Thursday 30 April 2015

New Blood for the 1st Battalion



Friday 30th April 1915: The 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is still in trenches to the left of Hill 60. The adjutant reports that a draft of three officers and three hundred other ranks arrived at Ouderdom this morning. One officer and one hundred of these men will be sent tonight to join their new comrades in the trenches. As these men are new to the war such a large number all at once would be a challenge for the veterans to train in all the ways of a soldier on active service in the conditions peculiar to this war and untrained men are likely to get themselves killed quickly. The rest of the new arrivals will be integrated gradually as those preceding them acclimatise to their new surroundings and duties.

The adjutant reports there is some difficulty in getting stores and supplies such as ammunition, water and food to the trenches at the moment owing to constant and persistent shelling of all roads and approaches by the enemy. He wonders if this means a German attack is on the way.

Source: X550/2/5

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