Thursday 31st May 1917
The adjutant
of 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, in a camp behind the lines, reports
that this afternoon an enemy aeroplane was observed to attack two of our
observation balloons nearby. Occupying these balloons is a dangerous task. The
man hangs in a basket beneath the balloon and tries to work out such details as
where the enemy artillery is, from muzzle-flashes observed. To do this he has
to be at a dizzying height above the ground. He has no way of defending himself
and the balloon makes a big target. In this case the two balloons were hit and
began to fall to earth. Fortunately the men inside had parachutes, which they
deployed successfully and landed unscathed.
Your
correspondent thought that readers might appreciate a copy of a daily
intelligence report, sent by battalions to brigade headquarters, who then pass
on anything of interest, up the line to divisional and corps headquarters to
army headquarters. If the information is particularly interesting it makes its
way all the way to the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force in
Montreuil-sur-Mer. This example was sent by 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, who
are in the front line near Zillebeke, east of Ypres. As will be seen, this
specimen divulges no great secrets.
2nd Battalion
Bedfordshire Regiment
Daily
Intelligence Summary - 31st May, 1917
1.
Identifications.
NIL
2. Operations
(a) Enemy.
Very inactive on the whole.
At 12.5 p.m.
enemy fired 4 [x] 5.9 [shells] just outside front line of Right Company, and
then lifted on to Support Line. Enemy shelled intermittently throughout the
day.
(b) Our
Artillery dispersed Bosche working party in I.13.c. at 3.15 p.m.
They fired
intermittently during the day.
3. Enemy
activity and attitude.
There has
been no rifle fire and a Machine Gun which traversed our front line was firing
over the heads of men working on the parapet.
The enemy was
observed holding trench in front of CROSS Street very strongly at night, as
though "Standing to" in anticipation of an attack.
4. Enemy
defences
(a) Trenches
Enemy is
building up his parapet. A man was seen on the parapet this morning and new
planks were seen.
(b) Wire.
Nil.
(c) O.Ps.
[Observation Posts]
Nil
(d) M.G's. [Machine
Guns]
Nil.
5. Movement
No movement
has been observed.
6. Signals
A few lights
were observed to have been fired in advance of main enemy line.
7. Air
Activity.
Nil.
8. Patrols
See Patrol
Report
9.
Miscellaneous
Nil.
H. Hargreaves,
Lieutenant, for Major
Commanding
2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment.
Source: X550/3WD
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