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Chapter X.
Lemnos.

At Lemnos, no accommodation was ready for us and we had to bivouac out in the open. There was another Mediterranean downpour during the night and, as there wan no shelter, it was pretty miserable. A few tents reached us next day and we were able to make ourselves more comfortable.

The first morning at Lemnos we were awakened by cocks crowing in the village some distance away. For a few moments one almost imagined one was buck at home and that the past few months had been but a dream.

The battalion, which, normally, should have had a strength of 880 men, and with the five reinforcements it had received, should have tallied over 1000, had been reduced to less than 100 by the time it left the Peninsula. Companies had scarcely more than. 20 men.

There was new bread, fresh meat and fresh eggs. For the first few days we did little more than eat and sleep. There was an ample supply of milk. What would have been given for it on the Peninsula? How many tins of bully beef would have bartered for one tin of milk? Grapes and tomatoes were plentiful and a few pence would buy a hatful of small but very sweet grapes. Very soon everyone began to feel better.

At the end of September, the 6th Reinforcements arrived. The old hands rather looked down upon them. One bad to be a Main Body man in those days. It was all very different afterwards.

Life went on pleasantly enough through October and into November. During this time a number of sick and wounded rejoined and, with the reinforcements, the battalion reached about half strength.

Our faces were soon to be turned towards Anzac again and on 8th November the New Zealand Infantry Brigade embarked once more for the Peninsula.