Move to Reserve trenches - "Buzzards".
Bivvy shared with Bradley.
Night work carrying wire to the front line.
Ration fatigue.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
The source of the material from which this journal has been compiled is a small pocket diary in which brief entries were made daily throughout the writer’s short spell on active service in the British Army in 1917. The events and incidents, both trivial and tragic, and the names of those who shared in the writer's experiences are authentic.
16th June 1917
The day passed quietly. In the reserve trenches there was ample opportunity to survey and actually investigate the immediate surroundings. Every ration fatigue was a welcome break since the rendezvous with the supply column brought one to the outskirts of the ruins of Wancourt where the Battalion suffered grievous losses during the Easter fighting. The nights fatigue entailed the manhandling through the narrow and winding trenches, at the cost of considerable laceration of the flesh, those cumbersome contraptions of heavy timber and barbed wire known as ‘knife rests’. These were dumped in the shellholes of no mans land with the pious hope that one day Jerry might encounter them under less favourable conditions.
Move to Reserve trenches - "Buzzards".
Bivvy shared with Bradley.
Night work carrying wire to the front line.
Ration fatigue.
Move to Reserve trenches - "Buzzards".
Bivvy shared with Bradley.
Night work carrying wire to the front line.
Ration fatigue.