Score of aeroplane fights.
The 60th Battn. lost 150 casualties in four days.
Church voluntary at YMCA.
Archives for 2016
Saturday 22 April 1916 – rain
It rains all day most unmercifully absolute wretchedness prevails. Colonel Buller lines up the troops & praises them for good work done at Hooge & Ypres Salient expect Huns to break thru at St Eloi.
Friday 21 April 1916 – rain
A day of rest but ‘tis raining hard.
A fierce bombardment rages all night as it rains dreadfully.
Our losses at Hooge are 56 (casualties) 17 killed, 39 wounded (7 old Pats).
*Hooge, Belgium – Is the site of a Chateau that was used as Divisional Headquarters for the Allies at the beginning of WWI. The village changed hands multiple times during the war and was also the site of a huge crater from the detonation of a British mine. Craters were tactically important on flat battlegrounds as they provided cover for troops.
Thursday 20 April 1916 – rain
Battn is relieved by 60th Battn Canadians in pouring rain & well-stirred mud. Plentiful supply of shells are falling. No. 3 & 4 take train outside Ypres for a place between Vlamertinghe & Poperinghe then march to D camp in long rubber boots on a bad road. Arrvd in camp at 5 am & slept till afternoon dog-tired.
Russians capture Trebizond.
*The Trebizond Campaign – After a series of naval and land operations beginning on February 5th 1916 Russian Troops were able to push the Ottomans away from the ancient port city of Trebizond. It was captured on the 15th of April 1916 as Ottoman troops abandoned the city during the night.
Wednesday 19 April 1916 – rain
Regimental Sergt. Major S. Godfrey & his servant Pte. Boulter are killed in the RSM dugout, CSM Pritchard is badly wounded. A six inch shell penetrates it and smashes dugout to pieces. Boulter’s head is blown clean off.
The rain causes much misery. The exposures to the elements are very trying. German snipers are very accurate & take toll on our men. Pass an awful night in shell hole.
Tuesday 18 April 1916 – rain
Conditions most horrible in the trenches. 48 hours in a shell hole without cover & cannot move around. Our casualties are totalling up & now reach 10 killed.
I go to no man’s land & sketch.
Monday 17 April 1916 – rain
Sketching all day.
Vlamertinghe is heavily shelled.
Receive parcel from Kate Draycot. West Hallam.
Sunday 16 April 1916 – fine
Busy sketching & forget all about Sunday. Enemy shell Poperinghe & Busseboom camp. Pt. Peart is wounded in eye when firing from parapet. My best chum.
A Zeppelin passes overhead making westward with much noise.
Saturday 15 April 1916
Snow & hail in morning.
I go twice under shell & rifle fire to Co H.Q. (the culvert). Interview McD. at 12 & again at 1 PM. We study positions together and decide on making a fresh line on our front. We have aerial photos to go on & compare with our maps. I meet Major Gault who exchanges greetings with a merry laugh & a joke.
Leave H.Q. at 3:30 for Ypres to visit Brigade H.Q. As I pass on Menin road a whiz bang shell strikes within 20 feet from us. I enter Ypres at 4:15 PM & leave at 5:30 PM thro’ Vlamertinge & Busseboom arr. camp 9:30 PM after calling on Wallach.
Friday 14 April 1916
(Lieut. Horner & Pvt. Evans are killed also Pvt. Warren & Pvt. Craighead)
Sketching up to 3 PM.
Leave camp for the trenches by myself. Take route thro’ Kriusstraat & Ypres arr. at Bn H.Q. at 6:30. Lt. MacDougal (intelligence officer) & I view maps. At 9 PM McD. & I go along the front firing line. As we go over Menin Road Pte. Peart is shot in eye (right) by bullet. The ground all round is pitted with shell holes. We visit the crater which was made by one of our mines when Enemy occupied the ground. All trenches in very bad shape. Only 2 dug outs stench horrible. Many dead Germans & ours near crater, our troops occupy shell holes for 48 hours. I return to H.Q. at 2:30 am.
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