Personal Diary Entry: August 14th 1916

Went to divn hd qrs at 4pm to meet the King. Brigadiers & Staffs of the 4^th & 29^th Divn were there. Everyone was introduced to him, he stayed to tea and cleared off at 4.45. The Prince of Wales was with him. They had an intense bombardment this morning for his benefit on the trenches in front of the Canadians. He is staying at Cassel, which is at the moment (on that account) a prohibited area for all aeroplanes. Yesterday morning one of ours flew over the place and was fired at furiously by every gun we’ve got; the officer was put under arrest when he landed.

War Diary Entry: August 8th 1916

More shelling during the day, particularly at a battery about 200 yards N of our hd qrs. they got direct hits on all the emplacements and dugouts but did no damage.

At 10.30pm the gas alarm was sounded, and everyone was warned. The guns opened a heavy barrage on our front. I got onto the Borders and Inniskillings and both sent in messages that though they could smell gas it was not being discharged on their front. The Inniskillings message proved to have been a mistake on the part of the signallers. On this information I stopped the guns firing on our front. Fuller & Mellor were up regulating the transport & came in to our hd qrs. After about 20 minutes we began to smell gas in Ypres so we all put our helmets on, but it never got really bad, occasionally getting thicker and then dying away. The relief of the two reserve battns went on at the prison and on the canal bank and they hardly felt its effects at all. At 12 midnight everything seemed to be over so I went to bed. The prepared blankets over all the doors and windows kept the gas out of the dugouts quite effectively.

War Diary Entry: August 4th 1916

Bayley again turned up after dinner with Rich; the former slept here. Went in to Corps Hd qrs (about 3 miles N W of Poperinghe) with Cayley & Williams , at 9am for a conference.

War Diary Entry: August 3rd 1916

Went round the trenches at 5am with De Lisle, Going, Raikes & Nickalls; everything was very quiet. Got back at 9am to meet the Army Commander (Plumer) at our hd qrs; he came to see how we were getting on. Bayley & Handress Llloyd dined & Bayley spent the night in my dugout.

War Dairy: August 2nd 1916

Our bde hd qrs are quite comfortable and fairly safe. They are in the Ypres ramparts. My dugout looks and smells like a cabin on board ship but is much bigger. It has 2 electric lights fitted in it. It has a light shaft which lets in a good deal of light. It only has one entrance so I trust it wont get blown in. The mess has a very fine tiled porch with hat racks and umbrella stands, and a glass door which has not been blown in yet, with quite a good mess room inside; it has not been knocked down yet though it requires a good many more feet of sandbags all round yet, to make it quite safe. We have one of the old cathedral bells stuck up on the ramparts just above us to give the gas alarm.

War Dairy Entry: July 30th 1916

Started off in a car for Ypres at 5.30am with Fuller and Gillon, and went round the trenches of the 71^st bde which we are taking over on the night of 1^st/2^nd. The Bde Major 71^st Bde took us round. The trenches are very bad, as the line runs along the low ground and water stands 1’6” below the surface. You have to build up breastworks which the Bosch continually knocks down. In several places he looks into the back of your trenches. We got back about 9.30am Went over to the 6^th Divn hd qrs after lunch as De Lisle had a conference. Our divn hd qrs are living with the 6^th Divn at present & take over from them tomorrow or the next day. Dined with Walsh at 6^th Divn hd qrs Evans was there, he is GSO2 to the divn.

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

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 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.

Letter to Mother: July 23rd 1916

My dear Mother

I am very sorry to hear about poor old Lance he was such a good fellow. We are being moved right back and will probably shortly go to the neighbourhood John has come away from. I shall be rather sorry to leave this place as one has only to walk 200 yds from our front door & watch the battle going on about 3 miles away, in perfect comfort and safety. At the moment we have gone to ground again as they began to shell our late hd qrs, and made things rather uncomfortable though no one was injured, so we have decided to forego the pleasures of a house. 

I have had all sorts of nice letters from people about Raymond. It really is awfully kind of the Becks, even if Raymond did not make his fortune he made many genuine friends. I am still optimistic about leave, but not probably till late on next month.

Will write again when we get settled down behind

Your loving son

Cuthbert

War Diary Entry: July 21st 1916

Had a hot bath at 10am, it was very necessary, but it brought on shelling, the 2^nd or 3^rd shell pitched at the corner of our office, blew all the glass out of the mess, filled the whole place with dust and smoke & put a motor bicycle into the air. 2 orderlies had a marvellous escape. All the shells were round our headquarters. We had been anticipating this and so had got our old hd qrs with the deep dug out (at the W end of Englebelmer) ready for occupation and we moved in there in the afternoon. Went round the trenches early.

War Diary Entry: July 20th 1916

They put two shells near our hd qrs at lunchtime, and again shelled the village during the night. Went down to look up Bayley after tea, on the Martinsart Rd.

War Dairy Entry: July 19th 1916

Went round the trenches early in the morning. The N side of Mary Redan is completely blown in and will take some time clearing. The new firing line which was supposed to have been dug across our part by some pioneer battn is only dug 1’6” deep in places & we have now got to complete it. 

Went down to Mailly Wood after breakfast to see the 2 battns, and went on afterwards with Handress Lloyd to the high ground just S of Englebelmer to watch the shelling down Contalmaison way. After tea Perse & I walked over to see Williams at his hd qrs on the Martinsart road. While we were away they put a cluster of 12 small shells round our bde hd qrs. They twice put shells into Englebelmer during the night.

War Diary Entry: July 17th 1916

87^th Bde relieved 88^th Bde in left subsector. Hd Qrs in Englebelmer, this not so pleasant as the place is regularly shelled and the cellars are not shell-proof. All the buildings near our old deep dugout are knocked flat , and there is not room for everyone in the deep dugout, so we are now at the E end of the village. 

The KOSB took over the left half of the firing line, the SWB the right, the Borders a platoon each in Withington & Anley & rest of bde in huts in Mailly Wood. The 88^th Bde were glad to clear out for a rest. 

Englebelmer was shelled with 5.9” from 8.30pm – 9.15, at 1.5 mins interval, but all fell at far end (W) of town.

War Dairy Entry: July 15th 1916

Brigade concert outside Divn hd qrs at 8.30pm.

War Diary Entry: 8th July 1916

An absolutely peaceful day around our head quarters, there was only one short burst of shelling lasting 5 minutes at 5pm. It blew a bit of the railway line onto our dugout. They shelled Hamel steadily most of the day putting 3 shells into the roof of the KOSBs but beyond breaking a beam little damage was done.

The 86^th Brigade relieved us during the afternoon. They did not take over our head quarters but are wisely having theirs just behind Mesnil. The relief was finished about 8.30pm and the whole brigade came back into the huts in Acheux Wood except the MG company which remains behind at Englebelmer. The mess and my bedroom are in a cottage in the village. Brand has been applied for to go as GSO2 of the Gds Divn. Brand , Perse and I got back here about 10pm in a car, the road was not shelled at all the whole way.

War Dairy Entry: July 7th 1916

Very heavy rain this morning. I met De Lisle at Mesnil Station at 10am to find some new brigade head qrs. No one can get to our present ones except in fear of their lives. The hd qrs themselves are all right except that they are too small, but every approach is incessantly shelled. He wanted us to go into a house in Mesnil near the station, a spot that is always shelled, but he eventually allowed us to establish them in a bank to the W of the village. They were shelling the station while we were waiting for him close by. We then went on round the trenches, and I got wet to the skin. 

They started shelling Thiepval Wood before 6am and went on putting them in till after 10am, metal was flying everywhere. Sometime during this, they turned the 49^th Divn out of the small bit of the German system of trenches they still held in front of the wood. Thank heaven I don’t live in the wood but can sit and watch it across the stream. 

All sorts of people looked in today. We are being relieved tomorrow by the 86^th Bde and are going back for a rest (10 days with luck). 

One of our aeroplanes fell in Aveluy Wood this morning about 500 yds behind this spot, it was flying very low at the time, I did not see it.

War Diary Entry: 5th July 1916

Heavy shelling again all day today, Thiepval Wood was given a bit of a rest, but Hamel, Mesnil and Martinsant got it pretty hot, also Aveluy Wood. Our Hd Qrs are just in the centre between all these places and has so far been overlooked. 

The patrol of the Inniskillings went out to the mill last night and found it unoccupied, they crawled about another 150 yards up the marsh and came on a machine gun firing through a hedge about 10 yards away, they watched it for a bit and then came away. They are going out again tonight with a party to try and capture it. The marking out of the new trench was not completed last night as they were very late starting work. Tonight two RE coys and 2 Pioneer battalions are going out to dig it. 

Various people were in here during the day arranging for the work. About 5pm a car with two staff officers in was hit by a shell about 300 yards down the road from our hd qrs. The shell burst under the car & smashed it up, but the 2 officers got out and walked away a bit shaken. I don’t know who they were.

War Diary Entry: July 4th 1916

Thiepval Wood again bombarded both morning and afternoon it must be getting a regular shambles. They put a lot of 5.9 shells Hamel during the day all round the KOSB & SWB hd qrs. An exceptionally heavy rain storm came on just after midday ,it kept on raining most of the afternoon. All the trenches were washed out and fell in in many places; in the low part of Hamel all the trenches cellars and dugouts were flooded. 

An order came from the Army (we are now in the reserve Army since 2 days) that the line had to be pushed out in front tonight, Fuller & Bayley came up about 6pm with 2 RE subalterns on their way up to mark it out, the 2 subalterns have a pleasant night in store for them. We received information during the afternoon that the 49^th Divn were going at 2am tomorrow morning to try and clear the germans out of the lengths of trench which the 49^th hold on the high ground, but which the Germans occupy down by the river end. They were also going for the Hill & Mound. After this rain the marsh will be absolutely impassable so they will not be able to reach them. We have offered to take on the Mill (a very small ruin in the marsh) instead of them, & are sending out half a dozen men to reconnoitre it tonight. 

A 5.9” shell landed full in our office at Englebelmer yesterday laying it level with the ground. All our people were out at the time.