Arrived at Boulogne, we were marched to “One Blanket Hill” camp on the west side of Boulogne and there remained the night in huts, being issued with food and rations to last us until we reached our battalions. Next morning we entrained in a troop train composed of cattle trucks in which we spent 24 miserable hours before we finally arrived at Bapaume. I then reported back to my battalion at the camp at which I had left them. Here, for the next week, I was engaged as Sergeant in Charge of a party working on a shell dump, our work being to load the Decauvilles trains as they arrived from the dumps in the forward areas. I had a hut all to myself whilst the 20 men in my party had a long clean weatherboard hut. We drew our rations separately from the Railway Supply Officer at Bapaume Station and since they were liberal with their rations we were therefore quite contented in our new job at the shell dump. About this time, in July, I was promoted to “full” sergeant and was detailed to attend an infantry training school at Aveling near Albert.
Next day, therefore, with several others I proceeded by train via Achiet—le-Grand and Miraumont to Albert, where we disentrained and marched to the Infantry Training School in the Nissen hut encampment at Aveling. This camp was built right in amongst the old trench systems around Pozieres and Thiepval. There, for five weeks, I worked hard and learned a great deal about infantry work and sergeant’s duties. We had to take our turns in taking charge of the platoons, giving lecturettes and generally our training was meant to train us to take control of things. The work as made as interesting as possible and the day generally ended with a concert in the lecture hall at night. Also, we were allowed weekend leave to Amiens, whilst football matches were arranged for Saturday afternoons, in which I made it a point to participate and on one occasion scored five tries for the 2nd Div. team against 4th Div.
One afternoon, in company with two other friends, I visited the Pozieres battlefield and the old trench systems and saw the spots where we shivered under the Hun bombardment and even saw the spot where we all climbed out over the parapet to attack the German line. Pozieres looked very different then to what it did 12 months before. Then the place was a vast shell crater field which looked as if a gigantic plough had torn the ground up and the shell holes were then bigger than I ever saw since. The whole place was littered with bodies lying stark on the great brown, slimy, sticky landscape which was crisscrossed with trenches and barbed wire entanglements when we revisited the scene the whole area was covered with a hundred different kinds of wild flowers, weeds and grasses, as if nature was trying to screen from view the wickedness of the past.
A splendid macadamised road ran through what was once the side of a thriving village and water points, tram and train lines ran over the country in all directions and were used by the salvage corps to facilitate the collection of salvaged material. A later Battalion had spent some time in burying the dead bodies, where men fell, so that wooden crossed inscribed with the particulars of the fallen soldier were freely distributed over the whole area as far as the eye could see. Where it was not possible to inscribe the cross with the correct particulars, a cross was erected to the memory of an “Unknown British Soldier.” Here and there near where one of the dressing stations had been was a little cemetery with graves dug in rows, some of the graves being bordered with shell cases and wired in with iron cork screw piquets and barbed wire, whilst very often a rifle was stuck in the ground at the head of the grave and a steel helmet was placed at the foot.
Most of the Australian battalions and divisions had erected huge white crosses over eight foot high to the memory of their fallen comrades, which gave an air of reverence to the whole scene. We also visited the Windmill and Gilralter which at the time were only big heaps of rubbish and concrete, but which during the battle of Pozieres proved very tough obstacles to surmount. After inspecting the area of Pozieres from the 2nd Divisional point of view, we walked over the rough ground towards Thiepval which had proved such a difficult redoubt to reduce during the earlier days of the Battle of the Somme. It was a perfect maze of trenches and barbed wire, built on the crest of a hill, overlooking the surrounding country and it was such a strong position that it held out for over two months after Pozieres had fallen.
Well, I remained exactly five weeks at Aveling Infantry Training School when the course ended and I obtained a good report and was recommended for a commission. Having a day to spare, I took the opportunity of again visiting Amiens and as usual had a good time.