Battn move from railway embankment dugouts into firing line. 52 to 62
Am in midst of bursting shells 4:30 PM. Hundreds of near shaves. Awful din. Huns putting shells around Chateau de Swan. No sleep.
Friday 5 May 1916
Hun aeroplane flys overhead when L/c Macqueen & I are in trenches. The Maltese cross easily discernable.
The 42nd & 49 scared to open up with maxims for fear of exposing their positions – ROTTEN!!
Thousands of rats in our dugout at Zillebeke. One horse & one man struck by bullets.
*Maltese Cross- What Draycott actually saw was the Iron cross, a symbol very similar to the Maltese cross but with a slight variation in shape. The Iron cross was originally the symbol for the Teutonic Knights starting in the early 11th century but later became a German military symbol from 1871 to 1918. In 1918 nearing the end of the war it was changed to another similar symbol the Bar Cross. See an example of the Iron cross below.
Thursday 4 May 1916
Hun airmen drop messages into Poperhinghe to the effect that he will drive out British from Ypres Salient before 9th.
Wednesday 3 May 1916
Kut falls into Turk hands but General Townshend kept his sword.
To Maple Copse.
A snipers bullet flys [sic] past my nose & another grazes my chin. Damned hot. Finish sketch though.
*Siege of Kut – The Ottoman Army besieged the British-Indian held town of Kut from December 7th 1915 to April 29th 1916. After retreating from Ctesiphon, General Charles Townshend led his troops to Kut to make a stand there due to its defensive positions along the River. However it became clear that the Ottomans could easily lay siege so Townshend had his cavalry escape south. However, Townshend and many of his troops were still trapped within the city. By April supplies were low and the first air supply mission in history was carried out as the Royal Flying Corps dropped food and ammunition to the defending troops. Eventually on April 29th Townshend was forced to surrender.
Tuesday 2 May 1916
Narrowly escape extinction. Aeroplane shells & bullets fly all around me as I am on the road, seek shelter of large tree – terrifying whizzing noise.
Monday 1 May 1916
Up at 7 & walk thro’ Zillebeke with Mackenzie.
Sunday 30 April 1916 – hot
Awakened suddenly at 1:30 AM by a gas alarm a terrific bombardment is going on at this hour & continues until 6 AM. We stand to. Extent of bombardment 8 miles scores of aeroplanes fight.
Leave Ouderdom for trenches arr. railway dugouts (Bn & Bd HQrt) at 5:30 PM. Heavy shelling along my line of the route. Go to Zillebeke & to Maple Copse to give our intelligence officers some blueprints which I have sketched. The enemy rake Maple Copse with machine gun fire. Very close & uncomfortable. I stay the night @ Zillebeke with L/C Rowley & Pte. Mackenzie. Many shells are sent into Zillebeke.
Saturday 29 April 1916 – hot
H.M.S. Russell sunk by mines in Mediterranean sea. 702 saved, 124 missing. Flagship of Admiral Fremantle.
Battn moves into brigade reserve no 4 Co leading at 6:55 PM.
*H.M.S. Russell – A Duncan class Royal Navy battleship launched in 1902. At the beginning of WWI the H.M.S. Russell patrolled the English Channel and covered BEF troop transports to France as well as bombarding German submarine bases off the coast of Belgium. The ship also took part in the Dardanelles Campaign at the Gallipoli Peninsula but was sunk shortly after the campaign after striking two sea mines that had been placed by a German U-boat a few days earlier.
Friday 28 April 1916 – hot
An Irish Rebellion in Dublin.
Sir Roger Casement from Germany is captured aboard an auxiliary cruiser (German) and taken prisoner to England, the cruiser was sunk outside Dublin Harbour.
Irish Rebels hold as a Fort – Jacobs biscuit factory & have entrenched in St Stephen’s Green.
*Easter Rising – The Easter Rising was an armed insurrection by Irish republicans during Easter week of 1916. The rising began on April 24th 1916; it was an attempt by the Irish Republican Brotherhood to secede from the UK and establish an independent Irish Republic. Key locations in Dublin as well as other parts of Ireland were taken by the rebels but the uprising only lasted until April 29th when it was quickly suppressed by the British army.
Thursday 27 April 1916
Busy sketching all day to have blueprint made of the fighting area. Col Buller (HC) [Herbert Cecil] & Major H. Gault highly praise my work.
RCR’s lose 10 killed & many wounded thro’ bombs from aeroplane April 24th.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- …
- 145
- Next Page »
