Diary of Lindsay Robert Turner, 1918 (Vol. 5) - Part 4

of our horses and men.  At least our

wagon line has its [?] and [?]

we received another surprise later.

a R.F.A. officer came along and

announced that he was taking over

our Bty. position and Wagon Lines

and would be sending in a section

tonight and taking over wagon lines

forthwith and supplied us with

information that our whole division

was going out to a rest area at

St. Sauveur.  The Bty. evidently had

the information but were late in

sending it down.  This afternoon

we had that verified and we actually

do finally hand over tomorrow

night and move off forthwith

to St. Sauveur, some 6 kilos N.

of Amiens and on the main Road

to Abbeville.

2/8/18     Subterfuge never will cease.

Late last night we received orders to

go back into the line again this

time before Villers Bretonneux and

evidently something on a large scale.

is protected judging by the amount of

artillery we learn is being put in

that particular sector.  I left at 8AM

for Glisy to meet a Staff Captain and

arrange for and select wagon lines.

It commenced to rain heavily as I

was leaving and the whole time I

was in the saddle some 5 hours it

rained continuously and I was very

soon wet thro.  Glisy is some 9

kilos from Frechencourt but [?]

of the country was peculiar to me.

I duly met the Staff Captain accompanied 

here to the area and selected suitable

wagon lines on the bank of the Somme

and just across from Blangy Tronville.

There's certainly not very much

opportunity for digging in but we'll be

comfortable enough when we settle

down.  I returned to Frechencourt

after marking the position and the

whole Bty. with the exception of our

guns which were coming on later

moved over during the afternoon

the whole move out being done

in blinding rain so you can

imagine the conditions under which

we sought shelter tonight but the

average soldier somehow is used to

such as soon all hands had

burrowed in and were well under

cover.  The Bty. arrived about 2 AM

having experienced some difficulty in

being relieved by the Tommy Bty.

3/8/18       Things are moving apace

Rumour hath it that we are in for

an advance well worth undertaking 

which will include the capture of

possibly all his forward guns.

The Major has been recalled as the

53td Bty. are to be allotted some

special worth so we'll be a properly

constituted Bty.  once more.  The CO.

with one of our officers went forward

this morning to reconnoitre new

positions somewhere in the vicinity

of Villers Bretonneux and a hot zone

too.   We have to get ammunition 

up too and judging by the activity

we're going to meet with some trouble

Ellis returned during the afternoon.

 

with quite a mass of information

all strictly secret but I'm thankful

to say we're going to push with a

vengeance this time purely an

overseas venture as our Division

which is making the attack has the

Canadians on the right and two of

our own divisions on the left to

support and follow us away until

success.  I was detailed to take up

ammunition the 12 wagons and

anticipated a very lively time knowing

full well the Hun's shelling propensities

in this area and I wasn't deceived.

I hadn't been in the area before but

had a guide  and we commenced

forthwith to get into difficulties after

a considerable delay drawing ammunition 

It was pitch dark and in taking a 

cross country track got into difficulties

by losing the road.  The guide was

hopeless after that so I had to resort 

to the map.  After much delay I reached

the main road leading past our position

and then more trouble [?]

hopelessly held up by those "bug bears"

to traffic. Motor lorries  imagine our

dismay when 5.9's commenced to

fall on both sides of the road and

the head of our column was in the

direct line of fire.  It was hopeless we

could mover neither forwards or

backwards and for the half hour we

were there these shells rained down

with great regularity how the

road was missed and how we

escaped any casualties was little

short of miraculous as many

casualties judging by the abandoned

wagons and dead horses and

mules had occurred earlier.  At

last we managed to get thro and

lost little time getting rid of

our load of ammunition and

striking this road again.  Shells

still continued to fall on all sides

of us and to our consternation

we noticed that a track we had

to take was being uprooted in

full sight.  I decided to go thro and

no sooner had we set out across

it when the guns were switched 

off to our alternate route.  Luck

was with us for we experienced no

further trouble tho it was just

dawn when we unhooked.

4/8/18      We are moving the guns

up tonight and meanwhile some

of the detachments are going forward

to prepare gun pits.  I had to

take the guns up so after lunch

rode up to the position to reconnoitre

suitable roads and so avoid the

heavily shelled routes as we had

heard almost all batteries had

casualties amongst men and horses

last night, so we were extremely

fortunate.  Even during the

afternoon while we were on the

position a large number of

shells were being scattered about

tho' the actual position was

[?].  It happens to be directly

in the line of fire to a very favored

Hun locality and we may get

a fair proportion of shots. Our

guns were sent off to Vaux-en-

Amiénois this morning to be calib-

rated and when they returned at

9 I decided to allow the horses

to cool down and the men snatch

a few hours sleep and arranged to

leave at 2 AM

5/8/18      At 2 precisely tired horses

and men moved out for their

7 mile trip to the Battery position.

I concluded that I would just

have  sufficient time to arrive

there just before dawn which

was essential owing to the possibility

of balloons going up but I knew

I would be delayed at some points

still hoped to avoid being shelled.

I selected a new route relying

again on the map tho' I didn't expect

to experience any trouble finding

my way and so it happened.  I

arrived just as a faint light was

coming up over the horizon so 

it was rare judgement.  There had

been considerable traffic but our

drivers managed to avoid most

obstructions and with a little en-

courafgement have no compunction

in slipping thro' a column and

where necessary I lost no time in

craving the indulgence of the officer

in charge so essential was it

that we should get thro' in time

our luck was in again other batteries

suffered further casualties earlier

but now a shell came within a 

kilo of us and we all got back

safely at 7.   I was just about tired

out as it was the 3rd night I had

been up since we left Frechen-

court so I lost no time getting

to sleep.  I was awake again at

12 and try as I might I couldn't

go to sleep again so got up.  In

the afternoon we were at our

wits end to get all the ammunition 

we required for the stunt - 600

round per gun as well as a

supply on hand in case of

every [?] and might come on

and we were still wondering but

we found out that the stunt was

not for the morrow so we could

run it up any time before.

6/8/18  It rained heavily all day

not a very promising outlook

for our advance especially as

we were employing tanks and

Cavalry after our first objective

is reached.  Still there is no

word when "zero hour" is and

after that nothing but smoke and

shell.  As soon as the first

objective is reached we advance

with the teams and do some

mobile warfare what we've been

looking for for weeks and months

all day when the showers permitted

it we got our wagons and lumbers

overhauled as well as harness

as there must be nothing defective

when once we commence to move

Late tonight we learn't definitely

that our Major would not be back

so Capt. Nicolson of the 14th Bty. has

been detailed to command the Bty.

is rather unfortunate as his [?]

Major Dreyer was killed by a

stray shell at the Bty. position

during the night but these things

will happen.

7/8/18      All  day we've been wondering what

the morrow will bring forth victory

as we desire it or otherwise It still

rained during the morning but that

didn't deter us from making a further

reconnaissance of the roads to the Battery

as there must be no hitch when we

receive word to lumber up and dash

forward.  The shells came over

fairly rapidly and we didn't linger

long in the vicinity of the Battery .  Just

before we arrived we saw 4 tanks

explode over on the right of our

position caused by a dump getting

alight.  It was simply terrific and

large pieces of twisted iron were

flying in all directions.  After getting

back to the wagon lines we prepared