Item 07: John D. Wilson diary, 19 September-28 December 1917 - Page 155
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 155]
where. About 9. O'Clock it started to snow very lightly, & continued at intervals for a few hours. It was the first snow I have seen this winter, though snow has fallen in other parts of France, & here at night.
To day all those who won medals were paraded, and accompanied by a guard of honour from the trenches marched to a spot not far from here and were presented by General Birdwood with their ribbons of honour.
J.D. Matthews & Charlie Charles went to Paris on indulgence leave.
Wednesday Dec 5. 1917. 1220
Cold & frosty. Clear sky. Thick ice everywhere, which remained all day.
Enemy aeroplanes were about all day.
After dinner I saw 3 enemy baloons float over our lines. One passed over our camp. They were very high up and were of a round pattern with cages hanging to them. They evidently broke away from their moorings or were realised on purpose. By some automatic arrangement newspapers printed in French were dropped out of them. They were dated Sept 15. They contained a list of names of French citizens who were killed by British shells in Lille and elsewhere.
During the evening the enemy put over a lot of ranging shells.