The 105thregiment of engineers part of ‘the old Hicory ’30thDivision arrived in Calais between the 14thand the 17thof June 1918. On arrival they experienced their first air raid, Calais was being raided nearly every night by then. Remarkable not a single soldier got wounded, since the past month over 75.000 American soldiers had been arriving in Calais.
The moral of the men was good, but there were many cases of sore feet because of the marching they had done
The Battalion was issued one wagon and a cooker to each company. Each company got 100 picks and a 100 shovels issued by the British. Attached were 6 officers and 35 other ranks of the 13thGloustershire regiment as instructors.
On June the 21st1918 3 lt and 2 NCO left for a visit to the front line trenches near Ieper with a RE company for a week.
From every company a cook left for a course of instruction how to prepare the British rations and to learn how to use a rolling kitchen.
On the 27thof June they get the order to move to Winnezeele, close to the Belgian border. The rations and forage were placed at Inglinghem, Arques and Arneke, so 3 days of marching , strict discipline was needed, every hour they got a 10 minute break, during that break, the troops had to fall out on the right of the road. Could remove their pack for 8 minutes and then sling them back on.
On the night 30thof June 1 of July Some German planes flew over Terdinghem, and some artillery shells meant for the Cassel Steenvoorde Poperinge road fell down.
Major Anderson Royal Engineers wrote a letter to Major Perrin from the US engineers with some good advice towards taking over the Canal sector ( Ieper) in August 1918.
He called it a ‘good supply of horse sence’
here are a few :
Execute the drainage scheme before doing anything else. ( indeed we have a high water level in Flanders)
Carry on a sanitary system,1 or 2 temporary latrines( wholes in the ground with rough screening around.
Use Camouflage properly.( what was needed for sure, The High ground was in German hands)
Before they could start doing their duties they had to move to the camps near Ieper.
On the 17thof August the first battalion has 6 platoons at Furze camp, 5 at Gaunt camp and 1 at Guery camp. The second battalion had 9 platoons at Strathcona camp and 3 were on detached service. One at Query and one at Brandhoek. In the camps at Query and Brandhoek the men were well housed in Nissen huts.
Next week part two
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