2 Section in
a third farm. The Major & I are staying
here a very nice little place, the most
comfortable I have been in yet – we
all have our meals here the others who
are in other farms come along. The
weather is still very wet & nasty and
cold. April 17 to 20^th. Still very wet & mudd
every where it gets rather monotonous,
am very comfortable where we are but
would like to get into the trenches & see
whats doing – Head today (Good Friday) 

that a shot came into one of the Australians billets
& Killed 6 and wounded 20, also heard that
Major Newcombe (DE. 2^nd Div) is wounded.
Our No 1 Co Engrs are now in the trenches. We have
our new gas helmets & all technical equipment
ready now  April 20^th to 28^th. Moved from
“Ferme de trois portes” on 26^th and all Company
came here ^Bac St Maur near (Sailley) the men are quartered
in a factory & we are in a house opposite
& having meals with 1^st Field Co along the
road. On April 25^th (An: of landing Gallipoli)
Stevenson, Reid & I went & saw round
the trenches for the first time, they are all
breast works and very wet have to walk
along on “duck boards”, the line was fairly
quiet altho’ a sniper was busy as
we passed along the Communication
trenches. Stevenson, Reid & I with our
senior NCO’s went again yesterday
& had all day in the trenches, so
we could get a hang of them before
going in, I think the HQ of 2^nd Co will
be here but our 3 Sections will  

move up to Fleurs Bey Baix and quarter there &
then go from there each day to the trenches
which is about 1½ miles, can ride up on
bikes to the start of the “avenues”. We
are still one Officer short & do not
Know who & when we are getting one -
April 28^th to May 3^rd. Moved up from
Bac St Maur on 30^th in the tools carts
4 Sections and HQ.’s as Major Mather decided
to move out here also. We are quartered
at a farm house in a village called
Fleur Baix which is about 1½ miles from
firing line. We go up every morning
on bikes to start of “avenues” and
then walk up. My section has the
right sector of firing line and
communication trenches and have plenty
to do as things have been left a lot
and in bad repair, have 5^th Battⁿ
to do working parties. All trenches are
breast Works & very different from Anzac
the water trouble is one of the big ones
to get under, a lot of work has to be  

done in night time as, as soon as you
get a few men working in one spot in
any back trenches they get shelled, or in
some places sniped. Good lot of artillery
goes off but nothing very fearsome so
far. lots of aeroplanes up & some good
duels at one another now & again –
May 3^rd to May 15. Weather fairly good except
for last few days  5^th Battn have been
relieved by 7^th Battⁿ - The 5^th were a good
crowd good workers and jolly nice
Officers. Work now getting under way
& have about 100 men working with my
sappers chiefly repairing face of parapets
where S.P are going, new dug outs, concrete
M.G. positions etc.  The Communication
trenches are very bad state & have a lot
of work to do in them. This C^o is now
full strength in Officers as we have
Brockman as Captain, Stevenson, myself,
Reid & new man Collins & Major Mather
as O.C. . Am very comfortable in our
quarters & have good meals in fact 

can get nearly anything by sending your
Batman round – very different from
Anzac.– Went up the other night
to the trenches things were fairly
quiet – yesterday they fired on our
parapets and blew one in my
Sector down, am on with it now.
– Was offered leave for England
to go next week but said I would
take my chance later. May 15^th May 21^st 
Have been working hard since coming
here, usually go up to the trenches after
breakfast & stay there & have my
lunch up there, get back about
4 o’clock & then start on Req: for
working parties, Progress Report, Req:
for material etc etc usually find
it about 10 o’clock at night before
have finished up, (allowing about ¾ 
hour for dinner at 6.30). It is
surprising what a lot of paper
work there is to do. It is now 10.30
& have just finished work. Weather 

has got very hot and bikying up to the
trenches get terribly hot. Things fairly
quiet except now & again get a
good many shells from Germans,
last night they sent about 30 shells
over just by this billet but the earth
was so soft they nearly all went in
& did not explode. Have made good
progress up in firing line, putting in
a lot of new dugouts, Cupolas &
strengthening up front line Generally &
Communication trenches putting
proper cover on, when we came the
Communication trenches were not at
all safe when machine guns were
playing on them as your head &
shoulders were well above cover
but now gradually getting this
safer by hurdling & revetting. Have
got to start on some reinforced Concrete
funk holes for machine guns & crews
when Germans bombard. General Birwood
round yesterday & pleased with 

our progress. May 21^st to 27^th. Work still
going on hard the 8^th on our left had
a bit of a bombarding last night but
not much damage done. Weather very
nice now & the fields look perfect with
all the trees in leaf & wild flowers in
amongst the long green grass. Am
up every day & nearly all day in the trenches
then get back & have Req: for Working parties,
Daily Progress, Req: for material etc etc
to get out usually takes till about
10 at night before finished. We have
our meals up the road in a room
which we got I am Mss Sec but find
thimgs very easy to get as Canteen
is only few miles away & another
smaller one just a few 100 yds away.
We invested in a gramaphone
Yesterday sent Batman over to
Estaires to get one so have some
music at night. May 27 to June 9^th 
Work going on well have now got
about 100 - 2 men dug outs finished 

in the firing line and about 30 Bays
thickened up & new parados, also a
lot of Bombers positions and have
made Good strides in getting the
Communication Trenches in repair.
Have also finished a reinforced
concrete M.G. crew shelter and am
starting on another also 3 Cupola
Signal office dug outs finished. Up
to now have been working with 2^nd 
Bde with Gen Forsyth at Head & have
got on well with them all but today
(9^th ) they go out & 1^st Bde come in,
we have to stop here until the
Division shifts. Am employing
about 120 Infantry on my work
per day at present. About 10
days ago the Germans bombarded
the 3^rd Bde line which are on our
right I went along next day to
see them, they were in an awful
state every thing just blown to
pieces, parapets, dug outs, 

etc just laid flat and craters in the
ground every few yards. they were
pulling out dead bodies when I
got there. About 100 wounded
& 40 Killed, unless you saw
it you cannot realize what
Artillery can do. The other
night coming home I nearly
“got it”! as I went to pass
Croix Marschal they started
bombarding it so I waited down
the road a bit they then sent
in more shells & set a light
to the Billet Then after about
10 minutes I thought shelling
had stopped so got on bike
& started coming along when
I heard a shell coming
so jumped off bike quick &
lively, one came (6”) about
40 yards ahead of me bang
in the middle of the road &
tore it up to blazes I 

got some of the dirt & stones of
it. They put a few into our billet
night before last & g wounded
two of our horses. The Artillery
here now is much more active
than when we first came, & going
up I usually get it somewhere
between Croix Marschall & in
Boutillerie Avenue but so far
have had luck to miss any
pieces. Major Mather away in
England on leave so we are now
Capt Brockman (O.C). Lt. Stevenson,
Reid, Collins, & myself.
June 9^th to 20^th. Things been fairly
to middling, some days very quiet
some days lot of shelling. Croix
Marschall got completly burnt
down by shell fire two days
ago both sides of the road. To day
we sent a lot of 60 lb trench
mortars off today & the Huns
replied I was in the trenches 

& a lot of 77 cm & some 6” & some
mortars came over but did
not do much damage, most
of them hit the Convent wall,
one got a new bombers position
I had just built in Convent
Avenue. The last 3 nights we
have had gas alarms and
night before last altho’ the gas
missed us they got it in
Bac-St-Maur & two or three
died from the fumes  I hear
it came from our left and
about 450 got gassed. I am
building a lot of gas proof
dug outs in the firing line
& putting them on Signal
Offices etc. The weather has
been good lately only a few
wet days for last fortnight.
There is a raid organised for
our Batt^n. this week and they
wanted 1 N.C.O & 2 sappers to 

go with them for demolition work
in the trenches when they get
into the German lines so 1 Cpl
& 2 sappers are going from
my Section I hope they get on
all right. June 20^th to July 4^th  -
Things fairly lively up in the trenches
last few days  lots of shells & bombs
coming over & our communication
trenches have got it hot & strong.
Got a fine mail at last it good
to get letters after such a long Spell.
The Raid came off well & our
Sappers all returned safely but
Cpl Pennington got a bit of a wound
in the foot coming back. They had
a pretty bad time as the German
barb wire was very thick – when
over in the German trenches they
exploded two boxes of guncotten
in two dug outs. Bombardments
are very heavy every night now
& lots of stuff sent over from 

both sides. I see I am on the
last leaf & will have to start
on another book. I should
like to send this one back to
Australia if I can get the
chance. Things are very unsettled
at present in way of moving
No 1 C^o has gone & No 3 C^o. goes
tonight but we have still the
trenches here with 1^st Battn 
Brigade but the Brigade
are going out tonight & the
4^th Div are coming in but
so far no Engineers are
coming along. Some say we
will go South to the Push others
say we will go up near
Ypres. I forgot to say I saw
Trevor about 2 weeks ago he was
looking very well  I believe
his lot have gone up opposite
Messines now. Have been making
lot of concrete dugouts in firing
line lately, work is still plentiful. 

If I should get badly wounded
or Killed anyone finding
this book would oblige
by sending to
M^rs Cunningham
Glencairn
Upper Macedon
Victoria
Australia.
Also any other of my personal
small belongings & note books.
----------------- 
AJ Cunningham (Lt)
2^nd Field Co
1^st Australian Divisional Engineers
A.I.F.