Chapter 8: ARRIVAL AT 25TH DIVISION

All the next day I wandered around trying to arrive at the 25TH Divisional Artillery location. I managed to cadge a meal of sorts along the way and as night closed in I saw a village about a mile away getting plastered by long range fire. Once the firing ceased, I entered the deserted village, crawled into a vacant hut and lie down for the night. At first light I was rudely awaken by an excited and indignant Divisional Field Cashier who had fled the shelling and was using the vacant hut to house boxes full of French francs and documents. He eventually cooled off and we became friends. For a few hours I was a millionaire, but quite ignorant to the fact!

At last I was able to track down and report to the 25TH Division Artillery Headquarters, commanded by Brigadier General Kincaid-Smith. His Brigade Major, Major Macleod assigned me to the 25th Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC) which disappointed me as I was looking forward to seeing immediate action with a field battery. These columns came into being shortly after the Somme in July 1916. Each column was commanded by a captain, in my case, Captain Flowers, who was a salty old ranker who had little regard for newly commissioned schoolboys. With him were another captain and two lieutenants who were suffering from "battle fatigue" and had been transferred from their respective batteries to the DAC for an extended rest. I was very shortly placed in charge of one of the three sections within the Unit and saw little of my fellow officers who were a morose and disillusioned lot.