| Description | This volume of the diary, marked "Log II", describes Cruickshank's experiences as Medical Officer on Ambulance Train XI in France. When the volume starts, Cruickshank is travelling with the ambulance train from Abbéville to Etaples to pick up convalescents and take them to Boulogne. Details are given of this trip and subsequent trips. During and after the Battle of the Somme, Cruickshank's ambulance train is engaged transporting and treating patients from the Casualty Clearing Stations, particularly at Amiens and Vacquemont. The entry for 2 July 1916 (p. 39) gives an account of picking up huge numbers of wounded soldiers after the first day of the Battle of the Somme. On p. 54 Cruickshank describes picking up German casualties and a conversation with their officer. He gives details of the methods of dealing with the wounded, and also some statistics for the numbers treated, sometimes with additional details. For instance on p. 64 he notes in the margin "Sergt J[ames] Somers V.C. on train (Inniskillings)" and an entry on 9 July (states briefly "Carried 366 patients. One of them a V.C. if he survives" (p. 69). He records that by the 10th day of the Somme, his train had carried a total of 4053 casualties.
Along with these details, Cruickshank also describes everyday events and his own reflections on the war. He reports receiving confirmation of the drowning of Lord Kitchener, and discusses the reactions, including those of the French. Elsewhere he discusses topics such as American views on the progress of the war. He also gives accounts of the everyday aspects of the war, such as the football match between Ambulance Train XI and the Chasseurs Alpins on 1 July (3:2 for A.T. XI).
The final pages of the volume have been used to note colloquial French words and phrases.
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Enclosures in this volume:
(Mostly pasted in; loose enclosures marked *)
Newspaper photograph of artillery piece [? railway howitzer] with crew (p.2)
Silk bookmark (I'll keep your place / Allied flags) tipped in (p. 98)
Two newspaper clippings tipped in: award to A. Townsend and a photograph of James Somers V.C. (p. 99; cf. p. 64). |