Original Letter
France
9th September 1917.
My Dearest Mary –
It is only a little after ten o’clock and I have had a few minutes to spare. First I shined my shoes and buttons – it’s quite true that one must shine at the front – and then had a wash – the second to-day. My wash basin is a German steel helmet and is a good basin. I had to make quite a long hike for water but I solved the problem yesterday by finding a huge tin can which will hold two days supply.
This is Sunday morning and I only realised it a few minutes ago Church parades don’t seem to reach as far as [the] front line or support lines and other signs of Sunday are non existent. The noise is about the same as other days. Just as soon as I sensed that it was Sunday I shined up.
There is a desolate waste all about us here although we are past the worst desolation. Here the grass and weeds have covered the most of the wreckage and there are no trees to speak of in our immediate vicinity. Trees more than anything, I think, register the ghastliness of it all. It is interesting though especially the stories about the place Last night I listened for two hours to an officer who had been through the Vimy business telling various incidents of that affair.
I had another letter last night and it was glorious. Your letters mean more to me now than ever before, I think. Here the mail bag containing Battalion Headquarters mail is handed direct to me. All I do with it is dig through and extract my own. After it is found some one else can post out the rest, I am off duty until that letter is read or devoured. And while reading it and afterwards I just naturally radiate joy. I like the little writing, Dear, but I love any writing of yours.
There isn’t anything much to tell about in the way of news [other] than the situation so far as concerns body parasites and food. There is lots of interesting stuff but I am not allowed to write it. Really though this has been a very pleasant tour especially since coming to this nice airy dugout. Last night I had a blanket over me. It was fine too as we did not bring over coats in. I was suspicious of that blanket and went carefully over my clothes this morning but pas un touche. The hammock suggestion is a good one, Dear, but I do not think I shall ask you to send me one at present. It is really quite comfortable yet and I do not need it. But later on I shall report to you. Now, Sweetheart, I must close. Have I told you how I love you today? It is a lot I assure you! All day long I think of you Dearest Maidie. You have all my love Your own Ross
the Vimy business
- Note
- The Battle of Vimy Ridge. See photos below (click on photo to enlarge) or consult links for more background.
photos: Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada; painting, "The Battle of Vimy Ridge" - artist: Richard Jack, source: Library and Archives Canada. - Links & References
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Head
- About Netta Head
- Netta Head, along with her sister Ruth Grassal, co-owner of Carentonne Cottage in Bernay, where Mary stayed in France. It seems likely that Ross and Mary met Netta's sister Ruth Grassal at a pension in Paris and were then invited to Carentonne Cottage.
(See also note on Bernay with letter of Aug. 31, 1917 and others.)
See the photo of Netta and Ruth (below) — taken much later: in Nice in the 1940s. - Contribute to the Project
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mail bag
- Note
- Photo of mail call - distributing the sacks of mail. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
photo: The Military Museums, Calgary - Pictures
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dugout
- Note
- A dugout is a shelter constructed, as the name suggests, by digging a hole—either into a hillside (as pictured in the first image below), into the side of an existing trench, or simply in the ground. From Ross’s letters one gets the impression that battalion headquarters was often in a dugout—and, consistent with this, the Spartacus Educational web page (“Dugouts,” see link below) maintains that large dugouts in the side of communication trenches often served both as battalion headquarters and officers’ sleeping quarters.
To understand the conditions in which Ross was working and fighting, it is necessary to understand the basics of trench warfare, which The New Encyclopaedia Britannica describes as:...warfare in which opposing armed forces attack, counterattack, and defend from relatively permanent systems of trenches dug into the ground. The opposing systems of trenches are usually close to one another. Trench warfare is resorted to when the superior firepower of the defense compels the opposing forces to “dig in” so extensively as to sacrifice their mobility in order to gain protection.
... In making a trench, soil from the excavation is used to create raised parapets running both in front of and behind the trench. Within the trench are firing positions along a raised forward step called a fire step, and duckboards are placed on the often muddy bottom of the trench to provide secure footing.
...
Trench warfare reached its highest development on the Western Front during World War I (1914–18), when armies of millions of men faced each other in a line of trenches extending from the Belgian coast through northeastern France to Switzerland. These trenches arose within the first few months of the war’s outbreak, after the great offensives launched by Germany and France had shattered against the deadly, withering fire of the machine gun and the rapid-firing artillery piece. The sheer quantity of bullets and shells flying through the air in the battle conditions of that war compelled soldiers to burrow into the soil to obtain shelter and survive.
The typical trench system in World War I consisted of a series of two, three, four, or more trench lines running parallel to each other and being at least 1 mile (1.6 km) in depth [sic]. Each trench was dug in a type of zigzag so that no enemy, standing at one end, could fire for more than a few yards down its length. Each of the main lines of trenches was connected to each other and to the rear by a series of communications trenches that were dug roughly perpendicular to them. Food, ammunition, fresh troops, mail, and orders were delivered through these trenches. The intricate network of trenches contained command posts, forward supply dumps, first-aid stations, kitchens, and latrines. Most importantly, it had machine -gun emplacements to defend against an assault, and it had dugouts deep enough to shelter large number of defending troops during an enemy bombardment.
In practice trench warfare was problematic. Not only did “digging in” mean a key tactical sacrifice of mobility, but conditions in the trenches, particularly for the Allies who were forced to occupy lower ground, were appalling. The constant wet meant constant discomfort at best and at worst led to serious conditions such as trench foot, a form of frostbite caused by chronic exposure to cold, which if left untreated progressed to gangrene, sometimes necessitating amputation (Encyclopedia Americana). Sanitation was also a problem, and garbage and human waste building up in and near the trenches contributed to the spread of disease and to generally foul and unpleasant conditions. (See note on “rats” with the letter of October 1, 1917.)
See photos (below - click on photos to enlarge):
1. Military dugout behind the lines, France; 1917; watercolour: brown, black and blue wash over pencil; artist: William Redver Stark, 1885–1953; source: W.R. Stark/Library and Archives Canada.
2. Communication Trench. 22nd Infantry Battalion (French Canadian). July, 1916; source: Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000395.
3. On sentry duty in a front-line trench, Sept. 1916, France; source: W.I. Castle/Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000568.
4. An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the opposing trenches and no-man's land between Loos and Hulluch in Artois, France, taken at 7.15 pm, 22 July 1917. German trenches are at the right and bottom, British trenches are at the top left. The vertical line to the left of centre indicates the course of a pre-war road or track; source: Imperial War Museum, catalogue number Q 45786
5. A trench on the Canadian front showing "funk holes," 1917, France; source: W.I. Castle/Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-001326.
6. A British trench near the Albert-Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The men are from A Company, 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment; photographer: Lt. J.W. Brooke; source: Imperial War Museum catalogue number Q 3990. Used by permission PD-BritishGov.
7. Bombing down a trench (8th Infantry Battalion). June, 1916; source: Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000136
8. First World War Soldier with Trench Foot (No Doubt a Canadian), France, 1917. This photo shows an extreme case of trench foot; source: Library and Archives Canada/PA-149311.
9. Report by Colonel G.L. Foster, Surgeon General, Regarding Soldiers Suffering from Trench Foot, November 11, 1915. This report about the occurrence of trench foot among the ranks and the prevention of this problem shows how significant this medical condition was in the eyes of military authorities; source: Library and Archives Canada/RG9 III-B-2, vol. 3615, file 25/7/1-25/7/6.
10. Document by Surgeon General Regarding Vincent's Angina, ca. 1917. This document describes the problem of Vincent's Angina and its chief causes, namely, the failure to disinfect eating and drinking utensils and the sharing of pipes or cigarettes. Life in the trenches made soldiers especially susceptible to this type of problem since it was impossible, under such conditions, to wash dishes or obtain other tobacco products; source: Library and Archives Canada/RG9 III-B-2, vol. 3615, file 25/4/2-25/6/2.
Sources: “The Trench System,” Spartacus Educational website, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrenchsystem.htm, accessed 11 February 2009; “Trench Warfare,” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. II, Micropedia Ready Reference, 15th ed. (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2005); “Trench Foot” and “Trench Warfare,” The Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition, vol. 27 (Danbury, CT: Grolier, Inc., 2001); “Dugouts,” Spartacus Educational, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWdugouts.htm, accessed 7 October 2008; “Trench Warfare,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare, accessed 7 October 2008. - Links & References
- “Dugouts,” Spartacus Educational website
- diagram of a trench at SchoolHistory website
- “Trench Warfare,” Wikipedia
- diagrams and more information on trench warfare at Spartacus Educational website
- Bairnsfather cartoon “The Communication Trench” (from More Fragments from France, vol. 2, p. 25)
- Bairnsfather cartoon “The New Submarine Danger” (from More Fragments from France, vol. 2, p. 37)
- Bairnsfather cartoon “Those Tubular Trenches” (from More Fragments from France, vol. 2, p. 43) showing HQ in a dugout
- Bairnsfather cartoon “What time do they feed the sealions, Alf” (from More Fragments from France, vol. 2, front cover)
- Bairnsfather cartoon "My Dug-Out" (from Fragments from France, p. 4)
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War Diary
Weather- Misty forenoon- Bright & clean afternoon. ... Nothing unusual occurred. ... Work on the trench system was carried on by day and night. Eight Officers and 415 men employed.
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