This page has already been transcribed. You can find new pages to transcribe here.

Transcription

[Page 326]

with the chance of getting into one or two little shops by waiting in a queue for at least half an hour.

The stock in these shops would soon be sold out so that quite a lot of men would have their wait for nothing. Was it surprising that all the men with any money at all in their pockets, took not the slightest notice of the "out of bounds restriction" & proceeded where they liked, some even by getting into motor lorries, going as far as the nearest large city (Amiens) 6 miles away.

Instead of all this continuous drill & restricting the men to places where it was impossible to live excepting like a lot of pigs, had they been treated just like ordinary men, allowed to have all the bodily rest, and as much pleasure as the places could afford, they would have respected their officers instead of always viewing them as oppressors the necessary work would have been done voluntary, the behaviour of the men much better, & drunkeness less noticeable

For if such a state of conditions did exist under one officer for whom it was a pleasure to work, although perhaps considered the hardest diciplinarian in the Battalion, why not under another? The only explanation apparent is that some officers gain experience how to handle & know men, while others, failing this experience, knowing they have every advantage on their side, just try to force their views on unwilling men & not only do not get half the work done, but make their names so hateful that threats are continually being made, that a squaring of accounts will certainly take place, if both are lucky to get through the war alright.

To the sentry the condition of affairs was such that he made a declaration, that he would never again go back into billets under the same O/C & by volunteering for

Current Status: 
Completed