{"id":5344,"date":"2016-01-01T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T08:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/?page_id=5344"},"modified":"2016-07-07T15:39:45","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T22:39:45","slug":"draycott-1916-narrowly-escaping-extinction-walter-draycotts-1916","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/about-us\/the-war-years\/draycott-1916-narrowly-escaping-extinction-walter-draycotts-1916\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrowly Escaping Extinction: Walter Draycott\u2019s 1916"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

by David Borys, PhD<\/p>\n

For Walter Draycott, 1916 was a harrowing year of close calls, lost friends and hellish experiences. In many ways, the tone for Walter was set only days into the new year when he was caught in a random shelling near the Belgian village of Nieuwkerke. The spot he had been standing in only seconds before was struck directly by a shell, pieces of shrapnel ripped all around him somehow completely missing him. He wrote in his diary, \u201cI am the luckiest man alive!\u201d This entry would prove prophetic, as this was the beginning of an incredible and terrifying period of close calls. \"draycott_1916_1\"Early in February a piece of shrapnel from a German shell narrowly missed Walter\u2019s head. Later that month one of Walter\u2019s patrols took him out into no man\u2019s land to go \u2018sniping.\u2019 Walter was able to \u201cbag 4 Huns\u201d but the Germans retaliated when they spotted Draycott\u2019s patrol returning to the trenches. Half of his patrol was shot and killed and Walter\u2019s jacket was pierced in several\u00a0places by enemy bullets. In March, his steel helmet saved him from certain death when a piece of shrapnel from a German shell deflected off of it. Later that same month Walter was \u201cstanding outside the dugout. A shrapnel bullet passes by my neck and buries itself deep into the sandbag.\u201d In May, a sniper\u2019s bullet careened past Walter\u2019s nose while at the same time another grazed his chin. Sev\"draycott_19161.1\"eral days later Walter recorded how \u201ca bullet whizzes past my head. Very close.\u201d At the end of this unusually traumatic month Walter was standing on a firing trench when a sniper\u2019s bullet struck his steel helmet, the second time his helmet had saved him. \u201cThere was considerable noise caused by [the] ring of [the] steel helmet. Felt very nervy afterward.\u201d In November, Walter got caught in an artillery barrage, \u201cone shell bursts on opposite side of a wall where I take cover. Am covered in brick and chalk dust but escape with only a shock. Another bursts over my head\u2026bullets are whizzing\u00a0past in fine style.\u201d It is no surprise that after all this Walter succumbed to the stress of life in the trenches and on November 8th had a nervous breakdown. He wrote, \u201cI feel as I am going mad. Get into open air and try to walk it off. Tis\u2019 raining hard, my limb stiffen and I lay down in a disused dugout in agony.\u201d Eventually Walter was able to recover, but so many like him were unable to come back from this paralyzing state.<\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s experience was, shockingly, not unusual. 1916 was the most active and violent year to date for the Canadians Corps. In the first months of 1916, Walter and his regiment, the Princess Patricia\u2019s Canadian Light Infantry, were stationed outside of the town of Kemmel. This was an extremely active part of the Ypres salient, a salient the Patricia\u2019s had helped protect since their arrival on the continent a year earlier.<\/p>\n

By the end of February Walter was fortunate enough to have been given leave to England where he was able to celebrate his 33rd birthday (on February 24th) with family and friends. His time in England was spent visiting, writing letters and even spending one evening huddled in a shelter during a German Zeppelin (airship) raid.<\/p>\n

Immediately upon return to his regiment he set about the one task that he had become well known for, cutting hair. Almost a week was thus spent trimming\u00a0th<\/span>e locks of the men of his regiment. By late March, however, Draycott was back in the routine of trench\u00a0<\/span>rotation. Serving on the front line for a week followed\u00a0by short periods of rest in the rear area. For the Canadians in the Ypres salient, constant artillery duels, sniper fire, patrols and raids characterized March and April 1916. The Canadians conducted no major combat operations during this time, yet steady streams of casualties were inflicted in the monotony of day-to-day life on the western front. As Walter summarized it, \u201cWhat a hell! Believe me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another skill of Walter\u2019s was eventually noticed by his superior officers, the ability to draw. By 12 April Walter was appointed regimental topographer and tasked with sketching and drawing not only maps, but also accurate representations of enemy trench systems and positions. In recognition of his new role he was also promoted to full corporal. From here on out Walter\u2019s diary talks of sketching and drawing every day, often while under fire. \u201cMake panorama sketches of German trenches and lines. The sketch takes one and half hour and all [the] time exposed to enemy snipers.\u201d<\/p>\n

On 2 June, Walter and his regiment faced the brunt of a German offensive known as the Battle of Mount Sorrel. His sketching was put on hold and Walter became a dispatch\u00a0runner during the battle, delivering written messages under a murderous fire. Mount Sorrel lasted until 13 June by which time the Canadians had stabilized the line and Walter was able to go back to his job as regimental topographer. His work was well recognized by his superiors, his own brigade commander, General Archibald \u201cBatty Mac\u201d Macdonell, complimented him on several occasions. General Macdonell, in fact, loaned Walter out to other units to help with topographical work.<\/p>\n

\"1916-SommeIn September, the Princess Patricia\u2019s Canadian Light Infantry were shipped south with the rest of the Canadian Corps to participate in the ongoing and bloody Somme offensive, raging since 1 July. Here, Walter witnessed a number of Canadian operations. The battles of Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval Ridge and Ancre Heights all stand as a testament to Canadian ferocity but also to the horrors of true industrial warfare as casualties were astronomical. On 2 October Walter wrote, \u201cA shell burst not far from us and fragments cut a piece out of a man\u2019s head, others are wounded. Many men on verge of madness and crying thro\u2019 [sic] shell shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian contribution to the Somme offensive essentially ended with the conclusion of the battle of Ancre Heights on 11 November. It is a hardly a surprise that only days before Draycott, like so many of his fellow soldiers, succumbed to the stress of combat. Walter spent several days resting in his dugout only getting up to finish another map for General Macdonell. By the end of November, Draycott\u2019s work was recognized further when he was informed of the probability of a promotion. As he put it, \u201cWhat a difficult path for promotion!\u201d The rest of 1916 was spent drawing and preparing sketches for his superior officers. His final entry for the year writes, \u201cMy assistant and one of the observers go to Mont St. Eloy [sic]. I am busy making maps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next: Walter Draycott’s 1917 – Running the Gauntlet <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by David Borys, PhD For Walter Draycott, 1916 was a harrowing year of close calls, lost friends and hellish experiences. In many ways, the tone for Walter was set only days into the new year when he was caught in a random shelling near the Belgian village of Nieuwkerke. The spot he had been standing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":1107,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-5344","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5344"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7446,"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5344\/revisions\/7446"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monova.ca\/greatwarchronicles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}