Rose late and took a short run around the line. – Maj. McCuaig asked me to stay to lunch, but under the circs I hardly dared run the risk of something I couldn’t chew. – Only one extra-super came up. Wallis by name. – Oldish chap. Seems fairly decent. – Other chap got sent to Boulogne on a course. I wonder how they arrange who goes. – Two lovely letters from H.
Rainy. Took WALLIS around the line this morning. – He is a decided improvement on some of the recent importations from Shorncliffe. – Fritz strafed the line with whizz bangs. Maj. McCuaig is anxious to get wire out so am sending Walt out tonight. – Met Rey, Staples and Holloway & they came in to lunch. – Went down to 14th H.Q. Berthonval Wood to find out about relief. – Two tins of corn + other eats arrived today. – Spent the evening writing letters or a letter rather. Strafing down south.
No morning parties as relief was on. – Slept in & read all morning. – Bressay. – 3rd. Bgde staff came in to lunch. – Says that the biggest war yet is to be pulled off down south. – 17 Divns in on it & 9 of them making for BAPAUME. – They sure are going to it down there. – Went up & called on the C.O. of the 14th as soon as relief was complete. Brilliant glow back of bosch line N.E. of here, looks like our airmen have been up to dirty work in some town. – Maybe LENS. – a flock of them were over in that direction this aft.
Fine. – Called for Col. Clarke at Bn H.Q. & took him round the line. – Fritz’s strafe with Minnies put an end to our wanderings. – He seems alright to work with. – Rather fussy tho. Bgde. front to be shortened on 6th. Pete came up this aft. – O.C. not back yet. – My leave should be in line on 12th, but told Guy I’d wait till his came. – 3 new saddle horses at Villers. Pete told me to come back & pick mine tomorrow. – Also going to find a dentist. – Continuous drumfire to the S. all aft. & night. – Has hardly been a let up for 3 or 4 days. Davidson & wire artists came up to dwell with us. – Made a determined effort & got off the first letters to home I have written since we left ALBERT. – Cook came in & sang his dirge as Casey calls it at 2 A.M.
Arranged to go back to Gouy to dentist. Pete sent up word to take Stew. Laing #2 Co’y around, preparatory to turning over. – I swore – turning over to-morrow. – Went to bed all aft. B.M. called around this evening. – He is a bright bird. – Hertzy a/C.R.E was up & broke the news that I am next on leave list.
Beautifully wet + Quite naturally as I was going back to billets. Hurd brought up horses at 9 A.M. Met Guy at billet and rode back to Gouy-Servins with him. – Our leave together is odd as he has an idea of getting leave to Can. Had lunch at #1 Coy & visited dentist. – Saw my new horse & tried out another remount. – Called at #2 Co’y. – Stock has asked for a ruling on seniority. – Met Cummings & Bonnel – Came up with ration wagon. – Like my new nag. Went to bed early. O.C. got back from leave.
More rain. – Didn’t go out till 10.30 A.M. – Made the rounds, came back soaked & had to go to bed while I dried out. – Pete & the O.C. came up this aft. Pete tells me I may have to go on leave before Sun. so they sent for my destination. Our dugout has spring a leak. Stand by to bail. – Today is U.S. election day.
"Today is U.S. election day." Woodrow Wilson won re-election that week, campaigning in part on having kept America out of the war so far, a promise that would hold for barely five more months, until the actual declaration of war in April 1917. Robertson has been following the question of American involvement on and off since at least February 1915, and again this past May.
RAIN. - She’s a terror. – Trenches are on the move everywhere. – Went up early expecting to find everything gone but was agreeably surprised. – All day parties shifted to front line save VINCENT ST. – It’s a mess. – Wallowed around in the mud & visited Harry O’Leary & the other stokers. – Called on Col. Clark & found B. Gen Tuxford in – All very chatty to-day. – Drew progress maps this aft & discussed ways & means with the Sergts. – Getting leave on 13th & won’t I be glad to get away from this hole.
Fine. – Really a treat. – O.C. came up, all tickled because Bgde has registered pleasure at work done during tour. – Col. Clarke was also complimentary. – Have decided that we earn our pay. – Busy all aft. with Reports & maps for Hdqrs. – Met Binns & arranged to celebrate together.
The Sam Hughes Robertson watched personally inspect his unit back in the summer of 1915 (then Canada's Minister of Militia and Defence, and the driving force behind the entire Canadian war effort) was forced to resign this week by Prime Minister Borden, after years of mounting controversy over mismanagement, patronage, and disastrously unreliable equipment like the Ross rifle. It's a quiet postscript to a figure who once loomed large over Robertson's own training, and a sign of how much the war's political leadership, on both sides of the Atlantic, was being reshaped by 1916's mounting costs.
Clear. – Guy came up to go over the line. – Sent him round with Wallis. – Met the horse at BERTHONVAL WOOD 9.30. – Rode back to Gouy with Pete. – DUTY sure can cover the ground but it a bit rough when he starts to stepout. – Visited the dentist & proceeded to AUBIGNY. Had lunch & did some shopping. Met McCallum & visited Ken Stuart. – They have a pipe for the winter, running a sawmill. – Got back to VILLERS about 6 P.M. – The place is alive with new subalterns. – Division is telling us how to do our work again don’t see what they want sappers for. – Came up after dinner. – Another nice moonlight night. – Makes CARENCY look quite ghostly.
Misty. Made the tour about 11 & called on Bus. Reid. – 3rd Bn. in & just
Clear & Bright.
What else could it be on my last day up. – Stew Laing came up with Stock & another sup. Went around the line + thereby risked my leave. Called on Buster for refreshment. – Came back to VILLERS about 3.30 – Chas Pick was in – Garrulous as ever. [Chas Pick was previously mentioned July 22 1915] – Wilson spent the night cleaning me up. Got packed & ready to go. – Called on 2nd Co’y with Pete & got Guy’s final orders.
Roused at 4.45 in the misty morning. – Makes you wonder whether its worth while to go or not. – Rode over to CAMBLAIN L’ABBÉ to get the bus from Div’n. at 6.30. – Only officer on board. – Rosy MacDonald climbed on farther down. – Arr’d BETHUNE 7.50. – Train left at 8.40 – Arr’d BOULOGNE 1.45. Too late for boat. - Booked at FOLKESTONE HOTEL, had lunch, + took Rosy out to show him the town. – Had dinner at Many’s + returned to the hotel to enjoy the pleasures of a real bed. – Some room we have. – Wrote a letter & turned in early.
The "biggest war yet... down south" that Robertson hears rumored in early November was the Battle of the Ancre, the last major push of the Battle of the Somme, which had opened back on July 1. By the time it sputtered to a close in mid-November, in the mud and cold of early winter, the Somme had cost over a million casualties on both sides for a maximum Allied advance of about seven miles. It gained the British Army hard experience at enormous cost, but no breakthrough. Robertson had recorded the opening as "good news", a two-mile advance, back in July.
FAIR. – Roused sufficiently about 8.15 a.m. to ring for brekker after which we rose leisurely. Introduced Rosy to John Collins & Met Capt. Martyn. – Went around to A.M.L.O. & got our extra day. – Went on board about 11.50 – Sailed about 12.30 & went below immediately with Martyn & Johnson of the Cons. Coy R.E. – Reversed the order – Business of putting down this trip. – Good lunch – Arr’d FOLKESTONE shortly after 2 – Train left about 2.30. – Crowded pullman. – Tea & things. – Arr’d Vic 4.30 with lot. Business of getting more. Persuaded Paymr that I have a balance. Split with Martyn. – Looking for accommodation. – Finally located at CARLTON with Gen. Currie. – Shopping – Will be clean at last. – Visited the TROC. – Dinner at the PICCADILLY – AMBASSADORS – To DELYSIA & NORTON in “PELL-MELL” not half bad. – Met Cartwright, 75 LI. Supper at the SAVOY – Deadly slow. Went for a taxi ride to rest up. – Met a young buck called Capt. Code from Ottawa at the hotel about 3.30 A.M. – Gossiped in his room til bedtime.
Rose about 9.30 A.M. – Some young suite I have – Stewed in the bath for a while & went down to find Martyn. – He’d gone out with his pal so took a stroll up REGENT. – Found a barber’s & let him go the limit. – Met Arch. Macdougall. – Visited his brother’s room. – Lunched at Pym’s & went to the PALACE. – “Vanity Fair” – Not up to “Bric-a-Brac” class – Went back to the hotel + met Arch’s brother. – Chance for a bomb-proof job with the woodmen. – Went out shopping in the dark on REGENT St. – Met Code, Jack Oliver & another chap. – Had dinner opp. Charing x. with latter & strolled round till 11 when we met the others at the hotel & went out in search of supper. – I was started back to the hotel for a good sleep. – Went to bed – It was CHAMPION.
Got up about 8. – Found Martyn & co still in bed. – Called on Code & roused him. – Had brekker with Martyn and bid him farewell. Went down & called in at the office. Saw Uncle & Charley – Visited the AM soda fountain. – bought a new cap & some other much needed articles. – Went to the VAUDEVILLE with Charley in aft. – LEE WHITE, BILLIE CARLTON etc in “SOME”. I liked it. – Settled up at the hotel. – & tipped the aristocrat in the box a bob. WOW. Tea at Vic. & out to STREATHAM. Helped uncle take up the carpet at 22 – Hardest work I’ve done in a long time. – Glad to get to bed, but found the sheets cold.
Cold. – Went thro the contents of my trunk & then into town. Met Nairn & had lunch at Simpson’s where we ran into Jeff Taylor. – He had just been to see the A.D.M.S. – Made a note of the address – Went down to Welton’s for my Br. Warm. – Back & called at the office – Up to the Regent Palace with Nairn. – Went shopping & got a pr. of ankle boots. – Went around to the Cecil & Savoy but saw no one I know, save John Allan & he was busy so being at a loose end, went across to the cave for a bit of supper. – Pearl gave me all the latest dope about the Montreal gang. – Took in a picture show. – Too late for anything else & went out to Streatham early. – Charley starting to move today – so packed up my duds at 26 & moved into town after playing store with Babs.
A full week's leave, and different in shape from the wide-eyed tourism of 1915: theatre most nights ("Pell-Mell," "Vanity Fair," "Some"), a night at the Carlton (where he happens to be staying "with Gen. Currie," the Canadian Corps' own senior field commander, under the same roof), shopping, old friends, and by the 16th, "Helped uncle take up the carpet at 22 – Hardest work I've done in a long time." The Robertson who complained about overdoing London in April 1915 now builds leave as much around family and errands as around the shows. The diary then stops for three weeks. Papers he kept fill part of the gap: the leave was extended to December 1st through the Director of Medical Services, and its last days were spent on the south coast, a bill from the Grand Hotel, Bournemouth for November 25–28, and a theatre stub from the 27th.
The Grand Hotel, Bournemouth bill →
Chilly