Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

GWF is free to use so please support the Forum

Diary of a Dispatch Rider

A blog by Banstead100 in General

  • entries
    27
  • comments
    0
  • views
    1,186

About this blog

The 1918 diary of John Sangway, a dispatch rider who served on the Western Front with 'R' Corps (XVII Corps) Signals Company, Royal Engineers.

Entries in this blog

Daily diary

30/10-01/11/18

Continuing the diary of Corporal John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps.   30th Oct Came into hospital with “special” flu a week ago, 23rd. Damnable. If this is typical of hospitals out here, Florence Nightingale never finished her job. I have seen disinfectant once. I have had my medicine half the times ordered. I have slept on the floor all the time in verminous and dirty blankets. There is no ventilation at night & it stinks. People play horribly on pianos outside you
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

21/10/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. The Corps Signal Company were in a new office just east of recently captured Cambrai.   21st Oct Still working very hard – but winning! Signal Office & billet good – makes me smile now at thought of awful stink of burning offal & disinfectant when we arrived. Country very open like Salisbury Plain but flatter, nearer Fen type but no dykes & not so flat.   True story of one of our Co[mpan]y
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

11-15/10/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps.   11th [October] Moved to Bois des Neuf1. Raining rotten – fight for tent pitch with staff! Lovely summer spot though.   13th Idea for comic sketch entitled “Salvage”. One cable sec[tion] laying a route & another winding it up a few miles behind (meanwhile the D[espatch] R[iders] carry the telegrams). One of the orderlies – “Yes, I’d pit a staff job aht ‘ere:- shoving up the dysies.”  
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

08-10/10/18

Continuing the diary of Corporal John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. His signals company were not far from Cambrai, where fighting was ongoing.   8th Oct Bet Monty 10 f[ran]cs to 100 that war would be over by midnight 7/8th Nov.   Ditto Best 1/2d to 5 f[ran]cs.   Still scrapping for C[ambrai]. Very hard resistance, but fresh & strong effort this morning – going well. Now sleeping in an “Old Bill” ‘ole. Shell-hole with curved iron over – not too ba
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

25-30/09/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps.   25/9/18 Left B[retencourt] for the wilderness. Expected rough conditions & got ‘em. Not so bad though – thanks to good weather & some work. Plenty of old iron & timber to be found. Wonderfully bracing place. High & chalky – suggestive of South Downs. From dugout view for many miles quite open – on skyline a shell-scraped wood with Mont St Eloi tower showing through & beyond it. Sharing dugo
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

12/09/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider. Today's entry is an excerpt from the poem "Solders in a Small Camp" by W.J. Turner.   There is a camp upon a rounded hill Where men do sleep more closely to the stars, And tree-like shapes stand at its entrances, Beside the small, dark, shadow-soldiery.   There in the awful beauty of the world, When stars are singing in dark ecstasy, Those ox-like soldiers sit collected round A thin metallic e
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

04-06/09/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. The Corps signals office was in the battered village of Bretencourt but would soon be moving with Third Army's advance.   63rd Royal Naval Division had just arrived to replace 56th Division, taking their place alongside the 52nd and 57th, and had thrown something of a spanner into the corps signals works by running as many as four H.Q.s at any one time and often changing the staff officers at each, resulting in diffi
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

01-03/09/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. The corps signals office had just moved to Bretencourt but John had stayed behind at Fosseux with a few others.   1/9/18 Left F[osseux] for B[retencourt]. B[retencourt] badly battered, first sign of advance over battle area. Some considerable bustle in yard that is QM Stores, cookhouse, lorry park & everything else. Pretty rough conditions.   2/9/18 Met Stacey, one of the 33rd Div[ision] D[isp
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

27-28/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. The corps signal company have just moved to Fosseux.   27th I have omitted to note = poor old Burrall* killed by shell 7th Aug. His bivvy absolutely blown away & the men in bivvy’s three yards away unhurt & quite ignorant of the proximity of the calamity.   *160863 Corporal William Henry Burrall, aged 25, of Wisbech, Cambs. Served with XVII Corps' H.A. Signal Sub-Sect
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

24-26/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. The corps signal company moved to a new base, at Fosseux, 9 miles west of Arras, on 24th August. The wiring sections of the company had spent the last few days connecting up a new corps HQ at Noyelle-Vion, only to have that move cancelled at the last minute and they instead relieved VI Corps and moved to Fosseux.   Plenty of hard work. O[perations] R[oom] Clerk worried to death! Squared maps all over the desk & o
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

23/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps. His signals company had been headquartered at Duisains for months but now 3rd Army was on the move as the Allies advanced.   Left D[uisans] for F[osseux]. Heaps of transport on road.
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0
Daily diary

21/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider with XVII Corps.   Akerman killed by bomb. Plane (the same or another) brought down by a Camel a few kilometres away. Fell in flames – a big red blob with stream of lights trailing behind.   Several “windy” nights about now. Planes too near for comfort. Sleep in shallow dug-out.   500488 Corporal F L G Akerman, 52nd Signal Company, Royal Engineers, is buried at Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun. His date of death is
Banstead100

Banstead100 in Daily diary

0

15/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider. XVII Corps Signal Company are at Duisans, near Arras.   Playing tennis & had luck to look up in sky at moment of bursting of big shrapnel shell a mile & a half away. Red crack (colour of dull red hot iron) with black smoke belching irregularly from it quickly spreading into a cloud. Just like the pictures on highly imaginative magazine covers &c.   If that sounds like a lazy day, it's wo
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

14/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider. XVII Corps Signal Company are at Duisans, near Arras.   Carson joyriding to see a pal came across a road marked “Drive slowly over this road as dust draws enemy shell-fire”. Suggested that some people would instinctively “blind” without stopping to realise purport of warning!   Rotten night. 8 bombs about 250 yards from billet, & then a magnesium flare right over camp. Beastly ghostly green light & umpteen figures
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

11/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider. The Allies had just turned the tide and enjoyed success on the battlefield at Amiens and as things now began to happen at pace, John became a much more regular diarist, with several entries each week. He had recently returned to duty after his unit had rested but had been suffering with "awful" toothache.   Re toothache. It has cured itself (two days ago at least) but I am still awaiting my consultation with the dental officer! It
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

05/08/18

Continuing the diary of John Sangway, dispatch rider. The Allies are about to fight the Battle of Amiens, the first step in the advance to victory. During the buildup, secrecy had been maintained as much as possible but as John's diary today shows, word had begun to leak out:   Bank holiday. Paid Fris[by] 5 f[ran]cs*. Don’t mind as things are going strong down south & rumours of another shove as well coming in.   Awful toothache for two days & a night. Take Aspirin –
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

29/07/18

Continuing the diary of Cpl John Sangway, dispatch rider. John and his unit had been resting for a fortnight, their first in months, at Bryas. The German offensives were just about played out and soon the Allies would be hitting back:   Rest “fini”. Pack & report in 3 hours! Return to D_*. Hades!!   *Duisans, near Arras, which had been their base throughout 1918. XVII Corps relieved the Canadian Corps the following day.
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

18/07/18

Continuing the diary of Cpl John Sangway, dispatch rider. John and his unit had just begun their first rest in months and today's entry is a brief one:   Physical jerks & rushing about for new bike*.   *John would end up purchasing this motorcycle when he was discharged from the army.
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

14/07/18

Came on advance party into rest at B_*. Others followed 15th. Some rest!   *Bryas. The Canadian Corps relived XVII Corps on 15th July and so the signals company moved well behind the line for a period of rest and training. American divisions arrived and joined XVII Corps.
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

03/07/18 12:30am

Just a passing thought. A year ago I used to come off night duty and walk down between white cottages with hard blue shadows in the moonlight (very romantic looking) thinking how peaceful it was & yet how a turn of a hand would send a shell crashing at us. Now, how different! Frequently the bosche overhead making bad shots with bombs (he never scores!) & never knowing when he will start shelling again. Are we downhearted? Not a bit!
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

25/6/18

Quel jour! The OC wanted some screws so Carson gave me the job & permission to see Hughie [John’s brother, who was serving with the RAF] en route. I found him & was promptly invited “up”. I was keen but afraid of being sick or something, the lift feeling possibly. I threw out a line or two about not going far or high but they fell on barren ground – fortunately. The rush of wind prevented much foreboding at first but one’s mind became active as we dashed across the open ground slightly b
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

28/5/18

Fritz has bought a pup today. The umpth* squadron moved last night & today for the first time Fritz started shelling their old aerodrome steadily!   He is still (or rather again) swinging ‘em over near us. They come at intervals with a lazy drone or a mild whistle and bump or crash. One gets used to ‘em after the first few have given the idea of their destination. It’s rotten at night though when one is awakened & half asleep hears the crash of a near one intensified by the stillness
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

27/5/18

Saw very fine sight at about 11.0pm. Fritz plane came over very low (Visible to [?some/me] although the moon was barely showing over the horizon). It crossed us towards the searchlights over an open stretch of country & when about a mile or less away was picked up by the beams. The sky was an inky blue, the rays of the lights were a bluish white and where the three crossed, the plane shone like mother of pearl – blue yellow creamy ghostly thing. The fixedness of the lights was rather impress
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

12/4/18

Upon reflection I can now note the different kinds of shell sounds. The one I like best is the lazy drone. It seems to sail out of the blue easily and slowly until the crash comes. We have heard a lot of the sort with a preliminary pop, a fierce whistle & a great crash. There have also been several big ones with no sound at all until the explosion. They are merciful but alarming. Inspected a hole 25 feet across & 10 feet deep made by one of the latter. It threw chunks of pavé high in the
Banstead100

Banstead100

0

26/3/18

Went to ____* to open rear office. Thought [to] picnic but too much tied to office. Returned next day – only “wind-up” after all. Met _____ Cas [Casualty?] chaps who had been alarmed at _____ by German agents that Huns had broken through with cars and cav[alry]. They had scooted miles & left kit but sent back for some of it immediately after. Spy question serious. Geo. Milton got it into his brain & sees a spy every time he goes out. Sent police & APM to arrest a harmless lineman cli
Banstead100

Banstead100

0
×
×
  • Create New...