Up about 7.30. Billy Truman, Murray and I went up to walking wounded post at Trescault1. Found Sergeant Powell there. Very busy all day and had a lot of men to look after. Ben Jenkins and Carmichael there too. Worked until late. Unsatisfactory job. Sent for more men.
Category Archives: Abridged
3 January 1918; Thursday
Up about 7.45. On parade at 9 o’clock. On working party in the wood. Some German planes over and dropped bombs. Killed a few men and several horses. One of the planes brought down with a bomb. Wrote letter to Ernie. Fine bright day.
Sergeant Rogers warned me to go to the walking wounded place to relieve Mills at once. Went on the car immediately after dinner. Helped with some field artillery wounded. Went to bed about 9.30.
1 January 1918; Tuesday
[In the space before 1 January – ] Things to eat. Old fashioned custard.
Up about 7.30. On working party in the wood. Lit a fire and stood round it. Received a Christmas letter from Joe, also Christmas card, sermon and some papers. Sat over fire at night and wrote letter.
31 December 1917; Monday
Got into a car at headquarters and went up to the A D S 1 with it. Murrill, Truman and myself stayed at the dressing station and the other men went up. Sat all night. Got to know that our bearers had had a rough house in the night and that we had 20 casualties to clear 17 stretcher cases.
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Bob Forrest, Webbs†, Jarratt, Frankland, Wood and three others went down the line. Billy Truman and I returned to headquarters in the evening about 7. Spent afternoon in the Hindenburg Trench bringing down sick.
30 December 1917; Sunday
Up about 7.30. Woke up by heavy gunfire and German shells bursting near. Heard that the Germans had attacked and taken two lines of trenches. Saw a few German prisoners. On fatigue all day. Went to a C of E service at night and it was very good. Commenced letter to Mr Eaves1 and then had a discussion about war and armies and all the rest of it. Turned in about 11 o’clock. Pulled out again about 12 to go up the line. About 30 of us altogether.
28 December 1917; Friday
Up about 7.30. On parade at 9. Did precious little in the morning. Washed pants and towel at dinnertime. Received postcard from Leishman. Saw German aeroplane brought down in flames quite near. Spent afternoon round the fire talking and arguing.
27 December 1917; Thursday
On working party again. Stayed at night with Harvey, Holman and Mills and had tea <in> another little dugout. Left about 8 o’clock and came down. Met Mark Jackson, half drunk, and he came into the billet and talked until late. Had good night’s rest.
Received Christmas card from Ranald MacDonald. Big peace rumours. Read account of the official entry into Jerusalem1.
“Official entry into Jerusalem”: Following a long battle, Jerusalem had fallen to the Allies on 9-10 December 1917. On 11 December 1917, Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936), commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), made his formal entry into Jerusalem on foot through the Jaffa gate, instead of by horse or vehicle, to show his great respect for the holy place. ↩
14 December 1917; Friday
On duty at night. Wrote long letter to Hilda Linfoot1. Two very bad cases in and we didn’t finish them until 9 o’clock. One man’s face was horribly smashed. Spent most of the day in bed but didn’t sleep at all. Very tired at night. Went on duty about 9 o’clock. Got the place ready, talked, and had dinner.
Hilda Tate Linfoot, ALL’s cousin. See Hilda disambiguation page. ↩
10 December 1917; Monday
Up about 8 o’clock. No rations up so we had iron ration biscuits and bully for breakfast with a drink of tea without any sugar. Paraded at 10. I reported sick and was given duty. The American officer put a bandage on my ankle. Spent afternoon writing a letter home. We tried to improve our billet but the sergeants took it from us because two officers took theirs. Received letters from Gertie, Mother, Ernie and Hilda Linfoot1 in New Zealand. Got down to it about 8 o’clock. Had a look inside of a tank. Walked round inside gate† and was very much interested in it. Quite a lot2 where we are. A rumour that some of us are going to a place on duty.
Hilda Tate Linfoot, ALL’s cousin. See Hilda disambiguation page. ↩
“Quite a lot [of tanks]”: By this stage of the war in late 1917, tanks were deployed in large numbers – see also note on 22 November. ↩
9 December 1917; Sunday
Called up at 7 in the morning and told to fall in at 8. I rode on a lorry again with the quartermaster’s staff. We left about 9 o’clock (the men marched off shortly after 8 o’clock) and arrived at Fins about 4 o’clock1. We had rather a miserable journey through the most desolate and blasted country. The men arrived about 7 o’clock after 10 hours marching and were very much done up2. They had had no dinner, the same as yesterday. Got into miserable cold billets, just canvas shelters. I was put on guard and did from midnight until 4 o’clock. Very cold in bed and my feet nearly frozen.