The Battalion again provided large working parties in
support of the Royal Engineers. However, conditions were made worse as the
weather turned and became very wet.
J.B. Priestley told his family just how difficult were the
tasks he and his colleagues faced: “We have been digging trenches for the RE’s
since we have been here; it is very hard work, as the soil is extremely heavy
clay, the heaviest clay I have ever dug, and I’ve as much experience in digging
as most navvies. You may gather the speed we work when a man has to do a ‘task’
– 6ft long, 4ft broad and 2ft 6ins deep in an afternoon. I had got right down
to the bottom of the trench, and consequently every blooming shovelful of clay
I got I had to throw a height of 12ft to get it out of the trench and over the
parapet. You try it and see!”.
Pte. Richard Butler
(see 8th September), was
fined seven days’ pay for missing church parade; he had a series of minor
indiscretions already on his record, dating back to before the Battalion left
England.
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