Tag Archives: War

Diary entries which mention aspects of the war (other than naval and aerial warfare, which are separately tagged) which ALL noted but in which he had no direct involvement.

9 August 1918; Friday

August 1918, , ,

Up all night and rather tired. Heavy shelling round about but none too near. Relieved about 9. Read some of The History of Mr Polly1. Up with diarrhoea a few times during the day.

Heard that the British have advanced to Ruyaulcourt2 and taken 17 thousand prisoners and 250 guns.

New number of the magazine out.

Turned in to sleep from 3 am to 6.

  1. The History of Mr. Polly: 1910 comic novel by H. G. Wells. See also The History of Mr. Polly and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  2. Ruyaulcourt (if this is correct): 12km E. of Bapaume, in the old Somme battlefield, retaken by the Germans in their March offensive; Michelin square K7. ↩

8 August 1918; Thursday

August 1918,

On duty all night and nothing to do. Did some French. Turned into bed shortly after 9. Didn’t get much sleep owing to Billy Montessori†. Went on duty again at 9 o’clock.

The Wilts backed up and advanced a *.

A Wilts brigade advanced their line a good bit and the Germans fallen back a couple of kilos on the front.

17 July 1918; Wednesday

July 1918,

Up about 6.30. Felt a bit groggy all day and ran a temperature of 102.4 at night. Turned in at 6 o’clock. Talked with Billy and Exley until about 9 and then took some aspirin and went to sleep. News that the Germans have advanced a little in the Champagne region and also had losses. Thunder at night. Read two good sermons in the “Great Commonwealth”1.

  1. The Great Commonwealth: Possibly a Christian magazine or periodical taking its name from a passage in  2 Maccabees which describes how Judas Maccabeus led a small army to victory against a superior foe by entrusting the outcome to God. This seems to have been a popular theme among preachers of the time. See also 8 April 1917. ↩

26 June 1918; Wednesday

Abridged, June 1918, ,

Up about 7.30 and spent most of the day preparing the hospital at the Salle de Reunion. Fine day. Good news in the papers. The Italians have driven back the Austrians, affairs in Austria are pretty serious, Lloyd George speaks of the possibility of Russia re-joining the allies and Kuhlmann1 made a reasonable speech.

  1. Richard von Kühlmann (1873 – 1948): in German London embassy 1908 – 1914; negotiated Brest-Litovsk Treaty with revolutionary Russia, and Treaty of Bucharest with Romania, which Ludendorff considered gave inadequate guarantees on Eastern frontier; briefly German Foreign Secretary, said in Reichstag (July 1918) that the War could not be ended by arms alone; speech ‘misinterpreted’ by the Generals, had to resign. ↩

25 June 1918; Tuesday

Abridged, June 1918, , ,

Up about 7 o’clock. Told after morning parade to go on the advance party. Went off in car about 10.30 to Fleurs1 – a pretty village. Got a good billet. The men who made the disturbance up for trial and got pretty well off. Better news in the paper. The Italians have done well and the River Piave flooded and helped them2. The rough men in the billet had a lot to say through drinking too much watered wine.

  1. Fleurs: very clearly written, but actually Pleurs (B), 14km S from Broussy-le-Petit (A) across the N4; Michelin map 515, square D10. ↩

  2. The Second Battle of the Piave River, fought between 15 and 23 June 1918, was a decisive victory for the Italian Army against the Austro-Hungarian Empire ↩

16 June 1918; Sunday

Abridged, June 1918, , , ,

Up about 7 o’clock. Paraded at 9. Not much to do. Read a good lot of Wells’ “Passionate Friends”1 and wrote home and to Charlie. Received letter from home. Not much in the news. Our Divisional band played in the village in the afternoon and in the evening an Italian band played splendidly. Had walk with Holman at night. Quite a †new life† with this place. Saw the girl I spoke to a few days ago2. Some bonny kiddies in the town. The troops of four armies in the crowd. Heard that Austrians had attacked on the Italian front.

  1. “[The] Passionate Friends”: 1913 novel by H G Wells. ALL had started to read this book a few days earlier, on 10 June. See also The Passionate Friends and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  2. ALL did not record his earlier meeting with this girl in his diary. ↩