Tuesday April 16^th, 1918

Reveille 6am. We are going in line today. No parades, we leave camp at 8:15 tonight. Fell in at 8pm, left at 8:15pm. Hard march for Bowls Barrow camp where we arrived at 9:30pm and went on machine gun post number 4.  Our front is Gog, right slope for barrage, on our left is Whalebone [Whaleback?] and [Tomato] Hill, right May Gog [Magog], Bulls Barrow. In front Cristelle [Krastali].

Onto the Front Line – Bowls Barrow

It takes the Battalion just over an hour of hard marching to move from Divisional Reserve at Saida and Gun Ravine to the front line.  B Company is located in the Bowls Barrow camp and becomes Right Company. To their Left is D Company on Glengarry Hill, A Company is between them as Centre on Claymore, and C Company is in Reserve on Bastion Hill.  Battalion HQ is on Crow Hill.

The above sketch shows the disposition of the 13th across Number 4 Sector. It has relieved the 9th South Lancs in Number 4 Sector of the line who have, in turn, become the new Divisional Reserve at Saida.

Machine Gun Post

Soon after they arrived in Bowls Barrow, Frank was part of the crew sent to man the machine gun post, number 4. The following sketch is of B / Centre Company’s territory and line of defence.  Tonight Frank is at F4.

13^th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 16^th April 1918 – Saida

No work beyond that done by anti-malarial squad was done.  A platoon of B Coy under Lt. Wallwork proceeded to Bowls Barrow in small parties in the morning with a view to commencing immediate wiring in front of that place. There was a conference of Battalion Commanders at Brigade HQ at 10:30 hrs. The Bn relieved the 9^th (S) South Lancs Regt in No 4 Sector. Coys moved off as described in Operation Order No 35, and the relieve was complete by 00:10 hrs on 17-4-18.

The 9^th South Lancs moved by to Saida, manning the second line on the way, so becoming Divisional Reserve. The remainder of the Brigade is disposed as follows: 12^th Cheshire R (Brigade Reserve), 1 Coy Gun, 1 Coy HQ Shelter, 2 Coys Kidney; 8^th KSLI in No 3 Sector HQ Pillar Hill, Bed HQ Table Hill. The 66^th Infantry Brigade are in No 1 & 2 Sectors and the 78^th  (Scotch) Brigade of the 26^th Division is on our left, its right being on SKANO?

References & Further Reading

* Sketches from Appendix 7, BWD, April 191

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