Diary Entry - 21st July, 1916

Reveille at four am. I meant to have some stables before water and feed, but the men thought they were on a picnic and their NCOs seem to have no control over them, so I had to let them carry on and wait till the evening. It soon became very warm and, as the wind was on our backs, the dust made travelling rather unpleasant. Saint Pol was passed at seven forty-five, we having moved off at six thirty-five and a halt was made just above the town. The next town of note was Frevent, some four kilometres march, but we plugged along, eventually getting there about eleven a.m. On arrival I went in search of water and eventually found a very good place in a wide street, so we gave them a good fill, then moved out of the town for water. A good hour gave the convoy a much needed rest and, after addressing the NCOs on stables in the evening, we moved off with a very warm sun overhead and plenty of dust caused by the heavy transport moving each way on the road. Boquemaison was passed at two p.m. and Doullens reached without incident at three thirty. A wretched French sentry would not let me cross a level crossing so I had to go about four miles out of my way but was recompensed by getting a good watering place on a stream. I sent on Sergeant Munday with a map from here to look for a camp at Gayencourt. In getting to that village, I could see no sign of him and was feeling rather anxious, as I thought he was lost. I did a little reconnaissance and found a good field with a splendid place to water. Soon after finding it, Munday turned up and we proceeded to pack them in the field. Well, I managed to get the horses watered properly, groomed and fed and all finished by seven fifteen p.m., so I gave leave for people to go down the village and to report back by nine thirty p.m. I forgot to add that, as we only had rations for 73 men and 78 horses and these rations would perhaps have to last us three days, although they were only two-day rations, the horses were badly in need of hay, so I murmured to some odd NCO to help themselves by the wayside when I was not looking, and this they did, keeping the horses well hayed up most of the night.