The 17th was a quiet day; the Battalion was relieved by the 1/5th KING’S OWN and went back to C Camp, where we remained till the 28th. During this period important reorganisation was carried out, the bombing sections rejoining their Companies, thus “washing out” the Bombing Company, the Lewis guns being placed finally under Company Commanders; Companies reorganised their Platoons into four sections—one of bombers, one of riflemen, one of Lewis gunners, and one of rifle grenadiers. As a matter of fact we had ourselves suggested and partially adopted this about a month before, but it was now officially sanctioned. Second Lieutenant H. Lonsdale joined us during this period.
On the 28th we moved back to CANAL BANK, YPRES; on that day we made 272 barbed wire concertinas and carried 100 up the line. We remained here a few days, supplying nightly working parties—chiefly carrying wire up to the front line; two men were wounded on the 1st April.
During February and March we lost 98 men through sickness alone—our monthly average being between 40 and 60 during the following months also.
On the 2nd April we relieved the 1/4th KING’S OWN in the LA BRIQUE sector without casualties; Second Lieutenant Fullerton joined us. The next day was quiet, with slight shelling on the front line, but on the following night a patrol of ours ran into a strong enemy party, who tried to cut them off, but a Lewis gun team being sent for, they thought better of it and retired, covered by two machine guns; we had three killed and one wounded that day.
On the 6th we had a man wounded, and again on the 7th; on the latter day the 165th Brigade on our right carried out a hurricane bombardment on the enemy’s front line with Stokes’ mortars. The enemy sent up red flares, which, being our S.O.S. signal, brought our artillery into action, and 600 shells were fired on the enemy front line opposite us. Our relief that night by the 1/4th KING’S OWN was carried out, with one casualty, in bright moonlight, and we went back to CANAL BANK.
The 8th, Easter Sunday, was a lovely day, and very quiet. The Padre held four Communion services in one of the dugouts, and a large number of us went.
The next few days we spent in doing a certain amount of training on the Canal Bank, with nightly working parties; on the 12th Second Lieutenant R. A. Hall was accidentally wounded in the arm during bombing practice; the same evening we relieved the 1/4th KING’S OWN in LA BRIQUE sub-sector.
On the 13th, during some slight shelling, a Lewis gun post on our right Company front had the misfortune to get hit, one man being killed and three others wounded, and on the following day, though “quiet,” two more men were wounded. On the 17th we sent out a large fighting patrol, with Bangalore torpedoes, to capture an enemy sentry post in a sap head, but, as usual, “when they got there the cupboard was bare,” and they came away empty.
On the 17th we were relieved by the 12th ROYAL SUSSEX (39th Division)—the relief was not complete till 1 30 a.m.—and we entrained at YPRES at 2 30 a.m. and arrived at POPERINGHE station at 3 25 a.m. and marched to Z Camp, where we snatched a few hours’ sleep. At 2 30 p.m. we marched via WATOU to HOUTKERQUE, where Companies were billeted in scattered farms; here our Medical Officer, Captain A. W. Uloth, R.A.M.C., went sick, and Captain R. W. Shegog, R.A.M.C., came in his place. Here we remained for three days, cleaning up and training, till on the 22nd the whole Brigade concentrated at 9 a.m. one mile south of HERZEELE and marched, with first line transport, to billets in ARNEKE, where we arrived at 1 45 p.m., leaving again early next morning to concentrate at 9 a.m. four and a half miles west of ARNEKE, and march via WATTEN (locally known as “WAT”) to HOULLE, where we arrived at 2 p.m. These marches, though a stiff trial to men fresh from the trenches, with slack muscles and tender feet, were interesting; we were seeing new country: HOUTKERQUE and HERZEELE were nice little towns, though the latter had more troops than it could properly hold; ARNEKE was still better—the people, who seemed delighted to see us, had a curiously English look, probably due to the fact that Marlborough’s troops were once billeted all round this part; just as the Scotch blood in Lancashire is traced to the presence of the Pretender’s following. HOULLE is in the midst of the hilly country near ST. OMER—strongly reminding one of parts of Kent—an ideal country to train in. Here were large ranges, like the Aldershot Ranges, for musketry, and every day we marched out of billets and up on to the hills for training of some kind, taking our cookers with us and having dinners up there, every day getting fitter and improving in morale—shaking off the trench staleness and thinking more of open fighting—getting more of the “offensive spirit.” Second Lieutenant Hall rejoined us on the 26th. The Diarist writes at this time: “Still in the same place”—that in itself, you see, is sufficiently remarkable to be chronicled. “There are real hedgerows here, just bursting into leaf, and the fritillaries are out all along the lanes, in fact I am in the middle of real Spring. A lilac in front of my window shows half out, covered with bloom, and the currants are quite green. All this makes one long more than ever for England. The people round here are much better farmers and gardeners than we are—nothing is wasted, and everything done thoroughly and carefully. As I look out of the window a thrush is singing and the view is an English view. Oh, to be in England now that April’s here!”