Arthur Douglas Crease Letters, Diaries and Scrapbooks
Letters from Arthur Douglas Crease of Victoria to his brother Lindley Crease and his mother Sarah Crease; instructions for the offensive of July 26, 1917; a regimental notebook, diaries and scrapbook. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
BC Archives MS-0055; BC Archives MS-2879
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Lost my fine platoon Sergt. Dave Gillespie but our casualties were wonderfully light My command the left ½ recd spcl letter of approval four the C.O. After getting lost on the way back down Copse Alley to Gibraltar Bn HQ in Pozieres reach my bunch at 3 A.M. (EMU Trench) after the most strenuous & exhausting time of my experience. Intense shelling with heavy stuff all the way in. Shelled with tear gas about dawn - one man passed - (three of our officers Reynolds Grimmett & Wolfe Merton got M.C's for this work)
12 Septr. More heavy shelling on our trench where we had only funk holes. German aeroplane brought down by our plane just outside our trench. Out in No Man's Land again with working party this night. Some marvellous Escapes but no actual casualty. Got back to our trench about dawn absolutely "all in". Moved into reserve in Death Alley but heavy cannonading of nearby batteries did not help rest! Rain.
(Note - When I received orders to take
BC Archives, MS-2879 Box 83 File 1 / CREASE FAMILY / “Diary of the War”, diary and scrapbook of Arthur Douglas Crease, 1915-1919.