Up the line with a runner. Visit several [Hqr]. Make several surveys. Enemy very active. Several aeroplane fights.
Monday 29 January 1917
Busy making blue prints in morning.
Observer Whiteside and I make tour of unknown trenches & gain valuable information in reference to them. Enemy snipe and shell us as we pass overland.
Sunday 28 January 1917
– frost
About 4 am a party of PPCLI attempted to rush enemy’s post but enemy being on alert beat them off. Our casualties 2 slightly wounded. Our party killed two of enemy in post and then withdrew.
A Raiding party from 49th succeeded in entering enemy trenches capturing 8 prisoners. We suffered no casualties. Weather very cold. Snow & frost.
Lt. Little (PPCLI) is wounded slightly.
*The 49th Battalion (Edmonton Regiment), CEF, was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The 49th Battalion was authorized on 7 November 1914 and embarked for Great Britain on 3 June 1915. It disembarked in France on 9 October 1915, where it fought as part of the 7th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion was disbanded on 15 September 1920.The 49th Battalion recruited in and was mobilized at Edmonton, Alberta. (www.wikipedia.org)
Saturday 27 January 1917
– frost
At 8:20 am a raiding party from PPCLI under Major A. Rasmussen & 12 OR [entered] enemy’s line under a Stokes barrage. Raid successful. A number of dugouts being bombed. Many casualities inflicted. Enemy’s post destroyed and two prisoners brought in. Our casualties nil. Weather frosty with snow. Our Stokes fire 666 rounds.
*OR is an acronym for Other Ranks
*Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes – who later became Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE – designed the mortar in January 1915. The Stokes mortar was a simple weapon, consisting of a smoothbore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount. When a mortar bomb was dropped into the tube, an impact sensitive primer in the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube, and detonate, firing the bomb towards the target. Range was determined by the amount of propellant charge used and the angle of the barrel. (www.wikipedia.org)
Friday 26 January 1917
I go to craters on front line Litchfield & Watling & afterwards visit the “O’Pips”. Enemy heavily shelling. Our trench mortars are very active. Pte. Wilson accompanies me. I do a little sketching of enemy’s machine gun positions.
*Litchfield & Watling are the names of large mine craters near Vimy Ridge. Today Lichfield Crater is essentially a mass grave with 57 burials, 15 of which are unidentified. Of the 42 known burials, all except one are of Canadian soldiers, 39 of whom died on the 9th of April 1917.
* O-PIP ~ Observation Post (OP). From the phonetic alphabet (www.ict.griffith.edu.au)
Thursday 25 January 1917
– frost
Enemy shell us vigorously with 7.7 cc shells for 3 hours. No damage except to disturb graves. I make investigation of his shells & find location of his battery. Make sketch & plan & submit same to Artillery thru’ our Intell. Officer. He sends the 1st 1916 Shell over, previously they have been 1915. They’re made @ Strassburg.
Wednesday 24 January 1917
– frost
Up the front line with Pte. Collins. Much shelling. See an enemy sentry on sentry – go. On our return we visit the caves. In evening the enemy shell our quarter with 5.9’. Hell on our left. Intense bombardment.
* In the days leading up to the historic battle [Vimy], Canadian troops were housed in a series of underground caverns and tunnels to keep the build up of troops secret from the Germans, said Rory Cory, senior curator for the Military Museums. Boredom reigned, leading some to begin doodling or carving images into the cave walls. (www.canada.com)
Tuesday 23 January 1917
Up the line alone. Enemy shelling vigorously & then our 9.2’s open up & silence him. Ground very hard with recent frosts. Ice a foot thick. 4 inches of snow on the ground.
Monday 22 January 1917
– snowing, miserable
Enemy aeroplane falls over line in flames. Attacked by our airmen.
Sunday 21 January 1917
The RCRs carry out a successful raid & got 5 prisoners (one with an Iron Cross). Our casualties two slightly wounded. Several German dugouts were bombed & inmates killed.
*RCR ~ Royal Canadian Regiment
*The Iron Cross (in German ‘Eiserne Kreuz’) was reinstituted during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and again by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 5 August 1914 for use during the First World War. The medal was awarded to recognise acts of heroism, bravery and leadership. In spite of its evident prestige it was a widely issued medal: almost six million were awarded during wartime, although by far the majority of these (5,500,000) were awarded to the lowest of three classes of the medal, the Iron Cross (Second Class). (www.firstworldwar.com)
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