Monday 27th November 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field
The adjutant
of the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, tells me that they are at a hutted
camp behind the lines near Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée, where they are training. He
tells me that there has been an effort at improvement of sanitary conditions in
these hutment camps.
It reminds me
of a story told to me of an officer of the 4th Bedfords a few weeks ago. They
are part of a brigade of four “Army” battalions whilst the other two brigades
in their division (63rd) comprise Royal Marines and naval personnel, who all
think of themselves as still sailors.
The new
general officer commanding 63rd Division, Major-General Cameron Shute was less
than impressed with the sanitary arrangements of the naval brigades under his
command. On a ship there are certain facilities for disposal of effluent which
are not present in the trenches. This has led to a rather casual attitude
towards the disposal of waste. General Shute, quite rightly, took issue with
this filthy behaviour as giving rise to dysentery. However, the fact that the
“Navy” men had been reprimanded by an “Army” man did not go down well and
consequently the general’s name was habitually changed by the substitution of
the first vowel for another vowel in conversation within the naval elements of
the division!
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