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[Page 14]
Been, where all my good mates of Egypt & Gallipoli days were. I hope to Goodness the transfer can be fixed up. At 8 p.m. we fell in to march up the line. It is awful to be going up so shorthanded. We are not even up to half strength. The 14th Battalion went past while we were setting down, & no one could imaging a more tired, fed-up crowd. They were less in number than we were, & that says enough. There are some hard doers in the A.I.F. alright. Some chaps in addition to their heavy gear were carrying a shovel, & one of our coves said "Are you going digging mate?" In a disgusted voice the 14th Battalion chap said "Our apes would make you carry one of these to Paris on leave." There were two officers just in front of him as he called it out. It was a long tramp up to the line. We passed numbers of dead horses, which "ponged" terribly. The traffic on the road a mile or two from the line was thick. Troops – Australian & Yanks – were going both ways & supplies galore on limbers. If Fritz could have seen it, he'd have put some shells there & done some damage. We eventually reached our front line at 11 p.m. & the 9th Battalion went out. We were lucky to get in without being shelled, as he was dropping them at our part of the ground right up to the time we had to pass that very spot – the luck of war, eh! He shelled a wood to the right of us very heavily in the night, & has