his bomb proof & he says he is going to give it up & become an S.B. The fourth division Sam section pull into our place. SEP 23 Pack up my kit ready for the long march we start to morrow. I slept in the dining hall & it was d- cold. Sunday SEP 24. Reveille 4.30 AM, breakfast 5. fall in 7. Statham is carrying my blanket & pants on his cart. We start at seven oclock Sunday morning on a three days march of forty one miles, carrying our full packs, overcoats & one blanket. this is to be the first part of our march to the Somme front, it was awfully hot & our packs seemed to be filled with lead before we got to the end of this part of the march. On Sunday we marched through Locre, Bailleul, Strazeele & reached Hazebrouck at 4.30 Very hot & tired, about 16 miles full pack the officers were all riding. I had no money with me on this trip & no water in my bottle the last five miles. (somebody
▸ Where was he?
▸ The war at this time
The march to the Somme
By late September 1916, the Somme battlefield the 4th Division was heading toward had already consumed the other three Canadian divisions. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions had been fighting there since early September, suffering over 7,000 casualties in the battle for Courcelette alone. The 4th Division, the youngest of the Canadian formations and only recently arrived in France, was the last to be committed. The roads south were clogged with columns of troops, ammunition wagons, and motor lorries all feeding the insatiable front. Traffic control points manned by military police regulated movement day and night, and units frequently had to halt and wait by the roadside for priority convoys to pass. On September 25-26, the British will launch attacks at Morval and Thiepval Ridge. The 18th (Eastern) Division will capture the fortified village of Thiepval, which has resisted since July 1, while Canadian forces engage nearby on the Somme front.
