8 Travelling Through France The Battery finally arrived at Marseilles on the morning of the 1st of April 1916. Later on that afternoon they would march 13 kilometres to La Valentine Rest Camp, arriving at 1830. On the 2nd April Lt AA Evans arrived with 60 other ranks and 149 horses on board HMT Maryland. The Battery then marched back to Marseilles in order to embark on a train journey to Havre on the 5th April. The train journey was another long stint, going 3 days through the French countryside. The Battery’s route would take them through many popular towns in France such as Valence, Lyons, Chalon, Dijon, Versailles and Rouen. It would have been a beautiful journey had it not been so packed inside the cars. For instance, Valence is known for its St Apollinaire Cathedral, which dates back to the 11th Century and Dijon is one of France’s principal wine-making areas (traditional mustard aside), the picturesque scenery would have been a welcome sight compared to the dry and arid conditions of Egypt. The Battery would travel from the South East to the Northern end of France near the English Channel. The Battery would eventually arrive in Havre at 0230hrs on the 8th April where they would yet again march by foot to Sanvic Rest Camp from 0430hrs to 0600hrs. Sanvic is a suburb of Le Havre, which had several rest camps within it, meaning there were multiple camps by the same name and its difficult to determine which one exactly the battery would have attended. In any case, four days would be spent here stretching legs and recuperating from the train journey. On the 10th April, Guns and Vehicles would be drawn out and oddly enough, bicycles would also be given to orderlies as there simply weren’t enough horses. First, not enough batteries to a division and now bicycles instead of horses. Everything would be loaded onto yet another train which would then depart on the 12th and headed straight for Borre, further along the English Channel,
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