Transcription

The Diary of Allen Hager, 1918-1919

Allen Erastus Hager. Diary of Allen Erastus Hager, 1918-1919. Black ink on paper, 46 pages. Paper-bound reporter notebook. H: 21, W: 13.5, D: 1.5 cm. George Metcalf Archival Collection, ©Canadian War Museum Archives, Ottawa.1 Transcription ©MLC Research Centre. blt/ak/ig

keywords: 68th Battery North Russia Expeditionary Force, Americans, Archangel, billets, Bolshevik forces, clothing, horses, machine gun training, prisoners, Russian civilians, Russia, trench art

summary: Allen Erastus Hager was born in Cooksville in Peel County, Ontario, on 3 February 1892, but his family moved to Saskatchewan, settling in Earl Grey. He enlisted in the 5th Brigade, Canadian Forces Artillery on 9 November 1914 and served in England and France, including at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He was an experienced veteran by the time he embarked on 16th Field Artillery North Russia Expeditionary Force to Russia. In Russia he served as a gunner in the fight against Bolshevik forces, his diary providing insight into a little known facet of Canadian war history. After serving in Russia, Hager was discharged on 18 July 1919 and returned to Canada.

Transcription:

The Kelvin

Electrical

Note Book

[PRICE 25 CENTS]

RUSSELL, LANG & CO. LTD.

SOMERSET BUILDING]

[WINNIPEG ???]

 

19 September 1918

16th Bde.2 C.F.G. N.R.E.F. left [Witley] camp3 7.30 a.m.

20 September 1918

Friday

Arr. at Dundee4 2.30 a.m. We had reveille at 4 a.m. and were ready to board the train with full kit about 7 a.m. We had a thru train to Dundee where we embarked right away on the good ship Stephen (I don’t think) We remained at anchor in the river Tyne5 until 6 p.m.

21 September 1918

Saturday

When we lifted anchor and away we sailed we had quite a mixed up cargo. Besides rations there were English, French, Americans, Italians, Serbs, a few Russians and last but not least Canadians. The convoy consisted of three ships, two troop ships and one cargo. No event after we left the shetlands.6 I must say the trip is anything but a pleasure trip.

27 September 1918

Friday

The voyage has been lovely so far. We get P.T.7 on Deck twice daily much to our anoyance [sic].

28 September 1918

Saturday

This morning a poor Froggie8 cashed in his checks. The burial

29 September 1918

Sunday

We buried poor Froggie this morning. The ceremony took place this morning at 9.30 a.m. on the aft deck. Two generals & seven big officers were present. Quite a touching affair. The whole convoy stopped while the ceremony was being conducted.

30 September 1918

Monday

The voyage has been so so and this is our last days sailing aboard the good ship Stephen. We are running quite close to shore and we can see snow here and there on the ground.

This afternoon we began for the first time to see something really worth looking at. We are running along a sort of river, (having left the white sea this morning) it is about the size of the Red River,9 plenty of crooks & turns. The land on both sides being well wooded with small [trees] consisting of poplar, spruce & pine, a six inch tree would be about the average.

It looks very pretty as the leaves are all brown & gold with the little touches of snow. We have just seen a few men mostly fishermen with small sail boats. We were about seven or eight hours passing along this sort of river and then we came to several lumber mills with quite a quantity of lumber piled around them.

There were quite a few Russian people on the shores waving to us as we came in. The men were dressed in fur hats short coats home spun trousers and high boots very badly worn out. Nearly all of them wearing beards.

The women are great for colors. Those we have seen so far are wearing colored shawls on their heads blue skirts red waists with white stockings, their skirts are about knee high. The weather has been very nice and clear but cold.

7.30 p.m. [30 September 1918]

After we had supper we went on deck and we found ourselves facing what looked like a fair sized town. We have dropped anchor here for the night. The place has a very oriental aspect. All the churches have Dome shaped tops with huge belfries and every Dome has a huge cross on the top of it. The Dome is gold the roof red & [body] white.

1 October 1918

Tuesday

We pulled into Dock at Archangel10 at noon today. All afternoon we spent watching the Russians working around the pier. Some very interesting things happened. One in particular was the Russian [fai?] [Bde.] It was as good as a calathumpian parade.

Most of the French troops disembarked about 3.30 p.m. They all lined up on the pier and finally marched away in fours with four trumpeters two playing at a time about 450 all told. The Russians are all poorly clothed and will give their souls for any kind of new clothing or second hand. They all seem to be in a state of starvation as they stand down on the dock. The boys are throwing all kinds of left over food to them just about the same as we would a dog at home and they are picking it up much quicker than a lot of hens would pick up grain.

To see them scramble for the food reminded one of throwing worms to hens, and they simply go wild when we throw them a cigarette.

There are about 2000 Americans here at Archangel.

4 October 1918

Friday

Bakaritza11 after supper.

(Bakaritza is about three or four miles from Archangel.)

The Russians are paying [80] Rubles for one pkg of ciggaretts [sic]. We are getting big money for Bully Beef & hard tack.

There are some very nice (looking women in Archangel).

We pulled out of Bakaritza about 7.30 a.m. Oct 4. We are now on board a big river barge and are being slowly towed up the river Dwina [sic]12 to see if we can find any Bolos.13 We are far more comfortable now and the surroundings are far more congenial. We are told it is to be a seven day trip (How little they know).

7 October 1918

Monday

We have been three days going up the river and never a blow struck yet. The scenery is just lovely but so lonesome looking, and poverty struck. Some of the 68th Battery14 are preparing to get off the barge. All of the Rt Section & the Left Section gunners as well. The scenery is just about the same all the way up. We are still busy with P.T. and learning to be machine gunners. The Rt Section left this morning Oct. 8th.

10 October 1918

Thursday

We drew into an American encampment and then we left the Jocks15 whom we picked up on Tuesday. We have P.T. on shore this morning. This afternoon about 3.00 p.m. The assembly was blown we all circled around Major Arnoldy to hear some war news just rec. at the wireless station above where we tied up. Oh how we cheered at the good news (Germanys note to the U.S.A.16) Stop further blood shed.

Also of our great progress on the Western front. Thousand [sic] of prisoners & guns captured. This news seemed to put new life into everyone / I for one feel great now. We pulled out from this small base about 3.30 p.m. and are now making slow progress up the river. Another couple of days will get us to our destination. The farther up the river we go the more eager the Russians are to buy cigs and to pay more for them. The boys who have been here a couple of days and have had a look around tell us to keep our cigs until we get on up farther as the further we advance up the more we will get for them.

The Russians haven’t got much to eat but rolls of money. (Money to burn) but an empty stomach. They seem to have a great craze for old tin cans and will wade out in the ice cold water nearly up to their waists to get an old Bully tin.

There are some horrible stories told about murders comitted [sic] by the Bolsheviks up the line, however time will tell.

14 October 1918

Monday

The 67th Battery17 left us tied up to the shore yesterday and proceeded up the river a couple of miles. We are waiting here till the barge returns, it is expected to reach here sometime this morning. We got all the Russians from the three villages here to bring all their horses and with the help of the Interpreter to try and do some business with them in the horse hire. They brought 86 horses about as big as rats or [Indian] ponies, not one being over three foot six inches high. They chewed the fat for over three hours and we finally managed to get 30 horses from them. When we led them to our barge the old Ladies all started to cry and we had some picnic with them. The men mounted the horses that remained out of the 86 and away they all went. Some of the old girls mounted the horses but the most of them walked weeping as they went along, worse than we would weep if we lost a million dollars.

But it was very touching and one couldn’t help but feel sorry for the old girls because their horses meant their living and goodness knows their living was poor enough at the best of times.

The climate is still everything that could be desired.

21 October 1918

Monday

We have landed at a place called Shenkursk18 and from all appearances it seems a fair sized town, and the people we have met so far are better dressed than the average peasant we met on the way up the river. We had quite a heavy snow storm last night and it is much cooler today.

26 October 1918

Saturday

Shenkursk is a fair sized town, the largest for miles around. We are billeted in the top floor of a fair sized house. The rooms are first rate for this country, the walls being papered and the ceiling plastered and each room has a fire place in it.

26 October 1918 [cont.]

We have purchased a few horses from the Russians across the Vaga river.19 They are small but very strong & serviceable. I have my eye on a little beauty for a saddle [poney].

5 November 1918

Tuesday

Everything is running fairly smooth up till now. We are doing a little drilling just to break in the ponies. 12 men & an N.C.O.20 have been picked to go up the river on patrol duty. I was one of the lucky ones. We are just taking one horse each & kits.

12 November 1918

Tuesday

We are patrolling all around the country for several miles here. Nearly all the inhabitants of the villages we pass through are Bolos. Last night [Bdr]21 Frazer & three other went out some 18 miles on patrol and ran into a bunch of Bolos. We had got wind of them being in this certain village; and consequently22

Well revenge is sweet. Six of us are going out in the bush tomorrow morning early with some yanks and we’ll give them a little of their own medicine back. I feel like killing every Russian I see now we just heard tonight that the Armistice had been signed and our troops were coming through Germany to Russia. No need to say how the news was rec. by the boys.

28 November 1918

Thursday

Thanks giving day

We are still up with the yanks but we’re not doing much, just exercising our horses. We got an issue of Rum, also 8 cigarettes.

29 November 1918

Friday

I am getting too lazy to move, a little work will do me good. Enright [sic] & I are going on a patrol with the yanks to act as despatch riders. This morning Enrite & I rose at 3.30 a.m. and fed our horses and saddled them and were all ready to move off at 3.45 a.m. along with [60] yanks and two Y. officers Lts. Steele & Cuff. We started at 4.00 a.m. on our 7 ½ mile trip to [Beresnic?].23 We were the only two mounted men. We had to keep just in sight of the sleigh that carried our rations & machine guns. This sleigh was driven by a Ruskie Droskie.24 Lt. Cuff was a fine big man. He had a beautiful wife & baby of whom he thought the world of [sic]. His home was in Wisconsin. The yanks split up in two parties each with an officer in charge. They crept up the road in extended order, when they entered the wood they kept against the trees. Enrite & I kept about 200 yards behind them in the middle of the road.

We were thinking of Frazer & Russel as we passed through this forest. Well it was just beginning to get light enough to see a thing or two by the time we reached the far side of the woods.

Some 400 yds from [Beresnic] which is built on a small hill. Here Lt. Steele proceeded across a field with his force of 30 men and a machine gun towards the river with the intention of going along the bank of the river to the other side of [Beresnic]. Lt. Cuff took his men & machine gun and laid low at the edge of the woods. Enrite & I were still mounted in the middle of the road. The old Russian with the sleigh had turned around ready for a hasty retreat. We were not there many minutes before we saw the Bolos walking to and fro from house to house. Their numbers kept increasing in a short time they begin to collect in small groups. We didn’t have to wait [then].

Lt. Steele was about [100] yds from the river when a shot rang out from the Bolo, immediately following a rain of bullets from the villages to the right of [us], from the woods & also from the village across the river. We opened up on them with our machine guns, Enrite & I quickly dismounted and I got my horse over to the field at the side of the road and threw the reins over the fence post, then got into the ditch. Enrite couldn’t get his horse over to the fence so he was obliged to let it go, the last I saw of him for the time being was running back down the ditch with a couple of yanks. Then firing continued & we found out to our sorrow that the Bolo’s [sic] were well fixed for machine guns, [Ro??] Power, Rifle grenades & Rifles & they also had seemed to have lots of ammunition. The Bolo kept advancing down on as steadily they were in a long line & massed close together. I should say there were about [2]00 of them to be sure. They were 200 yds from us by this time. I was having considerable fun firing into the bunch. The old Rusky was hugging the bottom of the ditch very close some six yds from me. The bullets were flying all around me and I could hear their pattering on the trees.

The old Rusky had his wind up properly and every time I fired he dug his face into the snow, when I looked around to see where Lt. Cuff was & his [men], he got up on his knees & would have run for the woods had I not covered him with the rifle and forbid him to move every time I turned my head he wood [sic] be trying to creep away and he finally made his exit [to] the woods.

Which was about 25 yds from here. He went so quick that he had reached the woods before I [saw] him or had time to stop him, else I would have plugged him [sure], his horse galloped down the road toward home. The firing got so intense and the Bolos were coming down the river bank, so that Lt. Steele was obliged to retire. I stayed in the ditch & fired from there afraid to move out of it [as] the air was alive with bullets, it sounds like hundreds of bees in the air.

The firing ceased for a minute & the Bolo’s [sic] kept coming on and yelling furiously. It was at this moment that Lt. Cuff came to the fence at the edge of the [bush] & said I wonder what they intend doing now (I answered) that I thought they were giving themselves up. I had no sooner finished the sentence than they opened up again and it simply rained bullets but thank God not one hit the horse or myself. Cuff then drew back into the woods a bit & when I looked back down the road I could see the [Left] flank bunch running like hell. I raised up on my knees & nearly had a fit when I saw how near the Bolo’s were. The road was high in the middle & graded down, this stopped me from seeing the other side of the road. I was surprised to see them in the ditch on the other side of the road just about [1]00 yds away, again the firing ceased for a second, and I thought it’s now or never, so I threw the reins over the horse’s neck & hurriedly mounted. I was not a second in the saddle before they opened up again, and they poured the bullets into to and around me from both sides & the rear, kept my head and body tight to the old horse and made him travel, he had broken into a sweat from fright and didn’t seem to travel half as fast as I’d a liked to have gone. However, I soon reached the party who were retreating and I enquired as to Lt. Cuff’s whereabouts but nobody seemed to know. It was at this moment I realized that he was still up there at the end of the woods and knew nothing of the left flank retreating. I thought then it was all up with Cuff and his men. I met Enrite down the road a bit with the sleigh, he had stopped it and was driving down the road with the other boys. I told the Sgt that I would go back to the billet & let the officers know how things stood. I reached No. I outpost which was occupied by Russian soldiers & my horse was in a while, [froth] all over & I couldn’t hardly get a trot out of him so I [soon] made the Russians understand I wanted another horse & in another minute I was hitting it up along the Rd [sic] again with a fresh horse.

I reached home about 9.30 am & explained to the Officers all I knew. All available men were then sent up & I was glad to get a bite of breakfast. All our boys went up mounted & a [sic] Interpreter took my white horse so I was out of luck for a moment; however, another fellow and I walked up & when we reached no. I outpost we got word that there were five killed & they wanted a sleigh to bring in the bodies. We got a couple of sleighs & went as fast as possible up towards the woods, it was about 400 yds up from the woods that we picked 5 of the men up in the ditch, cut up something terrible with axes one boy, [Clements], had his (testicals [sic] cut off) in which he expressed his sorrow, but said that we had been sent out to find out some important things & we had done it well.

1 December 1918

Sunday

Lt. Cuff’s body was taken back to Shenkhursk & the other boys were buried near the house in the afternoon.

2 December 1918

Monday

We pulled the guns forward some three miles and shelled. [Bresnic] sent over 28 shells mostly [H.E.] [We] were quite handy the woods but were not interrupted by the Bolo. We could not observe the effect of the firing but may hear from some spy’s [sic] in a short time. After supper tonight, two of the boys who have been missing since Friday arrived here nearly frozen & half starved.

They had been roaming around in the woods for 4 days & 3 nights. They are now in the hospital and resting up a bit. One of the boys is [Clements] whose brother was killed on Friday.

22 December 1918

Sunday

Drawing near Xmas now. I’m spending most of my spare moments making souvenirs from 18 Pdr’s25 shell cases. We went up to a village a week ago with a party of Yanks, Russ. + Cossacks. There were [21] of our boys went up. I was driving [???] Centre on the gun. We travelled 16 [????ts] to a village on the outskirts of a [big] woods, it was the last village before we reached the one which we were to sleep in going to attack. We slept in this village Friday night. 13 [???] to lift the following afternoon at 2:00 pm we travelled for hours & hours through the solid forrest [sic] nothing but big high fir trees on either side of the rd. The rd. was pretty bad for handling a gun as the snow was very deep & there was a deep ditch on either side of the road. We had ten horses on the gun & then it was a big haul and hard pulling. We stopped at 2 am Sunday & had a bite to eat & lit a fire to get warmed up. I thought my hands and feet were frozen stiff. We were in the saddle 12 hours steady & it was a bitter cold night. After an hour rest we started again & were a [???t] from the village at 4 am. Here the yanks left us taking the left right flank while the Russians to the left. The Cossacks took the main drag with the Artillery. We got our guns pulled up & placed in a [dandy] position on the top of a hill [1300] yds from the nearest village. There were three villages right close together. We pulled the timber down the road a couple of hundred yds & there we waited for day break when we would open fire. All this was down [sic] without the village folks being any the wiser. The two hours from 5 to 7 were the worst hours I have ever spent in the Army so far. We had had no sleep and were dead tired from travelling all night. I couldn’t keep my eyes open no matter how hard I tried. I walked up and down trying to thaw out my feet, but it was useless. I was bumping into the other boys & falling over myself, so I [falls] into a sleigh and was sound asleep in a second. It was bitter cold as I have already said & my pal [Walkins] woke me up in a couple of min telling me I’d freeze if I lay there any longer, so I got up and past [sic] the miserable hours as best I could. The poor horses were dead tired and my riding horse flopped in the snow and went to sleep. They were white all over from the frost. We opened fire at 7 am from the gun. You could see the shells bursting in the village.

It was like looking from the roof of Eaton’s store to Maryland St.26 We sent over about [100] shells and had only one dud all the other were dandy Bursts. The shrapnill [sic] was lovely bursts right over the village. The Bolo’s [sic] had no comeback at all. The Cossacks went wild when they heard the first shot fired & the galloped up the road toward the village. The yanks mistook them for Bolos & opened their machine gun on them killing 3 horses & wounding one man. They were forced to return. The yank officer retreated with his men while the Russian Infantry wh went ahead and took their village. [Then] they stopped till 12 am capturing a machine gun & some fire arms. It was some stunt the yanks pulled off as there was nothing to do but walk right in and take possession, and then they were the cause of the Cossacks turning back. Well needless to say we were sore at the yellow trick the Yanks played, and we sure Ball’d [sic] them out when we got back. We intended sleeping in the village that night and instead we had to start on our homeward journey. The Yanks retreated in a sleigh with about 18 blankets on them & their big fur coats. They passed us and left us away behind in the middle of the forest. I never expected to reach the end of the forest.

It has been a long long trip & I was glad when we reach [sic] the village where we had slept two nights previous. We reached Shenkhursk about 12 the next morning.

7 January 1919

Tuesday

Plenty of rumours floating around about large Bolo forces.

24 January 1919

Friday

We have been forced to retreat from [??spa???go] destroying one gun. The Bolos have been drawing nearer & nearer from all directions for the past week. Today at noon Bolo shelled Shenkhursk and made it pretty hot for us for a couple of hours. Luck was with us and we had very few casualties. Capt. [M??t] was wounded and has since died.

Corp. Worthington was also killed. I was sitting in the guard room with four other boys when crash in comes a whizz bang and made itself comfortable on the floor (a dud. had it been alive (good night to all). About 8 pm things began to look pretty serious, for the Bolos had surrounded us with over 11000 men some say 22000 and guns that outranged our 18 pdr.27 Some 30 guns in all I believe. At 9 pm we assembled & Major Hyde explained the situation. We had only one chance & that was if we could get out of Shenkhursk without Bolo getting wise. We took no kit just 24 hrs rations and our rifle & ammunition

25 January 1919

Saturday

By 1.30 am the convoy was all ready lined up composing of about 100 Yanks, 200 Russians, a few English [A.S.C.]28 and 100 Canadians. We had about 68 casualties loaded on sleighs. We had several miles of woods to go through. We travelled about 40 miles. Here we met our [left] section [gunners] with two guns. We stopped here at [Sheckavara] 24 hours and again moved on. The engineers burned the village behind us.

1 February 1919

Saturday

We are in a village 0 miles from [Bresnier] No 2 where our base is or H.Q.29 rather. The name of this village is [Vistoffka]. We have been here four day [sic] and the Bolo started his dirty work the day before yesterday but all the shells landed in the river so it didn’t do much damage. I don’t know how long we’ll be in this joint but roll on [twice] and I hope that volunteer army gets here soon to relieve us.

3 February 1919

Monday

[Hager’s] birthday.

4 February 1919

Tuesday

Bolo has a [41] long range [gun] which we cannot reach with our 18 pdr. and he is making it rather warm for us and Yank C. Coy. he blew nearly all the Yank’s billets down just a half a mile ahead of us. Yesterday, the Bols shelled for [4 ½] hours steady. The Yanks had 16 wounded + 14 killed. The R.S. had six wounded. Last night the Yank patrol captured a Bolo prisoner [end 38] and picked up 5 wounded prisoners. They gave us some valuable information. It seems they have 600 men & one long range gun & 4 smaller ones. We have added a [4-8] to our outfit. They arr. about 10 pm Last eve. [Manned?] by R.F.A.30 We also have 3 more guns across the river so if Bolo gets funny so can we.

24 March 1919

Monday

We have had a hard time for a month now. Lots of work. Just a few hours sleep at night, some nights none at all. Bolos has [sic] been sending over hundreds of shells into our village and there are [ol?] only two houses left. About March 1st Bolo got in behind us and severed communications with [Russia]. We were in a pretty bad predicament.

We had a visit from a Bolo aeroplane Mar 20th.

Mar [10th] we evacuated Vistoffka and are now at [Egnoffsky]. Just heard tonight that Bolo is making a new Rd to our [left] to get in behind us, and he has got two guns on it already. There are lots of good & bad rumours going around (five [mint] interval to [????mb] myself.) no luck.

28 March 1919

Friday

We have built a regular village in the woods at [Egnoffsky]. [New Canada] Bolo has been shelling the [O.P.]31 every day, but there are few casualties. The weather is getting considerably warmer. The ice is getting thin in the river.

No important news and no relief in sight.

3 April 1919

Thursday

Reported that a 60 pdr. arr. in [???la Bresnie] today. Bolo sent about a dozen shells over yesterday, no damage done.

10 April 1919

Thursday

Great unrest among the troops. The other day our Rt section refused to come up the line. We are in a tight place and can’t trust the Russ. They are kept away back while we do the fighting. The general is expected soon to present decorations to our boys.

10 May 1919

Saturday

[Came] on rest yesterday and had a good clean up. Rumour has it that we’ll be leaving about the 24 [???]. We have taken lots of prisoners and we only had 3 casualties.

22 May 1919

Thursday

The girls here wear their hair down their backs. I’m interested in on [sic] of them. Lots of children in all the houses.

24 May 1919

Saturday

We went up the line today to relieve some of our boys who are still up there.

25 May 1919

Sunday

We have a few trenches to hold and the [Russ.] to look after in case of an attack. Bolo got peeved at our [monitor] & 60 pdr so he sent over a few this afternoon.

29 May 1919

Thursday

We were all relieved today by Russ Art.32 and are taking our first steps toward home.

1 June 1919

Sunday

The red tape is in full swing again cleaning [harness] & polishing steel. (Brains of the army again)

No signs of our relief yet. The Russ are doing good work up the line. Hope they keep it up for if they don’t, up we go again.

The 67 have handed over their guns today. They are now at [peccanda].

2 June 1919

Monday

Col. [Sharman] came up from [prainda] today & inspected the [Bty].33 He told us we’d be in Archangel in 10 days. Also we were going home on the [Zai?tsch] S.S.

6 June 1919

Friday

Our relief arr. this morning. We fired our last shots today. We fired four salvos. The officers manned 7 sub guns for the last two salvos.

7 June 1919

Saturday

We turned over our horses at [1:00] am this morning and then got aboard our barge. We left [vista vaga] about 2 am and pulled into [Bresnie] about 8 am. We are at [prainda] about 1 pm and took the [H.Q.s] aboard. Our base ball team beat the 67th team 14 to 2.

8 July34 [sic] 1919

Sunday

Arr. at Archangel [or] [Bakaritza] at 7 pm.

9 June 1919

Monday

We embarked aboard the [Zarilza] this p.m.

First real meal for nine months, beef steak, potatoes, rice, peas, & sauce. Coffee & bread. 22 Rubles or 11 shillings.

10 June 1919

Tuesday

Had a route march this morning and issued with [G.S.R.]35

11 June 1919

Wednesday

Been inspected by Russ Generals also Ironsides. Left Archangel at 4 pm. No tears shed by us.

9:25 pm. We are in the white sea36 now and it is getting cooler. Passed lot of ice & snow.

17 June 1919

Tuesday

Passed by Shetland Islands.

18 June 1919

Wednesday

Arr. at [Leith].37 Docked about 4 pm. After supper we disembarked at 7 pm.

finished

  1. Digital reproduction received by MLC on 26 November 2019 via Shannyn Johnson, image reproduction technician, imageservices@museedelhistoire.ca; 819-776-8686.↩︎

  2. 16th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, North Russia Expeditionary Force. Organized at Witley, Surrey, August 1918 and arrived at Archangel 1 October 1918. Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: Artillery. Library and Archives Canada, https://bit.ly/3llCs7c.↩︎

  3. Witley Camp: Temporary army camp on the Witley Common in Surrey, England.↩︎

  4. Dundee: Coastal city in eastern Scotland.↩︎

  5. River Tyne: River in northeast England which runs approximately 120 kilometers.↩︎

  6. Shetlands: Shetland Islands or Shetland is a subarctic archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland.↩︎

  7. P.T: Physical training.↩︎

  8. Froggie: A pejorative term for a French person, in this case a soldier.↩︎

  9. Red River: A North American river which runs through Minnesota and North Dakota in the United States and Manitoba in Canada, before emptying into Lake Winnipeg. The river runs approximately 255 kilometers.↩︎

  10. Archangel: Archangelsk is a city in northwestern Russia.↩︎

  11. Bakaritza: A harbour on the opposite bank of the river in Archangel, where the Allies’ main warehouses in the area were located.↩︎

  12. River Dwina: Misspelling for River Dvina, a river in northern Russia.↩︎

  13. Bolos: A disparaging nickname for a Bolshevik.↩︎

  14. 68th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (North Russia Expeditionary Force). Organized at Witley, Surrey, August 1918 and arrived at Archangel 1 October 1918. Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: Artillery. Library and Archives Canada, https://bit.ly/3llCs7c.↩︎

  15. Jocks: A pejorative term for a Scottish person.↩︎

  16. German note to USA: Correspondence sent in September and October 1918 at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the United States to begin negotiations for the end of the war.↩︎

  17. 67th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (North Russia Expeditionary Force). Organized at Whitby, Ontario, August 1918 and arrived at Archangel 1 October 1918. Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: Artillery. Library and Archives Canada, https://bit.ly/3llCs7c.↩︎

  18. Shenkursk: A town in Shenkursky District in northwest Russia, and later the site of a major battle in the Russian Civil War. The battle, in January 1919, saw a major offensive by the Red Army against the Allied garrison in Shenkursk and is noted by Hager in later entries.↩︎

  19. Vaga River: A river in northern Russia which runs approximately 575 kilometers.↩︎

  20. N.C.O: Non-commissioned officer.↩︎

  21. Brigadier.↩︎

  22. Hager appears to have been interrupted and ended this entry prematurely; the following page recommences with a new narrative.↩︎

  23. Beresnici: Possibly a misspelling for Berezniki, a city in the Ural Mountains, Russia.↩︎

  24. Ruskie Droskie: Likely a reference to a Droshky, a type of four-wheeled carriage common in Russia.↩︎

  25. The Ordnance QF 18-pounder was a standard artillery gun of British Commonwealth forces during World War I. Hager is making trench art.↩︎

  26. Eaton’s Store to Maryland St.: Winnipeg Eaton’s Department Store.↩︎

  27. PDR: (Possibly) Personal Defense Rifles.↩︎

  28. A.S.C: Army Service Corps.↩︎

  29. H.Q: Headquarters.↩︎

  30. R.F.A: Royal Field Artillery.↩︎

  31. O.P: Observation Post.↩︎

  32. Russ Art: Russian Artillery.↩︎

  33. Bty: Battery.↩︎

  34. Clearly a mistake, as the next entry in the diary is for 9 June 1919.↩︎

  35. G.S.R: General Support Reinforcements.↩︎

  36. White Sea: A southern inlet of the Barents Sea in northwest Russia.↩︎

  37. Leith: A port district in Edinburgh, Scotland.↩︎

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