No mail in yet. Started at 1.30 and went round trench line. We take over tomorrow. Quite a decent dug-out; two beds and mess for self, Adjt. and Pratt, M.G. officer, and R.A. observing officer; rest back in a village. Company dug-outs quite good, but men’s very bad. Trenches, of course, in a muddy state, and not so good as H­­­­_____ [Hébuterne] ones, but paved with brick in parts. As far as I can gather we are not to be in for long, as the latest idea is that the 36^th Division moves South to form part of the new XIII Corps, to take over some line further S[outh]. On our way here yesterday we passed the village where the 1^st Inniskillings are, and saw Doak. We do not relieve until 5.00 p.m. in the dark—rather a nuisance. They seem an easier lot of trenches to find one’s way about in, and about 250-500 yards from the Huns.

Footnote

The Battalion took over the right sector opposite Beaumont Hamel previously occupied by 1/7^th Battalion, Princess Louise’s (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), a Territorial Force Battalion. Until after the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, the Battalion’s time in the trenches would be spent in various sectors in this general area, between the River Ancre to the south and Beaumont Hamel. ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies took over the first and second line trenches, ‘A’ Company was Battalion Reserve and ‘B’ Company was Brigade Reserve—the latter companies being farther back in Auchonvillers.