and also physical
training officer. Captain Bodington is in command of D Company while
Captain Blamey is on leave. Reggie Andrews, the Adjutant, amuses me. He
does not seem to worry much, though the Colonel gives him a deuce of a
time; he is very short-sighted, but does not wear glasses. He is very
young.

"I am Orderly Officer to-day and have not performed a single duty
appertaining thereto! It was too late to mount the guard when I got back
from the range; and the Colonel had a conference of all officers this
evening at the time when staff parade was being held. These conferences
are a bore. The Colonel blinks and twitches his nose, and the thing
dawdles on. The subject of the conference on this occasion was to
discuss a Brigade scheme taking place on the training area on
Wednesday."

"June 27th.

"We have had hardly a moment to ourselves during the last two days. At 9
yesterday morning we walked to the training area, as all officers and
N.C.O.'s had to reconnoitre the area in which the Brigade stunt was to
take place to-day. When we got a little beyond the aerodrome, Allen,
Verity, Barker and I got a lift in a Flying Corps tender as far as
(Cormette), the little village where we had to assemble at 10. We then
went over the area using maps, and the scheme was explained. The area
was exactly the same in dimensions as that with which we shall have to
deal in the great battle, and positions were named by the names of
positions which we shall attack then; strong points were marked by rings
of flags. We spent a terribly long time up there; we sat down waiting
for company commanders to return for about two hours. The whole thing, I
am sure, could have been done in much less time. The position of advance
allotted to our Battalion was on the extreme left of the Brigade, B
Company on the left of the Battalion, and 8th Platoon, therefore, on the
extreme left of the Brigade....

"It was nearly 5 p.m. before we got back, having had no lunch. We had
some then. At 6.30 we had to attend a conference at Battalion
Headquarters. It was 8 when we got back to B Company Mess, so then
dinner; and at 9.15 we were on parade for marching off on this Brigade
stunt! It was midnight when the Battalion reached the village where we
had assembled in the morning; we felt very tired and sleepy. The first
thing we did was to get all the dispositions of the Battalion (the same
happened throughout the whole Brigade) effected under darkness, every