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[Page 40]
sending rider & drivers head long into the mud, After a struggle the men would right the horses & if the wagon could be extricated the limber cart would be unlimbered & the horses struggle away leaving the derelict settling down in the quagmire. Other teams would rush on behind & by lucky chance may fight their way through. Thus the ceaseless procession went on.
Rain cleared off on the night of the 26th & there was in consequence great aerial & artillery activity. However the wind changing again brought up cold wind rain.
Sunday 29th we received orders to move to the line & in consequence set off at 8.30. Rain still continued to fall & by the time we reached Delville Wood we were in a soaked condition. Here we bivoauced for a couple of hours building shelter & lighting fires. At about 4 P.M. we moved down the road to Fleurs passing en route numerous howitzer batteries on the edge of the wood. The road was heavy with mud & progress necessarily slow. Here & there broken or disabled transport wagons lay foundering in the slush by the road side, while in places mules & horses struggled in hidden craters.
At dusk after an exhausting march we reached the sunken road near Fleurs. Passing into a communications trench it was soon evident that we were lost – as usual, so that a halt was called. Near by this place lay the ruins of one of the tanks – Having evidently been disabled