Grandfather's WW One journal

[pinevista]

I have my grandfather's World War One journal that he kept while serving in the 40th battery of the Royal Field Artillery. In order to share this historical document with others, I've been posting excerpts from the journal to my website www.wwone100yearanniversary.com. I'm a new member to this forum so I'll post the most current excerpt today, however, for those that are interested in the prior entries, you'll have to visit the website. I would appreciate any comments or questions regarding any of the journal information. Today is the 4th of July so I find it a little strange that my first posting is based on the British Army. However, after all these years and two world wars, were all chums.

October 23^rd -24^th

At dawn George and I went along our line, which was broken during the night, and found some small houses by the road. They had been occupied by some of our chaps the previous day, but now were utterly destroyed. There was one great hole in the center of the road, one of the largest I had seen. I figured it must have been caused by a very large shell. I recalled the horrific burst in the village where one shell sent a complete house into the air, so they must have been using the same type of shell.

After mending the breaks in the line, George and I reached the convent and connected the telephone in the attic. On our way back we had to get in a ditch for the shelling was rather hot. We made it back to the guns and fired a few rounds before the wire was broken again by a “coal-box”.

It was too dangerous to go back out and try to find the break so we kept up communications using signaling flags.

When things quieted down George and I went out and repaired the break. During the morning the wire was broken no less than five times. It was very unhealthy work to find and repair each break.

A little ways to the right of our position was a small farm that had chickens, rabbits, and other provisions in the house. It had been left by the inhabitants, which meant that they were forced to leave in a hurry. Along with the other animals we also found a couple of goats, which we collared and milked. After we had our fill we returned to the battery with the remaining provisions.

Later I prevailed upon George to slip over to the farm while I attended to the firing and make a can of tea and bring it back. No sooner had he left than a German horse artillery battery opened dead range upon us and kept up a hot fire for a period of time. The shelling was so terrible that nothing could have lived above the ground. We were absolutely tied to our little trenches so it was impossible for us to return fire.

The shelling went on for two hours and all I could think about was Old George and how he must have been caught by the shelling on his way to the farm. I was greatly surprised to see him crawling along the trenches with the can in his hand.

While George made his way along the trenches, three guys, and two officers, one of whom was Lt Marshall, stood up and shouted at George to get under cover. I was also shouting at George at about the same time as Lt Marshall when I heard a whining and a bang. Lt Marshall collapsed with seven shrapnel bullets in him; all this happened in a flash. Old George must have had a charmed life, being able to get to and back from the farm through all of the shelling, and live through it. To me it was marvelous. Even though Lt Marshall was wounded, George and I drank the tea anyways, for it cost near one life and a dozen very narrow escapes. The tea was even better when we added the goat’s milk I had procured earlier.

We were shelled heavily all day and several of our men were wounded. Along with them our wagon line and the hospital in our rear caught it.

Our position was un-defendable so we received orders to retire at nightfall. At dusk George and I resolved to wind in our wire because we would need it later. New wire was not attainable. I had just started to pull in the wire when a “Johnson” burst immediately in front and rather more close than they had been. I immediately lay down while splinters and lumps of earth passed over my head. I remembered that the shells were bursting all day in salvos of four. So I jumped up when I heard the other three shells coming and ran behind a large tree by the stream. In my haste I fell into the stream, which perhaps was well for me to have fallen, for the splinters from the shells took large pieces out of the tree. We waited for a while. It seemed that the last three shells were the Germans final salvo. George and I started again and an occasional bullet was all that passed by us on our way to the convent.

It was dark when we got to the convent and pulled the rest of the wire. We hurried down to the cross roads where I instructed a fellow named Hodge to meet us with our horses. We were held up by some French Cavalry but eventually we got to where our horses should have been-only to find that Hodge, and the horses, were not there. We decided to go and look for him. On the way we heard him coming down the road. George and I hastily decided to give him a scare, so we turned our hats with the peaks to the rear and waited. It was very dark when he got near us. We both jumped out near the head of his horse. Old Hodge thought Germans had him and it was not until we burst out laughing that he recognized who we were.

The three of us rode back and rejoined the Brigade as it was marching. We marched through various villages and finally bivouacked about 12 miles from our recent hard scrap. It was great relief to sleep on straw above the damp ground.

October 25^th

The Brigade decided to take a day of rest so we remained at our bivouac site. The farm was inhabited and they gave us some of their food. So we had a feast of bacon and tomatoes, as well as some boiled milk, which was the first milk I’ve had since I left home. It was a busy morning overhauling phones. In the afternoon I wrote letters. That night George and I made our beds on some dry straw, but it rained hard all night. By morning the straw was near washed away and without shelter I was wet through.

[Kate Wills]

Today is the 4th of July so I find it a little strange that my first posting is based on the British Army.

Hello, and welcome to the Forum.

Are you in the USA?

This is a very intense account. Can you tell us more about the author please. Does he keep his diary throughout the war? Which year of the war is he writing about in the excerpt above?

[pinevista]

The author is my grandfather and he maintained the journal until May of 1915. I do not know why he stopped but something happened because he was transferred back to London where he was placed in charge of the anti-aircraft defenses.I have a website that has the earlier journal entries posted. My website is www.wwone100yearanniversary.com. The excerpt I posted here took place on October 23 -25, 1914. If you think this excerpt is intense, there are more to come. On the website the October 9th excerpt is very intense.

Hello, and welcome to the Forum.

Are you in the USA?

This is a very intense account. Can you tell us more about the author please. Does he keep his diary throughout the war? Which year of the war is he writing about in the excerpt above?

Yes, I live in the US.