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[Page 32]
ing Station at Heilly. Spent another night there and then went on to No. 4 General Hospital at Camiers arriving there that night Jan 1st [1917] thus starting the New Year in a nice comfortable bed.
Well Mums that is about all that's in last year's diary. There is a lot of detail left out but if I told you everything now I wouldn't have anything left to tell you when I get home. So I'll close now Love to all
from your son
Roy
[Transcriber's notes:
Albert the scene of much fighting, is 10kms E of Warloy-Baillon.
Arques is about 10kms WNW of Lynde.
Arqueuves is probably Arqueves which is 25kms NNE of Amiens.
The Ascania – built in 1911, there was accommodation for 200 1st class and 1500 3rd class passengers. She was wrecked in 1918.
Australia Hill would now be near the centre of Gaza City. Arnold may be referring to another Australia Hill as this seems too far away from the Suez Canal.
Becordel is Becordel-Becourt, about 2kms SE of Amiens.
Bois Grenier is about 5kms S of Erquinghem-Lys. There is no bush there now.
Camiers is about 7kms N of Etaples (a major hospital base) and 25 kms S of Boulogne-sur-Mer on the west coast of France.
Cardonette is back towards Amiens and is about 5kms NE of the town. So Arnold has marched from Amiens to Arqueves and the Battalion is pretty much back it started from.
Chapelle d'Armentieres is a district about 1km S of Armentieres on the French/Belgian border and bordering on Erquinghem.
Contalmaison to Pozieres – Arnold would have marched 3kms E of La Boiselle to Contalmaison, turned left and marched 2kms N to Pozieres.
Dernancourt is about 10kms E of Franvillers and 1km S of Albert.
Edmonton Hospital is in North London.
Erquinghem is Erquinghem-Lys about 18kms ESE of Outtersteene.
Franvillers is about 15km E of Cardonette.
Fricourt is about 8kms NE of Dernancourt and 2kms E of Albert.
Hurdles as used in trenches were a form of reinforcement to prevent trench walls from falling in.
Ismail is Ismailia which is on the Suez Canal ENE of Cairo.
Lord Kitchener - Kitchener was a British military leader and statesman who, as secretary of state for war in the first years of WW1, organised armies on an unprecedented scale. He was also depicted on the most famous British army recruitment poster ever produced. He drowned on 5 June 1916 when his ship, HMS Hampshire was sunk by a German mine off the Orkneys.
La Boisselle is about 5kms NE of Amiens. The crater called the Lochnagar crater, is still visible about 400 metres S of the village.
Lemnos is a Greek island of the coast of Turkey.
Longueau is about 150 kms S of Arques, on the eastern outskirts of Amiens.
Longueval is about 40kms S of Arras and the nearby woods (Bois Delville) was the scene of a terrible battle from 15 July 1916 to 3 September 1916, in which South African troops primarily, suffered horrific casualties in attacking the Germans and being repulsed. The woods were eventually taken. The Delville Wood cemetery contains some 5,500 graves.
Lynde is about 20kms W of Strazeele and 10kms W of Hazebrouck.
Mametz is four kms E of Becordel.
Moascar is about 5kms west of Ismalia. Now not shown on maps but the Maoscar military cemetery is there.
Outtersteene is about 20kms NE of Thiennes and about 10kms E of Hazebrouck.
Perham Down – (not Perham Downs) was the location of an army barracks 1km E of the military town of Tidworth. It is on the Salisbury Plain on the border of Wiltshire and Hampshire.
Pommiers – Arnold is probably referring to Pommier which is about 10km SW of Arras. The towns called Pommiers are all too far away from the battle front.
Ribemont is about 60kms ESE of Albert, so Arnold had gone about 10kms W to Albert and then 60kms to Ribemont.
Rollestone is about 20km W of Perham Down.
Rubempre is about 10kms NNE of Cardonette. So the battalion is marching half the way towards Arqueves again.
Sap – a sap is another word for a communication trench which is a trench that runs from the rear into the front line trenches and is used for troop movements and to bring supplies to the front line.
Steenvoorde is on the French/Belgian border about 7kms N of Hazebrouck and 5kms W of Poperinge.
Stokes mortar – The Stokes mortar was a simple weapon, consisting of a metal tube fixed to a base plate. When a mortar bomb was dropped into the tube, a firing cap in the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube, and detonate, firing the bomb towards the target
Strazeele is about 20kms WNW of Erquinghem and about 5kms E of Hazebrouck.
Tel-el-Kebir is 110 kms NNE of Cairo and 75kms S of Port Said on the edge of the Egyptian Desert. During the Gallipoli landings and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of WW, Tel el Kebir was a training centre for the AIF, a hospital camp and a large POW camp. Some 40,000 Australians camped in a small tent city at Tel-el-Kebir of six miles in length.
Thiennes is about 230 kms N of Paris and about 15kms SW of Hazebrouck.
Trones Wood or Bois des Troncs, is a triangular forest about 1km S of Longueval.
Warloy-Baillon is about 10kms E of Rubempre]
[Transcribed by Miles Harvey for the State Library of New South Wales]