Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 114
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[Page 114]
Tronville. So as soon as it was dark we set out and oh it was a beast, Blanchy is 5 kilos back and it had rained intermitently the week before. We tramped and tramped over the greasy sticky mud and fell down oh, I don't know how many shellholes it seemed millions. We cursed the war and Fritz the shellholes our officers as goats and the heads of the british army. When we reached Blanchy we were dead beat I was so tired I hardly know how I reached it. This is nothing to Flers so the old hands say; there men fell down wounded in the mud and smothered, stretcher bearers could not work, big men came out of the line sobbing, yes I can guess what it was like then this is merely surface mud after a few showers.
The Somme mud is not so very sticky but terribly slippy one has a job to stand on ones feet it is just like soap. We camped in trenches near the railway out for a few days spell. We were taken one day in Motars, through Amiens to a place between I think Neuville St Vaast and Vignacourt. Here there was a tank training ground, of about 20 acres or so full of artificial bomb holes. And stunts were practised, going over the top with tanks. When we arrived the 53 Batt was going over the top with tanks an armoured car, a supply ofÂ