Heavy artillery duel in morning. Scores of aeroplane battles take place. Huns failed in their invasion.
2nd MacGill bunch go on leave while old Pats have to take back seat – rotten!! numerous protests. CQMS [Company Quarter Master Sergeant] Beaton goes on leave. Shells fall all around us but none strike. I walk to Kemmel & Lindenhoek & back.
Friday 11 February 1916
Wet and miserable, lots of mud. Private Mackenzie and I make tour of trenches. We are subject to pesky bombardment and snipering. Relieved by 49th Regiment at 6 PM and march to Kemmel hill to huts.
Major Grey goes to England on leave.
Monday 7 February 1916
Up @ 7, breakfast 8 am. Move off in full marching order to trenches at Kemmel wearing overcoats.
One man of RCR’s (Royal CDN Regiment?) brought down by expansion bullet… Dead.
We relieve 31st Battalion
*Expansion bullet – Also known as the Dum-Dum bullet, an expansion bullet was designed to expand on impact, thus creating a large wound. Traditionally these bullets were made from lead, a soft metal that would flatten upon impact. In 1898 the German government adamantly protested against the use of expansion bullets citing them as inhumane and excessive. The next year during The Hague Convention of 1899 they were declared prohibited from international warfare.
Wednesday 29 December 1915 – fine
Score of aeroplane flights. About 15 aeroplanes make a raid over Messine and Menen. They are heavily shelled by the Huns. I go to 5th Field Ambulance for operation on my finger. Sent there by our own Officer (Medical). I faint twice during the operation. The splinter is then taken out.
Later, I return to camp, pay to Captain Barclay 4 Francs. In afternoon go for a walk to Kemmel as I am feeling restless after the operation. Cross fields, dykes, and hedges, very muddy. Outskirts of Kemmel is [pitted] with large shell holes. Huns busy shelling us. Anywhere is safe so what’s the difference. The trenches around Kemmel are named after Vancouver and its Streets, Winnipeg and its streets.
The village is badly shelled and majority of houses and shops in ruins. Strange enough the church has only been struck once in the tower but churchyard is torn up by shells and lots of graves have been blown up. Crosses and monuments scattered. I return to camp same way.
Huns drop few shells in La Clytte killing two civilians and wounding two of our transport men seriously. I was only at La Clytte a few hours before having my wound dressed. The rats torment us at night.
* Mont Kemmel – A large hill hear near the municipality of Heuvella in West Flanders. It was an important battle site during the war held by the Allies during most of WWI but taken by the Germans in mid-1918 during the battle of Lys. However it was quickly recaptured in September of that year. The hill was extremely battered by shells during the war.
