War Diaries (May 20) (nonfiction)
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Diaries
A.A. Laporte Payne: May 20, 1915
I am sitting in a haystack surrounded by the muddy plain [Salisbury]. We are on a field day with the infantry ... yesterday the whole 18th Division went on a divisional route march, and General Maxse inspected us. As far as I can make out it was for the benefit of the ladies (wives of the generals and staff). See what I command sort of show ... very boring for the (regimental officers and men and a day wasted.
The weather has been truly awful. I have never seen such mud. Thick chalky soup, almost up to one’s knees. The horses and men are never dry. You can imagine what it is like with the huts not yet finished. No stables and the horses in open lines.
Some of the men are looking for what they call "nesties". The usual instinct for hunting something. The language is a bit thick at times, but they are not bad chaps, very willing, though sometimes very stupid. The second in command of this Brigade is a priceless major, and he affords endless amusement because he can’t ride at all. He is very tall with long legs that hang down and dangle as he rides. He sits hunched up over the withers of his horse, and is quite incapable of controlling it. He backed into the General the other day, who was furious. The funny part is that when the battery goes into action and his horse takes fright at the noise, as it generally does, he is sure to be taken off to the rear, and as his battery staff have to follow him everywhere and keep him in sight, it is probable that the whole lot will be missing at the critical moment. They have put off our firing practice for a week, owing probably to the wet.
—A.A. Laporte Payne, 1st Battalion, No 1 Company, Section 4, Salisbury Plain