patients to C.C.S Thursday Jan 25 Issued with skeleton packs, web packs etc. Iron rations etc ready for the line. Leave Grand Servins at 4 P.M & carry up full pack, we march to Ablain St Nazaire with A section to take over the A.D.S. & the line. Greer in charge, Got to Ablain at 7. PM. Seven squads of us Duncan (in charge) Killjoy. Kent Norman Morris &. Duncan taken out for A & D work & Shell-shock Walton put in. Killjoy put in charge. Put into No 2 dugout a good dugout, but No 2 squad grabs it when we go into the line that night & we go up the line with no dug out to return to. We get some supper We have to go into the line at this point after dark as the whole way is under direct observation, we go by Ablain church, thro Souchez wood, over the duck walk into the trench at the foot of the ridge, we enter
▸ Where was he?
▸ The war at this time
The Hindenburg Line
German commanders are preparing a strategic withdrawal. The Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung), a new defensive position 25 miles behind the current front, is nearing completion. It is shorter, stronger, and designed to be held with fewer troops. The withdrawal, codenamed Operation Alberich, will begin in February. The Germans will devastate the abandoned territory: destroying villages, poisoning wells, felling trees, mining roads. The Allies will advance into a wasteland, their spring offensives disrupted before they begin.
