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[Page 59]
4/5/16
Erquinghem & near La Chappelle D'Armentieres
Revielle 2.45am and while still in bed my batman brought me a hot dish of liver & steak and tea and bread. Moved off at blush of dawn 3.55 and drew shovels at the usual place. Across country to our task at the halfway house and all hands got to work with pick and shovels doing improvements and drainage, deepening and making dugouts.
Went over to Rue Fleurie & Rue Alec with Britwistle ("Age" reporter) as my orderly and went over the trenches there sketching and deciding upon alterations to be made. Peeping out of a brasserie hereabouts among ruined brickwork is the wicked muzzle of a 4.7. The distance to firing line is about 2000' and canvas screens are much used being painted to resemble trees and buildings. Some shrapnel shells landed round.
About 7 returned across the fields skirting Armentiers where civilians were busy on trench digging. Across fields of shooting corn peas &c and sat down for a while watching our antiaircft gun potting at a Taube. A big gun was firing very heavy long range shells well over. The report could be heard and then 40 seconds after the shell explosion. Why do big shells hurtling through the air seem to go in spurts. Anyway the sound of their progress as it reaches us consists of distinct jerks,
It was a very pleasant morning & good to listen to the circling skylarks. About 7am a pretty stiff bombardment was in progress into the city. There was a large sick parade today but those men I had out did good work. Before we left at midday, all was concealed by spreading cut grass over the newly turned earth.
Beached here for lunch at 1 and afterwards all turned in for a sleep. The number of details of our Coy. are extraordinary. With sigs, scouts, m.guns, bombers, cooks, sick orderlies, guard &c out of 221 men only 136 are available for parade. All wear steel helmets at work all day and the weight on the head is considerable. Wearing one continuously for 8 hours today has given me a pain in the neck.
The quality of the draughthorses and the cows we see here is excellent. The cattle are hand fed in stalls and well groomed. In a field today saw men threshing wheat with heavy wooden flails worked dexterously by a turn of the wrist. Also saw two large hares running along lush green grass and trees here. One throws oneself down on a sward of grass 4 to 5 inches high scattered thick with buttercups and other wild flowers some of which we cultivate in our gardens.
English, Australian mail to hand today. The only biscuits obtainable here are Petit Beure and cake is a rare commodity in La France.
New scheme for work tomorrow doing it by half companies 7-1, 8pm-2am. Spent part of the evening and afternoon construing the vivacious [indecipherable] of "la vie Pariesiene". Those returning from Armentiers have great collections of art studies sold with rare descriptive talk by the shop girls there.