Headstone of Corporal Harry L. Curtis of Massachusetts and the 6th Engineers, 3rd Division, at the Somme American Cemetery, Bony, France. Curtis died on May 6, 1918. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Harry L. CurtisCoprl. 6 Engrs. 3 Div.Massachusetts May 6, 1918
"A Yankee captain, and a sergeant, arrived for three days instruction. 'This is my birthday in hell,' he began. He seemed a good fellow, said that Yankee divisions are rolling over.Company officers are getting fed up with the daily alarms—'an attack is expected'—which come from behind. Reports says one day that cavalry have come to support us, another day that a division is being sent up in buses; so it goes on; and always that the French are behind. The latest alarm, 'sure this time,' is of a May 8th—big attack to-day. Pending its onset I sat, if the midges allowed, or strolled in the cottage gardens."
Ending of the entry for May 7 flowing into that for May 8, 1918 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J. C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn's unit was northeast of Amiens where they gone at the beginning of April to reinforce the British line against the German Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, which was suspended on the 5th. It was quickly followed by Operation Georgette on April 9, the second of five German Offensives in 1918. The Allies were expecting the next attack any day.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 480, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1918-05-07, 18-05-08, 1918, May, Harry L. Curtis
