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[Page 23]
we had to cross over 100 yards of open ground the trench between the 2 Btns was blown in and the Huns did play there guns on it. And we would go for a few yards and fall down in a shell hole or down behind a dead body on the 3/1/17 C Coy was releived by A Coy then about 20 of us was sent about 2 miles back to carry duckboard for the engineers while they looked on the 4/12/17 old Fritze found the range of our support trenchs and he did put some shells over us. Wounded about 20 of the Btn Bob Creasy and Charlie Jennings was in there dugout and a shell bust in front of there dugout they had a table knife stuck in the roof and a peace of shell hit it and broke it in half if they had been sitting up they would certainly have been hit. On the 7/1/17 we was releived by the 45 Btn at 5 P.M. then we marched to Bazentine. We had 23 wounded and 9 killed while in the line at Guirdicourt [Gueudecourt]. We left Bazentine by train for Meaulte then marched to Ribemont. We stayed at Ribemont till the 13/1/17 when we went to Baizaiux camp where we lived in tents and done drill till the 23/1/17 when we marched to Becourt through Albert. Stayed there till the 27/1/17 when we marched through to Contalmaison to the front line at a place called Yarra Bank where we releived the 5th Yorkshire btn and the Saxon troops was our opponents and the place was that quite that we called the place Neutral Bay. This is the place where we through bully beef over to them and they told us when they was getting releived by the Prussian Gaurds.
We was releived by the 3rd Btn and we marched back to No. 5 Camp at Bazintine on the 31/1/17. And on the 4/2/17 I with a lot more volunteered for a raiding party there was 61 of us in this party and we stayed behind to train for the raid while the Btn went back to the line and 7/2/17 we got orders to join our respective boys in the line. And while we were in it was not to bad only very cold the mud had all frozen. And on the 12/2/17 we was releived by the 11 Btn at 8P.M. then we had to march 8 miles to Fricourt where we stayed till the 16/2/17 when we marched through Albert to a little village called Bresle where we done some very heavy training. D Coy had a very bad accident while going through bombing exice a man named Dwyer while throwing a live bomb it exploded just at it had left his hand killing him and wounding two Officers named Dingle and Scales and 7 Privates. Left Bresle on the 22/2/17 for Fricourt where we stayed till 27/2/17 when we packed up and marched up to Eaucourt Abbey in support to the 4th Btn. While we were here we were carrying rations and and such like to the front line. And we left there on the 7/3/17 for No.2 Camp Bazintine stayed there for the night then we went on to Fricourt Farm on the 8/3/17. And we stayed here till the 22/3/17 when we went back to Ribemont through Albert and Becourt and on the 3/4/17 we left Ribemont for Montauban and we went through Buiere [Buire], Durnancourt, Meaulte, Becordel, Fricourt, and Marmetze [Mametz] and stayed at Adelaiche camp on the 4/4/17 we moved on again. Went through Carnoy, Longeuvale [Longueval] Gillimont [Guillemont] Geurdicourt [Gueudecourt] Boulancourt [Beaulencourt] , Villers Au Floss. We had a very heavy day for it was raining and snowing all day and the roads was very bad and we done about 13 miles and we camped that night in some German dugouts on the side of the road between Bapaume and Perroue and on the 5/4/17 we went on the Happlincourt where we stayed till 5.30 P.M. And then we started for the front