TCD MS 10821 folio 14 recto
[June 17th 1916] (evi)dent that this was the first time he had been so close to the front line.
Sun June 18th. The weather still continues very cold. There was a voluntary service in the Riding school in the morning. The Boche aeroplanes were very active. Yesterday & today they sent over battle squadrons of five & seven apiece which gave our guns a great time firing at them. They say that one was brought down, but the shooting appeared to me to be very wild. In the afternoon I took a walk round the park where there are some very fine trees. While we were having dinner, there was a great deal of shooting, a Boche aeroplane squadron & one of ours were having a fight up in the air, all the guns were going, & some Boche “pipsqueaks” were dropping shells just beyond us. The same night work as usual. I did not get back till 2am.
June 19th. Another cold raw day. Had a good bath in the afternoon preparatory to going in the trenches in the evening. We started from Arras at 9.30 pm & it took us about an hour & a half to get to our trenches. There seemed to be miles of communicating trenches, we went through tunnels & past countless other support & reserve lines until I was quite lost & had no idea in which direction