Diary of Alexander Sutherland Mackay, 11 September 1918 - 11 October 1918 - Part 3

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been broken through. I suppose we
will have another move forward
today. tomorrow The barbed wire here is
thick but ahead they say its
a regular sight. We are in the
trenches the infantry occupied this
morning.
2/10/18. Not a bad camp. last night
fortunately the weather has kept
fine. Fritz is not shelling much
the majority are in front, whilst 
his long range batteries are going
well over. He was bombing a good
deal during the night chiefly the
back areas. Our searchlights were
busy. I counted 13 one pop. 

22

No talk of a move forward yet.
3/4 Oct. Still in the same posie, we
are not firing much. He lobbed one
5.9 on top of the telephone controll
but luckily, it was a deep dugout &
no damage was done. Otherwise we
have had a good spin. bombs of
a night have not caused us much
uneasiness so far. We are evidently
held here in reserve. The Yanks
are horribly slow in clearing their
dead, the poor beggars are lying
thick, everytime you go for a walk
they appear to have increased. This
great loss is evidently solely due to
their error in not mopping up the

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machine guns as they went forward.
5 Oct. We pulled out this morning
went back to our Wagon Lines for
dinner. In the afternoon we pulled
out again & went more to the right
near "Billincourt". We are in
reserve to the second Divy.
6^th Oct Good camp last night, two
of us copped a Yankee tent holding
two, at the last posie. They are easily
rigged & very warm. Fritz only made
us smother lights once before turning
in. We are going into action this
afternoon. I believe its only for one
stunt. Crowds of Yanks went up
last night. I suppose its another
 

24

hopover.
7/10/18 Pulled in yesterday late to a
posie 1500 yards behind the front line
I left with the Ammunition Wagons, on the
road up our limber broke its pole, it was
dark before we got going again. We were
absolutely lost but fortunately struck our
guns coming along. When we got to the posie
we found only a small bank & practically
every yard was of it was dug into by the
Yankee Infantry & 108^th Battery. Our luck
was in again, the 108^th got word to go back
to their Wagon Lines, so we hopped in to
their holes already made. Today we all
left the guns & went to a bank at the back
as Fritz has direct observation on the right.
 

25

It has been a very cloudy day, so he would
not get much observation. He is shelling pretty
solidly but our stunt comes off in the
morning so he is in for a hot time. Our
guns are thick.
8/10/18. The Yanks moved forward last
night Our stunt opened up about 10 past
5 (or in our new military time) 17.10 am)
Just before it opened Fritz came over bombing
unfortunattely did some damage. He got two
direct hits one on a gun of 51st Battery &
one on the 56th killing three on each gun.
I had a look at the 56th guns this morning
its an awful wreck, blown on its back about
20 yds in front of the pit, just the body &
about ½ a dozen spokes left. Another bomb -
a dud landed in front of that again
& went straight down about 12 feet leaving
 

26

a hole, as if it had been drilled out.
We were all hugging the ground closely
until the beggar unloaded. The Yanks
gained their objective by 7 am this morning,
our barrage was terrific. We saw a
number of prisoners go down. It was a
grand sight after the barrage finished
to see the Cavalry & Yanks going up.
Two divisions of Cavalry went along
8000 horses in each. Fritz will get
some hurry up with that crowd. We
have just got word to cease firing
for 3 hours so evidently the Cavalry
& Yanks got through. I forgot to
mention that in coming up we passed
over the Canal St Quenton in the
Hindenburg line. Its a marvellous piece of
work & looks pretty running in between
 

27

the hills. The Yanks must have
fought at treat to get him out of
such a stronghold. Using Cavalry
breaks me up here, apparently they are
fully satisfied he has no further
strong line of defenses for some distance,
the rumour is that our objective by
night is some 20 miles away. I can
hardly credit that but still they must
expect to get him on the run, risking
as many cavalry. Wieacourt is just
at our rear. It was laughable to
see our planes this morning coming
from over his lines after the stunt,
you could only compare them to a swarm
of ducks, wherever you looked you saw
planes.
9/10/18. We have not shot at all today
 

28

being out of range. We have been
expecting word to move forward any
moment, evidently Fritz has settled down
again after the stunt. we are in reserve
to the 2nd Divy. We took a stroll
up to the village in front this afternoon
& saw the results of our fire. Trenches
along the side of the road were literally
full of dead Fritzs, the poor beggars
were lying there as if asleep, some
partially covered by the shells others
lying on the road. There are also a
few civilians, on one bed a man & woman.
We struck two wil old men civilians
one woman & three kids all coming down
towards our lines. Apparently they have
stuck to the village ever since Fritz
copped it at the beginning of the War.
 

29

We are now on territory never previously
occupied by the Allies since the war
began. Fritz paraded right down
this valley last night with his
bombs, shook the ground a good
deal but fortunately kept to the
centre in lieu of the Banks. The
Yanks are going up in mobs
10/10/18. Still hanging on here, no
shells with the exception of two strays
late last night, near us. It was too
cloudy & windy for Fritz to operate
with his bombs so we enjoyed a very
peaceful night. One of our observation
Balloons is up away in front of us
this morning, & the guns of the Batteries
frogleaping us after the stunt, sound
a long way up. They must have sent

 

30

Fritz back a considerable distance.
He is consistently burning the
villages as he retires, we counted
4 huge flares on the horizon last
night, so he is evidently preparing for
as general withdrawal. Very cold
of a night & morning.
11/10/18. We pulled out to the Wagon Lines
yesterday afternoon & are now in Corps
Reserve No shells & no bombs last night
Raining today so not much doing. We
hear the Yanks are doing very well,
as soon as Fritz settles down again
I suppose we will be shunted in. I
think they have him very groggy at
present, although undoubtedly some
more hard scrrapping will have to take
place.