The typed excerpt is transcribed in full.
War Diary of George Hedley Kempling for the Somme Offensive
Tuesday August 22, 1916
In the bay where I was this afternoon during the usual 4 p.m. or 5 to 5:30 p.m. bombardments, Fritzie sent over a whiz-bang which burst just on top of the parapet. Pieces of shrapnel buried themselves in the earth near us. Three of us were thrown flat
by the force of the explosion and half buried up in fresh earth. Then while we were still lying flat, trying to get up to scurry around the corner of the traverse, another whiz-bang knocked in another part of the parapet just over us. That is about as
near death as I have come yet…. Last night I spent my first time on listening post. It is kind of a nervy job. As soon as the evening gets a bit dark the first relief climbs over the parapet at a selected spot and crawls alone in front of the trenches
till it reaches the listening post. This is simply a spot in front of our trenches chosen because the relief will be hidden. It is usually a clump of bushes, or some old shell-hole. The listening post is used for the purpose of keeping a closer watch
on Fritzie's trenches, so that if he shows any activity at all such as to send out a bombing party or a working party….
Tuesday August 29, 1916
This morning we were surprised to hear that after a three day route march we were to run out for drill in heavy marching order. The training camp is 4 ½ miles away, over a few hills. Well the men were mad and that is no small thing in a Canadian army;
very different from the Imperials. Then on the way out it began to rain. A lot of men fell out on the way out to the drill ground simply because their feet or shoulders were in bad condition from marching, and some from pure cussedness and small blame.
We had been promised this day for rest.
When we arrived, we found that the parade ground was grain fields in stubble. Just as we commenced operations, it started in to rain in earnest. Well, we practised open order work, going ahead in short spurts and flopping quickly in the mud, then getting
up quickly, running a few yards and dropping again behind any cover you could get. This is all practice for the open fighting we are to have down on the Somme. The British are slowly pushing forward, and this means a lot of hand to hand fighting and
fighting in rushes. We were to have practised until 4 p.m. but it rained so hard that we left at 3. On the way home it didn't rain, it poured. We were soaked through and through till our clothes squeaked all over…
Our lieutenant, (Lieut Major) told us that the work down on the Somme was likely to be rough and hard. No regular trenches but live for a while in shell holes, ditches, or any place we could find, so we are expecting to have some genuine times…
