Letters From the Front

Dated: May 2, 1916

I am at present living in a sand-bag villa, and our comforts are few. Our villa is a very small one, holds three with crowding, but is quite safe except in case of a direct hit, either from a high explosive shell or a bomb dropped from an aeroplane, in which case our successors would have an untidy mess to clean up.

We have had some splendid air fights here, and I have seen two Hun planes brought down. We have, so we hear, a very fast machine that has the Boche plane beaten with regard to speed and length of flight. We are, however, in a bad place for these fights, and a steel helmet is a good thing to wear when these fights are on, as the fragments of shells are continually falling around. It seems to be a habit of the Hun airmen to get over our lines and spray our billets with fire from the two rapid fire guns they carry. A few nights ago, about midnight, we noticed signalling behind our lines; two of us went out to investigate, but, after an hour's hunt in the dark, we had to return empty handed. At four, a Zeppelin appeared-the first I had seen. It was very high up and out of range of our guns. At first we thought it had been attracted by the lights of the previous night or signals we had seen, as the Huns shelled heavily at 6 a.m., but the papers came out with an account of a Zepp. raid in England, and, no doubt, it was one of the machines returning.

We have had two gas attacks within the past weeks, with no serious results to this battalion. In fact, the Germans suffered heavily on one occasion; the wind changed and drove the gas back over their own lines, driving them out of their front line trenches. Our guns commenced a furious bombardment and their losses were heavy. We stood to until midnight with our gas helmets ready - most uncomfortable affairs, but very necessary.

You would be very interested in the trenches, seeing the revetting, dugouts, etc. New earth, or a new sandbag, is an eyesore to Fritz, and, after putting up a splendid trench during the night, he will pound it to pieces in the morning. We hear that there are more Huns held in reserve behind our lines than at any other point on the front; we take it as a compliment.

You have, no doubt, seen a great many of Bairnsfather's cartoons on the war. I had one on myself a few nights ago. I was awakened at 1.30 a.m., after a hard day, by a messenger with a telegram, which said 'How many stoves Primus did you take over from the -th Division when you occupied their lines?' I have not yet discovered what a stove Primus is. The joke is that, in addition to being wakened at 1.30 a.m., we only took over a mass of mud and a colony of rats that we could very well do without.

Donald Davis and Wallace Davis are both officers in this battalion. They have been out about six months, and are old Commerce men (from Vancouver and Prince Rupert), and were formerly privates. Wallace Davis was shot through the arm and is at present in England. Donald Davis was taken out of the trenches sick from exposure. Both will be back with us shortly. There are numbers of Commerce men here.