Category Archives: 1916

All diary entries written in 1916.

30 November 1916; Thursday

November 1916, , , ,

Up at 7. Parade at 7.25 for a double1. Hard work. Parade 9.15 for physical drill and afterwards short route march. Off in the afternoon. Walked into Doullens with Holman. Had 2 eggs for tea. Bought tea cosy for Mother. Heard of Air Raid and 2 Zeppelins brought down. One near Durham2.

  1. “Double”, if correct, would mean “double march”, ie a run; there appear to have been sporadic attempts to improve the men’s fitness when not in the line. ↩

  2. The Zeppelin brought down “near Durham” may have been L34, shot down near Hartlepool, about 20 miles from Durham, on 27 November by Second Lieutenant I. V. Pyott, flying a B.E. 2C aircraft of C flight 36 Squadron based at Seaton Carew aerodrome. ↩

27 November 1916; Monday

November 1916, ,

Up about 7 o’clock. Marched off 9.30 full pack. Kept fine. Passed a large aerodrome and watched aeroplanes rising and alighting. Arrived Hem1 about 2 o’clock. Had dinner in a barn and then were shown our billets. Doullens 3 miles off. Pretty tired and fed up.

  1. Hem: presumably Hem-Hardinval (B), 17km NE of Domart-en-Ponthieu (A) and 4km due W. of Doullens; Michelin square E7. ↩

26 November 1916; Sunday

November 1916, , , ,

Up shortly after 7 o’clock. Had breakfast. Received letter from Mother and wrote reply. Dim rainy morning. Received orders first thing after dinner to march off again. Arrived Domart1 shortly after 5 o’clock. Quite a trek. Got shoved into a poor billet but managed to sleep well along with Ben Jenkins in the top of the steps. A lot of trouble about blankets.

  1. Domart: Domart-en-Ponthieu (A), 7km W. of Canaples (B); Michelin square E7. ↩

25 November 1916; Saturday

November 1916, ,

Up at 7 o’clock and went on guard for an hour. Had breakfast in ambulance waggon. Marched off at about 11.30. I was brake man on a G.S. waggon but had my pack carried for me. Arrived at Canaples1 at about 2.30. Billeted in an old château. Right upstairs in the loft. Rained heavily in the night. Got good night’s sleep.

  1. Canaples (A): 10km SW. of Beauval (B), 14km SSW. of Doullens; Michelin square F7. ↩

24 November 1916; Friday

November 1916, ,

Up at 6 o’clock. Marched off 7.30. Marched about 15 miles. Rain †fell in our journey† but only slightly. Arrived at Beaval1 about 3 o’clock. Rested for an hour and had tea on the roadside. Very hilly march. Marched fast and had few rests. Billeted in a decent place. I was to be on guard and did from 7 to 11 o’clock. Got into bed about 11.30. Received parcel from home.

  1. Beaval: probably Beauval (A), on the N25, 5km S. of Doullens, some 17km from Warloy-Baillon (B) as the crow flies; Michelin square F7/G7. ↩

23 November 1916; Thursday

November 1916, , ,

Up at 6 o’clock. Went off to Gap station along with Corporal Chapman to strike tents. Didn’t get away until nearly dinner time. Hurried back to Aveluy post and had no time for dinner. Marched off about 11.30 and arrived at Warloy1 at about 4 o’clock. Messed about looking for billets and finally settled on some emergency tents. Had pretty good night, 9 in the tent.

  1. Warloy: presumably Warloy-Baillon (A), 9km due W. of Brickfields/Albert (B); Michelin square H7. ↩