War Diary of the 18th Battalion: February 1917

CONFIDENTIAL
WAR DIARY
OF

18th Canadian Battalion – 2nd Canadian Division

From 1st February to 28th February 1917

Volume 18
5

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events and Information
AUCHEL	1		Battalion in Rest Billets. Physical exercises. Bayonet fighting. Company and Platoon drills, 19 o.r.s sick admitted to hospital[i]. 2 o.r.s returned from hospital.
	2		Battalion training. Physical exercise. Platoon training in attack and utilization of specialists[ii]. Company inspection.
	3		Battalion parade in full marching order for Commanding Officer’s inspection. 7 o.r.s admitted to hospital.
	4	9 am	Battalion Church Parade. Afternoon recreational training. Football final. Hqr. [headquarters] versus A coy. 3 o.r. returned from hospital.
	5	9 am	Battalion paraded in full marching[iii] order for inspection by the Canadian Corps Commander, Sir Julian Byng. High praise was won by the Battalion for their cleanliness and smartness in all departments. 4 o.r. returned from Hospital.
	6		Training. Physical drill. Bayonet fighting, communication drill. Company in attack and respirator drills. 3 o.r. arrived as reinforcements. 8 o.r.s. admitted to hospital. 6 o.r.s returned from hospital.
AUCHEL	7	9.30	Battalion route march in full marching order. Rout viz. AUCHEL, LOZINGHEM, BURBURT, and RAIMBERT back to AUCHEL. 3 o.r.s admitted to hospital.
	8		Battalion training. Morning 8.30 am Battalion in attack. Afternoon Section Drill. 3 o.r. admitted to hospital. 1 o.r. returned from hospital.
	9		Battalion training. Morning by Specialists in Bombing, Machine Guns, Scouting and reconnaissance, and Communications. 3 o.r.s wounded accidentally by premature explosion of a Grenade.
	10		Company inspection by Company Commanders. Physical drill and Company training. 2 o.r. admitted to hospital. 2 o.r.s returned.
	11		Church parade at 10 am in Y.M.C.A. building. Afternoon recreational training. Football. MAJOR J.A. McINTOSH and LIET. ROWE admitted to hospital sick.
	12		Battalion marched from AUCHEL to HAILLICOURT[iv] in conjunction with the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade.
	13		18th Canadian Bn. marched to billets at ECOIVRES[v] via RIATZ, Les HVENT and ENTRÉE CAUCHEE at which place we rested for lunch.
ECOIVRES	14		Battalion in Divisional reserve in the front of THELUS SECTOR. LIEUT. J.M. FISHER arrived as reinforcement. Sgt. T. DOUGALL awarded the “Medaille Militaire” for bravery in the field. 3 o.r.s returned from hospital.
	15		Battalion training. Company and platoon drills. Company inspection.
	16		Battalion training. LIEUT. E.E. BECKEL admitted to hospital sick. 2 o.r. returned from hospital.
	17		Battalion training. Specialized instruction. Sgt. T. DOUGALL 53560 granted commission in 18th Battalion from 16-2-17.
	18		Routine training. 7 o.r. admitted to hospital. 8 o.r. returned from hospital.
THELUS SECTOR	19		18th Battalion relieved 20th Canadian Battalion in front line of THELUS SECTOR. Map ref. 51cNW1 trench map. A, B, and C coy in front line. D coy in support.
	20		Trenches in poor condition in several parts. Our artillery active morning. This sector in very muddy condition necessitating continual work by the battalion to keep in repair.[vi]
	21		Our Trench Mortars very active making several direct hits on Enemy O.P.
	22		Our artillery active during day. 2 o.r.s Killed in Action[vii], 3 o.r.s wounded while on patrol. Enemy working parties seen at intervals. 70 o.r.s arrived from 2nd Canadian Entrenching Bn. as reinforcements[viii].
	23		Working party in rear of German lines dispersed by our Artillery fire. Enemy “Whiz bang” battery active during afternoon. 1 o.r. wounded. 2 o.r.s admitted to hospital sick. Heavy bombardment to our left during night.
	24		Nothing unusual to report. Our artillery and Stokes Mortars active. 4 o.r.s admitted to hospital sick.
“RELIEF”	25		18th Canadian Bn. was relieved in front line by the 20th Canadian Bn. 18th Battalion moved into Brigade Support VISTUAL SHELTERS[ix], RHINE SHELTERS and MAISON BLANCHE. Completion of reliefs reported by code word “BLUE.”
	26		Battalion in Brigade support, nothing unusual to report. 2 o.r.s admitted to hospital.
Bdge Support	27		Battalion in Brigade support. During night of 27/28th severe artillery bombardment[x] on both sides. 2 o.r.s wounded. 2 o.r.s returned from hospital.
“	28		Position as yesterday, comparatively quiet, working parties cleaning up trenches.

[i] The number of men admitted to hospital is higher than average and may have been indicative that the Battalion knew it was going to be out of the line for an extended period and therefore, the men were encouraged to avail themselves of any medical attention they needed.

[ii] This sentence indicates the relative maturity of the Canadian Corp and its evolving skill sets in regards to using specialist in bombing, scouting, machine guns (Lewis Guns) and the other skills necessary to fight effectively.

[iii] Full Marching Order would indicate that the Battalion was outfitted with its full equipage to move from location to the other, including back packs. This would not necessarily be the equipment allocated and worn for offensive operations.

[iv] Approximately 10 kilometers.

[v] From Haillicourt to Ecoivres, Mont-Saint-Elois is 19 kilometers.

[vi] This entry is an interesting aside and may indicate frustration in the maintenance of the line by the proceeding unit though the War Diary does not indicate what troops held these trenches before the 4^th Brigade took them over. It appears that the 5^th Canadian Brigade was the unit relieved by the 4^th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

[vii] This would be Privates Beaver, reg. no. 195813 and Jenkins, reg. no. 802590.

[viii] This is one of the larger reinforcement events in the Battalion up to this time. The move to replenish the battalions was in response to the work toward the attack on Vimy Ridge in early March, 1917.

[ix] This is the first instance of the use of the word “shelters” in reference to a location. Its meaning has not been determined.

[x] The use of the word “severe” to describe any action is unusual so it indicates a particularly powerful bombardment.