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[Page 135]
fair order considering. Corbie is pretty badly damaged, but not as bad as Fouilloy. I dont know how they will rebuild these towns as they are shattered right through the foundations. It is funny to see a building of wattle and daub that has been struck by a shell all the clay and plaster falls straight off leaving the frame standing, a ghost of a house. Corbie and Fouilloy were never closer than 4 kilos to Fritzs line, a striking testimony to the destructiveness of modern shellfire.
We used to swim in the Somme and it was great. The Somme is not a big river, about the size of the Lachlan river in NSW, but it is kept full by means of weirs and locks and the boats were plying up to Corbie carrying stuff for the miltary. I thought as I looked at them what a great boon it would be if our western rivers were locked, like these; for water carriage is cheaper than rail.
I had a look at the Abbey, at Corbie it was built I think in 1,300, and was not such a fine building, being in my opinion shoddily built. A shell had brought the northern side down and it was built of a hard caseing on the outside, the interior being filled up with a rubble mixture of mortar and stones. I also went to some concerts, as several concert parties were playing in the town. We had to do a tramp one day, "guarding a couple of prisoners," to a courtmartial at Lamotte Brebiere about 5 kilos away. These regular "clink" birds get on my nerves, every time you come out of the line it's the blessed same, no matter how tired one is, a guard has to be put on all night, around a barb wire fence or an old room to keep these goats from straying. Why don't they send them to Lewes or somewhere, and give them such a hot time, they'll be glad to soldier straight. A few nights Fritz dropped bombs in the town.
The 3rd divvy is attacking him still, as the ambulances coming