801 MT COY ASC
November 1918 to January 1919
After a couple of weeks at So Vrac orders come through from 16th Corps HQ to move to Janes. On the 14th November all available lorries together with 5 from 346 MT Coy were loaded up. Owing to heavy rain it was considered impossible to cross the Struma plain so it was decided to go back via Strumica. The convoy which was delayed owing to the 346 Coy lorries being stuck in the mud, finally left at 13.00. The convoy reached Kilo 21 on the Petric Strumica road at about 18.30 where it was decided to park up for the night as the road was so bad as to be unsafe after dark. The Lorries were parked and a guard mounted at 19.00.
At 06:30 the next morning a fire alarm was raised this proved to be L1021 belonging to 346 Coy and was caused by Private Lane striking a match & dropping it on the floor of the Lorry. Prompt action prevented the fire spreading to the other lorries but serious damage was caused with the destruction of two motorcycles & a lot of kit. Private Lane was put under arrest for breach of Company orders. At 07.30 it was decided inadvisable to proceed further on the Strumica Route owing to snow and the dangerous state of the road so arrangements were made to proceed via Rupel to Vetrina and to arrange to put the Lorries on rail for Janes. Vetrina was reached at 16.30 and a temporary camp was made, the R.T.O. (Railway Transport Officer) at Vetrina arranged to entrain 12 vehicles next day out of the 14 requiring trucks. Three days later all the vehicles and men had been moved by rail to the new camp at Janes.
At the end of November influenza broke out in the company and 11 men were admitted to the 84th Field Ambulance. Tragically Private Brassington died on the 28th November and is buried at Sarigol Cemetery which is at Kristol on the road north out of Salonika. The Influenza outbreak continued to take its toll, no more men were admitted to hospital however on the 9th December Private Barton died in the 28th General Hospital and is buried at Mikra, then on the 19th Sergeant Douglas died in the 25th Casualty Clearing Station and wass also buried at Sarigol.
Mikra Cemetery
Sarigol Cemetery
Into January 1919 and the company settled into a daily routine, each days war diary entry was more or less the same; ‘Lorries on Company duty 1 Detail 1 Company workshops 1 Available 4 Cars Company duty 1 Detachment 1’. No more men were taken ill during the month and thankfully no more men were lost.