Wet and stormy.
Pay.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
14th May 1917
Extended order. Fatigue - wire carrying.
Wet and stormy.
Pay.
Wet and stormy.
Pay.
13th May 1917 (Sunday)
Mess orderly.
Church Parade. Field Service.
Church Parade. Field Service.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
12th May 1917
Bayonets, physical, musketry, etc.
Half day off.
Concert (regimental) at the Chateau.
Half day off.
Concert (regimental) at the Chateau.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
11th May 1917
Bath.
Lucheux - 5 miles away.
Medical inspection.
Google Maps entry for Lucheux here
Lucheux - 5 miles away.
Medical inspection.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original diary notes |
Google Maps entry for Lucheux here
10th May 1917
Le Souich.
Parade ground musketry and bayonets.
Afternoon - feet inspection.
YMCA concert.
Lt. Hooper officer in charge.
Parade ground musketry and bayonets.
Afternoon - feet inspection.
YMCA concert.
Lt. Hooper officer in charge.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
9th May 1917
At 5am we detrained at Bouquemaison, a little town in open farming country some twenty miles to the west of Anas and proceeded on foot to Le Souich two miles nearer to the big town.
A few hundred yards along the road the column was halted in front of a small wooden building and Lieutenant Hooper, in charge of the draft, addressed us in the following terms.
“We are about to draw iron rations. Each man will be issued with a canvas bag containing one tin of bully beef, one tin of tea and sugar mixed, six biscuits and one bar of chocolate. These rations are for emergency use only and must not be consumed except in times of great extreme – for example if you find yourself cut off from your unit by enemy action and unable to draw rations in the usual way. Any man found guilty of misusing iron rations will be court-martialled and subject to severe punishment. You will now proceed in single file and the Quartermaster will issue one iron ration to each man.”
Having drawn the iron rations and stowed them away in haversacks we continued the march along the dusty road between the barren fields until on the immediate outskirts of Le Souich the column was again halted in front of another wooden building. In a load voice Hooper again addressed us – “Now men, we are about to draw iron rations. You have already been instructed what you will incur if you misuse them”. Raising his voice again - “you will now proceed to the Quartermaster who will issue one iron ration per man.”
We had received our first lesson in the art of soldiering as practised by the old sweats throughout the ages from one who had himself served in the ranks and whose heart, I suspect, was still with the boys. Poor Hooper was killed in the battle of Cambrai in the following November.
That night we had a brew up and by the time ‘lights out’ sounded every man was replete and yet fully equipped with one iron ration according to the requirements of King’s Regulations.
Le Souich was the usual nondescript French village but one with a particular sense of civic pride. Across the village street was strung a high banner bearing the words “Le Souich – this is a clean village keep it so”! We took over our quarters, one odorous, broken down cowshed with stables adjoining. Across the road was a disused estaminet (1) and the usual midden encroached in all directions. We were now the 7th Army Corps Reinforcement Camp and here were issued box respirators (2), the PG gas helmet having been supplied at an earlier date. We did not appreciate this additional burden to our over weighted bodies, although I personally had good cause to be grateful for it at a later date.
Arrived Bouquemaison early morning, 5am.
Billeted in cow shed at La Souich.
Box respirators.
7th Army Corps reinforcement camp.
Google Maps entry for Bouquemaison here
Google Maps entry for Le Souich here
(1) estaminet = cafe
(2) Imperial War Museum example of a box respirator here.
A few hundred yards along the road the column was halted in front of a small wooden building and Lieutenant Hooper, in charge of the draft, addressed us in the following terms.
“We are about to draw iron rations. Each man will be issued with a canvas bag containing one tin of bully beef, one tin of tea and sugar mixed, six biscuits and one bar of chocolate. These rations are for emergency use only and must not be consumed except in times of great extreme – for example if you find yourself cut off from your unit by enemy action and unable to draw rations in the usual way. Any man found guilty of misusing iron rations will be court-martialled and subject to severe punishment. You will now proceed in single file and the Quartermaster will issue one iron ration to each man.”
Having drawn the iron rations and stowed them away in haversacks we continued the march along the dusty road between the barren fields until on the immediate outskirts of Le Souich the column was again halted in front of another wooden building. In a load voice Hooper again addressed us – “Now men, we are about to draw iron rations. You have already been instructed what you will incur if you misuse them”. Raising his voice again - “you will now proceed to the Quartermaster who will issue one iron ration per man.”
We had received our first lesson in the art of soldiering as practised by the old sweats throughout the ages from one who had himself served in the ranks and whose heart, I suspect, was still with the boys. Poor Hooper was killed in the battle of Cambrai in the following November.
That night we had a brew up and by the time ‘lights out’ sounded every man was replete and yet fully equipped with one iron ration according to the requirements of King’s Regulations.
Le Souich was the usual nondescript French village but one with a particular sense of civic pride. Across the village street was strung a high banner bearing the words “Le Souich – this is a clean village keep it so”! We took over our quarters, one odorous, broken down cowshed with stables adjoining. Across the road was a disused estaminet (1) and the usual midden encroached in all directions. We were now the 7th Army Corps Reinforcement Camp and here were issued box respirators (2), the PG gas helmet having been supplied at an earlier date. We did not appreciate this additional burden to our over weighted bodies, although I personally had good cause to be grateful for it at a later date.
Arrived Bouquemaison early morning, 5am.
Billeted in cow shed at La Souich.
Box respirators.
7th Army Corps reinforcement camp.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
Google Maps entry for Bouquemaison here
Google Maps entry for Le Souich here
(1) estaminet = cafe
(2) Imperial War Museum example of a box respirator here.
7th May 1917
Warned for the line.
Full war pack.
Mucked about all day.
Paraded 6:30pm, entrained 2am Tuesday.
All night in carriage. Nine soldiers.
Full war pack.
Mucked about all day.
Paraded 6:30pm, entrained 2am Tuesday.
All night in carriage. Nine soldiers.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
6th May 1917 (Sunday)
Church Parade.
Cards all day. Coombe, Parsons, Bromidge.
Cards all day. Coombe, Parsons, Bromidge.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
5th May 1917
Fatigue on Pimple. CTS.
Filled one sack and slept in the hay.
Filled one sack and slept in the hay.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
4th May 1917
Interior economy day.
Warned for up the line - 30 draft cancelled.
Mansley and co leave.
Route march to Rouelles.
KRRC (1) or Inniskillings (2).
Google Maps entry for Park Rouelles here
(1) Wikipedia entry for KRRC (King's Royal Rifle Corps) here
(2) Wikipedia entry for Inniskillings (Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers) here
Warned for up the line - 30 draft cancelled.
Mansley and co leave.
Route march to Rouelles.
KRRC (1) or Inniskillings (2).
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
(1) Wikipedia entry for KRRC (King's Royal Rifle Corps) here
(2) Wikipedia entry for Inniskillings (Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers) here
3rd May 1917
Digging in, 2ft 6" in 20 minutes. Trench digging, etc. Wiring.
YMCA.
YMCA.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
2nd May 1917
March up Pimple and down.
Musketry - 15 rounds, A range.
YMCA concert party.
Musketry - 15 rounds, A range.
YMCA concert party.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
1st May 1917
Squad and rifle drill were the order of the day concluding with numerous assaults on the bayonet course. The latter was a hazardous undertaking. In close formation, with swords fixed, we were bullied and coerced into climbing and vaulting high barricades with unexpected wide trenches and other obstacles on the farther side, completing the exercise with vicious jabs at swinging sacks and prone ‘bodies’ made of straw. The target was always the solar plexus, the most vital spot in the human body. The danger, we were told, was that if the bayonet was plunged in too deeply human strength would not be able to withdraw it.
The sudden crack of a rifle meant that someone had unconsciously left ‘one up the spout’ and in his exertions at the top of the barricade had triggered off. The culprit was a tall, scholarly looking individual with bent knees and a pronounced stoop and elderly by our standards. His persistent clumsiness made him the butt of the draft and the despair of the Canaries. What penalty was meted out to him we never knew because from that day forward he disappeared from our ken. I like to think he was found some nice quite job at the Base more in keeping with his talents and no longer a menace to himself or his comrades.
The evening was spent at the YMCA where the well-known historian, Holland-Rose (1), gave a talk on Russia. The lecture was undoubtedly both interesting and instructive but the golden opportunity for a quiet nap with a modicum of comfort was irresistible. It was here that I first met Stanley Victor Bradley. On my way back to the billet a short tubby figure joined me. The beaming smile was Bradley’s but the curious and shapeless jacket of greenish hue with no pleats to its bulging breast pockets could only be blamed on the quartermaster’s stores. Bradley, I learnt in good time, was not one to be worried by the niceties of dress and I soon became aware that his main preoccupation was the enjoyment of life to the full under all conditions with goodwill to all men.
Time was short in 1917 and we soon became acquainted with each other’s relatively brief life histories. At 25 he was five years my senior, a civil servant in the War Trades Department of the Board of Trade. He had been at school with my cousin who had died at Loos, had a passion for tennis and was a fervent Wesleyan. He was also a teetotaller and a non-smoker. I never heard him utter the mildest of swear words except on one never to be forgotten occasion. From that day forward Bradley, Forster and I were inseparables except on those occasions when the duties of the day broke up the trio. In later years of peace I have sometimes pondered why in such close relationships the use of Christian names was rejected. The answer I believe lay in some inner consciousness which refused to admit that friendships born and nurtured on the battlefield could be anything but transient and that by some curious quirk of the mind we were facing up to the inevitable.
The trio was now complete and though we enjoyed the company of many other good friends we were never content unless we three were together.
(1) Wikipedia entry for Professor Holland-Rose here.
The sudden crack of a rifle meant that someone had unconsciously left ‘one up the spout’ and in his exertions at the top of the barricade had triggered off. The culprit was a tall, scholarly looking individual with bent knees and a pronounced stoop and elderly by our standards. His persistent clumsiness made him the butt of the draft and the despair of the Canaries. What penalty was meted out to him we never knew because from that day forward he disappeared from our ken. I like to think he was found some nice quite job at the Base more in keeping with his talents and no longer a menace to himself or his comrades.
The evening was spent at the YMCA where the well-known historian, Holland-Rose (1), gave a talk on Russia. The lecture was undoubtedly both interesting and instructive but the golden opportunity for a quiet nap with a modicum of comfort was irresistible. It was here that I first met Stanley Victor Bradley. On my way back to the billet a short tubby figure joined me. The beaming smile was Bradley’s but the curious and shapeless jacket of greenish hue with no pleats to its bulging breast pockets could only be blamed on the quartermaster’s stores. Bradley, I learnt in good time, was not one to be worried by the niceties of dress and I soon became aware that his main preoccupation was the enjoyment of life to the full under all conditions with goodwill to all men.
Time was short in 1917 and we soon became acquainted with each other’s relatively brief life histories. At 25 he was five years my senior, a civil servant in the War Trades Department of the Board of Trade. He had been at school with my cousin who had died at Loos, had a passion for tennis and was a fervent Wesleyan. He was also a teetotaller and a non-smoker. I never heard him utter the mildest of swear words except on one never to be forgotten occasion. From that day forward Bradley, Forster and I were inseparables except on those occasions when the duties of the day broke up the trio. In later years of peace I have sometimes pondered why in such close relationships the use of Christian names was rejected. The answer I believe lay in some inner consciousness which refused to admit that friendships born and nurtured on the battlefield could be anything but transient and that by some curious quirk of the mind we were facing up to the inevitable.
The trio was now complete and though we enjoyed the company of many other good friends we were never content unless we three were together.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
(1) Wikipedia entry for Professor Holland-Rose here.
30th April 1917
Gas all day - chlorine.
Three times tear gas.
Box respirators.
Sergeant J S Hunt of East Ham as instructor.
Pass to Harfleur and Havre - Montivilleurs. 4-9
Tea at Salvation Army Hut with Foster.
Google Maps entry for Harfleur here
Google Maps entry for Montivilliers here
Three times tear gas.
Box respirators.
Sergeant J S Hunt of East Ham as instructor.
Pass to Harfleur and Havre - Montivilleurs. 4-9
Tea at Salvation Army Hut with Foster.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
Google Maps entry for Montivilliers here
29th April 1917 (Sunday)
Church parade in cinema.
Foster of Somerset House, etc.
Two lectures. Captain Hiley.
Foster of Somerset House, etc.
Two lectures. Captain Hiley.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
28th April 1917
Kit and rifle inspections.
Vapour bath and cold shower.
Half holiday.
Vapour bath and cold shower.
Half holiday.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
27th April 1917
Extended order on "Pimple".
Trench defence.
50 rounds blank.
Trench defence.
50 rounds blank.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
26th April 1917
Bombing and more bombing.
Lecture on German bombs.
Service at YMCA.
Pimple.
Lecture on German bombs.
Service at YMCA.
Pimple.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
25th April 1917
Trench routine, wiring, etc.
Lecture - Relieving Trenches.
"Pimple"
Lecture - Relieving Trenches.
"Pimple"
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
24th April 1917
Musketry, etc.
Bombing - smoke bombs.
Pipe.
Bombing - smoke bombs.
Pipe.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
23rd April 1917
On the pimple all day.
Bayonet course, musketry, etc.
Draft of QWRs up the line.
Bayonet course, musketry, etc.
Draft of QWRs up the line.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
22nd April 1917 (Sunday)
Church Parade.
Sleep in sun.
Salvation Army Hut service.
Sleep in sun.
Salvation Army Hut service.
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| Original diary entry |
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| Original journal notes |
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