Occupied by the Reserve Battalion.
]
In the line we had six-day tours and daylight reliefs. There was no very
great excitement while we were getting to know the line. The enemy was,
on the whole, very quiet, and seemed quite reconciled to the loss of his
bit of high ground at Cologne Farm. On October 17 we side-slipped
northwards, and took over the extra bit of line previously referred to.
At the same time we had to give up our Battalion Headquarters at The
Egg, where we had just constructed a new mess, a deep dug-out, and many
shelters, and where we were getting comfortably settled. Was it not ever
thus? We only moved about 500 yards to the railway embankment, where
there were a few shelters known as the Leicester Lounge. By the railway
there was the remains of an old engine, popularly known as the “Leave
Train.” We started building hard again here, and made good quarters,
which we were fortunate enough to retain for the remainder of the
winter. On the 22nd we moved back to Vendelles for six days, our first
tour in Divisional Reserve.
The Battalion was housed in big Adrian huts, in rather a dilapidated
condition. The village, of course, was totally destroyed.
There was very little in the way of amusement for anyone in this
devastated country. Cinema shows, canteens, and concert huts were an
urgent necessity, and the building of these was being taken up by the
Division most energetically.
November 1917 was a month of changing fortunes, alarms, rumours, orders,
and counterorders.
[Illustration: