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October 1, 1917 (Monday)
Warm to cool at night.
Went to Coupigny + Haillicourt. Had tea at E mess.
October 1917
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October 2, 1917 (Tuesday)
Warm.
Peake & I took a trip to St. Pol this aft. – went to the cinema & had dinner at the club. – Saw several Am. officers round town. – G.H. MacC. was in the mess when we got back. – Waiting for the leave train, (which strange to say was on time) waited up and saw him off, giving him sundry messages.
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October 3, 1917 (Wednesday)
Dull – chilly.
Our spell of fine weather seems to have broken. – Odd showers to-day, but nothing to speak of.
– Shafting in the sawmill snapped & pulley broken this A.M. –
– C.P.O. from #5 Sqdn. R.N.A.S. came over this aft and brought a prop. blade to make a stick from.
– No mail in. – Cleaned up a lot of longstanding ones up.
– Cooper wants a board on account of his eyes.
Carless was down to tea. – Talks about going to Rome & Venice on leave. – 18 days. – I guess Paris will do for me this time.
Shaw went to Aire.
No entries recorded: October 4–5, 1917 (2 days)
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October 6, 1917 (Saturday)
Murray and Tryon joined the mess.
No entry recorded: October 7, 1917
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October 8, 1917 (Monday)
Blustery.
Nothing much doing. – Sewell + I continued our route march – Digby-Jones in to lunch so Peake hit him up for the off 4 days to Paris – Roof still leaks. – Riddell around – Promised to go up + eat with him at 50th Heavy Group.
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October 9, 1917 (Tuesday)
Windy.
Casey's wedding day.
– C.E. in the yard after lunch. –
– Corps going north. – Leaving us behind. – Something doing evidently. – Should like to be in it. - Feel just the same a[sic] I did in ‘14 when the bunch went to Valcartier. – Went to Daineville & Arras with Peake. – Evening spent very profitably. – Had the roof fixed.
+25
Where Things Stand
"The Same as I Did in '14, When the Bunch Went to Valcartier"
October 9, 1917
The Corps moves north, and Robertson is left behind, "should like to be in it," he writes, and compares it to missing the original rush to Valcartier in 1914, when close to 32,000 men assembled in under a month and sailed for Britain as the largest convoy Canada had sent overseas to that point.
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October 10, 1917 (Wednesday)
Told the boss to pass the word to Bill that I'm fit for duty with an active unit. – He called my bluff and told me to see Bill myself. –
Was going to Corps this aft only he took the sidecar + went to Beugin, so I hopped the 3.20 + went to Aubigny with Murray. – Tea'd at the R.T.O.'s mess. – Met Collins and – Purchased fish. – Great excitement coming back. – Jumped a freight about 7.10 which switched to the back line at Acq. – We passed the mess just as the bunch were sitting down to dinner. – Couldn't muster courage to jump so finally ended up at Agny. – Came back on an engine a bit late and cold.
Where Things Stand
"I'm Fit for Duty with an Active Unit"
October 10, 1917
One day after comparing himself to the men left behind in 1914, Robertson makes it explicit: tells the O.C. to pass word up that he's fit for an active unit. The O.C. "called my bluff" and told him to raise it with Bill himself instead.
October 9, 1917 entry →
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October 11, 1917 (Thursday)
Fine. – Clear. Cool.
Walked over to Camblain with Sewell. – Lovely aft. – Saw Jeff. - Leave thro' – Cashed a cheque + came back. Corps moves tomorrow. – Some more talk about Rolston + Hertzy swapping jobs. – Think I'll wait and see. – Shouldn't mind being in a Field Co'y under Rolly, especially if Guy + Birkett exchanged.
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October 12, 1917 (Friday)
Wet. – Rotten
Nothing much to do all day except sit by the fire and read.
No entries recorded: October 13–27, 1917 (15 days)
This whole two-week gap was a leave in Paris. Two bills from the Hôtel Continental, on the Rue de Castiglione, cover October 13–26, apartment 261, fifteen francs a day. The four days off he had been angling for in early October (see the 8th and 11th) turned into a fortnight. He describes the trip in a letter to Doris written January 17, 1918, though he only dates it to "Oct." there.
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October 28, 1917 (Sunday)
Frost
Raw. – Misty –
Got up to brekker
Cleaned off some of the accumulated correspondence
"Yesterday's comm. mentions the Corps as being in a show south of Paschendaele, together with the 63rd R.N.D. – Feel kind of rotten to be away down here but it wouldn't be the same back with the Co'y now. Stoneham was in to say goodbye. – Leaving the 215th to go to the 20th or 25th A.T. Tea'd over at the Compound. Tryon's pupil comes pretty well up to scratch he wants to learn the game. – Seems to be quite a strafe on to-night. Wouldn't be surprised to see the Bosche start something down here. Italians have backed up to there frontier again, but the hun seems to be letting up on Russia. – Probably because they are negligible.
Historical Context
Passchendaele, From a Distance
October 26–28, 1917
The communiqué Robertson copies out, the Corps in a show "south of Paschendaele" alongside the 63rd R.N.D., describes the opening phase of the Canadian Corps' assault on Passchendaele Ridge, the first of four attacks Currie had planned at intervals from October 26 to November 10. Bellevue Spur, among the first objectives, fell within two days. Currie had privately estimated the whole operation would cost the Corps around 16,000 casualties; the final count, by mid-November, came to 15,654, almost exactly right. Robertson reads about all of it secondhand, from well behind the line, admitting: "feel kind of rotten to be away down here", the same wish he'd voiced on October 9.
October 9, 1917 entry → No entries recorded: October 29–31, 1917 (3 days)