Item 06: John D. Wilson diary, 17 May-19 September 1917 - Page 49

[Page 49]

night & the moon shining brightly. They had to lead the mules over duck boards and shell holes large enough to bury a wagon, & delivered the rations in no mans land, where the Company I. M. took delivery of it & will carry it to the Fighting line which is now miles away in territory that was a few days ago occupied by the enemy. It was reported here early this morning that we have got 40,000 prisoners in this big advance & taken from the enemy two miles of the coast. It is believed that this battle is the prelude to the biggest advance yet made on the W. front. Our Battalion has had very severe casualities, but mostly wounded cases. A company suffered the most [indecipherable – written in shorthand]
The papers print more news went the recent air raid on the Medway. There were ten raiders brought down out of 20, which makes it very costly for the enemy. They were brought down off Ostend.
Our artillery is now 7 p.m. putting up a big straff on the enemy.
The sky was speckled all over with our aeroplanes late this evening. They were of all sorts. I saw 16 planes of a new type come back from a raid. They were cutting all sorts of antics in the air, diving, turning, rolling over & over, falling and looping the loop. There were some 3 deckers, that is 3 pairs of wings one above the other which gives them fast climbing powers & great speed said to be 200 miles an hour.
The big 12 in naval guns are in action this evening, as well as the usual artillery.