They all set off together. Giffin also left us, as he was
detailed to take over billets for us in the Prison.
"At 8.40 we moved off. We went at intervals of three hundred yards
between platoons, with six connecting files. As Giffin had been sent on
much earlier to 'take over,' I was in command of the combined 7th and
8th platoons. I had four sergeants with me--Sergeant Williams and
Sergeant Clews in front, and Sergeant Dawson and Sergeant Baldwin
behind. At first I marched in front, but then Captain Andrews told me to
march in rear of my platoon; so I chatted with Sergeant Baldwin for the
rest of the way. He is twenty years old and has been in the Army since
he was seventeen. He joined the Argyles in 1914, and was stationed in
Edinburgh for some time. Then he was discharged on account of weak
eyesight. But he immediately enlisted again; this time in the
Lancashire Fusiliers. His home is Higher Broughton. His father, who is
forty-nine, is a sergeant in the Manchesters at Salonica; I believe he
said that he was wounded.
"Things were moderately quiet until we reached the (Prison). It was
about 10 p.m. when we got there. Things then became much livelier;
shells were bursting all round. We found the building uninhabitable. The
casualties there during the last few days have been very heavy.
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