Friday Jan 25th, 1918
Reveille 5:45. Breakfast 6:30. Baths 7:15 back by 9:30. Work in camp until 12:30. Easy afternoon. Shells both ways. Night work nothing doing. Very quiet. Sold rum issue for six pence.
Bath at Bath Valley!
Yesterday, the War Diary mentioned that the Baths had been allocated for use by the Battalion today. It is nice to see the dovetail between the two diaries as Frank mentions that today he has a bath. We are not sure whether every cluster of bathing facilities earned the name ‘Bath Valley’ or whether this was just a lucky coincidence on the Dojran front. If anyone knows, please write a comment. You will see Bath Valley clearly annotated on the map from yesterday’s post below the green label ‘A Company’ and above ‘Battalion HQ’.
The Imperial War Museum wrote of this photograph that makeshift bath houses were sometimes in old breweries. We haven’t found any images of the facilities in Bath Valley but, as the surroundings were largely unpopulated countryside, it may be that the facilities were both less salubrious and more appropriate to our teetotaller Frank!
Selling Rum Rations
As Frank still hasn’t been paid, he must have been very pleased to get some ready cash in exchange for his rum ration. In theory, this shouldn’t have been possible. Under Army regulations, the Officers should have overseen both the issue and consumption of the 1/16th of a pint rum ration – presumably to stop hoarding and any black market trade.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 25th January 1918 – Vladaja Camp
Coys are still working as per programme but are making special efforts to get bombproofs, machine gun emplacements and the entrances and CT (communication trenches – Ed.) to these places completed as soon as possible. A range has been chosen in Vladaja Ravine, point 1283/1809 and will be used by B & D Companies.
Following OR struck off effective strength under GRO 1011, 1 from 24-1-18, 2 from 25-1-18 (1 RAMC water man) and 1 from 26-1-18. 1 OR having been wounded in action 23-1-18 is struck off effective strength from that date.
References & further reading
* Makeshift baths. access original source here. Copyright IWM