8 June 1917; Friday

June 1917,

Lay in the dugout until about 2.30. Went back to the relay post. Up to the Blue Line1 twice. The front man very heavy and almost crocked us up. Went down to the brasserie, had breakfast and then got down to it2. Slept very little. Up to the relay post again at 5 o’clock. Felt a bit groggy at first but it wore off after a while. Lay in the advanced post on our original front line until about midnight. The Germans counter-attacked and our artillery barrage was terribly heavy.

  1. “Blue Line”: See note on 7 June. ↩

  2. “Got down to it” seems to have been a phrase increasingly in use at this time, meaning “lay down to sleep”. See also “got down” on 6 June. ↩

7 June 1917; Thursday

June 1917, , , ,

[Written above date:] Messines – Wytschaete1

Awake at 3.15 am with the mines going up2 and shaking the ground. The barrage commenced then and continued until 9 o’clock. Most intense bombardment in the world’s history. A man on the battery behind got his heart smashed with the recoil of the gun and we brought him round to the aid post. Bascombe, Driver, Lee and I in number 8 squad from 2 parade. Went up the line about 9 o’clock. Brought our first case from the Red Line3 post. German trenches absolutely knocked out of existence. A fair number of Germans dead, but not many injured. A good number of German prisoners, who carried down wounded as they came. Worked from the relay post (our old front line) to the P & O4 line most of the afternoon. The first party went down at about 9 o’clock. We stayed on for the night. Called out before midnight to go to the blue line. A long walk and we were shelled most of the way down. Had to go round to P & O trench and were shelled very heavily at the new dugout.

  1. Messines village (Mesen; A), on the crest of the Messines Ridge, is 9km due S. of Ypres (Ieper), about half-way to Armentières; Wytschaete (Wijtschate; B) is 2km N. of Messines: Michelin square J3. ↩

  2. “The mines going up”: This was the beginning of the Battle of Messsines Ridge, which started at 3:10 am with the detonation of 19 large mines under German army lines, still said to be collectively one of the largest non-nuclear explosions of all time; see note on 22 May. It is interesting that by the time ALL wrote up this date in his diary – which would necessarily have been a few days later – it was already known (or at least being said) that this had been (in ALL’s own words) the “most intense bombardment in the world’s history.” The mines are well known to have been heard as far away as London. ↩

  3. The Red Line, Blue Line etc were targets set for the British advance on specified days of the attack. ↩

  4. P&O is the correct reading. Other contemporary records speak of a P&O line or trench, but none appears to offer any clue about the derivation of the name. See contemporary map (with “P&O trench” clearly visible) and associated discussion at this page on the Great War Forum. This P&O trench is said to be to the South-West of Sint Elooi (a.k.a. St. Eloi; C on the map), which would put it somewhere to the North of Wytschaete. ↩

6 June 1917; Wednesday

June 1917, , , ,

Up at usual time. Grand day. Received orders quite suddenly to go back to headquarters. Went into town and bought a towel, a soap box and some other things. Charlie’s birthday.

Returned from town and found that I had to pack at once. Hurried to La Clytte in a car. Everything ready for the push. Big guns in the valley firing. Marquees† up and all ready. Fritz1 shelled La Clytte regularly for the last few nights. Had a bit rest and then marched up the line with our stretchers and everything. I picked a wheeled stretcher. No shelling as we came up but signs of recent shelling and dead horses. Arrived at Ridge Wood and the brasserie about 11 o’clock. Got down2 in the brasserie but had to go out again into the little R E signals dugout.

  1. Fritz: a name given to German troops by the British and others in the First and Second World Wars. ↩

  2. “Got down” meaning “lay down to sleep”. ↩

5 June 1917; Tuesday

June 1917

[Very faint and smudged]

Up at 6.30. Busy first thing as usual. Grand day. About 8 o’clock a German aeroplane came over and dropped two bombs. One fell on a dump or train of ammunition which was behind the aerodrome and blew the lot up. It went on for about 3 or 4 hours. Some very big explosions which broke most of the glass in the town. The people had the wind up and were moving from the town at night. Went to the Y M pictures at night. With Whittaker. Called for Billy Truman’s watch and didn’t get it1. Saw one of our crews at the C C S and the driver said that the R W F2 had made a raid and captured 70 Germans.

  1. ALL had taken Billy Truman’s watch to Bailleuil on 2 June, presumably to get it repaired. ↩

  2. R W F: the 9th Royal Welch Fusiliers were in the 19th (Western) Division. ↩

2 June 1917; Saturday

June 1917,

Up at 6.45. Very busy first thing. Kept pretty well at it all day. Saw some new triplanes up for the first time. Did a bit French. Harvey and Ross called. I walked through the town with them to see about Billy Truman’s watch. Billy and Ross lance-corporals1. Fine day. Saw 112th stretcher bearers go up in battle order2.

  1. Billy and Ross had presumably been promoted to Lance-Corporal from Private.

    ALL himself had been promoted to Lance-Corporal on 7 September 1915. He had, probably mistakenly, reverted to Private on deployment to France on 31 May 1916 and claimed in a 1976 interview to have been “the only man in France who went through the war Lance Corporal acting Private with Lance Corporal’s pay.” He regarded this as a rather comic reversal of a situation, common probably in 1914-18 and certainly since then, in which men were temporarily given the responsibility of a higher rank without being paid for it: “acting unpaid” Lance-Corporal, Corporal or Sergeant. ↩

  2. “Saw 112th stretcher bearers…”: Probably preparation for the Battle of Messines Ridge, which began on 7 June. See also note on 22 May. ↩

30 May 1917; Wednesday

May 1917, ,

Up at 6.30. Very busy first thing. Did a bit French in the afternoon. Read a bit of Stacpoole’s novel1. Received another officer – R G A2. Fine onset†. Out at night with Dai Davies and Driver. We went to the concert hall where there was a lecture on Egypt by Bishop Gawain†. It was pretty interesting and the Army Group Commander was in the chair. An orchestra was in attendance and we sang two hymns. Sergeant Holmes went with us and when he saw the hymn books <he> came out again, and afterwards said it was a swindle advertising a lecture and then having hymns. Met an old Sheffield chap in a shop at night.

Shelled by big high velocity gun during the night and put the wind up many of us.

  1. “Stacpoole’s novel”: See footnote on 29 May, Stacpoole and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  2. R G A: Royal Garrison Artillery, the branch in which Ernie Linfoot was serving. ↩