Taylor war diary, 16 January 1916-22 July 1919 / Tom Taylor - Page 51
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[Page 51]
Somme, and when on the 12th of Oct the advance guard of the New Zealanders came in we knew things were not far wrong. On the 14th of October we were releived by the main body of New Zealanders and went back to Strazelle where we were to reorganise & take more reinforcements to bring us up to strength.
It was while at Strazelle that we voted on the first conscription Issue & what I voted was what the rest voted as we knew Australia was free when we left & we were going to keep it free.
The day after going into billets here we received word of where we were going & what was on the books when we got there. We were going down to Somme to participate in a big attack or "Stunt" very shortly, and as we had heard from the N.Zs. it was no picnic, we just had to prepare for the worst.
On the 18th of October we left Strazelle marching by road to Bailleul, where we once more boarded the train