Tag Archives: Map

Diary entries which illustrate the locations of the events recorded using maps. See also Maps.

3 June 1918; Monday

June 1918, , ,

Up about 6.30. On duty at 8 o’clock. Fine morning. Jerry commenced machine-gunning first thing. Heard that a chap called Sharpe1 had been killed in the morning. He was buried at night near to the dressing station2 and we paraded for it. Had short walk at night.

Received 3 letters, 2 from home and one from Ranald MacDonald.

  1. Sharpe: Probably 118184 Private F E Sharpe, 58th Field Ambulance, RAMC. Now buried at Marfaux British Cemetery (B), approximately 4km N of Nanteuil-la-Forêt (A). ↩

  2. Sharpe was re-interred at Marfaux British Cemetery in February 1920, as part of the “concentration of graves” process initiated by the Army Graves Service. See glossary at the CWGC and Lewis on 4 June. ↩

30 May 1918; Thursday

May 1918, ,

Up pretty early and on duty at 7 o’clock. The place shelled and we moved up the bank. A battery of field guns came behind us and about noon we moved. Just as we were leaving about 6 shells fell into the camp and killed two slightly wounded men. A beautiful (though warm) walk through the woods and country. Arrived at Nantueil [sic]1 about 5 o’clock. Opened up dressing station straight away. Worked until about 1 o’clock.

  1. Nanteuil: presumably Nanteuil-la-Forêt (B), 10km SE. from Chambrecy (A), 17km WSW. of Reims; Michelin 515 square D8. ↩

29 May 1918; Wednesday

May 1918, ,

Moved off in French lorries at 1.10. Travelled all night and arrived at Chambrecy1 at about 8 o’clock. Stayed there all day. Opened up dressing station in the afternoon. Got down to bed about 10 o’clock but slept badly.

  1. Chambrecy (B): 55km NW of Châlons-en-Champagne (A) and 18km SW. of Reims, on D980; Michelin map 515 square C7. ↩

18 May 1918; Saturday

May 1918, ,

Woke up in the train about 7 o’clock after tolerably decent night. Splendid scenery, the best I have seen, up the Marne valley. Arrived at Châlons1 about midday and detrained. Passed through the town. People looked very nice. Marched 8 miles in the fearfully hot sun and arrived at [space left, presumably intending to fill name in later]2 about 5. A lot of the chaps drunk at night. Walked out with Billy Truman and heard some nightingales singing.

  1. Châlons: apparently Châlons-en-Champagne; map square G9 on Michelin Regional map 515 (Champagne-Ardenne). This train journey of more than a day had taken ALL from near Esquelbecq (A) to Châlons-en-Champagne (B). ↩

  2. It is frustrating not to have even an indecipherable name (though ALL left a space of 1.8cm, enough for a hyphenated name). The next indubitable place-name is Chambrecy, on 29 May, some 18km NW of Épernay, itself some 30km WNW of, so one might assume that the 8-mile march on 18 May was in that direction. However the place to which ALL and Harvey walked the next evening can be credibly transcribed as ‘Sarry’, which is about 6km down the road SE from Châlons to Vitry-le-François; if they were walking from the place reached on 18 May, 8 miles/13km from Châlons station, that would be a long evening walk, but they were presumably now at ‘the village’ where the ‘small hospital’ was located. No place-name has been found to fit the shorthand word represented by the asterisk in the entry of 19 May, and as it is prefixed with a ‘the’, perhaps it is more likely to be a common noun than a place-name. The outline could be “Wesleyans”, or “wasteland/s”; the former does not seem possible, the latter does not suggest an obviously suitable site for a hospital. ↩

15 May 1918; Wednesday

May 1918, ,

Up about 7.30. In the ward but read part of the morning. Went to Esquelbecq1 in the afternoon on a car with some cases. Several bed <cases> also with me. Glorious day and ride. Had tea in neighbouring village. The 16th Ambulance took over from us2.

  1. Esquelbecq (B): 18km SE. of Dunkerque and 19km W of Proven (A); Michelin square G2. ↩

  2. The 16th Ambulance presumably took over the DRS at Proven, which ALL had just left. ↩

21 April 1918; Sunday

April 1918, , ,

Reveille at 3.30. Marched off about 6 o’clock. Arrived at Proven 1 at about 10 o’clock. Had something to eat and then started work. Got small dressing room nearly ready when we had to take over D R S 2 and open up the big house. Very nice place. Worked pretty hard. Went into the village at night and were at the end of a church service. The parson very dry. Had good night’s sleep.

  1. Proven (B) about 7km NW of Poperinghe (A). ↩

  2. “D R S”: Divisional Rest Station; see The Chain of Evacuation of The Royal Army Medical Corps at RAMC in the Great War. ↩

16 April 1918; Tuesday

April 1918, , ,

Up at 7 o’clock. Moved off to a C C S 1 place behind Poperinghe2 about 10 and arrived at dinnertime. Rested all day and slept well at night. Very heavy fighting all day. Beare†, Nelson, Watson and Gray came down gassed slightly. Heard that Sergeant Watson had been killed within 12 hours of joining us.

  1. CCS: Casualty Clearing Station. ↩

  2. Poperinge (B), about 5km NNW of Reninghelst (A). ↩

12 April 1918; Friday

April 1918, , , ,

Up most of the night. Moved off from Kemmel about 7 o’clock in a car. Did nothing at Vierstraat and got down to it and slept good part of the day. Up for tea and orders to move at night again. Received letter and papers from home. News in the papers more encouraging. Packed up and marched off from Vierstraat at about 10 o’clock at night and arrived at Reningelst road1 about midnight. Went into Nissen hut in a camp there.

  1. “Reningelst road”: assumed to be near Reninghelst (C). The map shows the entire journey, starting from Kemmel (A) and going via Vierstraat (B). ↩

7 April 1918; Sunday

April 1918, ,

Packed up and handed over to A Section in the morning. Marched to Vierstraat1 (between Wijtschate and Kemmel) at noon and arrived about tea time. Opened main dressing station. On night duty first night. Not much to do.

  1. Vierstraat (B): 15km NE of Bailleul (A), where ALL had been since 2 April, and 3km NE. of Kemmel (C); Michelin square J2. ↩

2 April 1918; Tuesday

April 1918, , ,

Up at about 7.30. Paraded at 10 o’clock and marched to a camp near to Baileul1. Glorious day. Walked into Meteren2 at night and had some eggs at Jeanne’s. Beautiful afternoon and pleasant walk. Rained last thing.

  1. Baileul: ALL always omits one ‘l’ from ‘Bailleul’ in his longhand; the transcription follows this, but where he writes it in shorthand, ie phonetically, it is transcribed with the correct spelling. Bailleul (B); is 6m SW of Locre (A). ↩

  2. Méteren (C); 4km W of Bailleul. ↩