1921.] 



Agriculture Behind the Lines. 



685 



General Headquarters at Montreiiil, a few miles distant As 

 soon as the area to be cultivated had been selected, the Head- 

 quarters of the Directorate were moved to Blangy Tronville, 

 a little village west of Amiens lying jnst off the main Amiens- 

 Peronne road. 



Here the offices of the Directorate were within a few 

 miles of the centre of operations and it was possible to keep 

 close watch over, not only the arrival of stores, but almost more 

 important, the assembling of tractors and the training as tractor 

 drivers of men who w^ere arriving from all parts of the Army 

 area, as likely candidates for instruction. The provision of both 

 skilled and unskilled labour presented a very difficult proposi- 

 tion. On every side there was the same story — the shortage 

 of labour. The British Labour Corps which provided men for 

 all purposes other than fighting in the trenches, were greatly 

 below strength, and agricultural operations at that stage had to 

 compete in the limited labour market with urgent services more 

 directly connected with the military operations. 



The Quartermaster-General in France in 1918, however, 

 attached great importance to the success of the movement, and 

 the strong personal interest which he took in the work materi- 

 ally helped to smooth away these difficulties. 



As already stated, time was the greatest enemy to the under- 

 taking. Every day lost meant a reduction in the number of 

 acres ultimately to be put under the plough. As the result, 

 however, of various Conferences at G.H.Q., six Agricultural 

 Companies, formed according to a special establishment, com- 

 posed of 1 officer and 169 other ranks, were promised by the 

 Adjutant-General, as well as one British I^abour Company, 

 which was equivalent in strength to three Agricultural Com- 

 panies. It was thus contemplated that there would be one 

 Agricultural Company or its equivalent for each of the 9 blocks 

 of about 5,000 acres into which the whole area was to be 

 divided. 



To obtain sanction for these companies wiis one thing, but 

 to effect their assembling from all parts of the British Army 

 aiea was another; and by the 27th January, 1918, only 50 men 

 of the first Company had arrived, and even some of these were 

 specially trained men sent out from England. 



The task of manipulating the 200 tractors which were con- 

 sidered necessary for the cultivation of the whole area was 

 entrusted to three specially formed Auxiliary (Petrol) Com- 

 panies, x\rmy Service Corps (Agricultural). The strength of 



