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[Page 15]
seldom made their unwelcome visits. Work could therefore be carried out much easier & with less strain than before. Trenches leading to the front system were first taken in hand & put in good repair – duckwalk construction – screens put up to0 hide movement – trench tramways maintained – and as these works were cleared up more & more attention was given to the main roads in the forward areas. A saw mill plant was run at [Luidenhoek?] where a large quantity of timber was cut for the division. The battalion too was excellently quartered & a fair amount of respite was given. The conditions were therefore good & contrasted very much with what the Battalion had experienced the previous year on the Somme. On Dec 15th the whole unit moved with the rest of the Divn for a thorough rest to Hesdigneul; a small village 8 miles south of Boulogne, on the main railway line. Here liberal leave to Boulogne was available & everyone led a life of comparative ease. An excellent Xmas was [indecipherable] spent & the battalion band, which had only recently been formed, began to make its presence heard.
At the end of January the battalion returned to its old camps in the Messines area & returned to former tasks. By the middle of February most of the March the whole of the roads in the neighbourhood of Messines which had previously been impassable were open for traffic & were much made use of. A large number of entrenched strong posts were built & miles of barbed wire constructed. Early in March however the enemy shelling became more active & on March 21st the storm burst further south which closed for the battalion activities in this sector. Orders were received on that day to withdraw all detached parties & to have everyone in readiness for any emergency. On March 26th the Battalion moved to Reninghelst on the first stage of its journey to the scene of the German attack.