4th October 1918

Friday 4^th.  Started our resuscitation work yesterday by doing some operations and giving blood and gum transfusions.  This morning went by car to 3^rd  Div HQ at Doingt and sent Francis a remittance of 60 pounds.  In the afternoon rode to the ADS past Bellicourt and just across the Canal du Nord and some miles inside the Hindenburg line.  At Bellicourt the canal runs underground, as a railway line runs into a tunnel and below that it runs in a deep gorge.  The Hindenburg line begins at Villeret and is a mass of wire entanglements and trenches all along that ridge, across the canal and on the next ridge.  I counted fifteen lines of wire entanglements more or less parallel below Bellicourt and Villeret.  There are a good many dead Huns about and many captured trench mortars, field guns, machine guns and equipment.

‘The strong wire defences of the Hindenberg Line probably near Bellicourt’, 1918 ‘The strong wire defences of the Hindenburg Line probably near Bellicourt’, 4 October 1918.

Canal du Nord at Bellicourt 1914 / 1918

1st October

Tuesday, October 1^st.  Marched out from Marquaix at 9am via Roisel, Hervilly, Hesbecourt to Villeret, where we stayed, sleeping at night in the open and in ambulance wagons.  Next day, Wood and I with our resuscitation team left the 6^th F Amb and joined the 5^th F Amb at the MDS at Templeux-le-Guerard.

This is card number five from Series 1 of the Daily Mail Battle Pictures. It was taken on the Somme and shows troops, ‘HELPING AN AMBULANCE THROUGH THE MUD.’ A caption on the reverse reads, “Heavy rains have often made the British front a quagmire, and our ‘Tommies’ have had to put their shoulders to the wheels of ambulances and other wagons.” The image has also been described as the “16th (Irish) Div ambulance in difficulty, Somme 1916.” In a sharper version of the photograph, a shamrock sign can be seen on the bottom right below the Red Cross.

28th September 1918

Saturday, 28^th.  Left No 20 CCS and rejoined the 6^th F Amb at Marquaix.  Paid the CCS mess bill of Fr 35.  The Amb is at a roadside and all the officers sleep in one operating tent.  Cold wet weather.  Received a note from Capt Pearse with a pencil of Edwin’s.  The Americans attacked our front but there is not much news.  Saw about 2000 prisoners marched down the road.

[September 12th, 1918] German prisoners are treated by American soldiers during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. American and French troops took St.-Mihiel Salient in 36 hours and made 15,000 prisoners.

24th September 1918

Tuesday, September 24^th.  Edwin was killed on September 21^st.  He was hit by a shell while going to mark out some work that night, his two legs, thigh and wrist and he died at the 53^rd F Amb at 4am.  Capt Pearse of his Field Coy wrote to tell me.  A letter from Edwin came by the same mail and I read it before knowing of his death from the other letter.  Wrote during the night to mother and father, Francis, Lloyd, Cecil and Sister Fisher to tell them.

The grave of my great uncle Edwin Octaviouse Hutchinson as it is today at the Five Points Cemetery just south of Le Chelle northern France

22nd September 1918

Sunday, 22^nd.  Went for a walk in the morning and then slept until 6pm.  A parcel from mother.

https://mariadernikos.com/2014/11/25/ww1-trench-cake/ After googling “parcel from mother 1918 ” this recipe for trench cake came up with this image.

18th September 1918

Wednesday, September 18^th 1918.  Left No 5 CCS with our team.  Paid mess bill there of Fr 20.  Had lunch with our Amb at Cappy and then went on with our team to No 20 CCS near Doingt, just passed Peronne.  The Corps attacked last night and there is a rush of wounded here.  I am on night duty with two of our team working on blood transfusion.  Capt Wood and I sleep in a tent.  Met an MO named Davis who knows them all at home.  Transfusion during the night and an amputation.

*Notes from Wikipedia on the battle of Epehy noting the Australian mutiny by refusing to help the British

On 18 September at 5.20 am, the attack opened and the troops advanced. The promised French assistance did not arrive, resulting in limited success for IX Corps on that flank. On the left flank, III Corpsalso found difficulty when attacking the fortifications erected at “the Knoll”, Quennemont and Guillemont farms, which were held determinedly by German troops, the village was however captured by the British 12th Eastern Division [7th Norfolk, 9th Essex and 1st Cambridge]. In the centre, General John Monash‘s two Australian divisions achieved complete and dramatic success. The 1st Australian Division and the 4th Australian Division, had a strength of some 6,800 men^[3] and in the course of the day captured 4,243 prisoners, 76 guns, 300 machine-guns and thirty trench mortars. They took all their objectives and advanced to a distance of about 3 miles (4.8 km) on a 4 miles (6.4 km) front. The Australian casualties were 1,260 officers and men (265 killed, 1,057 wounded, 2 captured).^[3] The battle saw the first mutiny of Australian forces, when 119 men of the 1st Australian Battalion refused to conduct an attack to help the neighbouring British unit. Rather than face charges of desertion in the face of the enemy, they were charged with being AWOL (with all bar one soldier having their charges dropped after the armistice).

The ruins of Ascension Farm, a strongpoint in the German second line, after captured by the 45th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force on 18 September 1918.

16th September

Monday, 16^th.  In the theatre all day operating and giving anaesthetics.  Letters form home and Single.  Wrote Sister Ferguson.  During the night there was a heavy storm and some tents were blown away.  We had to get out and fix ours.

15th September 1918

Sunday, 15^th.  Lloyd Chase took me for a fly in his RE8 plane over Peronne etc at a height of 3000 to 5000 ft and we were up for about ¾ of an hour.  Had lunch and tea at his mess.

“Peronne. Heavy artillery advancing through the town”The 1st Australian Imperial Force going through the ruins of Peronne with heavy artillery such as 8 inch howitzers. A biplane can be seen flying overhead. Smoke from burning villages is visible in the distance. Louis McCubbin enlisted with the 14th Battalion AIF in 1916, serving in France from November 1917 with the 10th Field Ambulance. He undertook a camouflage course and was appointed as an Official War Artist working as Officer in Charge of Camouflage for 3rd Division AIF in 1918. His appointment was terminated in 1920, in which year he returned to Australia and joined the staff of the Australian War Memorial to paint backgrounds for dioramas and to perform a variety of other duties. McCubbin remained in the position until 1930.

15th September 1918

14th September 1918

Saturday, 14^th.  All day in theatre, did some operations with little success.  Lloyd Chase whose aerodrome is about 2kms away came here for mess last night.

Triage, 42d Division, near Suippes, France, July 17, 1918