I am continuing to examine the burgundy coloured notebook that belonged to Bertil, and I see that he had noted down some addresses, some names and other things in it. It is actually a kind of an address book, with labelled pages, marked from A to Z and he has used it liked that in some ways, but also used it like a notebook.
One thing that was folded within the notebook, in the beginning, was the text of the song “O Canada” I can imagine that they sang it now and then.
Connecting notes to diaries and location
Looking at the early pages in the notebook, I find Bertil’s notes about when he left Canada for England. Below you will find a photo of the page, and a small transcription.
“Joined the British Army in Bridgewater, Lunenburg County, N.S (Nova Scotia) Ninth of March 1915. June the 14th. Left Aldershot for Halifax June the 15th. Today we left Canada for England in the liner Caledonian. 8 o’clock in the morning June 24th. Arrived to Plymouth. Had a nice trip coming over.
The notes correlates well with the documents from the Canadian archives from which I include a snippet of below.
One other interesting page in the book describes a specific situation that Bertil was involved in, that happened on October 26th, 1915, on the fields of Flanders.
The page describes a situation when a German plane was shot down, and I have found the notes in the unit diary of the 13th canadian Infantry battalion. Below a photo of the page in the notebook, and a transcription of the page.
“26 October
Our artillery brought a german aeroplane down. She was followed of one of our own aeroplane. She came right down over our support trench. Came down on field. Had a little collision(?) with a trench, turned turtle(?) One was dead and the other captured. She had a machine gun that was taken from our batt(?): at Ypres, which belonged to 14th Bat. The men was only 17 and 18 years old”
Bertil’s notes are in line with the unit diary that day. A snippet from the diary below.
When I read the unit diary I can see that the location is noted as PLUS DOUCE which according to the book “Rats Alley”, that contains names of trenches and places, highly likely is the area of LA PLUS DOUVE. When looking at trench maps and further notes in the unit diary, bothe before and after of October 26th, I can see names like STINKING FARM, GABION FARM and that points me to the area west of Messines, south of Ypres.
Photos below shows the Stinking Farm of today, from when I visited the area in 2021, visiting other Swedish soldiers who fought and fell in the area. This was before I knew that bertil also had been in this area.
For me it is very interesting to connect those notes to other documents, and the feeling of connection to then area, in which I have been many times.
I will definitely take this into my agenda when planning my guided trips to the area in the future, to tell the full story of Bertil Lindh.