Tag Archives: Bailleul

Diary entries written by Arthur Linfoot while stationed at the army hospital in Bailleul, or which mention Bailleul for other reasons. Bailleul is in Northern France, 16km SW of Ypres (Ieper; “Wipers”) in Belgium.

13 June 1917; Wednesday

June 1917, , ,

Up pretty well all night. A machine gun sweeping round outside the dugout. Relieved unexpectedly in the morning by the 59 Field Ambulance about 5 o’clock. Marched down to P & O trench1 with wheeled stretchers. Had breakfast there. Marched on to La Clyte with an officer called Captain Marsh. Marched from there to Berthen with only one officer and two men fainted on the way. Packs carried supplies. My heel gave me some trouble through my socks being worn out. Everybody mad with Captain Marsh for his foolishness. After dinner the Bailleul party ordered to return and we went back in the motor ambulance. Had a bath and a walk round the town at night. Slept in the old billet at night.

  1. “P&O trench”: See note on 7 June. ↩

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. ↩

29 May 1917; Tuesday

May 1917,

Up at 6.45. Not quite so warm. Usual work. Had short walk in the town in the afternoon. On at night. A new officer in with impetigo1. Did a little French and read a bit of Stacpoole’s2  Wilderness†3. Sergeant Powell and Steve Bott called and told of the shelling up the line. They had 60 cases through the dressing station last night. In at night and managed all right. Received another officer in my ward – a captain in the R A M C. Busy until nearly 11 o’clock.

  1. Impetigo: contagious skin disease, formerly quite common. ↩

  2. Stacpoole: If correct, could be either: Henry De Vere Stacpoole (1863 – 1951); a very popular and prolific Irish author; best-known for his novel “The Blue Lagoon” (adapted as films many times, most famously in 1980), or; HDVS’ eldest brother, William Henry Stacpoole (1846 – 1914); doctor of divinity, Dean of Kingstown school and also a published author. ↩

  3. “Wilderness”: The shorthand reading is probably not correct; no work with this or any similar title appears in any list of works by either Stacpoole. See also Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩