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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1918
Nov. 30 - Div. started to move to Durbry but called off in the middle. Mother 92 years old today.
Dec 1 Bright & frosty - DivHQ moved to SALMCHATEAU on Belgian border. Travelled in a lorry - v. cold - 9 hours. Climbed to over 2000 ft - Beautiful sunset as we reached the top of a pass in the Ardennes - Arrd about 6pm - frozen stiff. Ration situation becoming desperate as ration lorries have 150 mile over bad roads & railways from W. [illegible].
Dec 2. Salmchan is junction of 3 mountain streams [illegible] scenery. Elevn of town about 1500 ft . Air has a crisp light feeling. Inhabitants fairly friendly & some very bitter against Germans & complain of dreadful atrocities Esp. on women & priests - Elec. light - light always running. Heather everywhere. Camera arrd but day too dull - Reports from Germany that inhabitants anxious to do all that is required. Sunpowaster & his wife had both been German Prisoners & sev'll times taken out to be shot at Coblentz. They had lived in Liege.
3. Raining. FGCM at 2GnB. Roads v. muddy & slippery. Disposed of 4 cases by 7 pm. & started to walk back thro heavy mud & pitch blackness when Col Montague picked me up. Dined with General.
4. Div. HQ moved to St VITH in Germany. Crossed German boundary at last at 9.20 am. Formal
BC Archives, MS-2879, Box 83, File 1 CREASE FAMILY "Diary of the War", diary and scrapbook of Arthur Douglas Crease 1915-1919.