Personal Diary: September 6th 1916

Walked all round the outside of Ypres before breakfast. General Hotham and Col West (20^th Divn Art) came in to say goodbye. Fine sunny day which helped to dry things up a bit. More shelling than usual.

Personal Diary: September 2nd 1916

Went round the trenches at 5.30am with Handress Lloyd. The Strand and Fleet St very wet. Motored back to near Poperinghe with Welch at 9am to see the breaking up display at the Divn school. Lunched at the 86^th Bde Hd Qrs. Two gas alarms during the night, but no gas came our way. I certainly saw from the ramparts, when their flares went up, large clouds of what looked like smoke blowing northwards along no man’s land but it may have been from the shells. The Australians are back taking over the line again in these parts & the 4^th Divn are coming out into Corps reserve.

Personal Diary: September 1st 1916

Got the news that Roumania had come in. We may be home by Christmas now. Wind still unfavourable for our gas. The Bosch still keeps very quiet  though there was a little shelling yesterday.

Personal Diary Entry: August 25th 1916

As the defences of Wieltje have got to be pushed on the Inniskillings were turned on tonight to dig a new trench to connect B.10a with Monmouth trench. Yesterday morning a German got into the front line trench held by the left coy KOSBs about 9am. The line is very thinly held owing to lack of men, and there are some holes in the breastwork where it has been blown down by shells. The man was removing his clothes and apparently intended to put on a sergts greatcoat which was lying near. He was flushed by a passing signaller who had no arms; the German escaped whilst the signaller went for assistance. One of our aeroplanes had to land behind the german lines in our front this afternoon.

Personal Diary Entry: August 21st 1916

Went round the trenches with Welch starting 5am. The recent rain had not had much effect . Met De Lisle on the way back. A deserter reported a few days ago that the Germans had still got a lot of gas cylinders in their trenches so this afternoon we knocked their trenches about for 2 hours with shells of all sizes up to 9”. They damaged ours a bit in return. We had 5 killed and 2 wounded. Bayley lunched, dined and spent the night.

Personal Diary Entry: August 20th 1916

Dined with Handress Lloyd at the Inniskilling hd qrs in Ypres prison. Gillan came too. A quiet day, hardly any shelling. A KOSB patrol brought in 2 dead Germans from in front of their wire.

The 4^th Divn and 4^th Canadian Divn are going to take over the Canadian Corps line to allow them to go south. This means that all our 3 divns will be in the line the whole time, and no one in Corps reserve.

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 Dairy Entry: July 31st 1916

Borrowed a car from the ASC and started off for LA Panne at 1130am with Gillon. We passed through Furnes, which has a very nice old market square and Hotel de ville. The NE end of the town has been shelled a bit but not much damaged. The Belgian army are all over this area, and are smarter than I expected. On arrival at La Panne we stopped at a house to ask the sentry the way to the British Mission (Military with Belgian Army). The house turned out to be King Albert’s, and he was there at the time. O’ Connor is with the mission and we intended to have lunch with him but Prince Algernon of Teck who is head of the mission met us at the door and asked us to lunch. O’Connor turned up later. We had a very good lunch, and borrowed their bathing kit afterwards and bathed. All along the cost there are wire entanglements along the sand and machine gun emplacements just behind, which form the defences. O’Connor showed us round the town. We started back about 3.30pm ,  we wanted to go through Dunkirk but were told we should be stopped without proper passes, so we went back through Furnes. Outside Furnes we were stopped by a sentry, and as we had not got a pass to travel in the Belgian area, he would not let us go through the town but made us take a detour round the E side. However we took a wrong turning and some found ourselves going through the square again.

The 88^th Brigade took over the right sector of the divn line last nigh.

The SWB and KOSB moved up into Ypres this evening , the SWB relieving a battn of the 71^st on the canal bank and the KOSB, a battn Ypres prison and surrounding cellars.

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

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

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 18th 1916

Rained hard in the morning. W end of Englebelmer shelled for a quarter of an hour about 4am. We were to have let off gas again last night, but wind unfavourable, so we hung on till 1am when it was finally put off. The SWB were to have attempted a raid last night, they were only going to send off quite a small party; on their way up about 2.45am a big shell buried 4 of them in a communication trench, and by the time they were dug out it was too late to start. COs conference in Mailly Wood at 11am. Got back to bde hd qrs at 1pm & found De Lisle there; as there are not enough pioneers available we have got to complete a trench that has been dug about 200 yds in advance of our present line. Walked down to see Williams after tea; his hd qrs are in some canvas huts half way down the Englebelmer – Martinsart Rd.

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 Diary Entry: July 16th 1916

Bishop of Khartoum took the Brigade parade service. Lunched with De Lisle. After lunch motored with Nickalls & Handress Lloyd over to Fricourt to look at the German trenches. I don’t think we have very much to learn from them. The whole place was like a ploughed field with shell craters. The village was knocked flat.There were a very large number of our 8” shells, unexploded, lying about.

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: July 1st 1916

The bombardment began again early & became more intense. At 7.20am the mine under Hawthorn Redoubt went up. As this mine contained 20 tons of ammonal (4 times larger than any single mine we have put up during the war) everyone cleared out of our dugouts in that part of the line. It made quite a good show, masses of earth going up in the air. The crater was immediately rushed by a party of 86th brigade.



After the explosion our Brigade began to file out of the trenches and form up in no man's land. A certain amount of machine gun fire was at once opened on them. At 730am the barrage lifted and the whole line advanced on the german 1st line, while the reserve companies moved forward out of our trenches. Very heavy machine gun fire was immediately opened on them. It looked as though a number of our people (the SWB on the left & RIF on the right of the line in the front line) were pushing through their frontline. One party of RIF were seen to place their bridge over the German 1st line, look down into the trench and then pass on. About 10 minutes later the 2 reserve battns (Borders on the left and KOSBs on the right) moved out of our 2nd & 3rd lines and advanced across the open swept by machine gun fire. About 745am flares began to go up in the Station Road. As this was the signal that the leading troops had reached their objective, things looked quite satisfactory. It was then seen that a number of Germans were still in their front line showing themselves and shooting at the men lying out in no mans land. This looked as though we had passed over their 1st & 2nd line without leaving enough men to deal with the Bosch as he emerged from his deep dugout. After waiting some time to see if the leading battns would send back a number of men to mop these up, the Newfoundland & Essex Battns were ordered forward to clear the frontline and pass through the 87th Bde. During this period it was reported that parties of the 87th had been seen fighting down by Beaumont Hamel cemetery and the station buildings. The Newfoundland battn started across the opne and was mown down by MG fire. the Essex were somewhat later, and I believe only 2 companies advanced and they met the same fate. By now no mans land was a mass of killed and wounded, and the Germans were firing at them with guns, rifles and machine guns. They also shelled our frontline very heavily with 5.9" HE shells. This trench was already packed with killed and wounded. Orders were then received that a fresh bombarment would be carried out after which the Worcesters (88th Bde) would assault the trenches about 1245pm. The bombardment started, but at the time laid down for the attack nothing happened.The Worcesters had been quite unable to get up the communication trenches into the frontline all of which were blocked with killed and wounded. The 88th bde were then told to report when the Worcesters were ready in position to attack. Fortunately shortly after the attack was cancelled, as it was bound to have met the same fate as the previous one. The afternoon was spent trying to clear the trenches of casualties and reorganise the battns (their remnants) of the 87th & 88th Brigades. It was subsequently sicovered that hardly a single man had reached the German frontline and that te best part of 6 battns were lying out casualties in no mans land. all the afternoon the Germans bombarded our front line. the 88th bde took over the front line and the 87th Bde collected their remnants in St Johns Road. this account only refers to what happened on the 87th Bde front (about 1000 yds).

During the night about 300 unwounded men of the brigade were collected, most of whom had crawled back from no mans land, including about 6 officers of about 80 who had gone over the parapet. A large number of the wounded were got in including a number of officers. Raikes (SWB) came in about 10.30pm, he had previously been reported killed. Welch (KOSBs) had fortunately not taken his hd qrs forward so was all right, all other COs and adjutants were killed or wounded.Every battn had left behind in billets 10% of their men & all officers over and above 22 per battn. With these and the survivors by morning (2nd) we had collected some 700 men. The 36th Divn on our right made no headway this side of the Ancre but S of it they went straight through the the German 3rd line. In the afternoon they were counter-attaked and driven back to the Germans 1st system of which they still hold a part. The 86th Bde got into the German line in places, I believe, but by the evening they were all in their own lines.