– frost
At 8:20 am a raiding party from PPCLI under Major A. Rasmussen & 12 OR [entered] enemy’s line under a Stokes barrage. Raid successful. A number of dugouts being bombed. Many casualities inflicted. Enemy’s post destroyed and two prisoners brought in. Our casualties nil. Weather frosty with snow. Our Stokes fire 666 rounds.
*OR is an acronym for Other Ranks
*Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes – who later became Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE – designed the mortar in January 1915. The Stokes mortar was a simple weapon, consisting of a smoothbore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount. When a mortar bomb was dropped into the tube, an impact sensitive primer in the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube, and detonate, firing the bomb towards the target. Range was determined by the amount of propellant charge used and the angle of the barrel. (www.wikipedia.org)
