Diary of Oberlin Herbert Gray, January to August 1918 - Part 3

1918 TUESDAY 15 JAN.

Raining most of day, very

miserable & wet - getting

firewood, Carrying patients

& trying to keep dry - 

Hear that a stunt may

come off soon, with the object

of capturing 'Commies' & thus

threatening Lille's lines of

communication - All the

Austn divisions are now

on this front.

JAN. WEDNESDAY 16 1918

A fall of 2" of snow during

early morning.

Rain & high Westerly

wind which did a good

deal of damage

Put floor in cookhouse

Went up to relay Post in

Onract Wood, it is in an

old pill box, now flooded

underneath & the inmates

were trying to pump out

some of the flood.

1918 THURSDAY 17 JAN.

Fall of snow in morning

later turned to rain -

Working outside all day,

several casualties through

Went up to Onract Wood

in morning, & to Railway

Dump for some timber -

After tea went up to

2nd Bn HdQrs to see RM.O.

at Prince Ruperts Dugouts.

They are big concrete

underground buildings,

looked very comfortable -

JAN. FRIDAY 18 1918

Very mild, cases of

trench feet passing through.

All kinds of rumors of

coming movements of Austns

1918 SATURDAY 19 JAN.

One of our observation

baloons broke away from its

moorings near Mt Kemmel. We

watched the 2 occupants descending

in parachutes, like tiny specks.

Then our anti aircraft guns opened

a fierce bombardment, the shells

bursting all about the baloon, as it

quickly rose & drifted to the NE.

passing above the A.D.S. - Machine

guns opened fire also, but it was

undamaged & finally disappeared

among the clouds - Several

planes were up, but did not go

near the baloon, they should

have got it easily -

One of our planes came down

with engine trouble, near the

hospice

Allan, one of my squad, developed

trench feet.

JAN. SUNDAY 20 1918

A Fritz prisoner, among other 

wounded, passed through, he

was shot through the lung.

Several civilians with a staff

officer passed by, presumably

representatives of labour who

are visiting the front to see

how the army works.

A glorious sunset, the finest

I have seen in Belgium

1918 MONDAY 21 JAN.

Fritz gave us a bombardment

this morning, one shell fell a

few yards from the tank, & others

fell close - everyone took cover

under the wall - One shell

fell near the Church on the

duck boards, & a poor boy who

was on the spot was fatally

injured - another was wounded

& several more came along

lately

Hear that O. is admitted to

DRS with trench fever.

Part of the sector we are on

is 1300 yds apart No Mans Ld.

some places are swampy,

JAN. TUESDAY 22 1918

Went down to Locre in afternoon

found O in bed with trench

fever, had a good yarn to him

& saw several others, put in

for leave to Paris

Roads are very muddy

An officer brought in, who had

been out in No Mans Land

nearly 3 days. - very weak.

1918 WEDNESDAY 23 JAN.

Mild weather

Very quiet

We expect to move from here

next Monday or Tuesday - 30^th

JAN. THURSDAY 24 1918

Quite a warm day, sun

shining & worked outside

without tunic or jacket.

Not a great many patients

evacuated a horse wagon

load at 7.30., then the

motor comes on duty.

Walked into Wytschacke wood

& looked into concrete dugouts,

pillboxes etc. They left

practically nothing lying about

in the way of boxes etc. while

their casualties must have been

reduced to a minimum with

their well protected shelters.

The trees are terribly shattered

1918 FRIDAY 25 JAN.

Several Fritz planes came over

in morng - 2 of them were being

fired at by anti-aircraft - &

shortly after 3 of our planes appeared

& attacked them. One was

hit, & set alight, & came to

earth in No Man's land.

During the afternoon one of

our observtn baloons escaped, &

disappeared to the NE.

The ob. baloon which escaped the

other day drifted across to

Holland, & was brought down

by 2 planes.

A fine warm day, quite

Spring like.

General Leslie & an American

Major came in to see the place

JAN. SATURDAY 26 1918

Col Cade & the W.O came up from

the D.R.S. to have a look

around.

A misty morning lake cleared

up & the sun shone forth.

 

Hand drawn diagram - see original.

1918 SUNDAY 27 JAN.

Received orders to report at

M.D.S. in afternoon, so said

adieu to Wytschacke -

A little Tommy, about 5 ft.

weak looking, with only one eye

is attached to the 2^nd Fd Amb.

guard on the water point - age 19

I've heard of Eng. officers criming

these men for being sick & going

on "sick parade" & getting M & D.

JAN. MONDAY 28 1918

Working at MDS in morning

A Fritz plane volplaned down

with engine shut off & was

almost onto the observation baloon

before they saw it - the m.g.

put 2 or 3 bullets through the

baloon but failed to set alight

to it, & amidst a salvo of

m.g. reports Fritz turned tail

& fled - he got away very

quickly. The 2 obs. from

baloon jumped out, & the

parachutes descended near us.

We left MDs at 2, & walked

down to Locre, quite a warm 

walk.

O. still in bed, but much better.

1918 TUESDAY 29 JAN.

A fine Spring like day -

On fatigues - loading

wagons - clearing Q M Store

etc.

OShan. back, stayed 30

days over leave & had

G chu. & 90 days 2nd field

punishment.

Watched the butcher kill a

pig (about 6 ft from snout to hind

foot) then scrape it - The pig

was laid out on the ground & straw

piled all over it, a light set to

the middle, & the fire spread all

over, the ash brushed off & the

pig scraped, and then cleaned.

JAN. WEDNESDAY 30 1918

Left Locre at 9 o'c carrying haversack & helmet

etc. packed blankets on wagon - another

Spring day, a mist which soon cleared, &

sun shining warmly. We crossed the

border into France. (guarded by a Belgian)

& marched through Bailleul, an old

town with fine large square & very dirty 

streets - Several bombs had fallen in

the town - Marched past Outtersteen &

Vieux Berquin to Sec Bois - quite

a small village in a country road.

A section billeted first. then B sect.

while C contd up the road. 200

yds from where the Cook house is stationed

& 20 of us came into a fine big

loft above a large cottage - 2 Refugees

from Lille were working on the

farm. - an old woman & her daughter

living here - a very nice young

woman of 25 - her husband &

brother had been killed in the war

& a brother prisoner of war -(She told

us he was well looked after, nothing

to complain of working on a large

farm-) 4 cows, a young calf &

several pigs & fowls. The cows

are fed on mangels & straw. Our 

hostess told us that cows were 600 to

800 fr -. a large pig 800 fr, a year

old pig 400 fr. about. a farm horse

1918 THURSDAY 31 JAN.

1500 to 2000 fr. The calf was worth

60 or 70 fr.

In morning had a long walk

through unhedged country - teams

busy plowing, a white frost. This

time last year the ground was

frozen hard. - Heaps of mangels earthed

over. Walked along banks of

Canal, through Forest of Nieppe.

passing several lumber camps.

South Africans at one - chinks

at a saw mill. - picturesque cabins

of split & unhewn timber -

All kinds of timber seemed to

grow there - birch elm fir etc.

Passed 2 small carts drawn

by dogs - one drawn by a tandem

There are two dogs here, named

Canes & Touton - the former is

a common name in France.

A pretty tortoiseshell cat is

another member of the family.

Tom Beach & J.W. go to Paris to-morrow.

They have to walk to Hazebruck

& catch the 8.30 train -.

We were in the Octroi Hazebruck

(district) yesterday

FEB. FRIDAY 1 1918

A white mist - ground frosty,

Madam was up at 6 o'c making

bread - she put the loaves dough

in wicker baskets to rise, then

into a large brick oven

previously heated up up by

a fire of fagots. We sampled

the bread for dinner as we

were short.

Later Madam was ironing,

she keeps everything in the

house beautifully clean -

Went a short route march

in morning -

I started to dig the garden

in the afternoon. very sodden

soil. I worked till dark, &

then went for the mail at

the other end of the village.

Some Austn mail in -

Vic Hall returned to Unit

from HdQrs where he has

been for some months.

1918 SATURDAY 2 FEB.

A Route march & lecture

in morning -

Afternoon free for football etc

Vic H. Scotty R & J.S. & I went

through Sec Bois & Vieux

Berquin calling at a café

formerly visited by the boys when

they were farming at Vieux

Berquin last Aug. - then on to

a farm where several of them

worked. They gave us aftn tea

& welcomed Vic & Scotty - Then

we renewed acquaintance with

another farmer, the principal farm

in the neighbourhood - then

on to another cottage &

finally back through dark

& muddy roads through

Vieux Berquin, stopping at a

tea shop for eggs & chips - a

favourite French dish (with coffee

& so home to Madame

Lemaitre's - A Fritz plane

was dropping bombs 3 or 4
miles away & search lights

sweeping the sky.

FEB. SUNDAY 3 1918

A fine morning, the sun rose

up a great golden ball.

The skies were very blue with

a few clouds about.

7.30 parade & breakfast - then

a gas helmet inspection on

9 AM parade followed by a

route march & lecture on

fractures etc.

Madame Lemaitre went to Matins at 7 o'c

& old Madame went to the

Morning service - - Several French

soldiers about, evidently on

leave.

I was awakened this morning

by a bomb dropping not far

away, a mile or so, followed

by anti aircraft firing -

there were a lot of bombs

dropped in the district

near during the night.