Warm.
Jeff McPhail phoned up & told me he was sending round a car for me to go to Bethune & do some purchasing for them – Rolston is having a dinner tomorrow night to celebrate his Legion d'Honneur. Tried to get someone to go in with me but no luck. – 1st 2nd & 3rd all went up the line this A.M. – West did not feel robust enough for the trip.
Hot.
Went on a tour with Tenau this aft. – Was wanting to see Ernie so trekked up to ZOUAVE VALLEY. – Called at the battery but as he was back at BERTHONVAL FM. we decided to have a look over the ridge before returning. – Crossed the old line by Montreal Crater & went as far as the reverse slope back of Givenchy. Had the maps & glasses with us so stayed there quite a while. – A lot of heavy stuff was being dropped around La Coullotte. Saw Ernie on the way back & as he had just had mail I got the latest from home. – Hazel was sick & in hospital. – He had no other gossip so I strafed him. Called on Bethune at 2nd Hy. - Wagon lines but too late for dinner, sorry to say. – Got home about 9.30 – A long walk.
It's Ernie, not Hazel or anyone at home directly, who tells Robertson she's sick and in hospital, passed along from whatever mail Ernie had just picked up himself. The entry doesn't explain how Ernie came by news of Hazel in the first place: whether the two knew each other, or it simply reached him through some shared circle back in Canada. His own response: "He had no other gossip so I strafed him", needling Ernie for having nothing else to report.
Hot.
Tennis started. – Had a couple of sets of doubles. – Fellowes & I (mostly F.) against Stoneham & Peake. Leave warrant came in this aft. – 5th to 15th – Boat goes about 9.30 AM now-a-days so want to get away to-morrow. – Jeff has promised to send up a side-car. – Doubtful if that will carry me & all the junk I want to take over, so have been trying to get a line on another as well. 4th Div. put on a show last night or early this A.M. – & got into the Electric St'n near La Coulotte. Salmond had given me introductory cards to people in ABERDEEN, so rather think I will make it this time as he had given me the idea that I might have a good time. Fritz's planes are too active tonight for me. – Archies are very busy.
Corps horse show.
Cool – showers
The day's work being done early, drove into AUBIGNY with Peake. – Came back via ECOIVRES, rather rainy & rotten. Have been checking up leave expenses & am surprised to find I can account for most of it.
Clear & cool.
Was out along the BOUVIGNY RIDGE with Carless & Tenau. – Wonderfully clear to-day. – Could see for miles – Even managed to pick up the churches in DOUAI. – Spent most of the aft. up there. – Would be a glorious spot for a picnic. – Had a set on the court before dinner. – Started in to write letters after dinner but Sutherland had just arr'd back from BOULOGNE with a load of strawberries which required immediate attention, so went over & played the Decca in their shack. – When I shift from here I'll have to make sure I'm going to a billet where there is music.
The day of rest. – Nothing stirring. – Stitt dropped in this aft. - Got back yesterday. Went over to the 6th F.C. about tea time to see Smeed Bull. Stayed to dinner & had a couple of sets of tennis. – Bull isn't quite so lively as he used to be. – Don't think he'll be able to stick the winter. – Ellis, O.C. 6th seems to be a good sport. – Had met him before but didn't remember him. – Take them all around I think they have a pretty good bunch in the sappers, in spite of what some people say of the Il Div & I'm damn sorry I'm not going to them for I think I could have hit it off alright with Hank Smith. – Mieville doesn't seem to be a bad sort either. – I suppose if i'm ever to get my captcy I'd better go back to a Field Co'y tho’ I won't be getting any more experience as a section officer. – Would like to go back to the 1st Div. but might get along better under another C.R.E. – either Osler or Tommy Irving.
Cool. Showers at night ARMY HORSE SHOW
Went over to Chateau la Haie about noon. – Saw a couple of events, met Conover & we stuck together for the rest of the day. – The show has a county fair beaten a mile when it comes to meeting people. – CAN. CORPS did pretty well on the aggregate. – 2nd in Pontoon Wags. with the 3rd F.C. outfit. – McGuaig's tool cart got 1st – Tom Longboat won the cross-country run & the 72nd's tug-of-war team walloped everything in sight – Con & I had sort of a picnic tea with Ormie Stitt & Barb Sladen, in fond mem'ry of "stand to"
A full day of organized sport well behind the lines (pontoon wagon races, tool-cart competitions, a tug-of-war) with the Canadian Corps doing well across the board. One name among the results is Tom Longboat (the celebrated Onondaga distance runner and 1907 Boston Marathon winner, by this point serving as a dispatch runner) who won the cross-country event.
"Con & I had sort of a picnic tea with Ormie Stitt & Barb Sladen, in fond mem'ry of 'stand to'", a warm, easy afternoon. Stitt would be awarded the Military Cross and killed in action on August 16, 1918, aged 34; his death was reported in the McGill Daily that October, in a letter from Brigadier General Lindsay shared with the paper. None of that is visible from here, a picnic tea in June 1917, fourteen months before Stitt's death.
St. Andrew's Ottawa honour roll →McGill Remembers honour roll →
Cool.
No mail.
A little activity around LENS yesterday. – Went out along the ridge again with Stoneham & Tenau. – Remarkably clear – Could see the clock on DOUAl church with telescope – A fair amount of shelling going on. – Amm. dump in Lievin went up.
Close. – Showers
Once again no mail. – Nothing particular to record. Eustace Cockerell came over & had tea in the shack. – A couple of sets of tennis with Carles, beaten in both, & spent the ev'g at the 350th. Noticed to-night that the twinges I get when bending my neck are extending to my arms & hands.
Close – Thunderstorms
Didn't leave the camp to-day, so no wonder I'm fed up. Something doing up forward early this morning. – Sounded like the 4th Div. had gone after La Coulotte again. – About 7 PM during a heavy thunderstorm, our guns opened up & we had a full hour of "drum-fire". – Probably s.o.s. for Fritz's counter-attack.
The "drum-fire" and shelling Robertson keeps noting from a comfortable remove this week was the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions capturing the village of La Coulotte and the town of Avion, just south of Lens, between June 26 and 29, part of the Canadian Corps' push to improve its position ahead of the Battle of Hill 70 that August. Robertson himself is well back from it, watching the fireworks and picking up rumor of "s.o.s. for Fritz's counter-attack" rather than living through it directly.
Close.
Nothing stirring. – No mail.
Maj. O'Connor came around in the G.O.C.'s Rolls-Royce to get four chairs made which, against orders I promised to have done. – Intermittent strafing going on all the time up forward. – The line was advanced to somewhere around AVION. Got fed up about tea-time & wandered over to look up Scott Browne at the C.M.M.G. Bde. but when I got there found he'd been shifted. Would have called on Billy Nick at the Yukon Btty only they were at dinner.
Wet.
Dour drifting damp. – Drizzle-downpour – Had to have a fire in the hut & spent the day writing long epistles. From the racket the war seems to be going on, inspite of the inclement weather. – The 4th Div. will be rather glad to come out I imagine. Peake is in disgrace as an improvident mess Sec'y. – Salmond & I left the mess in disgust & went to visit the 350th. – Formed a court martial which sat on Peake.