On the 18th January Lieut.-Colonel D. E. M. M. Crichton took over command of the Battalion, Colonel Marsh having gone down the line sick. We were all sorry to part with Colonel Marsh, who was a good soldier, and who had been with us through all the fighting in the Somme. He was suffering from fever, the result of many years service in India, and which had been aggravated by the exposure of wintering in the Somme. Life under the best circumstances was most miserable, but to have all the depression of fever on the top of it must have been exceedingly trying, although many of us at the time did not know what he had to endure.
One of our experiences about this time was a dug-out fire, some brilliant genius putting a brazier on the top of a box of Verey-lights, which after a time went off and started shooting about the dug-out. The dug-out was situated in the front line in the Le Sars sunken road, which was generally a sea of mud, often overflowing down into the dug-out. One would have thought that it was impossible for any of the timber saturated with mud and water to burn. This soon proved to be wrong, as the fire worked its way up one of the stairs, getting a splendid down-draught from the others. The place was soon a roaring furnace. The officers and men set about building up a barricade with sandbags. This was an exciting experience, for the Verey-lights kept shooting about as the fire increased in intensity, and might at any moment have set fire to the boxes of bombs, etc. One of the men actually ordered an officer out with the remark, "it was no place for him," when he began to realise the danger. Perhaps this was not strictly in accordance with the idea of army discipline, but at any rate it shewed the good spirit and affection that existed between the officers and men.
At the beginning of February we were relieved by the 5th Australian Brigade, the 18th Australian Battalion relieving the Camerons. We went back through Becourt to Contay, where we went into corps reserve, nominally for a rest, but practically for intensive training. In this little village we at last got the opportunity of holding our long-delayed Christmas and New Year dinner, which took place by Companies. The 2nd in Command and the Padre proceeded to Amiens to purchase provisions for the revels—pigs, wine, beer, etc. The first had to be bought alive in the Pig Market, where acquaintance was struck up with the most villainous looking Frenchman. The porkers were chosen from the fat ones that squealed the loudest when poked in the ribs by the Padre's stick. The dinners were a great success. The Parish Priest was a guest at the Officer's dinner, and appeared to be a good judge of wine, and thoroughly to enjoy his meal, besides being a very jolly old gentleman.
CHAPTER 5.
BATTLE OF ARRAS, 1917.
Our rest was not for long, however, as we started once more to move north on the 15th February, leaving the Somme area for good. All will look back upon the Somme as a sort of horrible nightmare of mud and water, of scarcity of fresh meat rations, fuel, etc., of long and weary marches up to Le Sars and back again to the camps in "Scots Redoubt" and Metz Wood, where the conditions were almost as bad as in the front line. Not a place where the men could be entertained, not a Y.M.C.A. or other hut within miles of the front line, not a civilian to be seen. The Lewis Gunners had a specially hard time of it pulling their hand carts through the mud and shell-holes. The design was selected at home, doubtless with great care, but they must have been tested on the Guards' Parade or other sound ground. For the work in hand it would be difficult to imagine a worse pattern than that of these carts with their thin iron wheels set close in to the side of the cart and without any guiding pole or shafts. Luckily they were soon abandoned. The cold in the line during the winter was intense. Owing to the muddy conditions the men could not take their great coats with them, but they were now so hardy that this exposure did not affect their health.
Now and then an officer was able to "lorry jump" back to Amiens, and spend the evening round Charlie's Bar, or dine at a most excellent restaurant, where the dinners and wines were good and the waitresses pleasing to look upon. In fact, the sight of a woman, however ugly, was a delight. We fitted up at Albert a house which acted as a kind of rest billet for those suffering from slight ailments. The Town Major was always threatening to turn us out, but we contrived to keep sufficiently in his favour to prevent this catastrophe. We managed to fit up a long passage as a drying room, with the assistance of some water pipes which the R.E.'s kindly dumped in the square in front of the house, and which we quietly appropriated during the night. This house proved of the greatest value, as the temporarily sick were employed in washing socks and hose tops, which were dried in this room, so that every night we were able to send up a supply of dry socks, etc., to the men in the line in exchange for their dirty wet ones. No doubt this rest had an excellent effect on the men's health, and saved many from having to go to hospital.
The transport were generally in lines about La Boiselle Crater. Sometimes those in the front line imagined that the transport had a "cushy" time. But one is rather apt to think that the "other man" has the best of a bargain. No doubt they did not suffer the casualties of front-line troops, but their hours were long and weary. By night they struggled up with the rations, etc., often through shell fire, their carts up to the axles in mud, and the mules sometimes being nearly drowned by falling into shell-holes, out of which it was a long and weary business to extricate them. During the day they had to clean and feed their animals and collect the rations from the "train." They thus were working practically night and day, in all weathers and during all hours. It was wonderful how the men and animals were able to carry on.
We left Contay with regret. This was the first place where we had seen any sort of civilian life for months; and we had just settled down and begun to make friends with the inhabitants when we had to move on. The Mayor came and expressed his regret that we were going away, and told us that the inhabitants had greatly appreciated the good conduct and kindness of the men. We marched to Moucheaux, via Beauval, Gazaincourt, Bouquemaison and Crosiette. Here we settled down once more to train, as we learned that we were to take part in a big attack. This attack was delayed, as it could not take place until the new railway line from Doullens to Arras was completed. We soon received orders that practically the whole of the Battalion was to move to Milly under Major Macleod, to form a working-party on the railway cutting there. The men thoroughly enjoyed this change of employment, which consisted of three shifts of eight hours each per 24 hours, digging at the cutting. There is nothing a soldier appreciates more than to know the number of hours he will be employed and how long he is going to get to himself. He hates being messed about. There was also an element of competition in the work, as the total earth excavated by each shift was duly recorded, and the rivalry between Battalions and "shifts" to reach highest out-put was very keen.