Diary of Alexander Sutherland Mackay, 12 October - 7 November 1918 - Part 1

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12/10/18  Still raining & mud galore, dry

feet are past luxuries. Something is in

the wind we have just received orders

to clear all ammunition left at the previous

position & any excess of echelon (1056 rds) at

the Wagon Lines & return to Dump. All

hands are prophesying it means our long

promised spell of 90 days is in view.

13/10/18. Another disappointment, revielle

blew at 5am & we left at 9 am to go into

action. We rich reached our new wagon

lines about 5 pm in front of "Premont".

These villages are not knocked about nearly

so much as those further back. Fritz is

evidently retiring some distance, we came

on shellholes where a barrage, either his or

ours had been put down, then stretches

without a shellhole. Its beautiful country

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about here, little woods scattered all

over the place. Too cloudy & drizzly of

a night for any aerial activity. Wet feet

are our chief worry, especially as the mornings

are fairly fresh, it hurts putting on wet

boots. We have seen no papers for over

a week, so do not know how things are

progressing. One rumour yesterday was

that Fritz was willing to accept peace

but made 6 stipulations, however you cannot

take any notice of rumours. Every time

papers go off the menu rumours crop up

some fellow has a dream & then delights

to see how far the news will carry. If

some of the so called official news had been

true, we would have been sailing for

Aussie before this. The guns are going

into action tomorrow, the teams are busy

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carting ammunition tonight.

14/10/18. We are not going in tonight

as we expected. The stunt has been

postponed, for what reason we do not

know. The sun has been out all

day today, it was a regular luxury

being able to air our blankets & get

our boots dried. Two of us are camped

in a Yankee tent, they are great

little affairs, last night we had a

primus going to heat her up. It

was a great stunt, lovely to feel

warm again.

15/10/18. Still at the Wagon Lines

we are not going in tonight, something

is evidently amiss with the general

plans, unless they anticipate Fritz

evacuating again without scrapping.

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Cloudy, drizzling weather again

all day. Last night Fritz put about

a dozen shells overhead. They were not

too far away but luckily he did not

drop his range. I half expected the

drivers to be called out to stand by

their horses, in readiness to do a

break. However it appeared to be

only one gun firing & after the few

shots, he changed his direction.

16/10/18. Miserable day, wet & mud galore

its awful trying to move about. Worse

luck we are going in tonight, its

going to be a rotten trip. I hate

going to a new posie & having to dig

in, in the dark.

17/10/18. We left the wagon Lines

at 5.30 yesterday evening & eventually

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reached our positon the other side

of "Busigny", after an awful trip up.

The horses had a terrible time dragging

the guns. We had no bank for cover

so dug down in trenches. Fritz started

an area shoot so things were far

from being pleasant. Our stunt

opened this morning but for a

time they we had to close down owing

to the heavy fog, the guns couldnt

see their aiming posts. Consequently

we were frightened the stunt would

turn out a failure, but to our

surprise everything went well. We

have already seen about 1000 prisoners

go down & we hear the captures amounted

to some 70000 so far. Practically all

the Batteries suffered from Fritz's area

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shoot, we had one killed & four

wounded at the position & 1 man

killed & 5 horses wounded at the

Wagon Lines. Things have eased

up now they apparently have him

moving & are going strong. We are

to move forward again but I doubt

if it will be today. Fritz undoubtedly

knew about our stunt. This town

at the back is full of civilians who

ever since the war began have been

under Fritz's supervision, speaking

to some youngsters, they were quite

satisfied Fritz was just as good

as the Allies. Our crowd have a

dead set on civilians being allowed

to remain up near the front, it

always means a rough time for us.

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The peculiar thing is that this

town, barring a few buildings on

the outskirts has been left severely

alone. It certainly looks fishy after

the way he has treated most other

towns. However whatever his plans

were, they met with little success

judging by accounts now coming in.

Wish to goodness the rain would

keep off, if we get much more it

will be almost impossible to move

the heavy artillery about.

18/10/18. At dusk yesterday afternoon we

got orders to shift forward but after pulling

down our tarpaulins & getting everything ready

for the teams, the order was cancelled until

this morning. We were not sorry as its

cruel going to a new posie & digging in in

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in the dark, especially if he is shelling.

We left this morning & came to an

old orchard & vegetable garden near a

village called St Martin. We wasted no

time in digging down, he was shelling

solidly & we expect a hot night. This

is beautiful country round here, little

woods & vegetable gardens galore. Turnips

carrots & spuds got nothing for themselves

you may be sure. All hands were blown

out from spuds.

19/10/18. Last night Fritz did a get

& we now find found ourselves out of range

without firing a shot at this position.

We had to leave this afternoon & have

pulled up another two miles or so. We

are out in the open but have dug down

about 3 feet. This certainly doesnt look

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a very pleasant posie, shells are floating

round but the majority so far are going

into some village just in front.

20/10/18. Fritz opened up last night

& rained over shells, the ping ping of

gas shells was incessant. On two

occasions we got a shower of dirt

but luckily, beyond giving us something

to think about, no damage was done.

He is much quieter this morning, sends

a few over in fits & starts. Drizzling

weather still being experienced. Do

not think there is much chance of a

shift today unless he suddenly retries.

Practically no aeroplane or balloon

activity these days owing to cloudy

wet weather. We hear he has evacuated

Ostina & Lille, but have seen no papers

for some considerable time.

21/10/18. Did not fire today this morning

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Fritz retired & left us out of range.

He did not forget to give us another

hot night with his heavy stuff. We

shifted forward again this morning to

a flank in readiness for a big stunt

coming off tomorrow morning. We had

to come at the trot past one corner

to get to this posie. So far he is

only using heavy stuff, no small guns

firing at all. We came past one field

where our guns had given Fritz a bad

time. Men horses & Wagons were lying

fairly thick. Some of the men evidently

snipers were sitting in little dugouts

on the side of the road as if asleep.

Still rainy cold weather & the slush on

the roads is cruel. Socks continually

wet but its no use changing to put