Leave in Guernsey (August 1917)

"The date was now August 1917 and I was sent on leave to Guernsey taking the train from Achiet-le-Grand. Eighteen months had elapsed since I had left home and I had ten days leave. I met up with John and Clarence who were also on leave." (it was the last time he saw Clarence Tostevin who was killed next to his gun at Rheims on 27 May 1918)

The Third Battle of Ypres (Sept - Nov 1917)

The 7th Division suffered significant losses during the Third Battle of Ypres, in the fighting for Polygon Wood, the successful advance on 4th October east of the wood, and in the unsuccesful assault south of the Menin Road on 26th October.

"Whilst I was in Guernsey my battery had come out of action and had marched to Belgium where I joined them at Hazelbrouck, Field Marshal Haig's headquarters. The 7th Division then went to be massacred on the worst front I have experienced, Passchendale. The first fortnight we made advanced gun-pits in front of Mount Kemmel and I have never seen so many guns together. Our position was in front of Hooge Wood, firing over Glencourse Wood ...... We were immediately in front of Ypres with a big lake behind us. The whole battle area was a mass of mud and foul ground. The only shelter was a few German made concrete pill boxes. Any number of our tanks were stuck in the mud. We were seven weeks in this position before we came out of action. We had then advanced to Glencourse Wood. Battalion after battalion of infantry were wiped out either by shell, gas or a slow death stuck in the foul ground. Thousands of men, horses and mules were killed. Wagons, ambulances etc. were abandoned, stuck in the mud. The roads had been destroyed and the British had made wooden roads. Our own battery casualties were just over one hundred men out of one hundred and eighty and we retired with only two guns left out of six. We came out of action shivering from our awful experience, leaving our battery chums dead for someone else to bury. We had not undressed, hardly slept and were practically starving. It was now October 1917 and the 7th Division was inspected by General Plummer.

According to news from home the RGLI were six miles from us, having just arrived from England."

The Piave River, Italy (Dec 1917 - Feb 1918)

Immediately on their relief, the 7th Division was moved to Italy, being one of the British Divisions selected to come to the support of the Italian army. The 7th remained in Italy until the Armistice, playing a particularly important role in the assault to cross the Piave River.

In November 1917 Edmund wrote home that there were rumours they were being sent to "the place where Jack had his misfortune". Jack was Edmund's eldest brother and his ship had been torpedoed off the coast of Italy.

"Five Divisions were ordered to the Italian Front to stop the Austrian push to Venice. The Divisions were the 5th, 42nd, 43rd, 48th and mine, the 7th. We soon entrained with all the guns, wagons, horses, etc. for we had been made up to strength after that awful 3rd Battle of Ypres. We went through the world's longest tunnel, the Simplon. We were cheered at all stations in France and, on the other side of the Alps, by Italians and British residents. We lost no time because the Austrians were advancing. Disentraining after the eight day journey we started on a ten day march which I shall never forget, walking from 7am to 6pm every day. Luckily for us the Italians held back the Austrians along the river Piave. The 43rd Division went straight into action but my own division remained six weeks behind Mount Grappa where long ranges of mountains lay in front of us. We spent Christmas 1917 amongst the French and Italian soldiers and despite the intense cold and hardships we had a good time. We were on guard twice a week and with long nights freezing hard it was awful being alone. However we soon went into action in the mountains, relieving 43rd Division and taking over their guns. Things were now quiet because the enemy had been stopped by the River Piave which runs through Venice. We were only firing an average of fifty rounds per gun a day. Our aeroplanes did much good work and it was a sight to see twelve to fourteen of them sweeping the banks of the river, firing on the enemy infantry. The bridges across the river were blown up and we had more or less a good time in this position.

We were billeted in a house and it was as if we were on manoeuvres rather than at war. One fine day at 6pm an enemy 5.9 inch shell struck the house and twenty of us were buried in the debris when a second shell exploded four yards away. Our casualties were five killed and fifteen, including myself, wounded. We were dispatched to the Casualty Clearing Station at the bottom of the mountain arriving there after two hours walk and I did not get operated on before 7am, lying helpless on a stretcher all night . We were sent on to Genoa where we waited for a fortnight in a big German hotel overlooking the harbour. Then we went on a two day journey to Marseille via Nice in an ambulance train. Mr. J.Q. Le Pelley came to see me at Genoa but unfortunately I had left. We were another fifteen days in Marseille before a two day journey to Le Havre, fourteen days there then five days outside the harbour on the hospital ship "Grantully Castle" waiting for the convoy and six escorting destroyers to Southampton."

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