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[Page 49]
for, of course, Ribemont, Healey, Baizeaux, Warloy and the surrounding villages have always been without the range of shell fire. However, on Tuesday 23rd Jan, we had a dreary march through Warloy & Albert to Becourt camp, a distance of about ten miles, in a direct line to the front. Albert is a large town, and has suffered considerably from shellfire, although it was never occupied by the Germans. On the Cathedral tower is a huge statue of the virgin Mary, with the infant Christ held above her head, which has made the town famous. It has suffered a direct hit from a shell and has been deflected to an angle of about 120 degrees to the perpendicular. In this precarious position it remains visible for miles & miles from the surrounding country, and apparently defies the laws of gravitation. The French say, that when it finally breaks away the war will end, but somehow I think it would be better to allow the war to take its natural course.
Becourt is near Fricourt, of which I have written previously, and is just in front of the German front line of July 1st 1916, when the great Somme offensive began. Like Fricourt, Contal Maison, Becordel, Montaban and lots of other villages, as such it remains no longer. Not two unbroken bricks mark the site of the previous hamlet. The name seems a fallacy. We have to take the word of those here before us, that a village did ever exist. Their destruction is pathetically complete.
At 9am on Friday 26th Jan, 3 days later we were again on the move and marched some five miles to Bazentin-le-petit camp. The following day, in battle order, we moved from Bazentin to Reserves, a series of dugouts at a place of the name of Hexham Road, about