Diary Entry - 15th April, 1917

Walford: Late on Saturday night we received orders that we were to march to Marveuil at nine forty-five a.m. It commenced raining about eight a.m. and continued throughout the day. We had a heavy march through the mud to St Eloi where we were to rendezvous with the wagon line transport and march in Brigades. After careful reconnaissance of tracks, we selected one and chanced getting bogged. It was a heavy pull but we got out and parked our guns and teams on a piece of clear ground in St Eloi. Here we unhooked and filed to water, as it was learned that there was no room for us at Marveuil as arranged and the Staff were trying to find room for us. It did not take us long to remember we were in a corps in which Buxton reigned as Corps captain as it was one of his splendid muddles. Bailly sent me on from here to see the Colonel. I then took two NCOs with me and went ahead to billet. We found Murdoch (adjutant) just outside Ecoivres planting the wagon lines into what looked a morass, as it was or had been cropped and the rain turned it into a kind of mud lake. Luckily I ran into the wagon line vehicles on the way, headed by Cruikshanks and so sent for the Sergeant Major. Meantime sent Sgt Higgins off to see 5 Nissen huts which had been allotted us. There was some difficulty over the huts as the faithful Murdoch had given me someone else's so we had to hunt him up again and strafe him. The men got the horses watered and fed by three p.m. and we packed them into the huts, giving two to right half and two to left half batteries, being Segeants' Mess, 2 MS stores and general depot. The 15th and 48th batteries shared a hut and we got a kind of lunch tea at four thirty p.m. The rain still poured down and the wind rose as the afternoon went on.

Bee: Got orders last night about ten p.m. that we were to move. It is wonderful how this always happens at the last minute. Walrond was at RA at five p.m. and they knew nothing about it. This meant that the orders would not get to the wagon line until two a.m. and then they would have to start at four a.m. so it does not leave much time. It was a brute of a day, drizzling rain all day. The limbers wagons were very late in getting to the guns. We were told to go to Maronil, but, after an awful muddle, we were billeted at Ecoivre in Nissen huts. Horse lines in mud up to their hocks.