Handwritten transcript of diaries of Apcar Leslie De Vine, 1 January 1915 - 6 October 1918, Part 16 of 26
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the tail of the machine fell off when the machine gun
amunition exploded, causing him to fall a mass of flame
Shelling vey constant during the afternoon. During the evening
the Coy moved further up the trench about 500yds to our left
this was caused by A Coy of the 3rd relieving our D Coy, so
causing us to moove up bring us in front of a quary & in
front of Mouquet Farm. As soon as it was dark we
swung our left flank round nearer to the Farm &
dug a new firing line about 100yds in front of our old
one so straightening up the line, this was done in total
darkness & under shell fire all the time. Was detailed
with two men to act as a covering party & laid out in
a shell hole all night in front of the boys digging the
new line, to give the alarm of any patrol approaching.
We were not molested. Several large shells fell near us
but we all managed to get back just before dawn
Several showers of rain fell during the day & night
everybody wet through, the ground is now very muddy
& sticky, making it very cold tonight
18/8/16 Early morning very cold, a little sleep obtained during
the night, just a doze or two in the mud. About 8am the
sun came out & dried us a bit & we felt warmer. At 10.30
am was detailed with two men by Major Brown to find
the exact position of Mouquet Farm which is on our left
front, we crawled out about 100yds from our line, making
our way from shell hole to shell hole then changed direction
¾ right for about 50yds, which brought us up to a trench
protecting the farm and running in front of it, we
entered this trench managing to get a good view of the
farm & its surroundings. It had been very considerably
knocked about by shell fire, this point is situated
on high ground, whilst making my observations & taking
notes, could see from here right over a large area of
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flat country where an English Division was making an
attack on Thiepval. We could see vey plainly the
troops attacking in open order, having an excellent
birds eye view of the whole county for a few miles
around their objective, Whilst so occupied after
completing our notes we met a German patrol patroling
the trench, luckily for us we saw them first, as
not suspecting our presence they were not vey carefull
about making a noise & were talking loudly. We got
our shots in first at very close range, after this
several more appeared, we then hastily retired from
their line, as we had gained our objective, & had
an accurate report of the condition of the farm
we decided to rejoin our own line, so we hid
in a shell hole for a time untill things regained
their usuall quietness as Fritz was bombing several
shell holes endeavourig to find us. Fortunately we
were a little too far off for him. later we managed
to join our lines again & reported result of the patrol
Later in the day about 4 pm was sent out again
with 2/Lt Turnbull & 4 men, we entered the trench
again at a different point & discovering one of their
bombing posts, after having a good look around
we retired to a shell hole in order to keep the
post under observation & to wait for the rest of
the Coy to come up after dark, as we are under
orders to take the trench tonight. After
remaining in the shell hole for two hours we were
sent for by the Coy Commander & returned to our
line at 7pm to await the advance. At 9 pm
the whole of our line moved forward to occupy
the trench in front of the farm. A heavy artillery
barrage was dropped on to the farm from 8.30 to 9pm,
when we moved foreward under it and dug in, our
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objective was secured with little opposition. Was detailed
with a party of 6 men & a Lewis Gun crew to lie in a
shell hole about 20 yds in front of our new line when the
barrage lifted. After a while Fritz came from his
shelter trenches near the farm, to see what was doing
his patrols soon found us in our new position, & bombed
us pretty freely, we reply with our Mills & Lewis Gun &
kept him back, they attacked us several times during
the night, but each time managed to hold them off
Meanwhile behind us, the rest of the Bn assisted by some
of the 2nd Bn & Engineers who make up our casualties
dig themselves in. The post lost heavely during the night
being in an exposed position casualtes being replaced,
by the morning Cpl Johnston & myself were the only two
of the original post that were not wounded. We
maintained ourselves all night & returned to the new
firing line at dawn, which by that time had been
consolodated
19/8/16 Established in our new line by day break, we dig
deeply to avoid the shelling which we expect will be
pretty hot during the day, however we are not shelled
very much during the day due to the fact that we are
very close to their outposts in front of the farm which has
been turned into a fortress, that there would be great
danger of hitting them instead of us. Several heavy
showers of rain fell during the day, making us very
wet & muddy, by midday we are thoroughly sodden
through & covered with mud & clay. A good deal
of sniping is going on all day making it vey dangerous
to move about the Trench, as some parts are not
very deep you become exposed without knowing it
& as we are so close to their outposts the sniping
is pretty deadly causing heay casualtes. Our snipers
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return as good as he sends us, so leveling up the
score a bit. Our losses for these last 4 days
have been vey heavy. We hope to be relieved
during the night, as we have vey little fighting
strength left in case of an attack. At 10pm
we were relieved by the 9th Bn who relieve A &
B Coys. C & D Coys on our right were relieved by the
12th Bn. We leave the trench at 11pm making
our way back to Albert overland, we are billited
in some small private houses at dawn & we get
our first rest & sleep since the 15th.
20/8/16 Sunday Spent all day sleeping & having a good
rest, during the later part of the day had a good ramble
over the ruins of the battered city of Albert. We are
mooving off tomorrow according to orders issued late
tonight
21/8/16 Left Albert at 9am for Warloy arriving at
11.30am where we are billited for the day
22/8/16 Left Warloy at 9am marched 10 miles to La
Vicogne bivouacing in the same orchard as we did
on 28.7 & the 9.8.16 Paid 60₣ = £2.3.0
23/8/16 Bn parade 2pm for inspection and speech by
Gen Birdwood. before leaving the Bn parade
ground the Colonel spoke of the work we had done
last time in the line, reading out a list of names
of men recommended for their work at Pozieres &
Mouquet Farm, much surprised to be among those
mentioned. Afterwards we marched to the Brigade
parade ground to be reviewed by General Birdwood
who presented decorations to previous winners.
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24/8/16 Left La Vicogne at 11am. after seeing the Brigade
of Guards marching in the opposite direction towards
Albert on their way to the line. We marched 10 miles
to Longuevillette where we bivouac for the night
Detailed with 3 men for Bn guard, mounted at 5pm
expect to be mooving off again tomorrow
25/8/16 Bn guard all day, final orders issued to
moove off tomorrow morning early. Sports held in the
village during the afternoon to commemorate the
formation of the Bn, relieved from guard 5pm
26/8/16 Revelle 4am, move off 6am marched to Doullens
and entrained there, left about 8am detrained at
Hapoutre just outside Poperinghe in Belgium much to
our surprise as we all expected to detrain at Bailleul
this is our first entry into Belgium, being only a few miles
behind Ypres a town we have heard vey much about
and on the most important sector of the British
Front. Marched to a camp of huts called Scottish Lines
27/8/16 Church parade 9.30. Several showers fell during
the day, making the camp very muddy, we find the
weather conditions here very much colder than on the
Somme, during the afternoon visited Poperinghe & spent
the evening there. It is a very quaint Belgium town
now full of troops, mostly Canadians whom we are relieving
The Town Hall & main square are vey old & interesting
the town has been shelled a good deal being so near
to Ypres, still there are very many civillians here
doing business with the troops, plenty of estaminets &
tucker shops, which we are pleased to take full
advantage of. All lights in the town are shaded &
covered up as there is a great danger of bombing at
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night, in fact that is the moist danger here, as it
happens more frequently than shelling, because of the
large number of troops camped round the town
28/8/16 Training starts again. Physical drill 6.30-7am
Morning parade 9-11am Afternoon parade 2-4pm, so we
do not get much time for actually resting, when we
are not either in the line or marching we are on
parade, a complete day to ourselves seldom comes sometimes
not even on Sunday
29/8/16 Physical drill 6.30-7. Parade for hot baths at 8.15
when we march into Poperinghe to the Divisional baths
where we are issued with a clean shirt & socks. return
to camp at 1pm, no parade this afternoon, rained very
heavily all afternoon & evening making the camp a sea
of mud
30/8/16 Heavy rain all day, the camp is simply a lake
no parades, rained all night, bitterly cold wind blowing
the worst day we have had yet
31/8/16 Camp very muddy, Physical drill 7.30-8. Parades
9-11 & 2-4. Very cold wind blowing all day, we hope
it will dry up the ground quickly
1/9/16 Orders issued today that we are leaving this
camp tonight for Ypres, before taking up a sector of the
line. Three parades today as usuall. Packed up full
marching order & on the Pm parade by 6.30 pm ready to moove
off, marched off 6.45 to entrain at Brandhock for Ypres
we detrained near the Asylum just outside the town &
march in along the railway track, passing through
the town to our billets, situated in the vaults of
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Notre Dame Hospital arriving there after dark safely,
all shells passed over us as we marched up. Our billets
are situated on one side of the main square, which has
suffered very much from bombardment, containg the
ruins of the Cathedral & Cloth Hall which can never
be replaced, the Cloth Hall is very mediaeval & a
national loss, only a part of the wall remaining, with
part of the main tower, and a smaller tower at
one corner, the whole town is in an utter state of
ruin
2/9/16 Spent all day in the ruins of the city & had a
good ramble over the remains of the Cathedral &
Cloth Hall, many shells are still falling in the town
as it is under observation all day, no movement or
traffic may take place during the daylight. This continuous
shelling causes us some casualties as billets are frequently
hit, and as the men are not allowed outside in any
numbers one shell frequently gets a lot of victims, burying
them in the debris of their billets. The town itself is
so very much knocked about that it seems hardly possible
to do it any further damage, but even among these ruins
there is quite a lot of shelter in the cellars etc of the
town, shells falling among them cause a pretty good scatterg
of bricks etc. At night am warned by the Adjutant to
proceed to Etaples for one month, to attend the school of
instruction ordered to leave with the ration cart at midnight
for Poperinghe & stay with the LMS all night
3/9/16 Sunday Left in the officers mess cart for Poperinghe
station to catch the 1.20 for Etaples. Reported to Capt
Hamilton of the 3rd Brigade who is in charge of the party.
There are only two Sgts being sent from the 1st Brigade
A Sgt from the 2nd Bn & myself. At Poperinghe we meet
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two other Sgts from the 2nd Brigade we all travel together
We changed trains at Hazelbrouck & Calais where we have
to wait for 1 ½ hours which is spent in wandering around
the town, left at 7.10 pm for Etaples arriving there at
10.30pm, we stayed for the night at the rest camp before
reporting to No 1 Training Camp (The Bull ring) in the
morning
4/9/16 Left Etaples rest camp at 10am & reported at
the training camp during the morning, rest of the day
off, resting after yesterdays journey
5/9/16 COs parade 7.30 am. afterwards saw the CO
Maj Chapman & was placed in the bombing section to
instruct in the use of the Mills Grenade. In the evenig
visited the village of Commieres
6/9/16 COs parade 7.30am, rest of the day in the
“Bullring” instructing the various drafts of men
both English & Australian who came here for a final
14 days polish up before proceeding to the line. Personally
I am working longer & harder than I would be if I
had remained with the Bn, this is supposed to be a
rest, as I have not yet left the Bn for wounds or
sickness since its formation over 2 years ago, my service
being contineous. I think I have struck a bad bargain &
would much rather be back with the Bn. During
the evening visited the Div Q M at Etaples for a complete
rig out of uniform & boots
7/9/16 First parade 9 am. very busy day, not feeling
very well today
8/9/16 An easy morning but a long afternoon, took
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drafts of the A.I.F. for 3 hours in the afternoon, they are
much more difficult to handle than the "Tommies"
& make the work of instructing very much harder
am feeling vey weak tody & very sick
9/9/16 Felt vey weak this morning when I got up but
managed to crawl on parade. While taking a class
during the morning I collapsed twice & was taken
away in an ambulance to No 26 General Hospital
& placed in ward 22 with a temperature of 103 & a
pulse of 104
10/9/16 Sunday Temp 101.4 pulse 88, in afternoon temp
dropped to 100. Have got a bad attack of fever
11/9/16 Temp rose from 101 in morning to 104.6 in the
afternoon. pulse 100, feeling vey bad & weak
12/9/16 Temp 98.6. Afternoon 98.2
13/9/16 Got up today without permission, feel much
better. This is my first experience of a military hospital
and do not like it, Temp 98
14/9/16 Feeling pretty fit today Temp 98
15/9/16 Feeling pretty good. Asked to be returned to
duty, was refered to the Colonel who promised to
see me tomorrow. Temp 98.8
16/9/16 Feel quite fit today. Fever entirely passed
off. Will return to duty this afternoon. Temp 98.4
Discharged from Hospital at 4.30 & returned to camp
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17/9/16 Sunday 3½ hours " Bullring" we work here
even on Sundays, & keep going all the time no
instructions during afternoon. Visited Etaples returned
at 9pm
18/9/16 Very wet day, rained all day without stopping
wet through. 3½ hours instructing in morning
19/9/16. Eight hours today, heavy day, rained heavily
during afternoon, wet though again, did not finish
with the drafts untill 7.15pm
20/9/16 Rained heavily during day, 6 hours duty
today. wet through again
21/9/16 Very fine day, sun shining all day. 6 hours
duty
22/9/16 Heavy day, 1/2 hour CO parade before
breakfast . 3 hours instructing in morning, 3 hours in
afternoon, relief of trenches at night, 7-10pm.
Heaviest day I have had yet, not much chance of a
rest here
23/9/16 Orderly Sgt all day, easy day
24/9/16 Sunday Attended 2 hours lecture on the
use of rifle grenades in the morning, Afternoon off
Visited Etaples
25/9/16 Long day. 6 hours instructing
26/9/16 Another long day, drafts are continually
arriving
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