Item 01: Frank Hurley war diary, 21 August-28 October 1917 - Page 41
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[Page 41]
The weather promising favorable Wilkins & self went to Bailleul & visited the 11th Brigade 4th division Artillery. The roadways were crammed with artillery and transports. The former was partly made up of the 54th Battery Australian Artillery evidently migrating to another part of the line; these heavy 9.2 in howitzers were drawn by curious tractors which were impelled forward by an endless belt arrangement. [Sketch of tractor pulling gun inserted]
The bulk & unwieldiness of the equipage, & baggage that must be conveyed from one sector to another, when divisions change their positions, Is appalling & one simply looks & wonders how it is to be done. On the main roads there are frequently as many as three lines of traffic; troops, motor cycles, cars, ambulances, huge motor transports & an occasional rural. These vast masses & conveyances produce many glorious effects as they move along the cobbled road-