They told us on Tuesday afternoon that our Battalion would be relieved in the trenches that night (which made only five days instead of six), and further that we were to move the next day, Wednesday, away from our 23rd Brigade and 8th Division, and join the 154th Brigade of the 51st (Highland) Division. So we got everything ready, and the whole Battalion and its Transport started on a ten mile 'trek' in a South Westerly direction. After about four hours' marching, we reached our destination, and while on the march our two travelling kitchens were working, and water was being boiled for making tea, so that the whole Battalion got a hot meal served out to them immediately they reached their billets. On these 'treks' there is always a good deal for me to do after the march is over, as kits and mails and blankets and rations require to be distributed to the different Company billets, and they are often scattered, so that the furthest of them might be a mile or so apart. These I have to find as best I can, generally in the dark and over unknown roads, so that on Wednesday I was in the saddle continuously,—with the exception of a few minutes now and then—from 2 p.m., till midnight. When midnight came and the work was done, I lay down on my valise in the open field beside my horses, pulled off my boots and jacket, and got between the blankets and slept till 6.30 a.m., when it was time to get up again to water the horses. This has to be done at a Canal half a mile away, as there is no water nearer.
... This new Division appears to be entirely Territorial, but, notwithstanding its name, there are a good many English Regiments mixed up with Scotch ones in it.
MONDAY MORNING, JUNE 7, 1915.
Yesterday we had a large Communion Service in a field. Almost the whole Battalion was present, as we were back six or seven miles from the firing line. It was drawn up in the form of three sides of a square, and the fourth side consisted of the Officers, in the centre of whom was the Chaplain with a little table covered with a white cloth. On the table was a single Communion Cup. The wine used was the red wine of the country. The bread was ration bread cut into little pieces. After the first portion of the Service was over, the Colonel took round the bread to every Officer and man, and the Chaplain and Major Shaw took the wine. To every man both were personally handed. We sang—'The Lord is my Shepherd,' 'God is our Refuge and our Strength,' 'Twas on that Night,' and 'O Thou my Soul;' and 'God save the King.' I raised the tunes, 'Wiltshire,' 'Stroudwater,' 'Communion;' and then the tune I wanted for 'O Thou my Soul' was St. Paul, but I forgot how it went, so I just took another that I didn't know the name of. I wonder if it would trouble you to send me my Psalter with the tunes? I sent it home from Falkirk in my long uniform box.
That afternoon the Battalion moved off to the trenches—a dusty march of several hours. My transport went by a different route. One gets plenty of practice in leading troops over unknown country by the map alone. Even in daylight one makes mistakes, and it is more difficult in the darkness. I got my column to the point indicated in the map reference, and found the field I was to occupy in possession of another unit's transport. This is what is known in the army as 'bad Staff work.' So I had an argument with the lad who was answering for the Staff Captain, and gently pointed out that I was right; and after gaining my point we got into the field and took the loads off the weary animals. But the work was not yet done for the day and it was already 8.30 p.m. Coke had to be taken to the trenches, so we set off at 10 p.m., with 'four mule burdens of coke,' again over several miles of unknown road, and handed it over to some members of the Battalion quite near the trenches. We got back to our field at 2 a.m. this morning, and thus ended our Sabbath.
FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 11, 1915.
The Battalion is having a rest in billets, but the billets available in this part are too small and there are not enough of them for all the troops in the district, so that things are very much crowded. Did I tell you about this billet of ours? It is the dirtiest we have yet been in. Four of us (including Mr. MacGibbon) occupy one room and the family occupy the other. The family consists of a dirty old woman, and a daughter not much cleaner, and three lads. We have our meals in the room that we sleep in, and the family do their cooking in our room which has the only available stove! The Interpreter sleeps on the table and the rest of us on the floor, which is of stone and very uneven. There is a 'midden' just outside our windows, and we try to persuade the lads to do something to improve it, but the need for improvement does not appeal to them. Fortunately we have plenty of chloride of lime, and the eau-de-cologne you sent me has been very useful as the flies are legion. The horses and wagons are in a field behind, and the rain has made it very muddy.
III
FESTUBERT