Alma Russell Letters
Letters of British Columbia men on active service with Canadian and British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918. Learn more.
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Flanders, 19/11/15.
All kinds of exciting things have happened since my last letter, and the little stunt was a great success. The idea was to get the Artillery to cut the German wire at a certain place, and then at night I would take a few of my Bombers over, take a piece of their trench, hold if for about twenty minutes, get some prisoners, and beat it. Well, we rehearsed it last time out, and when the Battalion went in, I stayed out with my Bombers, and practiced with real bombs. We had aeroplane maps etc., and I found a place in the sixth line which was very like the German trenches, so we worked on it. Captain Costigan, (who is second in command of the Grenade Company) wanted to come along so we let him. The night before the attack we went up to a half ruined house in our lines where all the assaulting party were. Well, the next day the Artillery gave them fits, but the Battery which was supposed to do our wire cutting, failed miserably. However, our scouts went out, and cut a path right to the German parapet, which is some stunt in itself. There is a stream running through our trench, which also runs close to the Germans. This we had to bridge, and the bridging party did it with no trouble at all, and got a position to guard our flank. Next I came, and right bombing party led by a scout, then Costigan and party, followed by another officer, with six rifle men, stretcher bearers, and signallers, for we were going to run a 'phone right into their trench. Behind us were men to cut
BC Archives, MS-1901 Box 1 File 10 / RUSSELL, Alma M., 1873-1964. Victoria; librarian. / Selected letters from Sergeant John Raymond McIllree, 1915.