Letter to Mother: July 29th 1916

My dear Mother

Everything very peaceful at the moment you can hardly hear the guns; the flat country looks quite nice with all the hop fields, poplars and ripe crops, and one can almost smell the sea.

Lord Cavan came to look me up yesterday morning which was very nice of him. I also got a message from Percy saying that he and a pal of mine were quite handy and would I come in for a meal, so I rode over to lunch yesterday. He was looking very well indeed, and had entirely lost that tired War Office look. I also found that his Corps commander was an old friend who looked after us earlier in the war, and the other brigadier there was a man I knew, so I had quite a pleasant lunch. I put my horse up in Percy’s stable and his groom took a keen interest in me as a brother of Johns. Several other friends have looked in at odd times.

When we go into the trenches we have got he best hd qrs in Europe, absolutely safe, tiled floors, electric light and all modern conveniences.

No leave going at present, but it must open again soon.

Very good news from the Russians again today, the Belgians have completed their 567^th? Day of intense bombardment so I expect the trenches in front of them are nearly fit to attack.

The peas and beans arrived today. The peas are in excellent condition, some of the beanslooked a little bruised and were turning brown, but will probably be excellent, we are having them tonight.

I got an awfully nice letter from Uncle Fred last night, I feel very sorry for him.

I hope you will be amenable to discipline and remain in bed as along as you are ordered, so that you will be up and about and quite well again when I come home on leave. Is Peggy allowed to do everything again now?

All parcels are arriving regularly. Best of love to you all

Yr loving son

Cuthbert

Personal Diary Entry: July 29th 1916

Walsh (AA & QMG 6^th Divn) came over to see me after tea. Rode round in the morning to see the battns in their respective camps.

War Diary Entry: July 28th 1916

Cavan came in to call on us about 10am, he is commanding the corps we are relieving. Got a message from Percy Radcliffe asking me to come and see him at Canadian Corps Hd Qrs and that Dill was there too, so I rode over to lunch calling in to see the battns on the way. Byng is in command of the Canadian corps, he used to command our Corps at Suvla. He said he was very glad to see us again, Percy was looking very fit, Dill was out for the day. I also knew Farmer who is their Bde Gen: Administration.

War Diary Entry: July 27th 1916

The brigade moved by train to Poperinghe. Bde hd qrs left Doullens at 9am followed by battns at 3 hours interval. We did the journey in 6 hours which was very quick. Got into our hd qrs at Proven St (where all the troops detrained) by tea time. The Battns went into camps just N of Poeringhe.

War Dairy Entry: July 26th 1916

Bde remained in Amplier for the day. I was witness on a court martial after lunch.Rode into Doullens after tea. Went into Amiens with Williams Overy and Ross to dine and see the censoring of the cinematograph films taken during this battle. The Godbert was full up so we tried to get dinner at L'Univers, that was full up too but we eventually got a table. The films were quite good, but too much of the slightly wounded walking back followed by unwounded men pretending to assist, also photos of German prisoners and our dead were overdone. all the early ones were of our Divn before the attack and on July 1st. Got back to Amplier about 1230am.

Letter to Mother (envelope mis-labelled): July 9th, 1916

My dear Mother

Please send out at once a uniform coat and trousers also a pair of breeches. The ones I want are the ones sent by Flight and Hammond after I had returned from last leave.

I can’t tell you much more about this scrap than you see in the papers, it is still going quite well down south of us. In our area it stopped on the first day. We met the main German strength, as they expected main push from us and so had everything ready. The result was that our brigade and another on the left went over the parapet and got a very unpleasant mauling, hardly anyone got through their wire. We collected a small percentage that night after dark. We came in for a good deal of heavy shelling all the remainder of the day, and there were some very nasty sights.

During the 7 days bombardment our headquarters were well underground about 1200 yds behind the firing line and we were not worried much. The noise was not very much, though we had all our biggest guns firing over us from just behind. The last evening we moved up to our deep dugout 150 yds behind our front trench. The dugout bounced about a good deal during July 1^st, but nothing was blown in, even when our mine containing 20 tons of explosive went up 500 yds away. Since then we have been holding the noisiest bit of line I have ever been in (in the same old place). An incessant stream of shrapnel, 5.9 high explosives, and gas shells bursting all round, but never exactly where we were and none of the gas reached us. It is a great strain on the men, we have just started a few days breather which ought to put them right again.

I am making inquiries about John but fancy he must be 5 or 6 miles south of us. The Germans seem to be very disorganised down there; all the prisoners seem to have had a very rotten time before they were captured. We are still pushing on satisfactorily there, though of course slowly, as we are not right through their numerous systems of trenches. I doubt we shall have enough fresh troops to push on very much further. 
I am afraid there is not much prospect of leave til August now. 
Brand is going to leave us, he has just been pushed up into a bigger job. 
I hope the two invalids are progressing satisfactorily. 
our loving son 
Cuthbert

War Diary Entry: July 25th 1916

The brigade marched back to Amplier and billeted in huts, the other 2 bdes are at Beauval. We started off 9am & everyone got in before 1pm. Brand passed in a car just as we started from Bus and asked me to dine. Rode over to Beauval after lunch to see the Divn hd qrs, & had tea with Cayley. Started 7.30pm in a car to dine with Brand at Hennu; found Bayley there on the same staff. They telephoned to Gervice Thorpe who is GSO1 of the divn next door, & he turned up after dinner.

War Diary Entry: 24th July 1916

The relief started just after lunch and was completed by 6.30pm. Battns marched back independently to Bus-les-Artois where they billeted for the night, our hd qrs was there as well.