We have now been exactly one week on the other side of the Channel,
and the time has passed so quickly that it seems much shorter than
that.... We are staying in a little village not many miles to the
south-west of a fair-sized town.[1] The village was at one time
occupied by the Germans, and there is evidence of them in abundance.
Great numbers of the inhabitants have left their homes and gone
elsewhere. Some of them have taken their belongings with them and
left their houses empty, and others have gone hurriedly and left
everything. The troops are allowed to billet in these empty houses,
and, in the case of the full ones, notices have been posted up on the
doors forbidding any soldier to enter (except by order of an Officer
during the course of an action) on pain of being charged with
looting.... The Germans dropped a few shells on this village to-day,
and some of them exploded near us, and fragments were picked up with
considerable interest. Some of our officers have been up to the
trenches to see what things are like. The trenches are about a mile
away from our billets, and on this portion of the line there happens
to be good cover to screen the approach of troops from the enemy's
observation, so that one can go from here right to the trenches in
the day time. At other portions of the line this is only possible
after darkness has fallen.... I shall probably go to-morrow to see
what my duties will be when the Battalion takes its tour of duty in
them. The Battalion goes on duty in the trenches for six days at a
time, but each half Battalion is relieved by the other half after
three days' duty. Then at the end of the six days I believe we go a
good deal further back and rest for some days. My transport are all
in a field about a mile further back than this, and I go there in the
early morning before breakfast to see to them, and return here for
meals.
[1] Armentières.