[[5]] They occupied lines near Aveluy and Authuille.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 23, 1915.
I missed sending you a letter yesterday. I had to go off on my horse a distance of some six miles or so to find new billets for the Battalion. This work is usually done by the Senior Major and the Interpreter, but as the Interpreter is on leave and the Major is killed, I did it.
We are being relieved in our Posts to-night by an English Regular Regiment and are going back six or seven miles by route march. We expect to set out from here at about 10 p.m. and should reach our new Billets in about two hours or so by night march.
The method of allotting billets to a Battalion is as follows. The Brigade gives each Battalion under it a certain area on the map, and the Battalion Billeting Officers go to that area in advance as I did yesterday, and select the most suitable farms or houses or other buildings, and chalk the name of the Regiment on the doors, and tell the inhabitants that troops will occupy their premises on a certain day. When the Battalion leaves these billets the owners are given a certificate with the number of Officers and men accommodated, signed by the Commanding Officer; this is counter-signed by the Mayor of the district, and later on the owner receives payment at a fixed rate for Officer or man.
I left here at about 2 p.m. and returned at about 7 p.m. pretty tired.
This move of ours to-night is a part of a greater move. Our whole Division is being taken by a train journey sometime next week to a part of the line a great many miles further South. This will probably mean helping the French with a portion of their line.
So that the next week or so should be a change of surroundings for us all. A train journey after a spell of four months without ever seeing one will be rather strange.
FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 30, 1915.
We arrived at the station of de-training about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, after a railway journey that we all enjoyed. It was a great change for all of us, and the country was looking at its best. From the station we had to march for about six miles to a billeting area where we are now. The headquarters is in a very nice old French Château, owned by an old lady, but ruled by her manservant. The house has not been properly cared for and is falling to pieces, but there is a beautiful garden and beautiful trees round it. The orchards in this country abound in fruits—apples, pears, plums and peaches—but chiefly apples and pears. Of course nothing is ripe yet. There is a pond literally covered with water-lilies and green stuff, and alive with green frogs with black spots on them. If you run your stick along the edge of the pond a dozen of them will jump into the water. We have had the luxury of beds with sheets on them these last two nights. I have not experienced that all the time we have been in this country, and that is over four months now. We leave this place this evening immediately after an inspection by our Army Commander, and that takes place at 4 p.m. to-day. We go to a forward area, and spend the night in Billets there (it is about six miles away from here), and then on Saturday night we take over our portion of the trench line from the French Army. Our Battalion is just immediately behind the front line in support of other Battalions. We shall be in 'dug-outs' probably for a week or ten days, I expect, and just a few hundred yards behind the front line. Since Graham left I command the Battalion, and this taking over from the French Army is a little more difficult to arrange than usual, and of course the country is new to all of us. It is much more pleasant country to look at than the country we have left. It is more hilly and much more closely wooded. The harvest is getting ripe, and in some parts is cut already. Old men and boys do the reaping of it, and in some cases, where even these are not available, soldiers are set to do it.