Walter Draycott’s Great War Chronicle
North Vancouver Museum & Archives
A cold windy & wet morning & we march again in full marching order to a place 6 miles away to dig trenches. It rains & we get wet thro’. The trenches are half full of water. We arrive back at 6 pm feeling absolutely all in. Sore feet sore head & sore hearts. We parade at 7:15 & after waiting an hour we receive 25 francs from the Paymaster, my first pay in the Regiment. Heavy bombarding during the night.
*All in – An Idiom for feeling exhausted
A wet & miserable cold day. The company goes 6 miles away to dig trenches to safeguard the road to Calais, agony of agonies with being wet, cold & suffering from cramped sore & wet feet – English fashion boots. At night we get an issue of rum about 2 ounces. Very cold at night sleeping in an open wagon. A man of the Essex Regiment shot for desertion & insolence (a few days ago). There is now a man waiting under death sentence to be shot for insolence & drunkenness.
*Calais – Calais was a town very close to the front line in Flanders during WWI. It was a key port for arms and reinforcement on the western front during the war.
Storm abated. I come off “sentry go” at 1 pm. Company returns from digging trenches at 2:30 pm. I appear before Major MacInnery to answer why I went on Maxim gun instruction class without orders. I get severely reprimanded for doing a good service to the Regiment. I cannot give any defence on account of the usual underdog policy – etc; I interview the Officer of the Maxim Gun Party. Back to my open wagon bed at 7:30 pm. A bitterly cold windy night & I sleep but little. Heavy bombarding during the night. Mail comes in but none for me. Cannot keep feet warm – always in the cold mud. Many men report to the medical officer for treatment for Rhumatism, colds etc; get little sympathy from that gentleman.
*Maxim gun- A machine gun invented by Sir Hiram Maxim. Notable for being the first recoil operated firing system ever invented. The energy of the recoil was used to eject the spent shell, and pull a new bullet into position. The single barrel had to be water cooled. By the start of WWI the Maxim machine gun had been redesigned and there were many newer and enhanced models available
On Monday 28th we got our plum pudding
Up at 7 am & went to vicinity of the town of Aire with the transport wagons for supplies. Back to Port Autin at 1 pm. Mounted Guard at 2:45 pm. Weather very wet & miserable. Am on guard at 11 pm to 1 am. It is blowing a very high gale with occassional heavy showers of hail & rain accompanied by Thunder & Lightning. Lieut. Sullivan returns to his Billet at 12:45 pm. The Regiment go out at 11 am (Monday) to dig trenches about 7 miles away they return at midnight “all in”.
Up at 7 am & breakfast 7:30 am. Parade at 8:45 am in full marching order. We go to Linde & dig trenches – in the rain
Get wet thro’ & return home at 1 pm
Receive mail from Ernest Draycot, Draycots of Blackpool, Hollinghursts
receive tobacco & pipe from Princess Mary also a scarf & mittens from the [Mater] at Gosport.
I send postcard to Ernest at Gosport.
In evening I go to the Chateau at Blaringham and (on Saturday) to the Roman Catholic Church which is very pretty inside. Abundance of crosses in Church and 4 lots of Effigies of Saints in the church with the offertory boxes at their feet. Some fine & delicate wood carving.
Hard frost last night. I slept well under a bench in the bake-house.
Rose at 8 am. Have neurralgia [sic]. Slight bombardment going on.
*Neuralgia – Pain in a distribution of a nerve or multiple nerves. This could involve anything from a head ache to ear aches or neck pain.
Bombardment ceased. English have taken Lille. Inch of ice on pond on farm yard. Our Christmas breakfast consists of Bully Beef & biscuits & tea.
I received greeting from King George & Queen Mary with photos (of them both).
In afternoon at 2 pm I go to the 4th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle camp. I have the privilege of being introduced to the Staff Officers & Major Hereward Wake & Colonel Oxley of the Kings Royal Rifles are among them. I shake hands with all the officers & have a good time all round. Have dinner at the Officers’ Mess & tea at the Head Quarters Cook House. I leave at 5 pm for the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry camp loaded with meat biscuits (Peak Freans) & other delicacies. There are several crucifixes & shrines at the village of Blaringhem.
The Canadians have only had Bully beef & biscuits all day & a little bacon at night. No bread of course.
Very light bombarding on the front but the KRR & Ghurkas lost a lot of men in trench taking.
*KRR-Kings Royal Rifles
**Ghurkas – Nepalese military units within the British Indian Army. 200,000 Gurkhas served in the British army over WWI and the Ghurkas fought in a wide variety of countries and battles during the war
Up at 10:30 am
Got a meal & walked round. Engineers making trenches around the farm. I forage for food & am able to purchase 2 slices of bread at [1p] (two sous)per slice. Returned to my quarters in the Backhouse. Made bed of straw & tried to sleep. Beautiful night moonlight. Heavy bombardment on the line between Ypres & Lille. Cold is so severe that sleep in impossible. Up at 8 am.
We had no tea & little breakfast. Had to use our emergency ration at noon by order of the Commanding Officer. Gendarms guarding all principal bridges all along the line. Sugar beet industry appears the chief produce.
What old delapidated houses. A striking contrast to the English Farmers Homestead. Reached Saint Omer about 10 pm. Disembarked & unloaded cars of horses & transport
Stayed around until 1:30 am cold, wet, miserable – no tea. Started on a march to a village called Balinghem 7 miles. After a hundred stops on the road we discover the Colonel has got off the track, so we about turn & march back
Oh the groans, curses & hisses from the troops. A bitter cold night & wet & tired aching feet. Many men fall out. Booming of distant guns is heard, the enemy have broke thro’ on our right & captured a village. We put up at a farm in the stables, barn & chicken houses etc; I slept in the hay loft. Time 5 am.
Breakfast at 8am
Bread, bacon & tea. Many men ill from yesterday’s march & little or no food.
Commanding Officer gives out orders for a route march ah! The groans!
Still we volunteered for all this.
Arrived back from Route March at 1 pm. Pack up & off again for the station at 5 pm. What a march!
Stop upon stop but finally reach the station. We receive great enthusiasm & welcome in Havre. We waited in the station yard in a cold bleak wind for 5 hours & then bundled into a horse box – 40 men to a horse box. Packed worse than sardines some standing and some sitting, our packs & rifles all over the place. Sleep impossible under these circumstances. The door is shut on us and we are left in comparative darkness, for a small lamp which was in the horse box soon flickered & went out. Glad when morning came & daylight.
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