Item 06: John D. Wilson diary, 17 May-19 September 1917 - Page 127
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[Page 127]
so hot. This morning when we finished pumping out the sap, we had to lift a lot of duckboards in a tunnel & sweep out underneath. It was a dirty job, for it had not been cleaned out for months & was full of mud & slush, which had to be carried to the surface in Petrol tins. The job filled in the most of the day.
The enemy is heavily shelling Batteries on each side of us today. By the way the name of this subtraneous system of rooms and tunnels is known as the "Midland Dugout".
There has been intermittent artillery activity during the day & in the evening it grew to great intensity, a number of 12 ins Howitzers were continually barking all evening.
[Next portion is in shorthand]
Sunday July 22, 1917. (1084)
A beautiful clear warm day outside, but always the same down here.
The artillery drill is being continued this morning and there are a few enemy aeroplanes afloat.
Yesterday evening I counted 21 of our observation baloons up. The largest number I have seen at once. I saw 7 or 8 of the enemies. His are few & far between. But this afternoon I counted 26 of ours and 15 of the enemies baloons.
All day long there has been a constant artillery duel between our big guns and the enemies. The enemies shells are big stuff, and mostly H.E. with occasional smoke shells, incendiary shells and some schrapnel.
Lately I have seen lots of packages of tobacco thrown