By 24th August the Park strength had grown to thirty-nine Siege Batteries and eight Heavy Batteries, with three Royal Marine Artillery Batteries added. Not a huge increase but the growth in extraneous duties demanded the mechanical transport increased to fifty-nine motor-cars, 1,604 lorries, 165 gun-tractors and 278 motorcycles with eighty officers and 1,604 other ranks.

Prior to Standfest, from 22nd June to 3rd July, the Park delivered 122 loads of ammunition. By July 31st, a further 4,556 loads had been delivered, with, on the 19^th, 307 loads amounting to 920 tons. Extraneous work in addition to the Park’s designated role, amounted to 1,455 loads of Royal Engineers material and 2,913 loads of general stores.

During August, 3,340 loads for the Royal Engineers and 6,725 loads (20,175 tons) of roadstone give an inkling as to the efforts needed to maintain the roads that were essential to supply the frontlines. Supplying the battle front involved far more than replenishing the guns and the tonnage of supplies required increased exponentially as the numbers of troops increased.

During the first week of September the Park was reduced by seventeen Siege Batteries, though any reduction in workload was negated by the establishment of a Supply Depot, supplying both Artillery and ASC personnel with 20,000 rations daily. Despite the lorry strength being reduced from 1,050 at the end of August to 488, 2,597 loads of Royal Engineers material and 2,355 loads of roadstone were carried during the month.

The lorries were serving their own batteries, plus all the roads in the back area and in front of their batteries. The constant traffic on the roads was destroying the road surface and once the surface was compromised the condition quickly worsened considerably. It was not only lorry traffic responsible for the damage. Hundreds of horseshoes and thousands of army boots trampling the surface destroyed roads throughout the area.

Roads in forward areas were within range of the enemy’s artillery and machine gun fire. Every day the drivers drove into the danger, sometimes for two or three journeys to keep road companies supplied. Men of the road companies were themselves working constantly within range of the enemy. The roads were easy targets, constantly shelled with high explosive, shrapnel and gas. Often roads were deemed too dangerous to be used or worked on during daylight hours.

Working parties for road repairs and digging new gun positions etc., were taken to the forward areas by lorries. Some sections of road and crossroads, such as the notorious ‘Hellfire Corner’ at the outskirts of Ypres, were particularly vulnerable to enemy shells. Here, men would alight from the lorries and continue on foot across the fields leaving the driver to run the gauntlet of shellfire alone. They would then be picked up at a safer place to continue their journey to work. Major Lee remarks that drivers reported infantrymen returning from the trenches asked which way they were going. When told, they replied, ‘if you are going on that road I will walk’. They evidently considered the roads that drivers used every day too dangerous and preferred the country footpaths, despite being exhausted and carrying heavy packs.

As the Park’s lorries decreased, when Corps’ roles changed, so did the workshop facilities and the stocks of spare parts permitted on establishment. Workshops were not garages but lorries with lathes, drills and other workshop tools installed on the body with repairs carried out alongside. Often workshops would be parked alongside each other allowing a tarpaulin to be stretched between them to create a covered working area.

From the beginning of July to the end of September, sixty-eight motor-cars, 1,284 lorries, 375 motorcycles and 131 gun-tractors were repaired and nineteen motor-cars, 154 lorries, 141 motorcycles and 205 gun-tractors overhauled. 376 wheels were sent to tyre presses for re-tyring. All repairs had to be conducted in the open air and the normal working day was 6.00am to 10.00pm with thirty minutes for breakfast and tea and one hour for dinner. On average thirty-two lorries were turned out daily.

The work of the Siege Parks, and all ASC companies, whether horse or mechanical, although unglamourous and thankless, was vital to the supply of guns and men. Units like 604 MT Coy ASC deserve recognition and their men, our respect.