Handwritten transcript of diaries of Apcar Leslie De Vine, 1 January 1915 - 6 October 1918, Part 23 of 26
219
and marched to Godewaersvelde where we entrain
leaving at 1am next morning
6/4/18 Train left at 1am, we travelled untill 1pm when
we arrived at St Roch Station on the outskirts of Amiens where
we detrained. The city of Amiens is absolutely deserted, all
the civilians having left, owing to the near approach of
the German armies, we marched through the subburbs to
Rainneville about 10 kilometres outside the city, in the
direction of the front line, which is now in the region of
Albert. arriving at our billets about 5.30pm. We have
had nothing to eat since yesterday at 5pm, being now
very hungry & tired, it has been raining through the
night
7/4/18 Sunday Voluntary church parade, warned for Bn
guard, mounted Sgt of guard 4pm. Three prisoners in
detention, rained heavily through the night, the village
is a sea of mud
8/4/18 Dismounted guard at 4pm very quiet day. Paid
30f = £1.2.0
9/4/18 Under orders to leave today, everything packed
up ready by 12 noon, 4th Bn diaries on sale at the Bn
canteen today. Marched 6 miles to Beaucourt-s-l'hallue
the roads are very muddy, and the billets in a very muddy
& dirty state, we are quite close to the line now which
has been slowly moovng towards us as the troops in front
slowly give ground. We expect to relieve the 5th Bn.
The village was shelled during the afternoon. several of
the villagers still remain, although they are packed up &
ready to leave at a moments notice, if the advance threatens
them with capture.
220
10/4/18 Route march battle order this morning, about
6½ miles, the roads are in a terribly muddy state.
short parade. 2-4 pm, weather very foggy & miserable
11/4/18 No parades today, we are under orders to move
off, everything packed up early, during the morning. Gen
Birdwood visited the Bn & shook hands etc with the
men, we do not know our destination, but are expecting
to be sent back again to the North, from where we have
received the bad news that Fritz has made a big
advance against the Portugese front & is still
advancing on a wide front with great success & is now
threatening to capture the Channel Ports. Orders were
suddenly issued to move off in half an hours time, we
move off at 2.30 pm to Amiens 15 kilometres away
arriving there at 6.30, our packs being carried by motor
transport to St Roch Station, we are billited in the
Hospital of St Victor, after a short rest we march
through Amiens to St Roch Station for our packs, the
town now completely deserted having been much shelled
and bombed, the old cathedral being hit several times
& badly damaged especially in the roof. We marched
by Coys without any casualties, although the town was
being bombarded at the time, many shells fell while
we were at the Station. one falling amongst B & C Coys
killing about 8 and wounding many others. While we
were marching back a German plane flew directly
over us, and probably saw us as he dropped 3 bombs
the first fell right behind the Coy, the second fell
into the river on our left, the third fell on the
opposite side of the river, the first bomb blew the
front out of two houses, our casualties being about 15
wounded no one being killed. Personally I was very lucky being
missed by the bomb splinters although I was last man
221
marching behind the Coy. Several bombs & shells fell
near our billets during our absence, fortunately with only
slight dammage, there is now great aerial activity
as the Germans think we are bringing fresh divisions
by rail, and are keeping the station and town under
observation and heavy gun fire. We feel pretty tired
having been on the road for 8 hours without a break
we will be leaving early tomorrow morning for an
unknown destination
12/4/18 Marched out at 2am for St Roch Station, all
the bridges & crossroads etc have been mined in
readiness to be blown up, as the Germans are steadily
advancing and are now near Villiers Bretonneux
about 15 kilometres away. We cannot understand why
we are leaving this area as troops are urgently needed
to stop his advance. The news from the North has been
rather bad, but we all thought that it was much
exagerated, now it appears to be pretty true. The
authorities are making desperate efforts to get every
available man together. We halted in the Boulevard
near the station at 3.30am as trains were not available
We spent the morning walking about Amiens, the town
is now quite deserted only a few French solders remaining
to patroll the streets, many of the houses and Municipal
Buildings have been bombed or hit by shell fire.
German aeroplane activity commenced at day break
however no bombs were dropped on this visit, although
several planes came very low down over the town
keeping it under constant observation. Entrained at
St Roch at 8am leaving at 9am. The town being shelled
all the while, we remained on the train all day &
managed to get a little sleep, not knowing when we will
get the next one. Before entraining the position was
222
explained to us accrdg to the last information from the
northern sector. We are to travell by train as far as
possible, and hope to reach Hazebrouck before the German
cavalry occupy the town, probably their cavalry will
be across the railway south of the town, which will
force us to detrain, when we will go into action
wherever the line of outposts happens to be. Fortunately
we managed to reach the outskirts of Hazebrouck at 9pm
and detrained in the town at 11pm and marched straight
through the town, after dumping our packs in a field and
get into battle order, leaving our packs behind we again
take to the road & marched straight through the
village of Strazeele where we are informed the German
advance guards have reached. However we passed through
without opposition to the crossroads; in front of Meteren,
which can be seen on our left about 4 kilometres away
the church and many of the houses are in flames & burnt
very fiercely all night. While making for the cross
roads, we pass many refugees, leaving their farms and
the district, as the fighting is now round about their homes
The Germans have occupied Merris, the town in front of us
we expect them to push on during the night or early
tomorrow morning. We establish a firing line just
where we are on the cross roads, there is no line in front
of us & we have not seen any English troops yet. Scattered
bands of English Pommies are running about in a panic
stricken state, not knowing where they are or where they
are going to, they are apparently relieving themselves from
the outposts, without waiting for us to come up to
them, nobody seems to be in charge, and every man does as
he likes, all they know is that the Germans are still
advancing, but nobody seems to worry about resisting them
things seem to be in a terrible state, everyone running
wild some with & most without their arms & equipment
223
We collect very many of them, and hand them over
to the Brigade, many hundreds of these "Pommies" are
collected during the night and are now temporally
attached to us, they have been nicknamed "Leslies Bn"
after our Brigadier. Brig Gen Leslie who is a Canadian.
We dug three strongposts during the night. Nos 1.2.3
platoons man them with No 4 in reserve behind us
in a barn, which serves as Coy Hdqrs & cook house
We dig in with our entrenching tools fortunately
in a ploughed field which is pretty soft. We dig all
night with a listening post lying out in front to
warn us in case the Germans continue their advance
fortunately they give us a quiet night, thus giving us an
oportunity to get well dug in
13/4/18 Dug ourselves in by daylight, very heavy mist this
morning, and we expect an attack under cover of the
mist, no attack developed in our sector. We are in a
peculiar position as we seem to be isolated, we cannot
get in touch with any troops or outposts on either flanks
An attack on our left at Hill 40 failed. The sun rose
at 10am & the fog lifted and we managed to get two
hours sleep along the side of a hedge in the morning
this being our first for two nights, we were also fortunate
to get a little breakfast, as we have had nothing to eat
since tea time of the 11th. We are camping out along the
hedges as we are expecting an advance at any time now
and it is absolutely necessary to be constantly ready
There is a fair ammount of shelling otherwise things are
very quiet, all the shelling coming from Fritz, we do
not reply for the very simple reason that all guns
that were in the forward area have been captured
complete with huge quantities of ammunition, the guns
we had stored in the rear depots have not yet
224
been brought up with their ammunition, if any serious
attack develops we will be entirely unsupported of any
artillery & will have to rely on machine guns only
fortunately we have plenty of them as we salvaged many from
the Pommies when they abandened them During the afternoon
we occupied a line of trenches 200 yds in advance
in advance of the one we now hold, this is now to
be the new front line, we spend the rest of the day
improving the trench, which was dug by the 3rd
Canadian Coy of Tunellers, we had the trench fairly
well completed by night. Was out wiring in front
all night, job completed by the morning. During
the night we got in touch with our flanks, on
our right are the 5th Cameronians & on our left
the "Queens". In front of us there are a few scattered
outposts of these regiments, which are to be eventually
withdrawn leaving us the front line in case of
attack. Several farms in the district are
burning fiercely all night, lighting up the country
side, the machine gun & artillery fire is now
continuous, things are now warming up for a big
stunt very soon if they attempt another advance.
14/4/18 Sunday The day is very cold, we have now
salvaged many blankets etc from neighbouring farms
etc & make ourselves comfortable by taking mattresses
quilts etc for our use in outpost which is better than
lying on the hard wet ground. We raid the
neighbouring farms & the village for all our requirements
many estaminets are scattered in the near by villages
so we bring any quantity of beer, wine & champagne
etc for our use on post our ASC has not yet managed
to bring up our supplies so we are compelled to be
self supporting. As the village of Strazeele has at
225
least one big brewery we are not short of supplies
Our position is now consolodated & all barbed wire
fixed up & ready. "No mans land" in front of our sector
is very wide & contains a farm & many head of
cattle wandering about, we have salvaged some of
them who now supply the cookers with fresh milk
the pigs & chickens we cook for ourselves. The farm
was heavily shelled during the afternoon, catching
fire & burning fiercely at 3pm, rest of the day
was spent quietly
15/4/18 Very misty this morning, & we expected a
visit from Fritz, however nothing occured during
the day which was fairly quiet. We are still
salvaging anything of use from the farms for our
use in the line we have already found, 4 barrels of
beer, hundreds of bottles of wine, champagne etc &
28 fowls, beds, clothing, & blankets etc which are now
being converted for our comfort. During the night
6 farms were burning around us at the same time
16/4/18 Day fairly quiet, heavy fog & mist all night
Heavily shelled at midday. Heavy attack on our left
the English troops gave way & ran like rabbits. Fritz
thus easily captured Meteren, we could see the whole
of the operations from our position, which is on higher
ground. Later C & D Coys attacked & advanced 800
yards successfully on our R flank. Our L flank
is now held by a French Division, who advanced
at 8.30pm. They formed up in front of our line
and looked very well & keen, on the signal being given
to advance they got off the mark in fine stile. Our
1st Bn followed them up & supported them on their
R flank. No news of their success reached us by
226
midnight. Several more farms are now burning
17/4/18 We changed our position at 1am, occupying
the trenches vacated by D Coy. At 9am a very
heavy bombardment with HE started, causing us
several casualties owing to the exposed position
we are holding. We were later ordered up to the
line in support of C Coy under very heavy shell
fire. At 5pm we saw the Germans advance and
dig in, about 100 yards in front of our outposts, we
expected a heavy frontal attack which however
did not come off. Fritz being content to advance
& dig in 100 yds in front of our posts. At 10pm we
were ordered up to the outposts to relieve C Coy
taking over their positions, we dig in all night
making ourselves more secure by the morning.
The night remained quiet with no further advance
by the enemy. Very raw & cold all night glad
of the opportunity to dig in order to keep warm
18/4/18 On outpost all day, terribly cold with hail & snow
early this morning a lonely prisoner wandering about lost
fell into our hands. Meteren is burning fiercely all
night, no less than 6 new fires have started and
are burning fiercely all through the night illuminating
the country all around.
19/4/18 On outpost all day. Terribly cold, snow falling
at intervalls during the night. Heavy bombardment
early this morning, however nothing happened on
our front, although we "stood too" for hours. German
aeroplanes very active this morning, trying to find
our outpost position, very wet & miserable all
day
227
20/4/18 Heavy bombardment this morning with many
"Fritz" aeroplanes about, otherwise quiet day, very
frosty night & terribly cold during the day. Out on
the barbed wire all night.
21/4/18 Sunday Day opened with the usuall
bombardment, our post was barbed wired last night
ready for the expected attack. Very misty in the
early hours of the morning & bitterly cold with a
sharp frost. The sun came out later warming
things up a bit. Took my boots off today for a
rest the first time since we left Amiens on the
12th. rest of the day quiet, with plenty of sniping
German snipers are very active hidden in the roofs
of the wrecked farm buildings scattered about
two or three of them give us some hurry up
and we cannot locate them being on higher ground
they have a great advantage having their rifles
permanently fixed on certain parts of our post, we
have had several men shot clean through the
head lately. later one sniper was located in the
roof of a farm directly opposite to us. The artillery
were informed of the exact location & the whole
place. sniper & all quietly removed after a few shots.
22/4/18 Day opened with the usuall "Straff" several
rifles grenades are flying about otherwise a quiet day
Today is the first birthday out of four that I have
actually had in the front line, quite forgot it untill
the end of the day. At 10pm we were relieved by the
5th Bn a good birthday present under the circumstances
While being relieved we suffered a few casualties
from shell fire but got away under cover of darkness
otherwise relief carried out OK. We marched to Borre
228
Railway Sidings near Caestre, where we were billeted
in the railway huts, arriving here in the early hours
of the morning, we all managed to get a good sleep
23/4/18 Today we had a general wash & brush up, this
is our first wash since leaving Amiens on the 12th
Visited Caestre in the evening, there is not a single
civilian left in the village which has been completely
evacuated owing to the heavy shell fire. The village has
been completely looted, dozens of barrels of beer and
thousands of bottles of wine, champagne etc lying about
All the 1st Brigade are having a good time. Barrels of
beer are being rolled or wheeled to the camp, others
are opened in the streets, where everybody has as much as
they want, all drinks being handed out by the pint
mug. Many of the boys have entered the houses & dressed
themselves up in civilian clothes, others are dressed as
women (over their khaki uniforms) and are parading the
village causing much amusement & hilarity. All this
while the village is being bombarded by HE shells,
causing us several casualties as the main street is full
of "diggers" in various stages of civilian undress male &
female, the barrels of beer being of more interest to
them than the shells, there are three breweries in
the village so we are plentifully supplied. I salvage
for myself a good mattress & quilt, with sheets & a change
of underclothing which I was fortunate enough to reach
camp with thus adding a little to the comfort of the camp
At night we received a visit from "Fritz" in his aeroplanes
in two raids on the railway sheds, we were fortunate
as he missed our huts each time. one bomb hit the
railway lines, the others fell outside the camp, later
we all settled down for a little sleep for the remainder
of the night
Jacqueline KennedyThis transcription item is now locked to you for editing. To release the lock either Save your changes or Cancel.
This lock will be automatically released after 60 minutes of inactivity.