| Description | This volume, marked "Log VI", describes Cruickshank's service in Flanders on Ambulance Train no. 5 and on the front line with the 28th Field Ambulance, supporting the 9th (Scottish) Division. It contains several descriptions of the fighting around Ypres. In the entry for 12 July (p. 5), Cruickshank gives a general account of the Flanders campaign and describes very heavy bombardments. From 31 July he reports on the opening offensive of the Third Battle of Ypres (p. 9 ff.) . On 7 October he relates a conversation with a friend who is an officer in the Scottish Division on troop movements in preparation for the Battle of Passchendaele (p. 47), and in the following pages he gives descriptions of California Trench and other sites around the battlefield, and of air attacks.
The volume also gives a view of the medical problems faced. For instance, Cruickshank notes on p. 22 that medical officers were needed to search for wounded in the dark under the kind of barrage being laid down by the Germans in Flanders On 12 July he mentions a conversation with a medical officer from No. 24 A.T. on the treatment of shell shock (p. 6). From 11 October he is at the Corps Main Dressing Station near Elverdinghe, and describes the arrival and treatment of casualties. "Roughly I must have seen about 800 - 900 walking wounded between 9 a.m. [of the 12th] and 3 a.m. of 13th" (p. 53). The dressing station is visited on 17 October by General Gough, 5th Army, and senior medical officers, who express satisfaction with the arrangements for the wounded, and especially mention the shelters and beds with waterproof sheets "for battling trench feet" (p. 54). Conditions for the medical staff: "Gas protection and steel helmets must be worn constantly. The Huns douse old Ypres with H.E. shell and gas shell daily". Cruickshank also gives accounts of the various Advanced Dressing Stations and other medical provision at the Front: A.D.S. locations include Potijze Chateau, the Prison (Ypres), and Bavaria House. A general overview of medical provision around Ypres is given in the entry for 19 September. A list of Casualty Clearing Stations is given on pages 94 - 95.
Cruickshank also gives an account of the death of Brigadier General Francis Aylmer Maxwell on 21 September; General Maxwell was brought into Cruickshank's A.D.S. at Potijze after having been shot by a sniper.
General comments on the war include a mention of developments in Russia (9 August, p. 13) and the achievements of the Scottish and South African Brigades
The volume contaibns several hand-drawn maps of positions around Ypres.
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Enclosures in this volume:
(Mostly pasted in; loose enclosures marked *)
Inside front cover, tipped in: Newspaper report of "D.S.O. for native of Premnay" (Lt.-Col. Hugh Stweart, New Zealand Expeditionary Force)
Newspaper cutting roll of honour (undated) tipped in on p.5
* Newspaper map of part of Flanders front, date in pencil 7 June 1917 (between pages 4 and 5)
Newspaper cuttings: "Pirates' worst crime" (U-Boat attack) and map of line north of Ypres (undated, faint pencil annotations) (p. 10)
* Newspaper map "The great German retreat" (May 1917, pencil annotation) (between pages 10 and 110
Newspaper cuttings (3, one tipped in) on the death of Captain Harold Ackroyd R.A.M.C. (pages 18 and 19; ; discussed in text p. 17)
* Newspaper map showing Allied gains at Ypres since 30 July 1917 (undated). With pencilled correction. (Between pages 28 and 29)
Following September 16: two maps of the front with annotations, drawn directly into the log by Cruickshank
* Two newspaper photographs showing destruction at Ypres. One annotated "The Prison, Ypres. A.D.S. Sept. 17-2" (between pages 36 and 37)
Newspaper map "The battle on the Ypres front" (undated) Position of Scottish and South African Brigades marked in pencil (between pages 38 and 39)
Newspaper cutting of death of Capt. David James Shirres Stephen R.A.M.C., a medical graduate of Aberdeen University (undated, p. 70). Discussed in text on p.69.
* Combined leave and railway ticket First Class for Cruickshank from Aberdeen to France. Leave granted from 2.10.1917. Ticket stamped 1. Nov. 1917. (Between pages 78 and 79)
Newspaper cutting "Tending the wounded after the battle" 25 September 1917, with photographs of medical staff treating wounded Scottish soldiers. One photograph with two medics is marked "Cpl Craig & me" [?] With pencil annotation and corrections (p. 92)
Four loose items inside back cover:
* Large Roneoed map "Map showing enemy's rear lines of defence 12 September 1918" scale 1:100,000
*French rail transport order from Abbéville to Boulogne for 3 officers on 15 May 1917 (two sheets, rail voucher and route sheet, with British Army movement order for Cruickshank as passenger with one valise on that route, dated 14 May 1917
* Newspaper map, undated but c. April 1917, showing Allied advances east of Amiens
* Invitation to the wedding of Lieutenant Harold Kent West and Mlle Fernande Truffier, 27 July 1918. |