X550/6/8/1702

War Diary for February 1917 1 Feb 1917 - Kantara Battalion, with rest of 162 Bde & details, marched to a point near Kilo 18 on the KANTARA - ROMANI road, from KANTARA & Bivouacked 2 Feb 1917 Battalion continued march to PELUSIUM SIDING on railway KANTARA to ROMANI 3 Feb 1917 - Romani Battalion continued march to ROMANI & bivouacked in the camp. Baggage fatigues. 4 Feb 1917 Church Parade 10.00 HOLY COMMUNION 0700 5 Feb 1917 - Romani and Mohamdiya 75% of the Battalion marched to MOHAMDIYA for a bathe & picnic rest stayed at ROMANI 6 Feb 1917 25% of the Battalion did as yesterday, 75% at disposal of O.C.Coys 7 Feb 1917 - Romani Coys at disposal of O.C. Coys for Coy training 8 Feb 1917 Coys at disposal of O.C. Coys for interior economy 9 Feb 1917 - Rabah Marched to RABAH. Left ROMANI 14.30 arrived 1700 bivouacked with rest of Bde 10 Feb 1917 - Kirbah Marched to KIRBAH. Left RABAH 0830 arrived at bivouack 11.45 11 Feb 1917 - Bir el Abd Marched to BIR EL ABD & bivouacked. Left 0830 arrived 11.30. From about 1700 to 2000 there was brilliant lightning & some thunder later during the night but especially about 2300 there was heavy rain & some hail 12 Feb 1917 - Salmana Marched to SALMANA & bivouacked. Lefty BIR EL ABD 0808 arrived SALMANA 1035. Showers during afternoon 13 Feb 1917 - Tilul Marched to TILUL & bivouacked. Left 0804, arrived 1200. weather fine 14 Feb 1917 - Maza Marched to MAZA & bivouacked left 0802 arrived 11.50, baggage fatigues & tent pitching 15 Feb 1917 Coys at disposal of Coy Commanders for interior economy. Working parades, Quinine tablet parades & inspections. During the last few days on the march a number of dead animals have been noticed on the line of march - 5 camels & 2 oxen yesterday - These have caused a great number of flies at the bivouacks. 16 Feb 1917 Coys at disposal of Coy Commanders. 2 coys under Capt C.R.JAMES found an outpost line to protect Bde bivouack. 17 Feb 1917 Coys at disposal of Coy Commanders. 2 hour route march for bad marchers. 18 Feb 1917 HOLY COMMUNION 0700, 0745, 10.30 Church Parade 9.30 Voluntary service 1715 19 Feb 1917 All Officers & N.C.O.s except where otherwise stated under C.O. for lectures & teaching on Outposts. Rest of battalion under Adj., R.S.M. & 4 CSMs & M.O. for route march & practice in "HOSTILE AIRCRAFT IN FOUR FILES EXTEND" 20 Feb 1917 Orders received to move to MAADAN next day, tent striking & fatigues in connection with Train echelon baggage 21 Feb 1917 - Maadan Marched to MAADAN, left 0822 arrived 1145 & bivouacked 22 Feb 1917 - Bardawil Marched to BARDAWIL & bivouacked left 0800 arrived 1150 23 Feb 1917 - El Arish Marched to EL ARISH & took over vacant standing camp from our advanced party left 0816 arrived 13.10 during march battalion did "in 4 files extend" owing to a hostile aircraft. which however was not observed. Through order came from front of Bde column 24 Feb 1917 Bathing Parades, interior economy & Bde fatigues 25 Feb 1917 Digging trenches clear of sand which had blown into them after completion 26 Feb 1917 Clearing trenches of sand & cleaning of camp. Bathing parades & interior economy 27 Feb 1917 Marking out Camp area & cleaning it 28 Feb 1917 Marking out Camp areas & cleaning it Note. Most of the places named appear on the 1/250,000 map PORT SAID; but the railway sidings near which the battalion mostly bivouacked & which bore the names in the margin, were often several miles from the name on the map referred to & some were not shown at all

1-28 Feb 1917

From: 1917 To: 1917

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Brighten, Edgar William,
James, C.R.

Pelusium Siding, 1st/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, 162nd Infantry Brigade, baths, camels, cattle, inoculation, maps, church services, weather, aerial action overseas, Kantara, Romani, Mohamdiya, Rabah, Kirbah, Salmana, Bi'r el Abd, Tilul, Maza, Maadan, Bardawil, el Arish