July 1/18 -
Canadian Corps Sports at Tinques.
July 2/18 -
A 14” naval gun on railway mounting is firing down into the valley & knocks everything about - a tremendous gun. I got a call - in closing the breach a man was crushed - he died before I got there.
July 3/18 -
Great trouble getting medical supplies. 66th battery has increasing numbers of sick in the lines daily.
July 5/18 -
Epidemic keeps up - Gen. Dodds on sick line. Rode to Div.H.Q. - they are located in [Porin?] where the River Scarp crosses Arras St. Pol road.
July 7/18 -
Capt. Maitland layed up with this Influenza.
July 9/18 -
These are lovely days - I’ll never forget them. Hun is very quiet but the aeroplanes are very active. A Hun plane came down near our H.Q. then I saw a Hun observation balloon come down in flames.
July 12/18 -
I walked into Arras & went through the old Cathedral - a very impressive place & the ruins are wonderful. The broad flight of stone steps leading up to the Cathedral entrance are all covered with debris, grass & weeds. The whole town of Arras is a scene of desolation. Met Dr. Bell from Detroit - he said the Harper Hospital unit is at a place called Dijon.
July 15/18 -
Epidemic almost disappearing. Sent Claire of 61st to hospital with Nephritis. Heavy thunder - Hun also shelling with H.V. gun - hard to distinguish between the two.
July 16/18 -
Capt. Bailey came back to us - we had almost given up hope of his return. Hun dropped a few bombs in the field between us & Morenil.
July 17/18 -
A great sight at night to watch planes signalling aerodrome back of Morenil & watch for bombs dropping off towards Donai.
July 18/18 -
Rode to Bray with Quartermaster to see DIV train containment rations that are all going bad.
July 19/18 -
The air seems alive with aeroplanes - in the evening you can see tracer bullets, like comets across the sky. Unofficial French report that 22,000 prisoners and 300 guns were captured in last 2 days & the advance was 20k on a 40k front between Aisne & Marne.
July 21/18 -
Sent STROFFIES to Edna & Ethel - war news excellent.
July 24/18 -
Went to 13th Field Ambulance in outskirts of Arras. Sent whizz-bang shell case to Edna, piece of Shell Splinters to Dr. [?], identification disk to father.
July 25/18 -
Had quite a memorable trip into Arras - Gillespie, Bailey, McPherson & I. Went all through some of the deep subterranean caves where the [unreadable/missing] troops were concealed in 1914 during the [L?] [unreadable/missing] occupation. Saw the old cell where they imprisoned “Joan D’Arc” also the old house on a dingy side street, all in ruins, where [“Robesperre”?] lived up to the time of the Revolution.
July 26/18 -
Made rounds & by an odd coincidence met an old Petrolia boy - McFarland. At 60th Betty kicked up part of a shell from pathway in front of us.
July 29/18 -
56th Brigade R.F.A. of 52nd Div. arrived to take over from us. They recently returned from Palestine. Between 11 & 12 a Hun plane came over our position - dropped incendiary to light up position then dropped a bomb on railway track just back of us.
[Editor’s note: Transcription and transcription annotations provided by collection donor; minor formatting changes have been made to layout and to clearly mark transcriber’s annotations.]
