Here we remained carrying out training until the 5th October, when we once more marched up and bivouaced at Beaucourt, going into the front line on the 11th, which by this time had been advanced as far as Le Sars. On the 13th October the Regimental Sergeant-Major, A. K. Scott, D.C.M., was killed. He had joined the Battalion early in 1914, and had been with it ever since. He was an exceptionally good R.S.M., a strict disciplinarian, handling those under him with tact, a splendid organiser for whom no amount of work seemed too much. A brave man and a born soldier, he was respected and beloved by all who came in contact with him. The weather now was broken and the ground was becoming a quagmire, owing to the innumerable shell-holes being full of water. Our front line consisted of a series of these shell-holes, which made all movements by day impossible, and at night, owing to the lack of any sort of landmarks, it was the simplest thing possible to lose one's way. The reserve positions were at Contal-maison. It was a long weary march from the front line back to this point, threading one's way in the dark between the shell-holes. Afterwards there was a duckboard track, but as it was well known to the enemy it was often shelled. It was especially hard upon Lewis Gun Teams and Bombers, who had to carry their supplies of drums and ammunition and bags of bombs. We tried once or twice leaving our ammunition and taking over the relieving Battalion's so as to save carrying, but the men always complained that the ammunition, etc., handed over to them was dirty, and they would prefer to stick to their own.
It was exhausting enough walking through the mud in ordinary kit, but the physical exertion became almost unendurable at the end of two or three hours when a man, in addition to his rifle and 120 rounds, had to carry a heavy load which caused him to sink deep in the mud at every step. One was filled with admiration at the pluck and endurance of the young lads who did it.
It was intended that we should carry out another attack, but, although the Battalion moved twice up to the line for this purpose, on each occasion it had to be postponed, as the weather had rendered the ground impassable. Jumping-off trenches, however, were prepared. On one occasion, when the attack looked imminent, the Battalion was brought back into the line, the Brigadier stating that the parties who had been put on to the work had not been able to make much progress, and that he felt sure that if we took it on it would be completed. This nice compliment compensated us for being brought back into the line before our time, and spurred on the men to finish the task—which they did.
On the 4th November we once more went into Divisional Reserve at Bresle. Here we took over a camp which had been kept in splendid order. Even the tent boards had been thoroughly scrubbed by those before us, which created in our minds a very favourable impression of the outgoing Battalion. The camp stood on high ground outside the village. We were given the choice of being billeted in the village or occupying the camp, but the advantages of all being together in a clean place more than compensated for not going into billets which at the best appeared very dirty. The cold, however, was intense, the water being frozen solid inside the tent every morning. The officers rather envied the men sleeping in a crowded tent, as they had a better chance of being warm. So far, unfortunately, we had only been able to get one blanket per man. The cold did not, however, affect the men's health. The way in which health improved even in the trenches when the frost came was remarkable. No doubt it must have saved the spreading of infection, as in the line there were still a great many dead lying unburied, and every shell-hole was full of stagnant water.
We carried out a varied programme of training, being lucky enough to have a rifle-range close at hand. By this time the Army was once more realising the advantages of the rifle, which had for some time been sadly neglected in favour of the bomb, an instrument which is exceedingly useful in trench warfare where the sap-heads and trenches are a few yards from each other, but perfectly useless in more or less open warfare. The average man could not throw a bomb more than 20/30 yards, and at that range it was almost as dangerous to the thrower as to the enemy. It was extraordinary, however, what a hold it got of the troops, a large part of even the home training evidently being devoted to it. Our main object now was to make the men realise that their best friend was their rifle. There is a story told of one instance where a man was seen chasing a Boche within 30/40 yards of him in order to try and get within easy bombing distance! It apparently never struck him that with his rifle the Boche was a certain target at this distance.
We also had good ground at Bresle for practice in the construction of strong points. At this time plenty of amusement could always be got by visiting the officer's riding school, carried on from 7 to 8 in the morning. The whole day, however, was not devoted merely to instructional training, part of every afternoon being devoted to sports, especially football. Even in the hottest weather or after a long march the men would hardly be in their billets before somebody had the football out.
The Brigade Games were held here, and everyone went in for all sorts of training with the object of trying to win the Championship. The sports were held in the field below our camp on the 21st November, the Championship events being the 100 yards, the mile, the cross country race, the long and high jumps, the tug-of-war, putting the weight, tossing the caber, and football. The points scored were:—
| Gordons, | 14 |
| Black Watch, | 14 |
| Seaforths, | 23 |
| Camerons, | 25 |
So that we, for the third time, won the silver bugle, as the Champions of the Brigade. The tug-of-war was a most tremendous affair, the final of which was an all over pull, lasting about 25 minutes. The Camerons' team in the first period of the pull were over with the exception of three men, but by degrees they slowly recovered themselves, and finally, by a sort of cross between a war dance and a quick march, they pulled the other team over the line. The excitement was intense! The training for this event was very amusing. On both sides the trainers were old soldiers who had competed with each other many times before in India and elsewhere. If either Sergt.-Major while training his team saw the other approaching, it did not matter how far off, the training would promptly cease, as they were certain that the opponent was out to gain tips! Sergt.-Major Vass was responsible for the splendid training of the winning Cameron team.
While at Bresle we had the honour of being inspected by the G.O.C. in C., Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. He complimented us highly on the part we had taken in the Battle of the Somme, and expressed himself as greatly pleased with the appearance of the Battalion.