Metal grave marker of Deputy Paymaster Paul Wolke and Infantryman Paul Lindemann, died June 20 and 22, respectively, 1918. From the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Zahlmeister Stellvertr[eter]Paul Wolke† 20.6.1918Deputy PaymasterPaul Wolke† June 20, 1918Paul LindemannMusketier† 22.6.1918Paul LindemannInfantryman† June 22, 1918
"Laying tapes over ground sounds delightfully simple; but throw in innumerable shell-holes and small ponds, wire and iron stakes, the possibility of 'stopping one,' or of meeting prowling Germans; mix all these on a dark night, and the operation of distributing 'millinery'—as Jones called it—by the compass was, to our minds, a good sample of hell. The tapes must not be too short, or they would not guide sufficiently. If they were too long they might be discovered, and the whole show given away. We laid over thirty tapes, some of them twice as we found they had been shifted—patrols were not too careful when they crossed them. Wire had to be cut away, or cleared to one side to make a path, as the tape had to be run out straight; someone had his work cut out to stop sentries loosing off when the tins, cans and old iron rattle on the wire when we cut it away."
Excerpt from the entry for June 20, 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 Battalion had been tasked with a raid on the German line, one for which they practiced six days before preparing as described. The raid was carried out on the 22nd. 'It was a thoroughly bad Show from start to finish.'
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 488, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1918-06-20, 1918, June, raid, Paul Wolke, Paul Lindemann
