War Diary of 1st Battalion Canadian Scottish Regiment, Vol. 59, July 1, 1944 to July 31, 1944
The war diaries are official records kept by the Battalions during a one month period. They contain the daily orders, correspondence, newsletters, and an intelligence log detailing troop activities, locations, and weather conditions. The war diaries detail the activities and movement of the 1st Battalion from training in Canada and England to active duty on the Western Front and their return to Victoria in January 1946. This diary was kept while at Le Hamel and Rots, Cairon, Cussy, Ardenne, Caen, La Folie, Cormelles, Vaucelles, and Colomby-sure-Thaon, France. It has entries about needing a court inquiry to determine the cause of mines exploding while being handled and killing 8 men, setting up a mobile bath unit on the bank of a small stream where the men had contact with warm water for the first time in a month or more, noting that there have been a number of Sten guns accidentally firing so some men had discarded them for rifles, noting the large number of German shells that are "duds" is probably because of conscripted factory workers in Germany, the men enjoying a publication called the "Tommy-Cooker" edited by Sgt. Woodcock of the battalion, engaging and observing the enemy in various ways, praising the patrols for getting good information that is often used in Situation Reports, enjoying their relatively quiet position in Rot but knowing it will not last, moving to Cairon then to Cussy for operation "Charnwood" and their infantry destroying 6 tanks, having trouble moving through areas heavily damaged by bombing, running casualty lists of those who are killed, wounded, or missing, moving to La Folie and getting a break, playing a supporting role in the operation "Atlantic", greeting the news of the attempt on Hitler's life with great satisfaction, the unending shelling, mortaring and bombing playing havoc on the nerves of everyone at the front with some becoming "psychiatric battle casualties" and more and more men succumbing to "battle exhaustion" as time goes on, operation "Spring" not being successful, alternating between dry and compo rations, the Legion providing entertainment and things for writing, the difficulty in having to hide in trenches hoping to be hit and not being able to do anything, and getting a reorganization break in Colomby and refitting everyone with whatever had been lost or used up, among other activities and information. Includes appendices covering operation "Charnwood" with personal accounts of it, intelligence log and summaries, situation reports, maps and aerial photos, shelling and bombing reports, casualties, citations for honours and awards, the Tommy-Cooker, and results of prisoner of war interrogations.
- In Collection:
- Vol. 59
- 154 pages
- 49.20778, -0.47778
- 49.24017, -0.45046
- 49.28428, -0.76334
- 49.1965, -0.4139
- 49.18585, -0.35912
- 49.2587, -0.97822
- 49.15398, -0.33062
- 49.2855, -0.73591
- 49.26568, -0.41032
- Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) Collection
- Transferred to UVic Special Collections from BC Archives, March 2006.
- Series 11. 4.20
- February 18, 2019 to February 26, 2019
- Scanned on Plustek Opticbook at 600 dpi TIFF. Jul 1944 includes an envelope (stapled to the back inside cover) containing an oversize map; scanned on TTI/Betterlight (600 dpi, camera height 700, Bent5 tone).
- DOI
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