are hero’s, he also tells us we are to leave in a day or two for the Somme front, & then yaps he knows how good we shall stand the strain etc. Wed SEP 20. Pack up plates, basins, knives, forks etc into the panniers & we had to sling the grub to the patients any old way we could. Hell of a bum job. The whole unit gets C.B. Will gets a letter from Ella saying Belle is getting thin, gives me the blues. I have a letter from my dear girl hinting the same thing, makes me feel rotten. Friday SEP 22 Got up with the humps & the blues. & keep them all day. Thinking of my dear girl. Bless her dear loving little heart. tried to write Belle a nice letter No 36. I am afraid it was a poor attempt. Hear convent girls practicing singing. went to Church in Locre for half an hours private prayer. Heavy straffing kept the windows on the rattle the whole time, back to my billet at 7.30 PM. had a chat with Bill about
▸ Where was he?
▸ The war at this time
The Canadian Corps on the Somme
The Canadian Corps has been fighting on the Somme since September 15. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Canadian Divisions are in the line; the 4th Canadian Division is still in the Ypres sector but preparing to move south. The battle for Courcelette cost over 7,000 Canadian casualties in a week. The fighting continues around Flers and Courcelette. Each village, each trench system, each fortified position must be taken separately. The gains are measured in hundreds of yards. The cost is measured in thousands of lives.
