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[Page 20]
to Belloy-en-Santerre was made on that day & to Flaucourt on day following. The main roads were still maintained & in addition a large quantity of light bridging material was carried forward for the field Coys – this latter was a particularly nasty job as all the river approaches were heavily shelled, but in spite of this several wagon loads of material were delivered at the bridge sites each evening. On the capture of Peronne on Sept 1st everyone was concentrated on load & bridge work, roads were the main road thro' Peronne was cleared on the day of its capture, mine craters were filled, debris cleared, bridges & approaches generally cleaned up & put in order.
By Sept 7th the infantry had advanced 7 or 8 miles beyond the Somme and the extent of new road that this entailed can well be imagined. The quarters of both Coys & Battalion H.Q. were changed continuously. On the 9th Sept a move back to Peronne for a spell was ordered but the first few days of this were fully occupied in building & repairing huts for the infantry. This included a large hall for the Divisional Concert party which was christened the "Pioneers Palladium Palace".
On Sept 24th orders were received on an operation to be carried out against the Hindenburg Line, thro' Bellicourt & beyond – two Coys were allotted each road, & a platoon of U.S. Engineers being attached each Coy. Battalion H.Q. were established in a large quarry near Hargicourt on 27th. The assembly was successfully carried out & all men were at work on their jobs shortly after zero. At Bellicourt A heavy ground mist made it extremely difficult to know what was going on & on approaching Bellicourt, the battalion found itself among