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[Page 9]
Vaulx-Vraucourt. On 20th April the Divisional was relieved including the Pioneers who were sent back to repair the road thro' Flers over which the Divisional Transport had to pass. This was done & on the afternoon of April 21st the battalion moved to the hutted camp near Bernafay Wood after exactly 6 months continuous work on the Somme in the Corps Area, most of which was at or near the front line. During this time the battalion suffered the following casualties
Killed 1 officer 44 other ranks
Wounded 2 officers 98 other ranks
IV Summer 1917
After one day only at Bernafay a move was made to a comfortable camp at Fricourt. Here a small amount of training was carried out but attention was chiefly devoted to sport. Football & athletics were the order of the day, a fine [boxing?] stadium was built & a ground prepared for a Divisional Horse Show near Albert. The Battalion also constructed its own rifle range. However all these preparations were cut short by a sudden order to move to the front once again, & on May 9th the men were conveyed by Light railway to Bapaume, marching on to a camp near Vaulx.
Here D Coy were heavily shelled, one of their tents receiving a direct hit. The Battalion casualties that day were the heaviest then recorded, 12 men being killed & 23 wounded. The camps were immediately moved to better positions. The stay in this sector lasted a fortnight only but during that time the Battalion constructed a trench tramway from Vaulx to 600 yds beyond Noreuil besides carrying forward 8000 yds of rail for further extensions; 5 deep dugouts were built near battery positions for shelter for the gun crews; 2 communication trenches running to the Hindenburgh line were maintained & a large quantity of mining timber man handled from Noreuil to the Hindenburgh Line.
On 24th May move was made to the villages of Thilloy & Ligny Thilloy just behind Bapaume. While specialist training such as bombing, signalling, Lewis Guns &c was indulged here, the main body of the Battalion was ordered to dig trenches defences for the villages of Baucourt & Reincourt. These were completed by June 12th. The internal organisation of the Battalion was improved at this time by