Up about 7 o’clock. Spent most of morning drilling and messing about. Had walk at night. Heard of advances on Cambrai1.
Cambrai: See note on 22 November. ↩
Up about 7 o’clock. On the double1 as usual. On parade and put on the competition squad. Spent afternoon writing and made good progress with French. Heard of victory on the Somme.
British advance on Cambrai 2. 8000 prisoners and many guns.
Double march, or run. See all diary entries tagged “double“. ↩
The Battle of Cambrai (commenced 20 November) is best known as the occasion when tanks were first used in adequate numbers; the few available in 1916 having had their secrecy blown by being tried prematurely on the Somme, and in 1917, still in small numbers, having been largely wasted in impractical ground conditions at Passchendaele. ↩
Up at 7 o’clock. On parade in the morning. Wet day. I played the part of wounded man and was carried on a stretcher for the first time in my life. Football match in the afternoon between our team and the King’s Own1, first round in the cup tie – and we won 6 – 0. Received papers from home and “Everyman”2 published my letter in reply to Roderick Random. Received letter from Charlie written on the 28th October.
The following text is the letter written by ALL, referred to in the diary entry for 21 November 1917 and published in “Everyman”, November 1917. This letter, over the pseudonym B.E.F. (presumably for British Expeditionary Force), which is preserved in a correspondence book of ALL’s, was written on 31 October in Folkestone while ALL was waiting there to be taken across the Channel on his return to France from home leave.
SIR. – I have been very much amused and occasionally just a little annoyed by the neat little gibes which “Roderick Random” so often makes at teetotalers. In the last copy which I had the pleasure of reading he said something (I haven’t EVERYMAN by me) about “before men grew teetotal and flabby.” Permit me, modestly and with cap in hand, to state my own case. I am one of a third generation of most bigoted teetotalers, and neither I nor my fathers are – or were – particularly flabby. We can boast fairly healthy carcases, tolerably clear minds, and maybe a seasoning of humour. In the realm of hard knocks we hold our own whether they be the playful little taps of circumstance or the more energetic blows given by fragments of high-explosive shell. I am just winding up ten days’ leave after twenty months’ active service, and have had the honour – scarcely a pleasure – of being in every stunt in that period with the exception of Vimy Ridge – and never condescended to indulge in a rum ration. I am not by any means the only total abstainer on active service. They are as plentiful as German whizzbangs and as hard as Army biscuits. I venture to assert that you will find more flabbiness of body and mind amongst topers than amongst abstainers.
Pardon scrawl and a hastily written letter. I am at rest camp waiting for the cross-Channel boat. In a few more hours I shall be wending my way to the battle-line and will face Fritz – without a rum ration.
Up at 7 o’clock. Double1 before breakfast and usual morning’s work. Spent afternoon on French and reading “Old St Paul’s”2. Had walk at night with Holman and Harvey and discussed music and a few odd things.
Double march, or run. See all diary entries tagged “double“. ↩
Old Saint Paul’s: William Harrison Ainsworth’s novel, about the Great Fire. See also Old St. Paul’s and Arthur Linfoot’s library. ↩
Old St. Paul’s, also titled Old Saint Paul’s: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire, is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in The Sunday Times from 3 January 1841 to 26 December 1841.
The story of Old St. Paul’s is spread over six books which range between April 1665 and September 1666, culminating in the Great Fire of London.
Arthur Linfoot noted that he had ‘spent [the] afternoon on French and reading “Old St Paul’s”’ (presumably not all of it) in his diary entry of 20 November 1917 while stationed at Wallon Cappell.
Up about 8 o’clock. Kit inspection at 9 o’clock. Did French most of morning. Had short walk before dinner. Did some French in the afternoon. Had short walk before tea. Read some of Emerson’s essays1 at night. Had short walk after 6 o’clock.
Finished reading “Sinister Street”2 volume I.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote several books of essays, commonly associated with transcendentalism and romanticism. “Essays” most commonly refers to his first two series of essays and it is likely to have been one of these, or a combined edition, that ALL was reading. See also Emerson’s Essays and Arthur Linfoot’s library. ↩
“Sinister Street”: Compton Mackenzie’s novel, published in 2 volumes, 1913 – 14; there were several sequels, but he was already famous (aged 31/32 and living in Italy on the novel’s proceeds) when he enlisted early in the War, went as a junior intelligence officer to Gallipoli (“Gallipoli Memories”), and later became Army head of intelligence in the Aegean area. See also Sinister Street and Arthur Linfoot’s library. ↩