Frank Swannell Diaries: Part I
Diaries of Frank Cyril Swannell Learn more.
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BC Archives MS-0392 - Box 1, Volume 4-5
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LETTER TELLS OF TERRIBLE BATTLE OF THE ORCHARD
WRITER LAY IN SHELL CRATER AT YPRES OVER DYING OFFICER DURING BULLET HAIL.
"IF WE BREAK THROUGH, GOD HELP THE GERMANS"
"We Need the Munitions, Not the Men, Says Letter --Trench Warfare is Just Plain Sordid Murder.
In the most vivid letter yet received from the battle front of France, the Canadian soldier whose letters to his friend here The Journal has published previously tells of the terrible "Battle of the Orchard." It is significant that the account of this battle, the bloodiest yet fought on this front, reached the American papers only a few days ago. The writer of the letter charged with the company which lost 85 out of 124 of its men, and was wounded in the action. His description probably gives a better conception of trench warfare than any yet published in this country. The letter follows.
"Somewhere in France, June 22, '15.
"My Dear Lorne:
"Yours of 30th of May just arrived, and as I have had a couple of hours leisure before we move into the trenches tonight, will improve my time. I think I gave you a full account of the battle I was in the end of April and the first four days of May. As accounts have been published long ago, I may, without fear of the censor say it was Langemarck-Ypres. Since then we have had five spells in the trenches. You will have read of the Canadian attack on an orchard near Festubert, May 20th, and that is the worst business we have seen. We lost, I may say since the casualty lists are out 415 men out of 800. My company got badly mauled, eighty-five out of 124. We got 5 machine guns 'hosing' on us as we crossed the parapet of the first German trench. It was blue-flares, shrapnel and bullets all night. My most vivid remembrance is five minutes I lay in a shell-crater across our dying Sergeant-Major. Machine gun hail pitted into the clods at my head and clipped off the tall grass all around.
"We are lonely now, my chums and I. Of the original section of fourteen at Victoria, only five of us are left, although, thank God, only two were killed outright. It seems only a matter of time or luck until all will be down. It is remarkable what miraculous escapes one has.
"I'm afraid Lorne, we are all homesick lads now. You see the whole section were survey hands and prospectors, most motley as to nationality. I will give you the names of the four besides me: Harry Findley, Australian, 77127; Kenny Bateman, U.S., 77100; George Tucker, U.S.A., 77185; Jack Bennett, Australian.
"The United States would require a long while before she could help any here. It is not a question of men, but of munitions and equipment. The Germans are fiendishly adept at the machinery of war. Individual bravery counts for little here - human flesh and blood against long range shells and massed machine guns. This trench warfare is just plain sordid murder.
BC Archives, MS-0392 Box 1, Volume 4 / FRANK SWANNELL PAPERS, Diary and enclosures, 1915.