Sunday, 10 December 2017

All Quiet at the Front



Monday 10th December 1917

After the momentous events at Ypres and Cambrai quiet has descended on the Western Front. Or, at least, as quiet as sniping, sporadic artillery discharges and the peregrinations of motor transport ever allow.

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is in billets at Fontaine-lès-Boulans, some miles west of Béthune. They are assiduously training but have also found time for pleasure - a disgruntled adjutant informed me this evening that there was a rugby match between officers and other ranks, won by the other ranks.

By contrast 6th Battalion are in the front line near the Spoilbank on the Ypres-Commines Canal. The adjutant remarked to me that it has been very quiet indeed. The only action of note today involved an enemy party showing itself and being fired on by the Battalion’s Lewis guns. Several of them were seen to fall.


Sources: X550/2/5; X550/7/1

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