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[Page 86]
Monday April 10th
Revellie 7am: frost: breakfast: fell in & told a bit about the trenches: heard that Cpl Ikin & a couple of others had been wounded: dinner: had a good "chat": there is a big mill close by here & it bears signs of a fair few hits by shrapnel: plenty of aero's bombarded during the day: some of the pellets fell on our hut: heavy shells were bursting on our right: tea: court martial on dopey hill as to whether he was "chatty": found guilty & sentenced to a wash: seven observation balloons were up at 5pm all round the horse shoe: counted over 130 shells fired at one of our aero's but he got through: fell in 6pm & were marched off to the trenches: a big place in the village was on fire as we left: marched through the village singing & whistling then "silence": broke into platoons then sections in single file: passed through a village with every house either blown down or damaged: entered the communication sap & after a long walk along it (about 2 miles) reached the front trenches: bullets whistled overhead as we came down the sap : Relieved the Tyneside Irish (Northumberland Fusiliers) at 10pm: the firing line is built up instead of a trench on account of the water:
Tuesday April 11th
on guard over our traverse 1am & my first look over the parapet at a real trench: Lock: Bert: Mick & myself holding this traverse:fired occasionally to make them keep in the trench: about 300 yards between the trenches: tucker good: rained all day & a little sleet: tea: Sault Cropp Jeffries & myself sent to Btln, Q.M. for coke & wood fatigue: the trenches were awful, all mud & water: wood paths are in all the trenches but are very slippery: had to hurry past "Hell's Corner" plenty of bulletts: got lost