Estabrooks, Walter Ray, First World War Diary, Part 3 (Whiz Bangs and Woolly Bears)

Part 3

Walter’s comments on this period are recorded as follows:

August 13th

Guns move forward in direction of Vipers wood.

August 14th

To Marquivillers to ammunition dump.

Aug 15th

Ammunition very scarce.  Sent on Chubby to watch for the arrival of ammunition lorries.  Place was shelled.  I got Chubby into a trench back just above the top.  A splinter tore through his neck.  Got his bridle and saddle off before he fell.  Loaded the works on my back and cleared out.

August 16th, 1918

Kitchener wounded.

August 18th

Moved lines to valley to the rear of Vrély.  Guns to position in front of Vrély.  Ennannaam and Whittle wounded

August 19th

At lines.

August 20th

Up the line looking out roads.  Up with water cart at night.

August 22nd

Up the line in the evening.

August 23rd

Over to Caix to baths.

August 24th

Up the line with transport.  Guns come out, all move to old camp lines near Hangard.  Heavy electric storm, killing several mules in 43rd.

August 25th

Rode ahead with advance party, through Villers-Bretoneaux, Toutencourt, Corbie and located billets for battery at Hérissart.

August 26th

On advance again through Pas.  Bivouacked battery (nearby) at Warlincourt-les-Pas.

August 27th

Rode with advance to Habarcq.  2nd Division went over in front of Arras.  Going strong, so move on to old No Man's Land, in front of Arras and bivouacked for the night.

August 28th, 1918

On guard.  Guns moved forward ahead of Monchy-le-Preux.

August 29th and 30th

Quiet.

August 31st

Brewerton and Young wounded.  Boys get an armload of parcels from home.  Big feed.  Fitzpatrick sick in the morning.

September 1st

Moved guns forward.  Worked about all night.  Were shelled heavily with H.E. and gas.  Labey, Davies, Roll, Manly, Pokin, Horn and Perdu wounded and Letty killed.  Smith gassed.  Whirled bandages on several R.F.A.  Helped Bennett and O'Neal fix up some bad cases.  Lost some good horses.

September 2nd

Strafe started 5.00 a.m.  Runcini, Cox, Macle, Dubs, Soden and Heney killed.  Helman and Shultz wounded, Shultz the forth time. Six horses killed.  Moved forward in front of Remy.   Slept in shell holes, when gas was not too thick.

September 3rd, 1918

Not feeling too good.  Guess I sniffed too much gas.  Explored some deep German dug outs, side of sunken road.  German machine gunners had made a last minute stand until one of our Highland regiments and a Whippet tank annihilated them.  Greatest number of dead in a small area I encountered during the war.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395412)

Villers - Bretonneau, France, with assortment of tanks in the railway yard, ca 1919.  The tank in the centre foreground is a British Whippet Medium tank.

September 4th

Uneventful.

September 5th

Stayed in position near Remy as reserve battery until night. Moved guns back to wagon lines.  Lot of stuff coming over.

September 7th

Rested.  Lot of the boys went in to town and celebrated.

September 8th

Moved to Saint-Quentin for rest.

September 9th

Made a harness room.  Bennett and I built a little bivouac back of the Gun Park.  Really some home.  Bob Thompson found an abundance of mushrooms growing between the rows in a turnip field.  Salvaged all he could in his steel hat.  Went back, crawled along a ditch to the end of a guarded potato field. Confiscated about a dozen new potatoes.  Earnie borrowed a dixie lid with some bacon grease in it.  I built a fire.  Promoted Bob to cook.  I helped peel the mushrooms and slice the potatoes, along with our bread, tea and scouse, we had a banquet fit for Marshall Foch.

September 12th, 1918

In town with Bennett for a feed of eggs and chips.  Next week, maneuvers, exercise rides, etc.

September 19th

Took gun to Achicourt to mobile workshops.

September 21st

Encore eggs and chips with Bennett.

September 22nd

Paid.  Up at 2:45 AM.  Moved in front of Cherisy.

September 23rd

Guns gone to be calibrated.

September 24th, 1918

Centre section went into action.

September 25th

All guns moved to an old German position in front of Pronville and left of Inchy-en-Artois.

September 26th

Up the line with transport.  Ran into a few shells at cookhouse Rode Bennet's horse, Chum.  Returning, met wagon lines moving ahead to Pronville.

September 27th

Strafe started at daylight.  Stood down.  Stopped long enough to feed and moved ahead across Canal du Nord.  Dry crossing.

September 28th

Moved guns ahead of Bourlon.  Watered horses in an open reservoir in the back of the village.  First water in thirty-six hours. Some of the horses could not be held and plunged in over their backs.  Drivers wading ashore.  Ferrier quite uneasy, but no sick horses.  Major Burns killed at OP.  Signaler Berry had two German prisoners carry his body back to lines.

(Artillery support for the 4th Division during the attack on Bourlon Wood was supported by six brigades of field artillery, although the only Canadian representative was the 8th Army Brigade.  Col G.W.L. Nicholson CD, The Gunners of Canada, The History of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, Volume I 1534-1919, (McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1967), p. 358).

September 29th, 1918

Up at 4:30 a.m.  Moved guns ahead to side of slope back of Saint-Ole [Aubin or Remy?] and Cambrai.

September 30th

Buried Major Burns.  Sgt. Matthews and Smith killed.  Guns moved ahead nearer Saint Ole.

October 1st

Moved wagon lines to rear of Raillencourt.  McDade and Allen wounded.  Stood by guns with teams from 12 Midnight until morning.

October 2nd

SOS at dusk.  Hurried stand too with the horses.  False alarm. Lines move back to Bourlon Wood.  Wickens rode Hungry Joe to guns on orderly duty.  Ran into Shrapnel.  Hungry Joe was game to the last.  Carried him back to the lines before he dropped.

I spoke to my grandfather about this incident.  He confirmed that Wickens had been riding Hungry Joe out to the guns while on orderly duty, but ran into heavy shrapnel.  Hungry Joe was hit with a shell splinter, but was “game to the last,” and in spite of the wound the horse carried Wickens back to the safety of the battery lines before dying.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395612)

Two Canadian transport drivers with their horses in a captured German trench. Advance East of Arras. September 1918.

October 3rd

With gun teams to forward lines near Raillencourt.

October 4th

Rode to baths.  Shelled on way back.

October 6th, 1918

Went to Agnez-les-Duisans on anti gas course.  Classes.  Lectures. Polish and shine.  Met Ellis McLeod.  Went to cinema, saw, “Under Two Flags.”  Lived through sham mustard gas attack, etc.

October 12th

Started back up the line through Arras, Bourlon. Stayed the night at 2nd. DC.  Went to Raillencourt.  Oliver Eastman was there trying to locate the unit.  We stayed in an old house in St. Ole.  Were directed to 8th Brigade in action at Naves in front of Cambrai.  We found, not 8th Brigade Artillery, but 8thBrigade Infantry (Third Canadian Division, Eighth Infantry Brigade, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles and 8th Trench Mortar Battery) holding against a severe counter attack.  We retreated at the double to Cambrai.  Received directions at General Burstall's H.Q.

October 14th

Reached lines at Baralle, guns at Epinoy.

October 15th, 1918

8th Brigade buried General Lipsett at Queant.

Pursuit to Mons

The official war record states that “on 16 October 1918, with the Hindenburg Line broken and Cambrai lost, Ludendorff ordered his troops back to the Hermann Line.  Part of this was based northeast of Cambrai on the Escaut (Scheldt) River in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes.  The Canadians crossed the Sensée Canal on the 17th and pushed out cavalry and armoured cars to maintain contact with the retreating Germans.  This phase of the war was extremely exhilarating for the Corps.  Demolitions could be heard as the Germans systematically cratered roads and destroyed bridges, but there was a strange absence of gunfire.  Bands played as battalions marched through liberated towns and villages to the acclaim of French civilians who proffered wine and coffee and bedecked the men with flowers.”[58]

“On the 20th however, the Germans began to show their teeth.  There was some long-range shelling and roadblocks were now being covered by fire.  Resistance stiffened during the next two days.  The Canadians were approaching Valenciennes and it became obvious the enemy was about to stand and fight.  The Corps paused along the Escaut Canal until the rest of the First Army came into line.  As a key point in the Hermann Line, Valenciennes had been well chosen.  The Canal de L'Escaut, covered by trenches and wire, barred approach from the west, southwest and north had been extensively flooded.  The only dry approaches lay to the east and south, and these were dominated by a heavily defended hill, Mont Houy.  Five German divisions held Valenciennes, and three of them were concentrated on or near Mont Houy.  On 28 October, a British attack took the hill but could not hold it; the British had to be satisfied with part of the southern slope.  Thereafter this objective was entrusted to the Canadian Corps.”[59]

“The Canadian attack on 01 November was completely successful, due mainly to massive artillery support.  Working to a carefully coordinated program, the guns poured a torrent of shells on the German positions.  In all, about 2,140 tons of explosives were fired, almost as much as had been expended by both sides in the entire South African War. The result was that a single infantry brigade overran Mont Houy, taking nearly 1,800 prisoners.  That night the Germans retreated from Valenciennes and abandoned the Hindenburg Line.  The advance swept on.”[60]

The Germans were now retreating “from Verdun to the sea before relentless Allied pressure.  For a month now, armistice negotiations had been in progress, with the Allied terms stiffening as the extent of German demoralization became more and more apparent.  On 24 October a final note from President Wilson abandoned the concept of a negotiated armistice for what was virtually unconditional surrender.  On 10 November the Canadian Corps reached the outskirts of Mons, the scene of the first engagement between British and German troops in 1914.  That night, the town changed hands without a struggle.”[61]

“On 11 November, at eleven o'clock in the morning, the hostilities ended and the sound of firing ceased.  Wild enthusiasm marked the occasion in every Allied city, but within the Corps there were no elated scenes.  It would take time to adjust and grope for thoughts of home.  What the future would bring to the men and to Canada was uncertain, but, both for good and ill, the old, pre-war world had disappeared forever.”[62]

“At Mons the Canadians learned that they were to march to the Rhineland as part of Plumer's Second Army, the British Army of Occupation.  Sir Arthur Currie received the news with gratification as an honour his Corps had well earned.  Two Canadian divisions formed a sixth of the total occupation force.  On the morning of 04 December the leading units reached the German frontier, but crossing of the Rhine at Cologne and Bonn nine days later was considered more significant.  Plumer took the salute at the Cologne crossing, and at Bonn the distinction was accorded to Sir Arthur Currie.”[63]

Walter’s records for this same period unfold as follows:

October 17th

Went to the guns at Epinoy.

October 18th

Guns move forward to Aubigny-au Bac.  Wagon lines to Epinoy. Crossed canal on a pontoon bridge.  Gun teams crossed.  The mules on the ammunition wagons, especially old Teddy, refused.  A lead team of horses from each gun was hooked on ahead of each mule team and they crossed without trouble.  Picked up a German 9mm Luger, that I was lucky enough to get home as a souvenir.

(Author Photo)

German First World War 9-mm Parabellum 1908 (P08) Luger pistol, New Brunswick Military History Museum, CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick.

October l9th

Battery changed fronts.  Started pushing north in the last big push of the war.  Bosche on the run.  36 hour march through Aniche and stopped next night at Fenain.

October 20th, 1918

Moved ahead to Hornaing.  Guns at Hélesmes.  McFarlane wounded.

October 21st

Leave warrant in.  New uniform.  Started with Scorn for Paris. Walked, ran and jumped lorries to Arras.  With four RCR boys (Third Canadian Division, Seventh Infantry Brigade, Royal Canadian Regiment), stole a hitch in an empty boxcar, planning to jump it at St. Pol and catch the 11:00 PM leave train.  We closed the door, lay down and kept quiet til the guard passed.  All went to sleep, not waking until the train stopped at Maroeuil.  Had to go back to Etapes Rouen, leaving at 9:30 p.m. 23rd.

October 23rd, 1918

Arrived in Paris.

October 24th

Breakfast at the Canadian Club Hotel de Iena.  Roamed the city with a bunch of Americans, learning to navigate the Metropole and trying not to let the world pass us by.

October 25th

Slept til noon.  Went to the Army and Navy leave club.  Paid for a double room for the rest of our leave.  Attended a Club Ball in the evening.  VADS Guides, Red Cross personnel, all good dancers.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395828)

A Canadian V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Ambulance Driver at the front. May 1917.

October 26th, 1918

Visited Senate House, Notre Dame Cathedral, forenoon.  To Luna Park in the afternoon.  Follies Bergere in the evening.  Shirley Kellogg sang “Scotland Forever.”

October 27th

Went on steamer ship up the Seine 15 miles to St. Cloud.  To English Theatre in evening.  Saw General Post.

October 28th

Went to cinema in afternoon.  To club ball in the evening.

October 29th

Dinner at CYMCA.  Saw COO EEs in afternoon.  Whist party in the evening.

October 30th

Riding with Amy Johnson through bridle paths in the Bois-de-Bologne.  To concert at club in the evening.

(Estabrooks Family Photo)

Walter is on the first horse to the left in the picture, Amy, who later became a famous Aviatrix is sixth from the left.

October 31st

To Gaumont Picture Palace in afternoon.  Club dance in evening.

November 1st, 1918

Dinner at Hotel de Iena.  Out to Versailles through grounds Marble Palace, the statues and paintings from the time of Louis XIV.  Went to Casino de Paris in the evening.

November 2nd

Raining.  Explored some of the large department stores.  To Royal

Horse Guards concert in the evening.

November 3rd

To British Embassy church in the morning.  Visited Les Invalides, (Napoleon's) Trophies of French wars, armouries, and relics from St. Helena.  Up in the big wheel.  To Gaumont pictures in the evening.

November 4th

Visited Corner of Slighty.  To club dance in the evening.

November 5th

Visited wax works Le Musée Grevin.  Club dance in the evening.

November 6th

Rained all day.  Slept.  To Alhambra Theatre in the evening.

November 7th, 1918

Rumours of an armistice.  Start back up the line.  Reach Rouen rest camp.  Went to leave details camp for a day.  Entrained and arrived at Etapes, morning of the 9th.  Reached Somain.  Stayed the night at staging camp.

November l0th

Went through Denain and stayed the night at Valenciennes staging camp.

In between the early series of letters my Grandfather Walter and I exchanged, I had been attending Vocational Schools in Gander and Grand Falls, Newfoundland.  For my third year, I moved from Grand Falls to St John's, Newfoundland, where I attended the College of Trades and Technology.  While there one of my roommates invited me to join the Militia in the fall of 1970.  I was taken-on-strength (TOS) with the 56th Field Squadron, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), at Pleasantville, Newfoundland, on 22 February 1971.  After graduating in June 1971, I went to Nova Scotia, then on to New Brunswick, and later to Toronto, Ontario for part of the summer, before going back to school at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax in September 1971.  I was also fortunate enough to get into residence at the University of Kings College.  Halifax did not have a Militia Engineer unit, so I transferred to 723 Communications Squadron, Royal Canadian Signal Corps, and was taken on strength (TOS) in time to participate in my first November 11th parade.  This of course prompted me to write to Gramp to ask him about what it was like on that historic day.

November 11th

Started early.  Met the people that had evacuated before the line of battle, returning to their homes.  Women hauling farm wagons with bedding, cooking utensils, old women and babies on top.  Dog carts, goat carts, women leading children by the hand.  Babies in arms...all cold...many crying.  I had my haversack available space filled with chocolate bars to treat the boys.  Broke them in pieces and passed them to passing children.  Gave half a bar to a young girl trying to soothe a crying baby at a very empty looking breast as she trudged along and nearly got mobbed.  Reached the battery 10:40, just 20 minutes before the cease-fire.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397427)

Canadian Transport Drivers assisting French refugees on return to their homes. November, 1918

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397429)

Canadian Transport Drivers assisting French refugees on return to their homes. November, 1918.

‍

End of Part 3, Part 4 is detailed on a separate page.

‍