11/12/16 Grey overcast sky and the usual plentiful supply of mud everywhere. Obtained a new pair of boots (brown) this morning and not before I required them either, was obliged to walk or attempt to do so upon my heels to prevent if possible my feet from becoming wet. I have always a nasty cough, which at times becomes rather severe and is most disconcerting and unnerving too. I should mention that last night I returned to our billet after leaving duty at 1 am. This is the first time I have not slept in a bed for some months, ever since in fact I finished my time on the road. It is strange rather that I was not pulled up and punished for failing to answer the roll. I have however been left entirely alone, stranger still is the fact that although all my comrades are undoubtedly a little jealous of my apparent select position, they nevertheless one and all appear to wish me well. I spent a very shivery night and have no intention of repeating the experience again. Had I not found a bed I am well aware that I could not have withstood the rigours of a life in a draughty damp barn as it is I hope to be able to stick it through now. ----------------------------------------------------------- Other War news on this day in 1916: Western Front Violent artillery action on Somme front. Preparatory French bombardment on Verdun front. Eastern Front Enemy forces over the Jalomitsa River, north-east of Bucharest. Naval and Overseas Operations Allied air-raids on Zeebrugge. Political, etc. German reply to U.S.A. Note re: Belgian deportations. Report Venizelist rising in the Cyclades. The Battle of Verdun was fought from 21 February – 18 December 1916 during the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies, on hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. ----------------------------------------------------------- Verdun front: The German Fifth Army attacked the defences of the Région Fortifiée de Verdun (RFV) and those of the Second Army garrisons on the right bank of the Meuse, intending to rapidly capture the Côtes de Meuse (Meuse Heights), from which Verdun could be overlooked and bombarded with observed artillery-fire. The German strategy intended to provoke the French into counter-attacks and counter-offensives, to drive the Germans off the heights. French attacks would be relatively easy to repel with massed artillery-fire, from the large number of medium, heavy and super-heavy guns, brought into the area and supplied with large amounts of ammunition on excellent pre-war railways, which were within 24 kilometres (15 mi) of the front line. ----------------------------------------------------------- Pictures: 1. French long gun battery (155 L or 120 L) overrun by the German forces at Verdun, 2. French horses crossing a river on their Way to Verdun
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:38:49 +0000
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