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Friday 24 February 2012

Diary Entry - 24th February, 1917

Walford: Saturday. At lunch time Cruickshanks came down from the guns to draw some pay. After looking around the lines, I walked over to the 15th Battery Mess but found no-one at home.

Bee: Very foggy today. Nothing much doing, just wandering round. This afternoon, I had to do Liaison with the infantry left batallion. The 17th Fusiliers were in. I had not been there long before news came in that the 15th Division had reported that their patrols had been out and had met no opposition as far out as Miraumont. It was rather a startling bit of information as nothing had been suspected. Of course, the thick mist we have had the last few days has obscured all observation. Anyway, this fairly stirred up the camp. The Colonel had gone up to the line before the news came in. It was not long before the Brigade Major was round and wanted to know what steps had been taken. But the Fusilier Major was frightened to take the responsibility - or seemed to be. The 18th Division were pushing ahead like wildfire and left our feet standing. The Colonel got back about seven p.m. He had got news of the situation before he got there and had walked overland to all his posts without being shot at. The enemy are evidently retiring to a stronger line on a rise where they can look down on us. There was very little news from the company commanders, who all had patrols out in the dark, which is an awful game. At midnight our brigade rang up to say I had to go over to right battalin=on, which is about half a mile away, and see if I could get any imformation. It took me three-quarters of an hour to get there, solid walking and falling into shell holes very often. And, as usual, they knew no more than we.

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