Hodge, Reading, Collins & Maquard go to up to our front line.
French capture Chemin des Dames making their total prisoners up to 18,000 & 89 guns (from morning 16th April).
MS Muirhead to England on compassionate grounds.
Archives for April 2017
Wednesday 18 April 1917
Rain all day.
Tuesday 17 April 1917
– rain, snow & hail
Awful bad weather.
[Slinth?] goes to hospital.
Monday 16 April 1917
We see two big fires in Lens.
AT 10:30 am I go to Carency, Souchez, La Targette in side car. Roads frightfully bad. Much traffic. Large holes. Much mud.
Gen. MacDonnel sees me & in evening makes fun out of spotting me without me seeing him.
L/c Hodge & Pte. Crawford are recommended for medals. I see 25 dead horses in a heap & many men on roadside. Also some being shot.
*It is estimated that 8 million horses died on all sides during World War I.
Sunday 15 April 1917
– fine
Sergt. Duguid & I go to Arras. Owing to heavy traffic it takes us a long time. Much mud. Many dead horses lying round in fields & on road side.
Could not get anything to eat in Arras as all places are closed till 8 pm. We visit all places of interest. The park is untouched & ducks are on the lakes.
Our big guns are on the move forwards. There is ammunition in plenty.
Saturday 14 April 1917
– snow and hail
Liévin is taken by the 5th Div. British.
Friday 13 April 1917
We get notice to pack up and ready to move to Villers au Bois by 12 noon.
Hodge, White & self walk to Villers au Bois overland feeling very tired & wet thro’ up to knees thro’ wading thro’ the mud. Very cold. We take 4 hours to do a 2 hrs. journey. A cold reception for the billets are windy & damp.
Thursday April 12 1917
– snow
One of our balloons is set on fire by a disguised enemy ‘plane. Our airmen go over & send two of his down in retaliation.
Our troops take Vimy so it is reported.
Snow is falling.
*The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, “in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”
Vimy became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. In 1922, the French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge, and the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial, unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.
(http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/vimy/index_e.shtml)
Wednesday 11 April 1917
– rain
Rain all day
Most miserable. Rain turns to snow & ground is covered.
Wounded still coming in.
I make tour of German dugouts. The mud is awful.
*As the Germans were the first to decide where to stand fast and dig, they had been able to choose the best places to build their trenches. Their possession of the higher ground forced the British to live in the worst conditions. Most of this area was barely above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig down they would invariably find water two or three feet below the surface. Along the whole line, trench life involved a never-ending struggle against water and mud. (http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWwater.htm)
Tuesday 10 April 1917
Up to our new line & make tour taking note of our location of Hd. Qts. Strong points, etc. Make a sketch of La Chaudière & surrounding country. I see 200 Germans come out of a railway embankment. Notify the artillery & they are dealt with.
Sketching in a snowstorm from top of Chateau ruins.
* Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the Ridge, and where the Vimy monument now stands, was captured in a frontal bayonet charge against machine-gun positions. Three more days of costly battle delivered final victory. (http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/vimy/index_e.shtml)
