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Diary, England & The Somme 1915-16

Preparation in England, 1915

Inspection by General Campbell.

Saturday March 15th on my birthday. Route march to Birmingham from Sutton. General inspection in Calthorpe Park at 2. General Campbell in passing lines asks me what I was before I joined. General salute at 3.30 pm Victoria Square, dismissed at 4pm near Corporation Street.

Note: by William Bernard Whitmore, 1st Birmingham Battalion 11747 Reads

Archives: Letter, Law, Archie WW1 from Belgium to sister 1915

From somewhere in Belgium December 25th, 1915 Dear Sister & All: I now write you a few lines to let you know I am well and hope you all are this small. Well Mable this is Christmas Day and it is nearly over now and I have been thinking of you all to-day so I though I would drop you a line on my new pad. We were given a wallett yesterday with a pencial and this little pad and several post cards we were allso given a box of tobacco and a box of candy so I think they used us pretty well. I have not received any of the parcels that was sent me for Christmas only the box of candies Jeff sent me. I do not know what has become of them I suppose I will get them all at once now after Christmas is all over. We all got a present from Mrs. Capt Eve of Montreal I got a book and it is a good one to we allso had a can of plum pudding given to each one from Mrs. Major Gualt instead of having turkey as I had a year ago. I had Irish Stew and plum duff for dinner. I had the pleasure of attending church this morning they took us down in motor Lorries it was the English church and we had sacrement we have made it as bright a Christmas as possible but it is much different then last year. Last night Xmas Eve I was out on a working party and the bullets were falling around us and I was just thinking what I was doing last year I remember we done our delivering on sleighs and Xmas Eve I was in the store, never thought I would be over here now, but you never can tell. We have been out on working party three times now and each time have been under fire. The first time was the worst we were going through a town which has been shelled to pieces and we have not marched through this town very long when the huns dropped a shell and tore the corner out of a building and we had a lively time for a while. You can hear them big shells leave the guns and then you hear them come through the air and then there is a big bang and you get under cover for the pieces of sharpnel drop all over however you can hear them coming but a rifle bullet you can't hear it until it drops beside you. We were in tents first but changed to dugout yesterday. The camp we left were like Salisbury for mud it was kneedeep some places. I was certainly glad when this is ended and we can get home again. The soldiers that are in Canada this winter are lucky. I met several boys from home here this week and had a good talk with them they were out of the trenches on there six days rest. They do six days in and six out. They are looking well. I hope you have all had a good and enjoyable Christmas this year and I was surely thinking of you. I guess you are about having your dinner now and I have just had my tea and am putting in the time writing. I hope all the children are well and that Santa Claus was good to them. Well dear sister I wil close with love to all and remember me to anybody I know and the children I send my best love. As ever your brother Archie PS Tell Miss Taylor I am well and I send my best regards to her.

3291 Reads

H. J. Lynch, 6 May 1915: we fixed bayonets and with a maddening shout, we charge

I will endeavor to give you a fuller account of our experiences whilst landing. I dare say long ere this reaches you, you will have read all about it in the papers, but here is the part I saw and took part in. It was on Sunday, April 25th at 3 a.m., we disembarked from our transport ship, the "Galeka," our kit consisted of an extra change of clothing, 200 rounds of ammunition, as well as plenty of tobacco, the entire lot weighing just on 90 lbs., and with that weight we had to climb down over the side of the ship - per Jacob's ladder, which by the way, is made of rope, - into rowing boats, 50 men in each. We were towed by naval pinnaces as near as possible to the shore, being under very heavy fire made it a very difficult task.

Note: by Pte. H. J. Lynch writing from Victoria Hospital, Alexandria. 9850 Reads

Diary of a U-boat commander

The steamer appeared to be close to us and looked colossal. I saw the captain walking on his bridge, a small whistle in his mouth. I saw the crew cleaning the deck forward, and I saw, with surprise and a slight shudder, long rows of wooden partitions right along all decks, from which gleamed the shining black and brown backs of horses.

Note: by Adolf K.G.E. von Spiegel 10196 Reads

Archives: Letter, Hames, Frank letter to wife in Ontario 13 Sept 1916 re death of Charles

September 13, 1916 Dear Wife:- Just a line in answer to your most welcome letter. I should have liked to have written before but I have not had the time. We have been on the go night and day, and you can't write letters under a hell a of fire like we have had this last two weeks,but we are resting for a couple of days now so I am writing to you the first chance that I have had. Well dear how are you going on, alright I hope. And how are the little ones? I can't say I am too well myself. I am getting stiffened up like an old man, and no wonder as it is very wet here now and we have to sleep in it night and day, so you can bet what it's like. So you have got a new sidewalk. Well I wish I was walking on it now for this is some place. I got a parcel from you yesterday, but it was broken up pretty badly so if I were you I would not send very much cake. I have not told you before but all the cakes you have sent have been smashed up so I would not send much of it if I were you. I have not received the plums yet that you sent but I hope to. Are you getting any letters from my people? I have had letters from them and they all say they have written to you. It's funny you don't get them. Well old mate, I have some very bad news for poor Mrs. Richardson. Poor Charlie was killed on the 9th of Sept. I was by his side when he was killed and I don't know yet how I escaped the same fate, but one thing, he didn't suffer as he was killed instantly. A big shell called a nine point, weighing over one hundred pounds hit him so you can see he didn't stand any chance. But it's a great blow for me, for we were always together ever since he came out here, and I can tell you I miss him very much. There are no St. Mary's men in my Platoon now, and I am all on my own again. But never mind, don't you worry over me. I am alright up till now, but if anything happens to me, keep your little house together for I don't think you would like England. It's not much of a place now, but this place, is a thousand times worse. There is some talk out her of the war not lasting any longer than Xmas. Let's hope it is true, for I think everybody has had enough of it. The Germans are beaten and they know it, but we have got to get to Germany before they will give in, and that means some rough fighting. I suppose you know where I am now, I saw in the Canadian papers where we are an we are in the thick of it too. There isn't a day passes without us taking prisoners and trenches. The French do the same so I don't think it will last much longer, but at any rate keep on living and believing. I don't think I can say anymore now so will conclude this short letter. Wishing you and the children the very best of health. I remain, Your Loving Husband, FRANK France September 13, 1916

3005 Reads

Der Rote Kampfflieger (The Red Battle Flyer)

The members of my family - that of Richthofen - have taken no very great part in wars until now. The Richthofens have always lived in the country; indeed, there has scarcely been one of them without a landed estate, and the few who did not live in the country have, as a rule, entered the State service. My grandfather and all my ancestors before him had estates about Breslau and Striegau. Only in the generation of my grandfather it happened that the first Richthofen. his cousin, became a General.

Note: by Captain von Richthofen (The Red Baron) 9658 Reads

Defeat at the Marne, July 1918

"Tomorrow we shall march on Paris!" Thus we expressed ourselves to the commander of the Third Battalion of the French line Infantry Regiment No. 2, which, driven to the Marne by our briskly attacking grenadiers, was forced to surrender, 800 men strong, on the evening of May 30th.

Note: by Kurt Hesse, fighting grenadier regiment No. 5, 36th Infantry Division 11111 Reads

War Memoirs July 1918 - Nov. 1918

I should have mentioned that it was Lieut. A.S.Miller whose company caught most of the bombs, and from what I learned later, Sandy Miller behaved like the little gentleman he was.

Note: by Robert Lindsay Mackay, 11th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. 10002 Reads

Givenchy Road

It was near the end of the great German bid for victory in April 1918. We left Beuvry and passed the hamlet of Le Fresnoy and crossed the bridge over the La Bassee Canal into the village of Gorre. There we struck a route past the famous Brewery to make for the open fields and the front-line trenches.

Note: by Lance-Corporal Thomas A. Owen 8971 Reads

42nd Battalion A.I.F.

6th May, 1916, signed the enlistment papers after having been previously rejected in 1915. 20th June, left Byron Bay by train to Lismore for the medical examination. This time, Dr Bignell passed me, without even examining me, because he could see that I was eager to enlist and men were badly needed.

Note: by Private Verdi George Schwinghammer 22256 Reads

The Western Front

Enlisted in regular army April 24th 1917. Left Jackson barricks for Brownsville Texas in the same month, arrive at Gettysburg the latter part of June, and was from 4th transferred to 59th Infantry when it was organized in July. I was Mess Sgt, made Sept. 24 1917 arrived in Charlotte N.C. in Nov 8th 1917. And was transferred to 12 M. G. Bn in Nov 1917.

Note: Diary of Henry J. Tudury, Sgt. CO B. 59 INF 4 Div, DSC-PH.
10108 Reads

H.G. Clarke, 4 May 1915

I will try and tell you a little about us taking Turkey. We landed all right, but got a warm reception and a good general salute from their shrapnel and machine guns. The 3rd brigade were the first to land, at 2 a.m. They landed under a splendid covering force from our warships; the Turks all the time pouring in shrapnel and machine-gun fire.

Note:
Writing from Malta, under date of 4th May, Private H. G. Clarke, of Footscray, a member of the Scottish Regiment at the front. 8098 Reads

Letter, Lieut. Lambert A. Wood, France, July 14, 1918.

Dearest Folks:
Still out thank Heaven, hope we get a good long rest, we need it. We have had many wonderful things said about us, by the Great General, by the Conventions of Mayors of the French towns we saved and by statesmen. Our own colonel, a distinguished soldier, said after our magnificent fight for nearly forty days, to command the ninth was the greatest honor he ever expected to have.

7906 Reads

French Ambulance Corps

June 27, 1917 I have decided to keep a diary myself as I hear rumored today that all the letters that I spent so much time writing on the boat have gone down on the Lorraine. If it is so, I'm sure disgusted at myself for wasting so much time writing them as the people at home will never know how much I tried to write to them.

Note: by Thomas Edward Shirley 11546 Reads

The End of Bulgaria

After nine months in France, I joined the East Lancs. at Gugunci, travelling overland from Cherbourg to Taranto, thence by steamer to Itea, and finally by motor and rail across wild Greece to Salonika. On disembarking at Dudulah, an enemy aeroplane greeted us with its heavy drone, but proceeded on its way to bomb an ammunition dump some distance away.

Note: by Private N. C. Powell, 3/5th East Lancs. Regt. 10419 Reads

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