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[Page 25]
June 1916 & July
off we were told about the death of Lord Kitchener which was a blow to all the troops. When settled down in our new billet I was detailed off for Company orderly work. On the night of the 23rd we relieved the 1st Battalion in the firing line. Just a dusk on the 26th we saw one of our aeroplanes set fire to three enemy ballons on our extreme left & was a great sight to see the big flames in midair. During our stay in the trenches it consisted of series of bombardment with artillery & trench mortars which was always opened by our men & Fritz always retaliate & our company suffered very heavily. We were relieved by the 45th Battalion on the night of 4th of July & marched back to our billet which was in the centre of Sailly & while there I had a look round some of the old ruins & we had a rest & a few route marches & it was while on one of them we passed through the town of Estaires on the 8th & it is a fine big place with some fine big buildings. Our next move was on the 9th & we marched to Merris & passed through Outerstiene en route & billeted there th till the following night when we left for Bialleul which is another fine place & entrained at 3 am on the 11th. Our train ride lasted seven hours & disentrained at Fienvillers & had an hours spell for it was impossible to sleep while in the train for we were packed in fairly tight & my section was put on train piquet-during the trip