Enlisting, 1915
In February 1915, Murray Robertson enlisted as a gunner. Eleven months later he crossed to France as an engineer officer. These entries follow that stretch, from the day he joined up to the day he crossed.
- 1. February 16, 1915
“Enlisted.”
The whole entry. He enlisted as a gunner in the 21st Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, and left Montreal the next morning.
Read the full entry → - 2. February 18, 1915
“Sworn in by Major Scully 4 P.M.”
The troop train crosses New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a route march at Newcastle and schoolchildren given a holiday in the troops’ honour. He is sworn in at Moncton and reaches Halifax that night.
Read the full entry → - 3. February 23, 1915
“Anchor up at 8.10 A.M & Left Halifax harbor with tugs tooting & the band playing on the Essex.”
The convoy sails without lights. The same entry has a rumour, passed along as a rumour, that Germans had sunk an American warship.
Read the full entry → - 4. March 6, 1915
“Found fires lit, supper & beds ready. OK.”
He arrives at Shorncliffe, the camp near Folkestone on the Kent coast where he will train for the rest of 1915. Getting there took a train from Liverpool, through the edge of London, and ended with a night march to the barracks.
Read the full entry → - 5. March 24, 1915
“Am thinking seriously of taking Hemmings advice + writing Col. English re a comm.”
A commission is an appointment as an officer; at this point he is still a gunner in the ranks. Hemming had written three days earlier that he thought Robertson could get one. This is where the thread starts, five months before it lands.
Read the full entry → - 6. May 28, 1915
“Felt rotten to see them go.”
The draft he had been training with leaves for France, and he stays behind. Three days earlier he had asked the Major about his commission papers, which were held up “on account of the Col.,” and asked to go on the draft instead. The Major said “next time.”
Read the full entry → - 7. August 23, 1915
“Last night in Ross Bks. - Alone + lonely”
Word of his commission arrives. He reports to the C.E.T.D. (the Canadian Engineers Training Depot) and has a small party at the Clarendon. The next day he goes to a London tailor and places an order: as a newly commissioned officer he needs his own uniform.
Read the full entry → - 8. September 28, 1915
“Blowing up Masonry Bridge at Cheriton Jct.”
The engineers’ course starts with an explosives week. Two days later it is a steel girder bridge, then 15-inch box girders. By late October the work has moved to shafts, galleries and countermines.
Read the full entry → - 9. December 23, 1915
“Warned for France AT. LAST.”
He is finally told he is going to France. Eleven days later he crosses.
Read the full entry → - 10. January 3, 1916
“Fairly rough crossing. Pope, Bull & Cassels casualties.”
He leaves Shorncliffe at 9.15 in the morning, crosses the Channel, reaches Boulogne about one, and spends the night at the Hotel Louvre. The next day he travels on by train toward the front, reaching Bailleul that evening.
Read the full entry →
The diary continues in the Ypres sector. Three days later he is under fire for the first time.