Thursday 6th January 1916

Front line trenches north of Rue du Bois.

 

Despite the regular artillery exchanges, the Battalion had suffered no casualties on this tour of duty and conditions were considered sufficiently quiet that the defence scheme which had been introduced in mid-December but then temporarily suspended at the end of the month, could be resumed (see 28^th December). This scheme provided for the front line to be held by two companies rather than three and consequently the number of men in the front line was reduced by withdrawing most of ‘B’ Company to the Bois Grenier Line. This left ‘A’ and ‘C’ to hold the front line, each of them being reinforced by one platoon from ‘B’ taking them to a strength of 180 men each. They were reminded of the precise instructions as to how the defence of the sector was to be organised:

“At intervals in the front line trenches there will be small groups of not less than a section, a proportion of whom should be bombers. There will be a bomb store near them and they will be prepared to counter attack, right or left in case the enemy should break through. They must be prepared to work up or defend the traffic trench as well as the fire trench. One of these posts will be established as near as possible to the night position of each machine gun”. The new dispositions were duly completed by 12 noon.

During the morning there had been heavy German shelling of the positions held by 21^st Division further north but artillery activity in the Battalion sector had continued on its usual pattern, as reported, somewhat laconically, in the War Diary; “The enemy sent the usual shells into Chapelle d’Armentieres. The Bois Grenier line also had a good number of shells from the enemy. Jock’s Joy and the Battalion HQ has certainly been discovered by the enemy and he rarely allows a day to pass without paying it every attention”.

Overnight, the Battalion was relieved by 9^th Yorkshires; the relief was conducted without casualties and the men returned to their former billets in and around Rue Marle.

 

A payment of £2 10s. 1d., being the amount due on his army pay, was issued to the widow of Pte. Arthur Hargreaves who had been the first man from Tunstill’s Company to be killed in action (see 17^th September).