whizz-bangs at us, The 48th boys are lying 9 deep waiting to be dressed, a bad job & mostly on Work 64 hours on this trip, & get fetched back to Tara Hill for a forty-eight hours rest at 8.30 on Monday Nov 20. No grub for us at Tara Hall, 36 of us left with the 13 Can F.A. but no grub for us. Patient ahead of us got killed on this trip in, between Tara R & Bapaume R. go to bed to try & sleep. Bill Healy & Tony Martin come into our tent. Wallace [?Jim] & Joe Heck return played out & bring word poor old Seume has been killed in the orchard whilst doing a trip with the 11th to obtain his haversack that he had left in the chateau. Bill Healy & Tony go up to the line Tuesday Nov 21st up 4 AM & clean up. Write to Belle & got it thro 1st censors, & squads to go up sleep in afternoon - Wed Nov 22 Called at 4 AM. go up to McInorville not very busy stay two nights & two days. A party of 12 men of the 38th batt go out on salvage
▸ Where was he?
▸ The war at this time
Aftermath of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme is over but the cost is still being counted. Many battalions are reduced to a fraction of their strength, some to 150-200 men from an original complement of 1,000. The survivors are exhausted, traumatized, and relieved to be leaving. The Western Front settles into winter routine. Large-scale offensives are impossible until spring. Both sides dig in, repair trenches, and rotate depleted units out of the line. The strategic situation has barely changed, but the armies that will fight in 1917 have been transformed by the experience.
