Absolute murder is going on on our left which changes afterwards to our lines.
Our artillery pulverise Vimy Ridge all day doing great damage. PP’s make a raid but lose 1 killed 1 missing & 4 wounded.
Make another later & also fail to get a prisoner.
Sunday 25 March 1917
Tis Sunday & we don’t know it. All day long & into evening there is very heavy shelling. We have the upper hand & shell him along the line as far as the eye can see. I go to Empire Redoubt. Narrowly escape a shell which burst close to me.
Pont St. a good trench now a broken mass & all in the course of an hour. Previous to this I had walked down it when the 1st shell struck it with a passion.
Two red machines up today but they do not engage ours.
Heavy bombardment on our left @ 8 to 10 pm.
*A “redoubt” is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort. It may be constructed of earthworks, stone or brick. And may be a permanent structure or a hastily-constructed temporary fortification.
Saturday 24 March 1917
Enemy aeroplane painted red shoots down one of our ‘planes & later on we shoot down one of theirs. The red ‘plane is manned by a dare-devil Hun. Much shelling & some very near to us.
I go the tour of trenches and tunnels.
42nd lose 3 men killed & many wounded when covering a working party on crater.
*It is possible that the red aeroplane was flown by Baron Von Richthofen, The Red Baron. There are reported “kills” credited to him in the area during this time – at Vimy, Oppy, La Neuville, Givenchy, Lens. Draycott names him as the pilot in his memoir.
Friday 23 March 1917
– snow
Enemy blow up a mine near Durand Crater at 3 am. Concussion shakes our dugout severely. Crater is 175 yds. long by 50 yds wide. We consolidate.
John Davies PPCLI killed by sniper.
*Large craters were formed when tunnels with a large chamber at the end were dug under the enemy’s lines, packed with explosives and tamped off to contain the explosion. The mines destroyed the defenders and their fortifications, allowing the infantry above to advance over no-man’s land without the usual devastating casualties. The underground war was a strategy of both sides, and tunnellers had to take precautions to avoid those from the other side digging in their direction.
Thursday 22 March 1917
– snow
Snow on ground in morning.
We pack draughting necessities for […] the front line. In afternoon I go with Armourer Sergt. Major in side car to Carency. Enemy shelling it. Lovely town but much shelled & totally destroyed. Enemy shells destroy a cordite dump causing a huge flame to rise. The A.S.M. & I take risk on road back – a shell burst 25 yds. on our right. Back to V. au Bois safely. At 4 pm Sergt. M. Doupe, Collins, Wilson & self go to the front line – quarries poor accommodation.
*”Draughting” is the English spelling of “drafting” or technical drawing.
**Armourer Sergeant (usually attached to the unit from the Army Ordinance Corps) is the technician responsible for the repair and maintenance of the unit’s weapons.
Wednesday 21 March 1917
– snow
We leave Bruay & happiness for Villers au Bois. Snow flurries all day.
Villers au Bois very crowded with troops. Bde. are allotted one room for office only. Lots of mud. No room for a draughting office. In afternoon wander around the ruins of Villers au Bois.
Tuesday 20 March 1917
– snow flurries, rain & small hail.
Orders to move today to Villers-au-Bois cancelled.
French advance 25 miles in 3 days from Lassignes [Lassigny?] to Barisis. They are now at Ham.
Monday 19 March 1917
– snow & rain with high wind
French take Noyen & Nesle.
Sunday 18 March 1917
Germans making an organized retreat to the Hindenberg Line.
*In March 1917, the German armies on the Somme carried out a strategic withdrawal known as Operation Alberich. They destroyed everything on the ground that they left: flattening villages, poisoning wells, cutting down trees, blowing craters on roads and crossroads, booby-trapping ruins and dugouts. The withdrawal was to a more powerful shorter line, positioned to take tactical advantage of ground. British patrols began to detect the withdrawal of German infantry from the Somme in mid February 1917 and a cautious pursuit began, halted only as the Hindenburg Line itself was approached.
Saturday 17 March 1917
Capt. HM Wallis came back today from Eng. Fresh from a Band Box – a “Tailors Model”.
*The expression ”fresh from a bandbox” means neat in appearance, spiffy, smart-looking, fresh, sharp; A bandbox is a small receptacle for collars and millinery, much used in the 17th century for storing the ruffs, or bands, commonly worn then.
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