Diary of Lindsay Robert Turner, 1918 (Vol. 5) - Part 10

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we moved our quarters to a
nearby trench but not a shell
came within kilos of us all day
Evidently from the volumes of
smoke in rear the Hun was
retreating and in anticipation
some of our Brigades moved up
to be in close touch with the Infantry
I was due for a spell at the Wagon
Lines and came down here after
dinner and it proved rather a
relief after the last week or so's
experience at the Bty. Of course
we may move forward at any 
time
5/9/18. I was lazy very lazy this
morning and would have dearly
loved a morning in bed but there
was parade at 9.30 and I wanted
to see that certain things were
done right off besides pay was
due and I was resolved to ride
back to Fontaine and draw
that. However at 12 a message
came down from the Bty. that 

91 

we would be moving at a moments
notice and that everything had to be
ready. More staff work we stood
to all the afternoon waiting for the
expectant message and 5 oclock 
came and still no news I took
the risk to have the men’s tea
prepared and the horses watered
8 oclock came and still no orders
so I told the men to take off the
harness and turn in. I was
sound asleep when the message 
from the Bty did come along
and that fixed the move forward
at 8 Am. so I promptly ordered
Reveille for 5. to leave just enough
time to reach Barleux by the
stated hour.
6/9/18. Today meant a new phase
in the condition of our life Till
now we had been fighting
this side of the Somme. After
many determined attacks in
which Casualties were heavy our
5^th Infantry Succeeded in bringing 

92 

about a fresh retreat how far the 
Hun has gone this time is open
to conjecture but we anticipate the
Hindenburg Line in front of St
Quentin and Cambrai Anyway
we have to follow tho as a Reserve
Brigade. We went to take up a
position on the rising ground above
Doigt and from which the Hun
Batteries had been causing us
much trouble the last few days
It was a historic move crossing
the Somme tho' last year we just
moved forward in consequence
of a voluntary retirement this
time the pressure was too great.
and it necessarily was a forced
one. We set out at 9 after dawn.
A little excitement beforehand
in the shape of the expectancy of being
bombed by a dozen Hun planes
which suddenly appeared above us.
We passed aver the Somme in
a small way quite another "Crossing 

93
of the Rubicon" and passed thro
Peronne a large city tho' now much
shattered by the constant shelling
The impregnible Mont St. Quentin
taken by our 2^nd Division with
such small loss was seen
towering above it and was the
means by which Peronne was
eventually taken. Most of the bridges
and cross roads have been blown
up by mines but our efficient
"Engineers" quickly repair them. We
bivouaced on a gently sloping.
hill in a well grassed field splendid
pasturage for the horses and
whilst waiting for further orders
made full use of it. Our new
Major - Heley by name- from the
3rd Army Bge arrived about 3
P.m. and after he had a look
over the Bty. the usual orders to Stand
to came thro. from Bge and almost
immediately after the Major went out
on a reconnoitring expedition. Of 

94

course we thought that meant a
move forward but it eventually
turned out that we were to remain
for the night and go on next morning
7/9/18. We slept last night quite
out in the open and rather unusual
for us on ground level. It was a
very cloudy night so we didn't
anticipate any Hun planes over
and sure enough we had to move
of at 12 noon. The B.c.'s had gone
forward and we were to follow
on thro' Mensil and Cartigny
to a rendezvous near Bouvincourt
somewhere behind the Front Line.
Apparently the Hun had gone
further back than we had expected
and it was going to take following
to come up with him. The
Balloons had all gone on and
it seemed peculiar that we
should be following in their wake
Mensil, was very much knocked
about and we saw plenty of 

95

evidence of the good work done
by our Heavies all along the main
road. It was a relief to get out of
the shell holes and barb wire
and go thro' beautiful undulating
country abounding in woods
tho there are no villages standing
the result of last year's rehead
we moved onto a position in
front of Vrainges tho' only one in
reserve as we are at least 10000
Yards away. There are persistent
rumours afloat that our Divn
is about to go out for a rest
but nothing official his come
thro'. We've been going "strong"
since the memorable 8^th and
it's just a month ago tomorrow
since we "hopped over".
8/9/18. Sunday and who would
know it from the state of affairs
on the Western Front. We remained
quiescent all day tho expecting
any minute to receive orders to
move. The horses appreciated the
respite for we had them out 

96
grazing practically all day on
luxurious lucerne fields. The
Major paid us a visit at the Wagon
Line just to have a look at the
place and see for himself that we
were comfortably settled. The Guns
are still in position at Vrainges
and the latest we can ascertain
about the Hun is that he is holding
the Line - temporarily I should say
some 12000 yds in front. but
whether we are to continue to
push or not I don't know. It
rained rather heavily during the
afternoon and we welcomed it
in a way as there will be no
planes over. Last night we had
the unpleasant experience of listening
to one plane for over an hour
It insisted on Circling round
and it was quite a relief to
hear the complement of bombs
finally Crash to earth tho' all
some distance along the Valley.
9/9/18. The Huns braved the elements
after all and repeated the performance 

97
of the night before but most of the
bombs fell over in the direction of
Cartigny. At Catelet the village [[hospital?]]
was the H.Qs of one of the German
Army Commanders but the Chateau 
had been destroyed tho' the electric
light wires and telephone lines
are still running to the site
Undoubtedly everything wrong to
date so one would expect in
connection with the H.Qs of an Army
Corps. We busied ourselves
with grooming the horses Cleaning
harness and overhauling vehicles
and incidentally taking things
easy tho' personally I commenced
getting thro the score of letters I had
to write.
10/9/18. Quite early we did get some
definite and interesting information
indirectly from B.H.Q. to the effect
that we would be moving back
tomorrow for our long looked for
rest but where we were to go
and how long we were to remain
out was a matter for Conjecture 

98
I had to ride over to Bouvencourt
a nearby Village and ascertain
a host of information regarding
the location of the Divisional Canteen
Pay office and other places of
interest to the troops and that
helped to fill in the morning and
incidentally give my horse some
exercise. Another of our officers
returned at midday and the Bty.
Captain who has been in England
on sick leave for the past 5
months made an appearance at
6 o'clock. Whether he is to remain
with the Bty. is uncertain but
if all the "missing" return at
the same time there will be
little hope of the junior Subs.
retaining a place in the Bty.
Im afraid the wet weather is
commencing to make its appearance
much to our regret as it
will effect the success of our
offensive considerably. However
it may only be "a bolt from the 

99 

Blue and sufficient fine weather
on the Cards to create a further
slice to be carved out of occupied
territory. We were just considering
the adopability of sleeping peacefully
when an official of the 41^st Bty.
made his appearance to take
over from us on the morrow.
11/9/18. We were visited with a
further downpour of rain during
the night but it was quite fine
by 10 oclock. We learnt then
that the relieving Bty which had
previously taken over from us at
Bonnay would arrive during the
day and we were to move out for
the first stop to Hebecourt a
mile or so beyond Barleux. I
had to go to the 54 Bty to attend
a Court of Enquiry at 11 and
just for exercise had a gallop over
a beautiful stretch of country -
We could never do that further
back owing to trenches and Shellholes 

100 

but here of course is the very country for
Cavalry work. We moved out at 6.30
rather later than we anticipated. owing to
fact that a rather youthful Major was
in Command of the relieving Bty. and
we took the trouble to assure him that
we were at least 12000 yards behind
the line. We were given Hebecourt
for our destination and an officer
had gone forward to select a
suitable billeting area for us. Hebecourt
was only a few kilos in rear of our
old Bty position at Barleux but we
didn't anticipate the same volume of
fire on this occasion. We decided
to travel via the main Amien's -
St Quentin Road branching off at
Villers Carbonnel It was very
threatening when we left but later
showed signs of clearing In any
case we thought the night too
stormy for little planes to show
up and disturb what might
otherwise be a peaceful [[hakk?]]
We always look upon night
marching now with a certain degree
of apprehension.  

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