Go to advance wagon
lines near Mailly Cemetery where the limbers and six wagons are all
kept harnessed up in case of emergency. Was there all day and took up
ammunition several times as we were doing a lot of shooting. The Hun
at ten a.m. shelled the village and the orchard very heavily, blowing
up one of the seven ones' limbers. A little later, he shelled the
area in front of the position with eight inch but was about 50 yards
short of us. I had a comparatively peaceful day and was rather amused
at my groom, Driver Wrate, and a Corporal pursuing an old cockerel
which strayed from the village. They eventually ran him to ground in
the cemetery. There was a DH 4 on its back near me, a beautiful
machine, rather crimped, but no one came to salvage it. The New Zealand
artillery came into position in the evening and we looked like being
relieved. Barrett relieved me and, on getting back to the rear wagon
lines, I found a Bristol fighter down near the Mess. The pilot had
run out of petrol. It was a lovely machine with 250 horsepower 12
cylinder Rolls engine in it which consumed 18 gallons an hour (of
petrol). I was also rather surprised to find two or three heavy
batteries in action nearby as nothing had been seen of them on the
retreat. The battery evidently got some good targets during the day
on the main Serre road and 15th battery knocked out a limber and team
on the road. Then another one came along and got locked in it and it
was promptly knocked out too, blocking the whole road. Many other
targets were taken on with success too.
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