While the Division was out of the line it was inspected by the Commander-in-Chief, F.-M. Sir Douglas Haig, a Brigade group at the time, and the dismounted portion of the 11th Field Company took part in the 11th Brigade parade. Very short notice was received, and right up to the morning of the inspection there had been no opportunity for even a proper section parade, since leaving the rest area in March. Nevertheless, the Company, rising to the situation, carried out the necessary movements, including a march past, with precision and success. The transport were not on this parade, but were carefully inspected
about the same time by the A.A. and Q.M.G., 3rd Division, and the C.R.E.
Pont Noyelles was left on May 21st, when the 3rd Division relieved the 4th Australian Division in the Villers Brettoneux sector. The 4th Field Company A.E. took over the Corps works in the Hallue valley, and the 13th Field Company A.E. was relieved in the line. Company Headquarters was established in a railway cutting just north of the Bois l’Abbé, near Villers Brettoneux, together with 2, 3, and 4 sections. The remainder of No. 1 section went to Blangy-Tronville, together with some of the surveyors, for whom there was no accommodation suitable for map work in the cutting, while the horse lines were established at Lamotte, a little further along the river.
4. Summer at Villers Brettoneux.
The line held by the 3rd Division at Villers Brettoneux, which junctioned with the French on the right opposite Monument Wood, was so close to the town that the support line actually ran through one corner near the railway station. The possession of the town with its command of the Somme valley was of great importance; the enemy had captured it once, only to be turned out again; and signs were not wanting that he intended to attack again, and soon. These considerations enjoined a more than ordinary alertness on the defence, and a vigorous artillery programme of counter preparation.
The 11th Field Company had a direct interest in the artillery programme, because a fine pair of 8in. “hows.” lived just outside their railway cutting, and were very active. Such neighbours naturally “drew crabs” (as the saying was, i.e., attracted enemy fire), but fortunately no great harm was done during the company’s tenancy.
The camp in the railway cutting was, as a matter of fact, soon made reasonably safe against shell fire by burrowing into the solid chalk. Gas was a more insidious danger; gas shelling was frequent, and sometimes extraordinarily heavy, as on the night of the 25-26th, when Villers Brettoneux, the Bois l’Abbé, and the valley between were literally drenched with mustard gas from many thousands of shells. Fortunately the immediate vicinity of the camp escaped the worst of it, and the vigilance of doubled gas guards prevented casualties in the camp itself.
Although a number of shells, both high explosive and gas, fell at different times right in the cutting, the most serious damage resulted from a mysterious something which screamed into the camp one night, broke all the crockery in the officers’ mess kitchen, and set the shelter on fire. The gas sentry standing near by was seriously perturbed by this new engine of war, but it turned out to be merely a mis-directed message rocket.
The chief work of the sappers on this sector was again accommodation in the form of deep dugouts in the chalk, but general trench improvements, the new support line through the town, tank blocks, tunnels under the main roads to Warfusee, and the inner defences of “Villers Brett,” all made demands on sapper labour. The 11th Field Company throughout worked in the right brigade area, astride the main road, where the line was held first by the 11th Brigade, and afterwards by the 10th, then by the 11th once more. The weather throughout was “fine and warm,” so warm as to make shirt sleeves quite sufficient, and tin hats almost intolerable.
Arrangements for the regular supply of materials by Corps had now allowed of standardisation of dugout design, and a great number of roomy shelters were rapidly excavated. Before the division moved out there were over 120 deep dugouts in its sector, many of them large enough to accommodate two or more platoons. The inclines or stairway entrances, at least two to each dugout, were timbered with standard timber slabs; the chambers were supported by 9ft. standard 5in. by 3in. rolled steel joists, about 18in. apart, held up by pit props. Bunks were fitted throughout, and elaborate gas-proof doorways. In addition to the Field Companies, portions of the Pioneers, and two English and one (the 2nd) Australian Tunnelling Coys. were at different times employed on the works. As regards the 11th Field Company, sappers worked three shifts of seven hours at the face, and were generally assisted by infantry parties in getting rid of the spoil.