Walter Draycott’s Great War Chronicle
North Vancouver Museum & Archives
Enemy shell Vimy & the pits. Only a few gas shells come over.
Am very busy all day on a/c of handing over to 9th Brigade. Enemy machine falls in flames near Thelus. Douglas & I make our way back to La Targette via Bois de [Bouval…] – Arras Road & Neuville St. Vaast. Sleep night @ Transport Lines with Sergts. Baker, Scott & Smith. Absolute Hell is going on around Arleux & Oppy villages.
Baxter & I take tour round lines & [Forse] No. I visiting enemy ‘vacated’ gun pits & dugouts. Study their method of construction.
Enemy pounds Vimy with heavy & medium artillery.
Our shells set fire to many building in Mericourt, one of which burnt itself clean out. French permission to shell Mericourt has to be obtained from the French liaison officer. Done.
Knowling goes to Hospital.
Canadians take Arleux in Gohelle & part of Oppy. 300 prisoners.
A new man for draughting office comes in place of White. Welcome. His name is Carlile.
Enemy counter attack in Oppy.
Enemy burst open the canal bank & flood area S. West of Lens. We can plainly see it from Vimy. One of our ‘planes brought down in nose dive on Vimy Ridge.
Enemy put heavy fire all around us.
White is shell shocked so the whole work is left with me.
Enemy heavily shell our battery positions at Vimy.
Enemy ‘plane brings down one of our machines of Bristol type, old pattern. It falls near Vimy. I rush over & help observer out of machine & bandage severe gash in left cheek. His name is Lt. Mercer. The pilot is untouched but shaken. Machine a total wreck. Struck large tree in descent.
*Shellshock was the blanket term applied by contemporaries to those soldiers who broke down under the strain of war…. (It) was often held by medical professionals to be the result of physical damage to the brain by the shock of exploding shells. Military authorities often saw its symptoms as expressions of cowardice or lack of moral character. Its true cause, prolonged exposure to the stress of combat, would not be fully understood or effectively treated during the war.
Lt. Montgomery is wounded.
Enemy heavily shell our batteries & put 2 out of action. An enemy plane came over our lines in morning & located the battery positions.
No entry
*Second Battle of the Scarpe in progress near Arras.
– fine
Have the pleasure of seeing two enemy planes come down near Vimy. Sent down by our scouts from 10,000 feet up. Enemy balloon breaks loose & comes sailing over our lines.
Severe bombardment all along our new front. I take a trip all along front. Intense bombardment at night. We made ground this morning near & around Lens.
On our right our Naval Div. capture two batteries & many balloons.
*Observation balloons were commonly adopted by all sides and considered ideal in the static trench warfare conditions peculiar to the First World War. Observation readings were passed down via the use of flags or occasionally by radio, and balloon operators would generally remain in the air for hours at a spell. It was regarded as a dangerous job, for although observation balloons were invariably heavily protected by anti-aircraft and machine gun fire and by wire meshes dangled between groups of balloons, they were often the irresistible stationary target of enemy aircraft. (http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/balloons.htm)
– fine
Am fed up with M.G. Fort so take trip up to front line for observation & sketching. Pass thro’ La Folie Wood down Staubwasser Weg to concrete dugout wherein lie much S.A.A. and large Trench M. ammunition. I sketch all villages in view, Avion, Mericourt, Acherville & Douai Cathedral. All small churches are destroyed. Many fires in villages
Enemy working mines. Trains moving in his rear. Balloons ascending in Mericourt.
Heavy shelling all round.
I visit H.Q. at Vimy. Met Capt. Wallis on way home. He remonstrates with me for going out alone.
*Weg is a German word which translated to English means road, way, path, street….
** S.A.A. means Small Arms Ammunition
– dull
At 6 am we move up to M.G. Fort as Reserve Bde. Enemy retiring to III Stellung. White & I go overland.
Enemy bring one of our planes down by A.A. guns. One in Flames & one in Ribbons. I witness all descend.
We’ve located in Machine Gun Fort. ‘Tis overcrowded & we’ve no Draughting Room nor table.
*M.G. Fort likely means Machine Gun Fort or bunker.
*Stellung is a german word meaning position or situation.
*A.A. is acronym for anti-aircraft fire.
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