Up shortly after 6 o’clock. Had breakfast along with the men of the Bedfords who were in our hut. Fine bright morning but very cold. Bedfords1 went up the line to clear the battlefield and bury their dead. Left as orderly room sergeant all day and did very well. Went to bed about 9 o’clock.
The 7th Bedfords were in the 18th (Eastern) Division (54th Brigade) at the start of the Somme battle; the 18th Division had then been in the southern sector, attacking between Mametz and Montauban. ↩
Principal work all night dressing cases. Had over 40 cases in during the night. Got into bed about 9 o’clock, but had to get up to vomit and immediately afterwards Quarter<master> Castle ordered me to be ready to go with Corporal Chapman and the C.O. to take over a place. Went in the Ford†. Germans shelling shell heap. Wounded a man and our car took him back to Aveluy. As we waited on the road we watched a few shells fall near. Back over some huts at Martinsart1. Men of the 61st Naval Division came into the huts for the night. A few slept with us. I got down about 6 o’clock and slept well. Heard that Piggy Wood and Castle had received Military Medal.
Martinsart: presumably Mesnil-Martinsart (A), about 2½km from both Aveluy (B) and Bouzincourt (C), and 4½km N. of Brickfields (D); Michelin square H7. ↩
Up all night. Tom Morgan brought in with his right leg blown off at the thigh. Received word that he had died about 7 o’clock at night. Saw some ugly sights during the night. Slept all day. Went on duty at 8 o’clock at night. Busy all night.
Slept most of the night. Out on the horse ambulance in the afternoon and rather late in getting back. Went on duty at 8 o’clock. Busy night.
Got a few hours’ sleep during the night. Up all morning stretcher bearing at the dressing station. Went out with two horse ambulances in the afternoon to Buzincourt1. Found things pretty slack when I returned. Saw a lot of ambulances with wounded on the road. Treated about 70 cases at our station.
Our Division over the top. Naval Division captured Beaumont Hamel, Beaucourt & St Pierre Divion2 and over 5000 prisoners.
Bouzincourt (A) again; ALL would have started this journey at Brickfields (B) as usual. ↩
Beaumont-Hamel (C) is about 7km due N. of Aveluy, ie to the NW of the Albert – Bapaume road; Michelin square H7. “Beaucourt” is written in extremely faint pencil, and could be “Beaumont”, but Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre (D) (Michelin square I7) is just 3km E. of B.Hamel and seems more likely; Saint Pierre Divion (E) (also square I7) is about 3km S. of Beaucourt, thus only 4 –5km N. of Aveluy. ↩
Not much to do all night. Slept most of the day. Orders to be ready for the charge in the morning.
Kept up most of the night through odd cases coming in. Slept most of the day. Out with ambulance in the afternoon.
Up at 6 o’clock. Cleaned up place, shaved and went off duty at 8 o’clock. Slept most of the day. Duggins not well. On duty at 8 o’clock at night. Germans counter-attacked in the morning. Our guns smashed them up. News that the Germans have been driven back 12 miles by the Roumanians, that the Russians and Italians have advanced and that the French have captured some forts at Verdun. Rumours of air raid at London.
Up shortly after 6 o’clock. One case in before 8 o’clock. Went off duty at 8 o’clock. Slept all morning. Went with ambulance waggon after dinner and collected 10 sick men from the Loyal North Lancs1 and took them to Buzincourt 2 (59). Returned home in time for tea. On duty at 4 o’clock. 4 men in at different times during the night. Pretty rough night with aeroplanes bomb dropping and shelling and anti-aircraft guns. We slept in the tube3 but were called up every few minutes and had bad night. One man was dead when received here. Didn’t see him.
The 7th Loyal North Lancs were in 56th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division. ↩
Buzincourt: Bouzincourt (A), 3km WNW of the Brickfields camp (B); Michelin square H7. “(59)” presumably means a 59th Field Ambulance station. ↩
“tube”: the shorthand looks like “tube”, but I don’t know what the tube would have been. ↩
Up about 7.30. Played football a good bit. Helped Billington in the morning. Received orders at dinner to pack up and go to Aveluy 1 on the ration cart after dinner. Wet day with occasional rays of sunshine. Put on night duty in the dressing tent. Slept in the tent. Nothing to do all night.
Aveluy: The same Aveluy (A) as mentioned for the first time on 2 November (spelled “Aveloy” on that occasion), not far from Brickfields (B). ↩