At Beaurepaire, which village we reached dead tired and in drizzling weather, we again allotted the battalion to billets. My own billet which I occupied with Lt. Cameron, M.C. was in a disused estaminet. Disused because there was nothing to sell. For the first three days, I was more or less confined to my room with a fever of some mild type, during which I suffered a raging thirst and which gave the people on whom I was billeted, much concern. They were so concerned that they constantly supplied me with coffee which I found quite acceptable. We remained in billets resting at Beaurepaire, until December 17th during which time we endeavoured to pass away the monotony with the usual games of football which, I as sports officer, had arranged with other units.

As the weather was cold and as life was dull any game of football whether an inter-battalion game or whether it was simply a game between companies always drew a large crowd of enthusiastic onlookers. Most of the time it drizzled with rain, the weather rapidly becoming colder as winter advanced.

Our rations were scarce, so scarce in fact that there was always the feeling of semi-emptiness. Food supplies were short not from any great scarcity or famine, but entirely due to the fact that all our supplies for the army, together with food for an enormous number of civilians had to be brought forward, mainly by a limited transport service. This was necessary on account of the disconnected railway service due to the destroyed railway tracks and the constantly exploding land mines which the Germans had laid on the delayed action principle at various important points in the railways system.

Therefore, the troops, being called upon to an extent to share with civilians had perforce to go shorter than usual. We were now right out of what was termed the Devastated Area which extends back from Bohain to Albert, a distance of 40 miles and which extends with varying width right from the Belgian Coast south to below Verdun. Throughout that vast area, there is hardly a village intact or a square mile of country not torn up by trenches or shell holes, etc. Forward from Le Cateau, the villages were scarcely damaged at all, nor the country ruined to any great degree. But in the less destroyed area through which we were now passing, all live stock such as cattle, horses and sheep had been requisitioned for the German Army so that there was scarcely a head of stock left throughout the district.

The country usually was thickly settled by farmers whose chief occupation was dairying and apple growing. The paddocks were divided by thick, prickly hedges of Hawthorne, and were generally planted into apple orchards. The trees mostly produced the cider apple and were rather old in appearance, but provided the farmer with a side income without interfering with his dairying. In nearly every village of any size, there was a co-operative cheese and butter factory and the district seems to have been a very prosperous one at one time. The farm houses are nearly all of brick with slate roofs and would, I suppose, be termed prosperous looking. The country for the most part was well watered with small streams, was undulating and dotted about with small woods, criss-crossed with hedgerows and altogether even at this season could be termed pretty.

In all small towns and villages there is a Mayor, who is a much more important person in France than an Australian Mayor. He was responsible during the war that the local inhabitants were fed, responsible for their good behaviour and practically all business between civilians and the army was performed via his official capacity. Some Mayors were real “fire-eating” persons and one had to be careful not to offend them in any way. They were nearly all over fifty and were stout old chaps with huge moustaches, but withal were very useful persons notwithstanding.

At this time the whole Australian Corps was trying to amuse itself with an Educational Scheme, designed to keep men occupied to their advantage and with a desire also to turn their thoughts towards the day when they would be returning to their pre-war vocations. There were dozens of subjects set down for study, such as Woolclassing, Chemistry, Languages, Letter writing, Bookkeeping, Forestry, Mathematics, and so on. The great trouble was that instructors were not very conversant with their subjects whilst materials were very scarce, nor was there any great interest shown in the Scheme. One branch of the Educational Scheme was the Debating Society which was rather popular amongst the Officers, some keenly debated subjects being discussed.

During our occupation of this village, we received some Australian mail including several letters and two parcels for myself. The contents of the parcels were very welcome owing to our continued food shortage. Some sweets which were included however had the distinction of having found their way into the “tummies” of some French children who lived in my billet and who had not yet during their five years life, tasted such a thing as a b0iled Sweet. They had had far more kicks and hard words from the Huns. To the man who owned the billet, I gave a pair of sox in lieu of the rag which he used to wind round his feet, and with which he was greatly pleased. Old Madam also who had starved herself for four years so that the children should have food upon which to grow, received a Christmas pudding all the way from Melbourne. Therefore, I through having a soft heart, still had an empty stomach!