Item 05: Walter Bruce Rainsford diary, 1 January-31 December 1918 - Page 122
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[Page 122]
visits in the neighbourhood of bomb-dropping taubes both nights, we had a quiet time, the weather being splendid. On the evening following our arrival several of us went for a tour of inspection over our own & Fritz's old front & support lines from where our chaps hopped off on the 8th. We saw very few unburned dead and all captured guns had been transported further back. There was plenty of German equipment, ammunition, trench stores etc. etc. lying about. Dead horses were very much in evidence & several winged planes. Our old front line is about two miles the other side of the village. Near Villers-Bretonneux we saw twelve of our big supply Tanks in a burnt & useless bunch with bombs, cartridges, wire, petrol tins etc. lying everywhere. One shell from Fritz did all this damage on the eve of the offensive.
We moved off at 5 o'clock yesterday evening through the villages of Marcelcave, Ignacourt, Cayeux