Monthly Archives: July 2016

26 July 1916; Wednesday

1976

This is an extract from Arthur Linfoot’s own transcription of his diary, written in 1976.

Got a piece of shrapnel out of the shoulder of a Y. & L soldier. Stayed up until about 1.30 a.m. and slept until about 7 o’clock. Had good night though Germans sent over gas shells after a while. Were relieved at 8 o’clock and marched down to about the dressing station then on to billets near the chateau. After calling at ASC park got to know that a big munitions dump had been fired and that Sergeant Jones had been killed and Sergeant Brown wounded at about 8 o’clock. Two men had been gassed the night before and five men had gone down the line. Fine day. Returned to old billet with Lavere. Heard that Ted Trim (stretcher bearer) had been awarded the DCM on 2nd July. Parcel from home and letter from Joe. Had eggs, brown bread and butter for tea.

26 July 1916; Wednesday

July 1916, , , , ,

Got piece of shrapnel out of the L & Y & L1 shoulder2. Stayed up until 1.30, then lay down until about 7 o’clock. Had quiet night although the Germans sent over gas shells all the while. Were relieved at 8 o’clock. Marched down to dressing station, then to the billets near the château, after calling at an Army Service park. Got to know a big ammunition dump had been fired. Sergeant Jones killed and Sergeant Brown wounded about 8 o’clock. 2 men gassed the night before and a few men down the line. Fine day. Returned to old billets with Lavere. A dead German buried in the side of the trench and his foot sticking out and smelled horribly. Got to know a day or two ago that Ted Trim had got a DCM3 on July 2nd. Received parcel from home and letter from Joe. Had eggs and brown bread and butter to tea.

Two pieces of trench art (the matchbox cover engraved "The Great War"; the paper- knife engraved "Albert", and "Ancre" on the reverse; the handle is a spent .303 cartridge, for a Lee Enfield rifle or a Lewis machine-gun); and a piece of shrapnel preserved by ALL (exact origin not known but possibly related to the July 26 diary entry).
Two pieces of trench art (the matchbox cover engraved “The Great War”; the paper- knife engraved “Albert”, and “Ancre” on the reverse; the handle is a spent .303 cartridge, for a Lee Enfield rifle or a Lewis machine-gun); and a piece of shrapnel preserved by ALL (exact origin not known but possibly related to the July 26 diary entry).

  1. Y & L: ALL first wrote “L & Y”, but corrected this to “Y & L”: the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Yorkshire & Lancashire Regiment were in 70th Brigade, 8th Division – not the 34th or 19th Division, but nevertheless in the central sector of the front. ↩

  2. ALL wrote in his more detailed 1976 narrative that he had kept this piece of shrapnel as a souvenir – possibly though by no means certainly the one in the illustration accompanying this entry. ↩

  3. “DCM”: the Distinguished Conduct Medal was for Other Ranks; officers got the Distinguished Service Cross. ↩

25 July 1916; Tuesday

1976

This is an extract from Arthur Linfoot’s own transcription of his diary, written in 1976.

Slept badly owing to “chats”1 and a big naval gun. Up at 6 o’clock. Marched off to Capt. Johnson’s for breakfast and got it there. Marched off about 7.30 to the trenches. Our squad (Bascombe, Houghton, Hall and me) at the aid post (German dugout) near Bazentin Wood. Expected a few light wounds and sick cases. About 9 o’clock at night a man walked in with an ugly shrapnel wound in his shoulder, a man with his skull smashed and one with a knee wound besides smaller cases. Carried the worst down to the dressing station in the chalk quarry on the road. Germans had been shelling all day but stopped while we went down with these cases. Had two cases of shell shock all day. Very heavy journey down with the stretchers; dark, heavy ground (battered out of shape by countless holes and three men to a stretcher) Sergeant Fraser and Hall joined us and they took a string of walking wounded down to the quarry aid post and went into a German gas barrage. I stayed up until 1.30. All quiet – went to sleep.

(Note: a dead German buried on his face in the wall of the trench near the entrance to the deep dugout we were using as an aid post near Bazentin Wood had only his left leg from the knee downwards and his right foot sticking out of the side of the trench. In the dark we knew when we had reached our dugout by feeling this stiff sticking out leg.)

  1. “Chats”: Lice. ↩

25 July 1916; Tuesday

July 1916, , , , ,

Slept badly from lice and a big naval gun. Up at 6 o’clock. Marched up to Captain Johnson for breakfast and had it there. Marched off about 7.30, up to the trenches. Our squad (Bascombe, Houghton, Hall and I) in the aid post near the Bosantine [sic] Wood1. Not much to do all day excepting a few slight wounds and sick cases. About 9 o’clock at night a man walked in with an ugly shrapnel wound in his shoulder, a man with his skull smashed and one with a knee wound besides two smaller cases. Carried the worst ones to the dressing station on the road. Germans shelled all day but stopped while we were down. Had two cases of shell shock in all day. Very heavy journey down with the stretchers. Dark, heavy ground. Only 3 to a stretcher. Got back safely. Sergeant Fraser and Hall went with a walking case and found the German using gas shells. I stayed up until half past one.

  1. “Bosantine Wood”: There are two woods near the village of Bazentin, about 10km NE of Albert. These are shown on old maps as Bazentin-le-Petit wood (A) and Bazentin-le-Grand wood (B). ALL could have been referring to either of these although Bazentin-le-Petit wood (A on the map and, somewhat counter-intuitively, the larger of the two woods then as it is now) seems the more likely as it is more easily accessible from the road. It seems quite likely that ALL had never seen the name Bazentin in writing, at least up to the time when he wrote his diary entry for 25 July, and this could account for his spelling. ↩

24 July 1916; Monday

1976

This is an extract from Arthur Linfoot’s own transcription of his diary, written in 1976.

Arrived at some place at about 10 o’clock and lay down with Lavere. Ordered to move again and after delay moved off to the place near the chateau where we were on Friday. Lay down to sleep again with Lavere and slept well in spite of being very damp with heavy dew. Had breakfast about 10 o’clock. Had shave and wash. Received parcel and letter from home. Lavere and I built a shelter against the heavy dew. A wall of old sandbags and our ground sheets tied together and raised in the middle as a cover. Letter from Leishman from the barracks with photograph of NCOs.

24 July 1916; Monday

July 1916, ,

Arrived at a place about 10 o’clock (23)1 and got down2 with Lavere under a waggon. Ordered to move on again. After delay fell in and marched to the place near the château where we were on Friday. Got down in the open with Lavere and slept well although damp. Got up and had breakfast about 10. Shaved and washed. Washed feet and hunted for lice. Received parcel from home, and letter from home and a letter from Leishman with a photograph of the barracks R-, N.C.Os. Spent day agreeably. Made good shelter for the night.

  1. Presumably means 10 pm on the 23rd. ↩

  2. “Got down” means “lay down to sleep” as elsewhere in the diaries. ↩

23 July 1916; Sunday

1976

This is an extract from Arthur Linfoot’s own transcription of his diary, written in 1976.

Bazentin Wood “searched” by German shells from end to end. About one o’clock a shell struck the edge of our trench and blew it in about 6′1 from us burying Denham and Hughes (machine guns played over us.) Bascombe and I dug them out with our hands and electric torch. A nightmare. Got them into the big dugout. (German – one corner almost down to the ground – been hit by a 15” shell.) Spent a short time there. Glad to get out. Rather be hit by splinter than buried alive. Breakfast tea and biscuits at 8 o’clock. Resumed carrying from aid post to Bazentin Wood to East Lancs post behind it. Mortally wounded Sergeant on stretcher left out to die. Beyond doctor’s aid and unconscious. Took string of walking wounded down. One couldn’t keep pace. I carried him. Tremendous heavy bombardment by our guns. Noise deafening. Some hideous sights in Wood both British and German.

  1. 6′ – 6 feet; a little under 2 metres. ↩

23 July 1916; Sunday

July 1916,

[Above the printed date – ] Heard that Pozières 1 had been captured.

About 1 o’clock a shell struck the road about 6 feet off our trench and blew the side in burying Denham and Hughes. A machine gun played over us the whole time and we had to dig them out with our hands. Like a nightmare. Spent a few hours in the proper dug-out. Took down two stretcher cases before breakfast and then got some tea in Captain Newton’s dug out. Duggins and Gibson sent up to relieve Bascombe and I. Received orders later to go down. Paddy and I carried a case to the relief and then came down. Passed an 8” battery. A tremendous number of guns. The bombardment through the night was deafening. Some hideous sights in the wood. An Engineer sergeant badly wounded left to die and was breathing when I saw him last. Also decomposed bodies stirred up with the shells.

  1. The Battle of Pozières was a two-week struggle for the French village of Pozières during the middle stages of the Battle of the Somme. Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle and ended with Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village. ↩

22 July 1916; Saturday

1976

This is an extract from Arthur Linfoot’s own transcription of his diary, written in 1976.

Up at 5 o’clock and marched off. Felt pretty jaded to start with. Walked past Mametz Wood and on to Bazentin Wood. Bascombe and I left at the East Lancs. Aid Post. Had breakfast (cooked ourselves). Other two of our squad – Houghton and Hall – there. Took down a man on our backs. I ran some messages. Very heavy shelling and machine gunning towards and after dark. Returning from the East Lancs. Post to the Post in Bazentin Wood met a Jock with an ugly wound in his thigh. Carried him on my back until we lost the cover of the bank from machine guns. Trench crowded with troops so stayed on top. Shell very close and filled our lungs with fumes and eyes with dirt. Got too far along trench (on top) and took him to Kings Own aid post by mistake. Got back to our post by light of flares and gun flashes.

22 July 1916; Saturday

July 1916, ,

Up at 5 o’clock and marched off. Felt pretty jaded to start with. Walked up by Mametz Wood1 and to Hardecourt Wood2. Bascombe and I left at the East Lancs aid post. Had our break fast (cooked ourselves.) Other two of our squad there. Took down a man on our backs. Ran some messages to the very heavily shelled sap at night and a machine gun fired over our heads all the night. Took down 9 wounded cases. Carried one on my back. Under shell fire and machine gun fire all the time. Met a Jock with a bad wound in the thigh. A Coal Box3 burst a few feet away from us and nearly blinded us with dirt and fumes but didn’t hurt us. Got him to the King’s Own4 aid post by myself. Returned to rest. Waited until shells eased off. Returned to rest place. Tried to sleep in garments† by position. Shells falling all round us.

  1. Mametz (A) and its Wood are on the bottom limb of the “L”-shaped front line , some 5 – 6km east of Albert, in square I8 of the Michelin map. ↩

  2. “Hardecourt Wood”: there is a Hardecourt-aux-Bois (B), 5km E. of Mametz, but the shorthand is unclear, and I don’t know whether Hardecourt-aux-Bois, or its remains, were yet held by the British. ↩

  3. “Coal Box”: Another name for a German heavy artillery shell used by British troops, seemingly interchangeably with “Jack Johnson”, which ALL had also used in a diary entry on 9 July. ↩

  4. “King’s Own”: the 7th Battalion of the King’s Own Regiment was in the 19th Division, but in the 56th Brigade (ALL’s 58th Field Ambulance was attached to the 57th Brigade). But so was the (7th) East Lancs. ↩