5th to 7th April 1916 – Wednesday to Friday

All material produced or reproduced here and throughout this work is the sole copyright of the author and the family of Doctor D.C.M. Page MC.

Douglas stayed at the Advanced Dressing Station for a few days and enjoyed the time there. The work was light with only a few wounded and sick to care for. They had plenty of visitors with people dropping in for meal or two and a gossip about the latest news etc. I dare say Douglas would have entertained his guests with the news of the Zeppelin attack on his hometown.

During the time at the A.D.S. he attended lectures and had meetings back at Mesplaux H.Q. He described a huge fire behind the German lines one night without knowing what it was.

“I paid visits to the front line Aid-Posts. On the way up I had to pass through Festubert which was terribly smashed up, especially the *church.

On a clear day we could obtain a fine view of the country inside the German lines including Violaines, the La Bassee Bridge and brewery. When our artillery was busy it was fine to watch the shells bursting on the Hun emplacements. There were some old German trenches just in front of our frontline which were full of dead Huns. In our own frontline there were many graves of “unknown” soldiers.”

*Churches would be attacked because the bell towers made very useful observation posts as well as good sniper or machine gun emplacements. So many churches were destroyed.

The next post follows on 8th April.

Are you a new reader?

Find out about our connection with Dr Page and an introduction to his diary here