Wednesday August 1, 1917

Rain

Carried on shoots on Commotion Trench.

At the guns all day.

Wrote to may.

Thursday August 2, 1917

Rain all day

Shooting up commotion Trench when weather permitted

Wrote to Father & Mother

Friday August 3, 1917

Rain all day

At the guns all day.

Nothing exciting except one premature which did no harm

Saturday August 4, 1917

Rain.

At the Battery all day and in the evening came up to the O.P. to releive Manning.

Sunday August 5, 1917

Heavy fog all morning but no rain.

Observed for a Trench distruction shoot on Contract Trench. Picked up an O.P. in a Ledge but found it uncomfortable on account of Fritz either sniping or using indirect fire with machine guns.

Received a letter from May dated July 15; from Mother dated July 15 and one from the Doc dated July 30th

Wrote to May

Monday August 6, 1917

Very foggy in A.M. and a slight shower toward evening. Visibility poor most of the day.

Carried on a [?] shoot all day. Registered the guns on various points

Wrote to F. & M.
Tuesday August 7, 1917

Clear all day but rain toward evening.

Came down to the Battery in the A.M. & was releived by Burrows.

In P.M. went forward to observe for Trench Destruction shoot on Contract Trench

The Hun put on a bombardment at 10.30 P.M. It caught our men while unloading ammunition, but only the Sgt Major was wounded.

The ration wagon was caught in it - one man (Nicholson) wounded and one horse killed.

Received a letter from May dated July 22 and parcel of papers from home.

Wednesday August 8, 1917

Clear to day - rain at night.

Went up to the new gun position in the morning with Mukle. At the battery the rest of the day.

Did very little shooting during the day.

Wrote May.

Thursday August 9, 1917

Showers

At the battery all day. Nothing particular doing

Friday August 10, 1917

Showers

Nothing much doing all day. Visibility too poor to shoot.

Received a letter from May dated July 19th and one from Father & Mother July 22nd

Saturday August 11, 1917

Rain in spasms during the day.

Went out in the morning to locate a position to shoot on M.G.E. and then came back to the battery. Advised Manning at the O.P. as to where he could see them and had him do the observing in the afternoon.

Capt Flexman over from the 16th Btty for lunch.

Received a letter from May dated July 20 and a bundle of papers from Sarnia

Sunday August 12, 1917

Fine but cloudy - Visibility good.

Shot up Contract trench in the P.M. Had rather a rough ride while observing. Fritz apparently had an idea where I was, so put over a bunch of 4.1s on me. I had to scuttle for shelter with speed. Two shots fell closer than I ever want to happen again, but no damage occured to me. Afterwards came back to the O.P. and did a little observing on a counter-battery shoot.

Spence came up from the wagon lines in the P.M.

Monday August 13, 1917

Showers but mostly fair

Carried on a destruction shoot on Contract Trench. Put in 300 Rds and caused a couple of explosions

Spence came up to the O.P. in the evening and spent the night.

Fritz put a heavy barrage on our front line and approaches at 7.30 P.M. for 15 minutes. During the night he put over a large number of his new gas shells

Wrote to F. & M.

Tuesday August 14, 1917

Showers during the day - Heavy rain at night.

Cut wire during the day, Spence observing.

Manning releived me at the O.P. in the evening - came down to the battery and worked on the Barrage for the show tomorrow

Wednesday August 15, 1917

Rain during the day

The show started at 4.25 A.M. The 2nd Div. got all objectives but had pretty stiff fighting. The Hun counter-attacked several times, but was driven off each time. The battery has been answering S.O.S. calls and sudden shoots continuously

Burrows went over with the Infantry and was wounded in the arm. None of the signalers were hurt. So the battery got off pretty lucky.

Fritz put over a lot of gas shells at 11 PM. last night. Fortunately we had our gas masks handy, so none were gassed. He burst a 4.1 H E at mouth of D gun pit and put the gun out of action

Got no sleep at all last night.

Thursday August 16, 1917

Fine and clear.

The Situation is still unsettled. The Hun is counter attacking continuously but so far we've held our ground. All day have been putting on concentrated shoots, isolated targets and S.O.S. The men are pretty badly fagged out.

Shot 3600 rds from 4.25 AM Wednesday to 4.25 A.M. this morning. Today hasn't been much better.

Got 4 hours sleep last night.

Wrote to Mary.

Friday August 17, 1917

Showers

Went up to O.P. in the evening to relive Manning.

Saturday August 18, 1917

Rain in the evening.

At O.P. all day and relieved by Spence in the evening.

Manning went up to Battalion H.Q. as L.O. Z Heavy counter-attacks during the night - both unsuccessful

Wrote to May.

Sunday August 19, 1917
Fine & clear.

Went up to Fosse 3 in the P.M. to locate a new O.P. but found it unsatisfactory so decided to continue using the old one.

Visited Bgde with Manning in the A.M.

Wrote to F & M

Monday August 20, 1917

Fine & clear.

At the Btty all day. Did some wire cutting at combat Trench with 106 [?]. In the evening got out an operation schedule for the show tomorrow at 4.35 A.M.

Manning went to the O.P. and Spence up as F.O.O.

The Hun has been very quiet with the back country. lately.

Tuesday August 21, 1917

Fair & clear.

The infantry took all objectives but were held up in two places. The Hun then put on a heavy bombardment with 8" & 12" causing our infantry to retire to their original line. The fighting in spots was fierce - hand to hand stuff. Our casualties were very heavy, especially in the 4th Division. We fired 3000 rds during the 24 hrs

Mr. Spence came thru safely but signaler Devine was seriously wounded.

Received a Saturday Eve Post & Literacy Digest from home

Wednesday August 22, 1917

Warm & clear.

Were heavily bombarded by 4.1 S during the night but suffered no casualties. In the evening he turned on us for one hour with 4.1S in salvos of 2 at 20 sec interval. Had two casualties - [?] wounded in the arm and Donaldson killed.

Spence went back to O.P. in the evening. Manning went down to W.L.

Received a letter from May dated Aug 1st Wrote May.

Thursday August 23, 1917

Fine.

At the Btty all day - nothing of interest to report.

Friday August 24, 1917

Fine.

At the Battery all day - Capt Flexman over for supper. - Walked back to the wagon lines in the evening for a couple days rest.

Manning came up from wagon lines in P.M.

Saturday August 25, 1917

Fine.

Rode to Bgde H.Q. to locate the Paymaster but had to go on to the D.A.C. H.Q. to raise any one from whom I could get some money.

In the evening rode back to Bgde and had a game of Bridge

Sunday August 26, 1917

Nice day

Rode into Bethune in the P.M. with Bond and Beirt of the 16th Btty. Did some shopping and had dinner at the club.

Wrote to May.

Monday August 27, 1917

Rained heavily during the night and all day with a heavy wind.

Stayed at Officers Club over night and returned to the WL. in the morning. Left for the Guns at 3 P.M. and got to battery at 5 P.M. Had quite a time getting thru' Calonne as it was being shelled with 8". Had a rush supper and a change of clothes and left for left Battalion H Q at N7d 7.9 The trenches were full of mud. It was a hell of a trip. Found the 52nd Battalion in the line

Lt. McCrimmon has been attached to the battery.

Sent May a Bethune spoon and a Fritz cap.

Tuesday August 28, 1917

Fine and very windy.

Rain occasionally but the trenches dried up wonderfully.

No sleep last night and the front very quiet. The 58th Battalion under Col. Gaunet releived the 52nd. during the night. A ration party of the 58th had a wall fall in on them putting 15 out of action, 2 of whom were killed.

Was releived by McConkey of the 25th Btty. and got back to the battery without incident.

Received letters from May dated Aug 5 & 8 and one from F & M dated Aug 5th .

Wednesday August 29, 1917

Rain during the night and showers during the day.

At the Btty all day.

Things were quiet along the front now - The expenditure of ammunition has been cut down. Since we are leaving Fritz alone he has apparently decided to leave us alone.

Thursday August 30, 1917

Showery.

At the battery in the A.M. In the P.M. went up to the 15th Btty to act on a Board of Inquiry relative to the absence of one of their men. Had tea there and then came back to the Battery.

Friday August 31, 1917

Showery

At the Battery all day. Relieved Manning at the O.P. in the evening.