Wednesday 12th January 1916

Front line trenches north of Rue du Bois.

With the weather again good, there was a continuation of the artillery duels of the previous day and the men of the Battalion also witnessed a British aircraft shot down over the German lines. The incident was recorded at some length in the Battalion War Diary, “He passed over our lines on the right and had traversed about 2 miles beyond the enemy lines when a shot from one of their anti-aircraft guns hit his machine. He fell quickly for about 100 feet then his machine caught fire. According to further reports both pilot and observer were seen to jump from the machine, the fate of them is not known”.

In the early evening there were considerable activity further south, with exchanges of rifle, machine gun and artillery fire.

Pte. Thomas Edward Dawson (see 13^th November 1915) was transferred for duty to 23^rd Infantry Base Depot at Etaples. He had been re-classified as fit only for base duties; this may have been linked to his previous experiences at the Brigade Bomb School.

Pte. John Etchells (see 28^th September 1915) was evacuated to England, suffering from TB; on arrival he would be transferred to Dalmeny House Hospital, Edinburgh.