winter time, we got thro OK. Monday Oct 2nd Rained all day. getting mail from Bill outside tent when I fell head over tip into the mud. Wrote Belle & Emmie, Tuesday OCT 3 No physical drill, still raining, put our packs into a loft over stables of chateau, struck camp about 10 AM. still wet & muddy. dinner 11.30 AM. Percy & I have a rare old scrap. Put my breeches on & ditch my slacks. Fall in at one PM. Parade ground very muddy left Eperleque on our final stage of the march to the Somme. Clears up a little, have supper on the road side near St Omer & reach Arques about 8 PM. Sang all the way, lead off with quite a few of Belles favourites. & feel good in consequence. got dark early, stayed on square at Arques until 11.30, got caught by Nick & his flash light when I was beating it to get some eats. Dent gets by him. Slept on depot from 11.00 PM to mid-night, then entrained pulled out in a cattle truck at 12.30 arriving at Fienvillers-Candas at 1 PM the next day Wed. OCT 4
▸ Where was he?
▸ The war at this time
The Somme in autumn
The Battle of the Somme enters its fourth month. Over 300,000 British and over 100,000 French casualties so far, for an advance of about three miles at the deepest point. German losses are comparable. The offensive will continue until November, with diminishing returns as the weather worsens. Reinforcements move up by train in the infamous '40 hommes ou 8 chevaux' cattle trucks (wagons designed for 40 men or 8 horses). The journey from the Channel ports to the Somme takes 12-24 hours, cramped and uncomfortable.
