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diff --git a/29045.txt b/29045.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d2f51a --- /dev/null +++ b/29045.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4045 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the +1st Canadian brigade, by Frederic C. Curry + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigade + +Author: Frederic C. Curry + +Release Date: June 5, 2009 [EBook #29045] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. LAWRENCE TO THE YSER *** + + + + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + +FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE TO THE YSER + +_Frontispiece._ + +[Illustration: LIEUTS. KLOTZ, STRATHY AND CURRY AT AMESBURY.] + + + + +FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE +TO THE YSER + +WITH THE 1st CANADIAN BRIGADE + +BY + +FREDERIC C. CURRY + +LATE CAPTAIN 2ND EASTERN ONTARIO REGIMENT + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS + +McCLELLAND, GOODCHILD & STEWART, + +PUBLISHERS ... TORONTO. + + + + +_Printed in Great Britain._ + + + + +To + +LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR SAM HUGHES, + +K.C.B., M.P., MINISTER OF MILITIA, + +TO WHOSE EFFORTS + +THE EFFICIENCY OF THE CANADIAN CONTINGENTS + +IS LARGELY DUE. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In presenting this little work to the public the writer wishes to thank +those of his fellow-officers and others who brought to his notice +incidents that did not come under his personal observation. + +Valuable assistance has been gained from the official accounts of Sir +Max Aitken, and from the historical writings of Mr. John Buchan with +regard to the parts played by other brigades and divisions with which we +were co-operating. + +In spite of these attempts to broaden its outlook, the book stands in +the main a personal account of the actions of the 1st Brigade, Canadian +Infantry. + +As such, however, the writer hopes it will be accepted, and not as a +detailed history of the events chronicled, though every attempt has been +made to check the accuracy of the facts stated. + +One fictitious character has been introduced, that of Begbie Lyte, in +order to make the tale impersonal. + +In all other cases the true names of persons mentioned, or initials, +have been used. + +To Dr. Shipley, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, the writer owes +much for his kindly criticisms and encouragement in this work. + +F.C. CURRY. + +_October, 1916._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + +I. ANTE-BELLUM 1 + +II. PETEWAWA 11 + +III. MOBILISATION 24 + +IV. VAL CARTIER 31 + +V. THE CONVOY 37 + +VI. IN ENGLAND 44 + +VII. INTERIM 49 + +VIII. YPRES, 1915 54 + +IX. WITH THE DRAFT 63 + +X. THE BREAKING IN 72 + +XI. RESERVE BILLETS 80 + +XII. BAILLEUL 88 + +XIII. THE TREK SOUTH 95 + +XIV. FESTUBERT, 1915 103 + +XV. CARPE DIEM 110 + +XVI. GIVENCHY, 1915 117 + +XVII. NORTHWARD AGAIN 126 + +XVIII. NIGHTS OF GLADNESS! 132 + +XIX. IN FRONT OF MESSINES 140 + +XX. MINE WARFARE 145 + +XXI. MYTHS, FAIRIES, ETC. 152 + +XXII. THE WINTER MONTHS 160 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +LIEUTS. KLOTZ, STRATHY AND CURRY AT AMESBURY _Frontispiece_ + + _Facing page_ + +SAILING DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE, NEAR BIC 38 + +CHURCH PARADE 40 + +EASTERN ONTARIO REGIMENT, NEAR STONEHENGE 44 + +MANOEUVRES ON SALISBURY PLAIN 48 + +FIELD KITCHEN IN RESERVE BILLETS 82 + +AMATEUR THEATRICALS BACK OF THE LINE 100 + +THE DISTILLERY AT GIVENCHY 118 + +OUR SUPPORT TRENCHES AT GIVENCHY 120 + +AFTER GIVENCHY 122 + +ENTRANCE TO PLUGSTREET WOOD 130 + +OUR TRENCHES, PLUGSTREET WOOD 134 + +OUR TRENCHES AT PLUGSTREET 136 + +THE START OF THE SMOKE CLOUDS 142 + +THE CACTUS TREEN 157 + +AFTER A FEW SHELLS AND A WEEK'S RAIN 160 + + + + +FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE TO THE YSER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ANTE-BELLUM + + +Before the war the Canadian Militia consisted of about 75,000 of all +ranks and all grades of efficiency. To a neutral eye it must have +appeared to be in a highly disorganised condition, for battalions and +corps had sprung up here and there throughout the country with no +proportion existing between them and the other arms of the service. And +yet within a short two months after the outbreak of hostilities a +complete division, armed and equipped, landed in England, and in a bare +six months were in the field holding their own line of trenches. + +To appreciate the difficulties, however, that attended this +transformation we must look back to those happy days prior to August, +1914, and witness the Canadian Militia in its own home. + +This consisted of the "Drill-hall," or "Armouries," a long, low building +equipped more or less with barred windows and castellated turrets at one +or more corners. This building is one of the sights of the city, and is +pointed out by the cabby or taxi-driver to the English gentlemen and +other tourists who come out with the laudable intention of writing +books. + +If the castellated towers are missing, and the building is constructed +on strictly utilitarian lines, one is safe in referring to it as the +"Drill-hall"; but if a couple of old cannon, vintage 1800, guard its +portals, and barred windows and frowning turrets add to its martial +splendour, then you have an "Armouries." By observing this simple rule +one can discriminate between the two as easily as telling a church from +a cathedral. + +The existence of such a building is largely due to the efforts of the +local member of Parliament, and the style of architecture varies +directly with the square of his popularity with the party in power. Thus +a flourishing full-strength battalion may be housed in a dingy, drab +wooden structure, and in the next town a very ornate and modern +building may be tenanted by a corps that is only struggling for +existence, or perhaps not even struggling. It is well, however, to +refrain from too much criticism of these buildings, pretentious and +hideous as they may be, for in them are taught the ideals and principles +which so many of our youth have died to uphold in the rain-sodden fields +of Flanders. + +Considering the shortness of what is locally known as the "drill +season," the results obtained are good. General French, in his report of +a few years ago, described our horses as "half-broken and our men but +little more," but that is only to be expected in a country where a man +is considered to be wasting his time if he devotes even the little that +he can ill afford to the military profession. + +However, even if the half-broken men and horses do kick over the traces +once in a while, they eventually "get there," and that, after all, is +the Canadian doctrine. + +For the purposes of training the Militia is divided into two +classes--the "city" and the "rural" corps. There is also the permanent +force, our Canadian regulars, who exist as a school for "the Militia," +as they refer to the non-professional army. + +The city corps consist chiefly of infantry, heavy artillery, and +engineer corps, the last being generally in university towns and either +affiliated with or being actually the cadet corps of the college. One +might think the cadet corps would be affiliated with the Militia, but +this is a case where the boy is father to the man. + +City corps do fourteen nominal days' training a year in the drill-hall, +and, of late years, a voluntary camp of five days. For each of these +days two night drills of two hours each count as a day; the militiaman +receives the sum of four shillings, with a slight increase according to +his musketry ability. + +The drill season commences in the middle of March, and from then on till +Inspection Day--a boiling hot day in June--the voice of the +drill-sergeant is heard in the land. This individual is obtained on +indent from the permanent force; but more of him anon. + +For two nights a week, then, at the season when a young man's fancies +are supposed to turn lightly to other things, the would-be Wellington +dons a suit of rifle green, or scarlet, or even the heathen kilt, +according to his taste, and, disguising it with a civilian great coat +(regulation coats being issued to 50 per cent. of the establishment), +slinks more or less bashfully down the back way to the drill-hall. There +he will learn to shift a rifle (weight nine pounds five and a few odd +ounces) from one position to another in response to quite unintelligible +commands that echo most absurdly from the roof. He will also learn to +move around the floor in something like the formations laid down in the +little red manual, practising especially those for whom our prayers are +desired, the favourites of the General Officer Commanding his district. + +For, though regulations wax and wane, the G.O.C. changeth not; neither +does he bow down and worship the little tin gods the Army Council set +up. But instead, as one by one the formations he used to know are culled +from the manual, he watches the new formations with a passive eye and +reserves his choleric criticisms for the old reliables' "Echelon to the +right" and that maximum of military perfection the "March Past." + +In rural corps, however, the season consists of fourteen actual days +spent in the broiling sun in camp. Lucky indeed is the company commander +who can bring a full company every year to camp, for many who come one +year come not again, and such are the conditions that no man sayeth him +nay lest recruiting be stopped altogether in that district. One sighs +for the press gang of Merrie England and subscribes for such incendiary +journals as those of the various National Service Leagues, for one has a +limited area to secure the recruits from, and must recruit at least 60 +per cent. each year at a season when farm labour is at a premium. + +Having secured your recruits, you must assemble them at some central +point where you have a large quantity of arms and equipment stored, +generally at your own expense--though "Sam" Hughes is remedying +this--and issue these, stave off complaints that the fit is not exactly +up to West End standards, and, if you are an old "stager," give them an +hour or two of drill while enthusiasm is at its maximum. + +Then on the required date you marshal your little force at the railway +station, shepherd them into the cars, and detrain them a few hours +later, under even more trying circumstances, a few miles from camp. +Then, with a mixture of patience, perspiration, and profanity, you +finally march into your line of tents. Here you are met with great glee +by the colonel and the adjutant, who inquire blithely as to how many men +you have; this may seem useless, but as the men are strung out for at +least half a mile along the route it is reassuring to learn how many +there should be in the little procession. + +We will take it that the colonel is pleased with your reply, in which +case he will tell you that his white horse has arrived, so if you will +drop around ... prohibition rules in our training camps, but a good O.C. +has always something under the mat. + +What follows in the remaining days of the fortnight must be endured to +be appreciated. At the end of that time the shepherding begins again, +and for the next month the company commander scours his district, this +time locating uniforms which in defiance of his last orders, and +prayers, have not been turned in. Very often the man has gone West and +the uniform as well. So remote are the chances of seeing either again +that the expression "Gone West" has almost the same meaning as the +modern soldier's "Nah pooh!" + +During the winter months classes of instruction are held in all the +training centres, the instructors being the non-commissioned officers +of the permanent Militia. The amount of good done depends largely on the +ability and personal effort of the commanders of the local corps. During +these months such officers as can spare the time or have not already +done so become, by various long and tedious processes, involving much +correspondence, attached to the various barracks for instruction. + +This arrangement is a very popular one for all concerned, providing as +it does-- + +1. Frequent leave for junior officers of the permanent force; + +2. An opportunity to drill men who know, by years of experience, what +movements one wishes to perform, and who will (D.V.) perform them with +machinelike precision despite wrong commands; + +3. A pleasant change in the ordinary drill for the above-mentioned men +owing to the aforesaid wrong commands. + +In the evenings lectures are given by senior officers who are not young, +married, or talented in other ways. These lectures comprise the hundred +and one things an officer is expected to know, from "Military Law" to +"Protection when at Rest." This last subject will require revision after +the present campaign, it being the writer's opinion that soldiers never +rest--not when there is a foot of Allied soil unturned by a shovel, at +any rate. + +Eventually one passes an examination of sorts and becomes a qualified +officer of Militia. The questions set are not hard--they would doubtless +raise a smile if handed to a first year Sandhurst man--but they present +real difficulties to officers whose opportunities are limited and whose +spare time is largely taken up in the hard and thankless task of +recruiting. + +Officers of the permanent force are, in the main, graduates of the Royal +Military College, Kingston, an institution second to none in the Empire. +Field officers of Militia can also take a training course at the +college, but the numbers who can avail themselves of this opportunity +are limited. + +Our staffs are assisted by very able officers loaned from the Imperial +Army in exchange for officers of the same rank attached to Imperial +battalions. + +But the bulk of the instructional work is done, and exceedingly well +done too, by the staff-sergeant--the Sergeant What's-'is-Name of +Kipling's song. + +He is very carefully selected and trained, and becomes in time a walking +encyclopaedia of military affairs. He must be a marvel of tact and +diplomacy as well, for not only will he meet the officer who knows +nothing and appreciates that fact, but also that other type--not +uncommon in civil life as well--the man who knows nothing yet thinks he +knows all. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PETEWAWA + + +Petewawa is the training ground of the Canadian Field Artillery and the +Permanent Force. Until very recently it was strictly reserved for them, +and was regarded, by those who had not been there, as a sort of seventh +heaven for soldiers. Later, when the city corps were taken there for +five days one June--or was it July?--we changed our minds and decided +that, geographically speaking, it was part of one of Dante's seven +circles. At present it is the internment camp for enemy aliens, and if +they endure it for the duration of the war the Kaiser should present +them, one and all, with iron crosses. + +Fifty square miles of sandy hills, covered here and there with second +growth scrub, it is an ideal ground for the purpose. The temperature +rises to 98 deg. Fahrenheit most of the days in summer. What it is like in +winter the writer does not know--probably 40 deg. below zero, as our +climate does nothing by halves. + +The name, curiously enough, means "a sound (or music) as of water +falling in the distance." Anyone who has toiled through its sands in a +July sun can appreciate the subtle humour of the red man who named it. +Other attractions are sand fleas, mosquitoes, and black flies, so that +after passing through a fortnight in Petewawa one is versed in all +modern methods of warfare, including the subterranean and the aerial. + +Here the artillery do all their training--heavy and fortress artillery +excepted. The latter, however, send quotas each year, though performing +their actual drill in their armouries. There are other artillery camps, +but none of the importance of Petewawa, for it is essentially an active +service camp. Jackets are strapped to the limbers, shirt sleeves rolled +to the elbows, and straw hats, locally known as "cow-breakfasts," take +the place of the more military cap. The gunner reverts to his original +state and becomes a farmer again. And he is none the less a good gunner +for so doing. Men who can understand the mechanism of a modern combined +reaper and binder have no trouble learning the recoil apparatus of an +eighteen-pounder gun, and for drivers one cannot find a better man than +the farmer, for the man enlisting as such brings his own team with him +and naturally will not neglect them. + +So one sees the batteries drawn up behind cover, firing slowly and +deliberately as they do now on a "quiet" day along the Western front. + +A sharp report, a glint of flame and of the gun recoiling between the +two men sitting on either side of the trail, and another shell is +whirring on its way to the target. Almost before the recoil is finished +the breech is opened and another round thrust in, and the breech closes +with a clitch-clatch of its own. A few seconds later corrections come +over the telephone and another shell goes speeding overhead. + +With the infantry, however, Petewawa is a different matter. To them it +means manoeuvres; and every soldier knows what manoeuvres mean. +There is a popular idea that these tactical exercises are enjoyed by the +officers. Perhaps they are, if perchance one is on the staff, a dizzy +height the writer has not yet attained. + +Let us follow the fortunes of a typical Militia battalion during the +several days covered by this mysterious term "manoeuvres." + +The General Idea has been received the night before and duly discussed +at the "pow-wow" or conference that always follows the reception of this +document. Much time and whisky has been consumed, and the sum of the +evening's discussion is that the General Idea is exactly the same as +last year's, with the exception that the Blue Force is fighting the Grey +Force this year. "Last year we had the Red Army to contend with, and the +fact that they no longer oppose us is due to the annihilation they +suffered"--so says the colonel. "The invasion is coming from the +north--presumably the Esquimaux are up in arms against us." + +Dawn brings with it reveille and brigade orders. This is a magnificent +bluff on the part of the brigade staff to give the impression that they +have sat up all night devising new and wondrous schemes for departing +from the beaten path of military science. This is quite unnecessary, as +sufficient departures will occur naturally in the course of the day, and +nothing on earth will convince the infantry officer that the staff ever +work. + +The colonel, however, reads the orders to the little group around him. +First there is the General Idea, laboriously copied from orders of the +night before. Then comes the "Special Idea." This, too, bears a +time-worn similarity to its predecessors, but passes without special +comment. The next heading is "Dispositions": "The advanced guard will +consist of one troop of the Missinabee Horse and one company of the +Umpteenth Battalion." "Thank God for that!" murmurs the colonel, +realising that the one company of his battalion will be spared the +arduous duty of trying to replace cavalry, and that the other three will +be in the first of the fray and consequently the first out of ammunition +and free from the danger always incidental to the use of blank +ammunition at close ranges. Moreover, advanced guards have always been +his hobby, so he proceeds to issue his orders--verbally of course, +though he will write them out later for the sake of curious generals who +make collections of such things. While he is waiting for the cavalry to +report he engages in very earnest conversation with Begbie Lyte, the +signalling officer. Lyte is the serious-faced young man standing arguing +with his little knot of flag-waggers. He has just realised that one +mistake has already been made in the campaign, for, in the enthusiasm +of youth, he brought bicycles to Petewawa. He realises, too, that next +year he will either bring no bicycles or no men, for the latter having +pushed their machines through three miles of sand from the detraining +platform are already expressing their opinion, with true Canadian +freedom, as to their usefulness. + +This difficulty is tactfully overcome by leaving the cycles in the +tents, and the "plot," as he calls the instructions he has just +received, is unfolded to them. + +Meanwhile the cavalry come up, and the officer-in-charge, knowing +somebody who knows Lyte, spends a few seconds in the exchange of +pleasantries. His name being Horace Smith, it has been quite +conveniently shortened to "Horsey." Smith is one of those geniuses who +knows everybody whom anyone knows; consequently he is always able to +borrow money. Presently he trots off with his troop, and we know we +shall see no more of him until nightfall. In our turn we move off as +well, and the main body, already commencing to munch the haversack +lunches they are carrying, cherish similar opinions as to our fate. + +Eventually the whole column is moving down the dusty road and presently +turns northward, following some wheel tracks that eventually merge into +the sand. Then for a long time nothing happens. The cavalry have long +since disappeared; the vanguard of one company shows up occasionally on +a hill top ahead of us and proves that we are at least moving in the +same general direction. + +At one time two men detached themselves from the rest of the vanguard +and proceeded to divest themselves calmly of their accoutrements. Then +followed the feverish wagging of a flag in a manner that suggested news +of greatest importance. The colonel becomes impatient as he waits for +the message to come through, and suggests mildly that there seems to be +a falling off from the standard rate. + +Lyte, however, is equal to the occasion, and calls to the reading +signallers "Tell the fool to semaphore!" "He carn't," gasps the sergeant +in a horrified whisper; "He's young, an' he don't know nothink but +Morse." Lyte groans. This young lad was pressed into service a few days +previously, on the strength of his boy scout record, to fill a gap +caused by another youth who had suddenly felt the call of the wild and +gone river boating. + +Eventually the message is received and the flags on the hill top +disappear as the signallers hasten to catch up with their party. It is +the type of message embraced under the heading "Negative Information" +and stated to be of importance. "Scouts report no enemy in sight as yet, +10.15 a.m.--J. HORACE SMITH (Lieut.)." + +There is a feeling that we have been deceived, and we trudge on, kicking +up angry little swirls of dust. Sympathy is already beginning to be +expressed for the children of Israel in their wanderings. The music of +water falling in the distance would be music indeed, for most of the +water bottles are by now empty, and great beads of sweat are standing +out on the men's foreheads as a result. Men will not learn that drinking +large quantities of water when marching only increases their discomfort. + +However, other things soon occur to divert our minds; one or two false +alarms that the enemy has been sighted are satisfactorily straightened +out, with more flag-wagging, and finally the plop-plop of blank +cartridge is heard in the distance. + +The advance guard now extends in long skirmishing lines with a view to +brushing aside any slight resistance offered by the enemy. Presently we +come on the horses of our mounted brethren in little groups of four in +rear of a hill, and as we climb the hill itself we see the backs of +Smith's gallant troopers as they fire from behind bushes that would +certainly prove their death warrants on active service. The enemy are +hidden in the edge of a large and straggly wood that only two days +before was the scene of a roaring bush fire. Occasionally a man can be +seen moving against the background of the charred trunks, but they, too, +are making the best of what cover there is. Smith, leaving us to clear +the wood, withdraws his men and reports to the colonel, and then moves +around to a flank, hoping to cut off the party inside the wood. + +Meanwhile the main guard have reinforced the first thin lines of +skirmishers, and the enemy are already falling back through the wood. We +follow at a more leisurely pace, as the whole place is a mass of charred +tree trunks, burnt underbush and ashes. A voice from the rear bids us +"Lie down" in no uncertain tones, so, reflecting that after all the +Government knows best, we do so, and from then on the khaki begins to +blend with its surroundings in a way that the inventor of this variety +of cloth never dreamed of. + +The wood turns out to be pear-shaped, and we, having by chance struck +the small end of the pear, emerge considerably before the other +battalions, who, having come up on our right, are biting into the +largest part of the pear. Sounds of heavy conflict arise, and having +still some five rounds each of blank we re-enter the wood and the +combat. From then on, as Lyte expressed it afterwards, "Things began to +occur just as they happened, like all great battles, the strategy being +worked out later." + +Twice we engage friendly battalions until stopped by an irate umpire, +and once we surround and capture three sections of the enemy's horses. +These are found in a little _coulee_ running off a dried stream bed. +Altogether it is a glorious affair, and is just settling down to the +stage when personal combat begins when a bugle blares out the "Cease +fire." This is followed by the "assembly," and we straggle to the edge +of the wood to find most of our battalion there. The brigade is again +formed up and we sit down for lunch. The cavalry, our enemies of the +morning, trot back to camp, where a hot meal awaits them, and we know we +shall not see them again. As we have our blankets following we wonder +what is in the wind. We soon learn, however--the rest of the day is to +be spent in a route march to Chalk River, a stream about ten miles +further north, and bivouac will be made there. Blankets are to be worn +"en banderole." + +The whole brigade busies itself in drawing the blankets from the waggons +and rolling them into long cylinders, which with a spare boot-lace are +made into an exaggerated sort of horse-collar. The luckless owner then +thrusts a head and one arm through the roll and he is ready to move on. +A hotter method of carrying a blanket could scarcely be devised, but it +is much preferable to the antique leather equipment that hangs year in +and year out on the armoury walls. + +Presently the column moves off along the dusty road, a mere trail +winding through the brush, which, pleasant and green at first, soon is +as drab and sordid as the weltering men along the road. Now and again a +halt is ordered, and we throw ourselves on the roadside while another +battalion passes through to take its turn at the head of the column. +Some artillery waggons pass at the trot, raising clouds of dust and +profanity along the line, and then the piping of a whistle starts the +whole column moving again. + +Chalk River is eventually reached and the bivouac formed; then the +joyful shout of "Tea up" is heard. Several buglers at the same time play +the "Men's Mess Call" with variations, and for a while contentment +reigns. + +The officers stroll around to the Y.M.C.A. tent and write postcards +home, telling blithely how they are enjoying the lovely weather--not a +cloud in the sky! They mention nothing of the blistered necks and +sunburned noses from which the skin is already peeling. Begbie Lyte, +with a shameless disregard for the truth, buys a postcard of a typical +bunch of troops passing up that very same road, and selecting a figure +well concealed by dust, marks an X over it, and inscribing "This is me" +on the reverse side addresses it to the colonel's daughter. + +The cool of the evening soon drives the noisy bathers from the river, +and the camp settles down around the inevitable camp fires until the +warning notes of "Last Post" and "Lights Out" sound. + +The moon comes out and shines on long rows of blanketted forms and +stacked rifles, and the only sound is the uneasy stir of the horses and +tossing of an occasional man where the sand flea is already at work. + +Such is a typical day at Petewawa. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MOBILISATION + + +It required the outbreak of the war to bring home the inevitable +weakness of such a system, and when the Canadian Parliament announced +the intention of sending a contingent of thirty thousand men, even the +most enthusiastic shrugged their shoulders and said "Impossible." + +But the feat not only was accomplished, but nearly trebled in the +accomplishment, and if there is one man who can claim to have arisen as +a Moses from among the people and achieved this miracle it is +Major-General Sir Sam Hughes, at that time known generally as Sam +Hughes, the Minister of Militia. + +Sam Hughes did not arise in a single hour--neither was Rome built in a +day. He had been rising for several years, and it had taken the combined +efforts of both the Liberal and the Conservative parties to hold him +down. + +Looking backward one cannot help thinking what a pity it was he had not +been given a free hand. He supported the Ross rifle, and raised it from +the status of a political weapon to that of a military one, and whatever +opponents to this weapon may claim they must remember that it was the +weapon that held the line at Ypres in those last few days of April, +1915, and had it not been available the Canadian Division would have +probably been in England patiently drilling with dummy rifles, and the +glory of having saved the situation would have fallen upon other troops. + +However, the actual declaration of war drew people's attention to the +Militia, and they demanded action. + +Some commanding officers made stirring speeches by platform or Press, +offering the services of their battalions as complete units--an +impossibility to accomplish owing to the terms of enlistment; others +with more modesty sent in their applications, without any flourish of +trumpets, for service in any capacity. + +But along the border, wherever there were canals, bridges, and other +public works that might easily be damaged by fanatic sympathisers from +the United States, volunteers were called for to supply the necessary +guards. + +Subsequent events justified these precautions, but for some time the men +on duty were the object of much attention from the small boy and that +type of young man who still roams the streets and declares that the +Allies are a long time winning the war! + +Spy fever was rampant, and such experts as Begbie Lyte were constantly +in demand to investigate lights that flickered in any manner that a +vivid imagination might possibly take for signalling. + +At other points practical jokes were played, such as driving a calf at +night in the direction of the sentry. The soldier receiving no answer to +his challenge would fire in the direction of the noise, and a loud laugh +would greet him. Once or twice, however, the sentry waited for the laugh +and fired in that direction, so that this variety of joke soon lost its +popularity. + +Once, however, mobilisation had been ordered the militiamen were +replaced by men who had volunteered for active service. The armouries +began to hum with activity. In the West it was hard to find +accommodation for the men who came from isolated homesteads and lonely +ranches, some even from the Arctic Circle, to enlist. The West still +continues to supply the bulk of our recruits, due largely to the fact +that the majority are, if not British born, at least the sons of British +fathers, and consequently felt the call more personally than the sons of +families four or five generations in the country. Quebec, from which +province one would expect the most owing to the ties of race and +language with our Allies, has been frankly disappointing, although +certain exclusively French-Canadian battalions have done, and are +continuing to do, as good work as any on the Western front. + +A week or two dragged on before the actual order to depart for the big +concentration camps came, and various conjectures were made as to their +location. Petewawa was suggested as one, but given up as too isolated. +Niagara, Barriefield, Three Rivers, and other "annual" sites were other +favourites, but each had some objection, for no concentration such as +thirty thousand men had been held in the history of Canada. + +Eventually, however, we learned that one large camp was to be formed at +Val Cartier. Except that Val Cartier was in Quebec, no one knew +anything of this little hamlet. + +Orders came thick and fast ordering this equipment to be worn and that +to be left behind. Some days rifles were to be taken and greatcoats left +in stores, and next day the rifles were to be left and greatcoats were +to be taken. The result was that some of the telegrams went astray, and +commanding officers at the last minute ordered what equipment they +thought most suitable to be worn. + +The Umpteenth Battalion took down the leather harness that had adorned +its armoury walls for many a year and spent an anxious day fitting it +together, Begbie Lyte and the other officers who had volunteered for the +front flitting from one group of contestants to another. + +At last every man had a working knowledge of the fifty odd buckles and a +hazy idea as to where the straps were supposed to cross his chest and +where not. The colonel looked with pride on this difficulty overcome and +said, "Thank Heaven! we will probably get a more modern outfit as soon +as we strike camp." Alas! We buckled and unbuckled those straps and +rolled and unrolled our greatcoats for half a year before the new kit +was handed out. + +This was only one of the many steps that led up to that final day when, +with the band playing such cheerful airs as "The Girl I left behind me" +and "Will ye no come back again," the active service volunteers of the +Umpteenth Battalion left their native town. + +The way to the station is but dimly remembered as a haze of faces, +spasmodic attempts at cheering, and the waving of many handkerchiefs. +Much handshaking and the sudden thrusting of presents into arms already +full prefaced the actual pulling out of the train. + +The officers gathered on the back of the last car and watched the white +faces of the crowd dwindle to pin points, and then a curve hid town and +people alike from view. + +It was less lonely inside the car, where were officers of another +battalion whose men were in the fore part of the train. The elder men +talked in low, serious tones as befitted those who knew something of +what lay before them. + +To Lyte and the younger subalterns it seemed as though they were on the +threshold of life's Great Adventure, as indeed they were. + +But they were not facing a war of chivalrous deeds such as they +imagined. + +Alas for our ideals! war now appears in its true light, as the game of +commerce played on a larger scale with human lives as pawns in the place +of dollars and cents! + +And as for chivalry, how can it live in the midst of machine-guns, +asphyxiating gases, and liquid flames? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +VAL CARTIER + + +A more picturesque site for a camp than Val Cartier could hardly be +imagined, situated as it was among the foothills of the Laurentian +mountains along the banks of the Jacques Cartier River. + +A gentle slope, dry sandy soil, and plenty of water made it ideal from a +sanitary standpoint, and with the ample manoeuvre grounds available, +the shower sprays, and running water piped throughout the camp, Val +Cartier was the peer of any camp the Canadians have yet seen. + +But when we tumbled out of the train in the early morning there was +nothing to show the existence of a military camp except one lonely +bell-tent guarding the railway platform and a pair of wheel-tracks +disappearing in the clumps of second-growth cedars. + +Following these tracks we came upon an opening on either side of the +road in which men laboured at clearing away the underbrush. The vivid +colours of the jerseys in which they were clad told the world that those +on the one side were students from McGill, while those on the other clad +in blue and white represented 'Varsity (Toronto). Further along the red, +yellow, and blue of Queen's University showed where their University +Field Company was at work. The same spirit of competition that existed +on the football field now kept the three units working at top speed. + +A patch of land that one day was covered with cedars would next day be +bare of all but stumps, the brushwood blazing merrily in huge fires. +Next day the stumps in turn would be gone and by evening the new area +would be covered with tents. + +Already some hundreds of tents had been erected on each side of what was +to be the main street of the camp. A ditching machine pantingly laboured +on one side of the road and dug as much in a day as fifty men. In the +ditch already made on the other side pipes had been laid and running +water was available. + +Showers had been erected for each company, and, most welcome of all, the +advance party greeted us with a flourish of dirty aprons and ladles and +the joyful cry of "skillet." + +During the afternoon greatcoats were received, and very necessary they +were, for when we rose next morning ice had formed in our pails, and the +trees on the mountain side were beginning to turn red. + +Long before we left the mountain sides were a wild revel of colour, +reds, yellows, and browns predominating, where the frost had touched the +leaves. Particularly brilliant were the shot-scarred trees that stood on +the slopes forming the stop-butts of the rifle-ranges. + +These ranges are worthy of special mention, comprising as they did +targets for fifteen hundred men. + +The method of construction was simplicity itself. A deep ditch had been +dug and the earth thrown up like an ordinary trench to protect the +marker. Strong posts had been erected about six feet apart to carry the +targets, which took the form of squares of pulpboard mounted on a lever +pivoted to the upright. The weight of the target held it behind the +butt, and it was brought into view by pulling a short piece of rope +attached to the free end of the lever. + +Crude as this arrangement was, it served the purpose admirably, and +daily we trudged out toward the mountain, around the foot of which this +trench wound much as the German line does around the foot of Messines +Hill, and fired ragged volleys into the re-echoing hill sides. + +In only two ways could the training have been improved, and neither of +these two was practicable under the circumstances. Better checking of +the target registers and fire control would have necessitated officers +trained better in musketry, and such officers were not available, and +had the latest pattern ammunition in clips been obtainable instead of +the old square-toed bullet wrapped in paper packages, more practice in +rapid fire--the English Army's Mad Minute--could have been had. + +But Sam Hughes had to work with the material at hand, and from an army +of men who had, in the majority, never fired a service rifle in their +lives, he formed an army that he described as being "the finest shooting +army in the world." + +Drill was not by any means neglected, and there were few idle hours in +camp, even moonlight nights being eagerly seized upon by battalion +commanders for extra work. + +Daily fresh drafts from battalions arrived and were formed into new +composite battalions, and daily the proportion of men in old civilian +clothing grew less. + +Two reviews were held, after one of which the Honourable Sam had many +things to say to the officers. He told them that every officer, no +matter what political gender, would have an equal chance in the great +struggle for a place on the contingent, for instead of the one thousand +officers asked for some fifteen hundred officers were actually in camp. + +Sam spake yet other homilies to the officers, and his address, delivered +from a mound on which he and his staff were drawn up, was irreverently +referred to around camp as the "Sermon on the Mount." A story is also +told that one of his aides suggested that all could not hear him. +"That's all right," he is credited with replying; "they can all see me!" + +However, his words had a beneficial effect on all who heard them, and +when two weeks later another review was held and His Royal Highness the +Duke of Connaught inspected the contingent it was announced that the +First Canadian Division was ready to proceed over seas. + +Begbie Lyte and other signalling officers were summoned over to +headquarters one day and received mysterious instructions from an +officer in naval uniform. + +Two days later, on the 22nd of September, the ---- Battalion embarked on +a troopship, and after a wild evening's pleasure at the Chateau +Frontenac the writer, Begbie Lyte, and some others sought the narrow +confines of the ship. The rhythmic throb of the propeller woke them some +hours later as the ship moved out to anchor in mid stream. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CONVOY + + +For two days we lay at anchor opposite the Citadel of Quebec and +bemoaned the fate that separated us from the twinkling lights of the +Chateau Frontenac and the Dufferin Terrace. Then one evening the throb +of the propeller drew the crowd from the saloons to the decks and we +watched the lights fade away in the night. From the forts long fingers +of light followed us down stream, and blinking lights here and there +sent us farewell greetings. Up on the bridge we could hear the clatter +of the signal lamps, and the sooty odour of petroleum smoke hung in the +calm air around us. Begbie Lyte was on the job and became an important +unit in our little company. Through him alone would we get news of the +outside world for some weeks to come. + +Nearing Father Point, below Quebec, where normally the pilot is dropped +or taken on when one is leaving or proceeding to Canada, the ship's +officers pointed out a small twinkling light that marked the grave of +the ill-fated _Empress of Ireland_. We had seen the collier _Storstadt_ +that sent her to her doom while at anchor off the Citadel, and were much +impressed. + +As night wore on the groups on the deck became smaller until the ship's +officers alone remained, and with darkened port-holes we slipped on +through the night. A distinct freshness in the wind spoke of a change +around us. We were nearing salt water. Next day we anchored in Gaspe +Basin. Already some six or eight ships lay there. + +There we lay for some days watching the jellyfish and the gulls while +one by one our number was increased to thirty-two. + +At this point a diversion occurred in the form of the last visit by the +Minister of Militia in a noisy tugboat. More important than the printed +copies of his farewell speech that were handed us was the news that now +was our last chance to mail letters. In childish simplicity we handed +down our mail, thinking the "hame folk" would receive these in a few +short days. The sacks were collected and taken to one of the other ships +and journeyed across the Atlantic with us. So our departure was kept +secret from all but a few, for, with a shrewd knowledge of the +"habitant" mind, Captain Gee, the gallant commander of "E" Company, tied +up a few letters in a handkerchief, weighted it with sundry pieces of +silver, and dropped the package into a fishing boat that had come +alongside with a load of fresh meat. The very amount enclosed spoke of +secrecy, and the "habitant" sailor used all due precautions in +forwarding the missives. + +[Illustration: SAILING DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE, NEAR BIC.] + +By Sunday noon the ground swell had driven some of the officers to deck +chairs, while the others marshalled the troops on the rear deck for +Divine service. Service over, we watched the celebrated Perce Rock +fading in the distance and knew that Canada now lay far behind us. A day +later and Newfoundland too lay in the distance, and the magic circle of +the horizon closed around us. + +Interest now began to be taken in things nautical. The sextant, compass, +and log were the cause of much discussion, and the usual bets were made +on the daily run, the stakes being held by the chaplain. + +Three days out and the ship's library was taken by assault, and the +sevenpenny novels that formed it disappeared into the cabins. In vain +an officer was appointed librarian with powers to search and to seize, +but conditions were not bettered. + +Lectures, physical drill, and other mild duties relieved a little of the +monotony, for the journey was a slow one, a condition made necessary by +the horse transports, one of which rolled in line ahead of us. +Occasionally a stir would be noticed on her decks and a horse that had +succumbed to _mal-de-mer_ would be unceremoniously dumped overboard. +Such occasions were marked by a fusillade of pistol shots from each ship +as the carcase drifted past, for, contrary to traditions, most of us +carried revolvers for the first time in our lives and were anxious to +display our prowess. + +Nearly a fortnight was thus passed gazing in singular apathy at the most +remarkable demonstration of the command of the seas that military +history of any age affords. + +In three long lines, roughly a mile apart, the transports formed an +armada such as Philip of Spain never dreamed of. + +But about two days out from England a black column of smoke was seen to +port, and presently the contour of a heavy battleship could be +determined bearing down on us. There was wild excitement till the +Cross of St. George could be distinguished at her masthead. It was the +ill-fated _Queen Mary_, our latest and finest battle-cruiser. At an +almost incredible speed she overtook us and passed up our lines with her +crew manning the decks and her band playing "The Maple Leaf." + +[Illustration: CHURCH PARADE.] + +From then on we always could see the smoke of heavier battleships in the +offing, and knew we were getting close to somewhere. + +We passed the Scilly Islands about 4 o'clock in the morning, but as +cards had continued till late the preceding night few but the ship's +officers saw the pin-point of light marking the westward sentinel of the +Old World. + +Then on October 14th fishing smacks again appeared and the grey coast of +Cornwall hove in sight, and by noon we could distinguish buildings along +the cliffs. + +Passing the Eddystone our course was altered and all hopes of landing at +Southampton vanished. Captain H----r was much excited. After nineteen +years he was returning to his native town--Plymouth. To a running fire +of his explanations we passed up the Sound to the Hamoaze. A tugboat, +looking ridiculously small against the gigantic liner ahead, now took +us in tow, and the throbbing of the ship's screw stopped. The cessation +of this pulse added a sombre touch to our voices; we were nearing the +end of the voyage, and in another day would know the ship no more. + +Thus we glided slowly past the old wooden cruisers now used as training +ships, and from their crowded riggings came shrill treble cheers. To the +piping of the young cadets' voices was added the screaming of sirens and +the tooting of many whistles. Halyards on all sides of us broke out into +brilliant bunting and semaphores wagged with a madness that even Lyte +could not translate. + +The clarion notes of the mess bugle called us from the decks to other +duties, and there between the soup and the fish we heard the hoarse +rattle of the anchor chain as we found our moorings. + +Captain H----r, seizing the opportunity, rose, and in the capacity of an +old Plymothian gave us greeting. + +Such was our welcome to England. + +In the morning we looked out and saw rows and rows of chimney pots, +impressive in their similarity. + +Then later we read an editorial in _The Times_ describing us as +pioneers and backwoodsmen. This provoked much comment, but the writer +for one was not greatly distressed, for he had been born within sound of +the shrill of a sawmill, and the perfume of cedar is still sweeter to +his nostrils than the costly unguents of Araby. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN ENGLAND + + +Our stay in England was marred by the heaviest rainfall of many years, +and Salisbury Plain, where we were quartered all winter, had the +reputation of being the muddiest spot in the world until we struck +Flanders; and even now there are patriots who maintain that the "Plain" +holds the championship. + +But these were not our first impressions of the Downs. It is hard yet to +reconcile the mud in which we lived for months with the velvety swards +that first greeted our eyes. + +We had detrained at Amesbury, bleary eyed and sleepless after a tedious +night trip from Plymouth. This had followed a seemingly interminable +march through Plymouth, during which our progress had been seriously +delayed by women who broke into the ranks and kissed and wept over our +dear boys. Officers escaped with mere handshakes, but still found the +ordeal rather trying. + +[Illustration: EASTERN ONTARIO REGIMENT, NEAR STONEHENGE.] + +However, a few minutes of standing around the platform munching +sandwiches while the necessary mistakes were made and corrected wakened +us thoroughly, and then to the crunch of our own footsteps we swung +smartly down the village street. + +Here we found we were in a new world, a world we had read of in books. +The thatched cottages, the neatly-clipped hedges, the churchyard with +its headstones and tumbling wall, all seemed to fit in with what we +expected. When we passed a public-house with its wooden sign emblazoned +with "The Three Feathers," or some such emblem, the picture was +complete--it was the England of Jeffery Farnol! + +Later we swung across the ample Downs, passing on our way Stonehenge. +After having said "I don't know" to a few hundred questions from the men +nearest you, it was a relief to be able to answer a few for a change. +What memory failed to supply imagination furnished; but this is every +guide's privilege. A momentary halt here--to give the men a +rest--afforded a chance for cameras to click, and then we left the road +and marched across the grassy Downs to the Bustard Inn. Here the rows of +tents that were to be our homes for the next few months had already +been pitched. + +Other brigades went to Lark Hill, to Pond Farm, to Sling Plantation, and +to West Down, North and West Down, South ... one could lose a whole army +in this vast training ground. + +Gone was the long main street of Val Cartier camp with its cinema shows +and booths of tempting merchandise. Gone, too, was the little river with +its gravelly shores for bathing. + +But we were one step nearer our goal, and that was the one thought that +consoled us during those trying winter months that followed. + +From then on we saw little but our own brigade--the 1st Brigade--and the +Princess Patricia's Light Infantry--who were also at Bustard Camp. + +The latter held themselves rather aloof from the Canadian Division, +counting themselves as superior troops--as indeed they were, being +mostly veterans of one or two campaigns--and as they were not brigaded +with us we saw little of them. + +Early in November the King, accompanied by Lords Roberts and Kitchener, +reviewed the Division. His Majesty took special interest in the +Patricias, so we were not surprised when in the early days of December +the "Pats" left the Plain to join the 27th Division. Of their subsequent +doings another book might be written, for no regular battalion of the +British Army has proved itself steadier on the field than this +magnificent corps--the gift to the Empire of a very gallant gentleman +who has since succumbed to wounds received while serving with it in the +field.[1] + +Christmas brought with it leave and relaxation from the monotony of +drilling, but with the New Year we started brigade and divisional +manoeuvres, and we knew our stay on the Plain was drawing to a close. + +We were again reviewed--in a drizzling rain this time--by the King on +February 4th, 1915, and on the following day--just six months after the +declaration of war--the First Canadian Division, complete in every +detail (horse, foot, and guns) entrained for France. + +So secret had the departure been kept that people in the neighbouring +town of Salisbury knew nothing of the review or the entraining of the +troops till they were well on the high seas. + +[Footnote 1: Major Hamilton Gault, referred to above, did not die of +wounds as first reported, but suffered the loss of a leg by amputation.] + +After a very rough passage from Avonmouth the Division landed at St. +Nazaire in the Bay of Biscay, the last transport arriving some time in +the second week of February. + +From there they were taken in box cars to that mysterious region known +as "the front," travelling forty men or eight horses to a car, a state +of affairs that one man complained "showed undue regard for horses." + +But five whole battalions and a number of surplus officers who had +managed to get over to England supernumerary to their battalions were +left behind on the Plain as a base depot. + +Amongst the latter were the writer and Begbie Lyte, and when they +rejoined a month or two later their battalion had been cut to pieces and +some twenty-five of the officers with whom they had trained were +casualties. + +It is hard to imagine anything sadder than rejoining a battalion after +fighting such as that unless it is the saying of good-bye. + +[Illustration: MANOEUVRES ON SALISBURY PLAIN.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +INTERIM + + +For a time there was little news from the Canadians at the front, for +they were not immediately placed in the trenches. Trench warfare was +then still a novelty; its exact principles had not been developed, and +all the training done on the Plain had been the ordinary open style of +fighting--quite useless against the strongly entrenched positions the +Germans had taken up. + +So while lying in reserve behind the lines the First Division dug and +manned trenches and practised themselves in the new warfare. Selected +officers from each company spent days in the front line with other +battalions and returned to their men bristling with information. + +A little later selected platoons and companies took their turn in the +front line, and before the end of February the Canadian Division was +holding its own sector of the British line. + +Casualties began to drift back to the Canadian base, which had now +become centred at Shorncliffe, and letters began to arrive with details +of the new methods of fighting. There was other news, too, of a more +cheerful sort that showed brighter glimpses of life that occurred when +enjoying brief rests from the firing line. + +"Don't sympathise with us too much," wrote one officer; "we would sooner +be here than on the Plain. Last night we gave an oyster and champagne +supper at ---- to three Ottawa ladies who are running a soup and coffee +waggon for our battalion. We had a great time. D---- Dang and the Cat +(another subaltern) were in fine fettle." + +But more serious work was in view. + +On March 10th the British commenced an offensive at Neuve Chapelle +which, had it proved successful, would have involved the Canadians in +the projected advance upon the Aubers Ridge, which formed the key to +Lille. + +But Neuve Chapelle, although a victory in one sense of the word, was a +very costly lesson, but a lesson that showed that our artillery must be +enormously increased if any further effort to break through the German +line was to be made. + +For, having taken their objective, the British troops found not only a +second but a third line of trenches protected by entanglements of a most +formidable nature, and so situated as to render the ground recently won +at such heavy cost almost untenable. To carry these lines would require +another bombardment more intense even than that which had preceded the +attack. Our line had advanced one mile and there it stayed. + +So ended the first attempt on our part to renew the offensive after the +stagnation of a winter of trench warfare. For years we had been taught +that an army that relinquishes the offensive acknowledges itself as +beaten. It now began to look as though military science had undergone a +complete revolution and that trench warfare and the policy of attrition +were to be the normal methods of the future. + +But Neuve Chapelle showed something else--it showed that the indomitable +spirit of our men had not been quenched by the misery and suffering of +the winter months and that the British bayonet was as much to be feared +as ever. + +"We were kept pretty busy," wrote a friend, "doing rapid fire, and lost +quite a few from shell fire. But our artillery had the time of their +lives, and fired pretty steadily the whole three days of the show." + +Later he wrote that they were moving northward--probably to Hill 60--and +we could expect there would be something doing shortly. + +It was not to Hill 60 that the Canadian Division went, but further +northward in the Ypres salient to the left of the 27th Division, where +the "Princess Pats" were winning immortality at St. Eloi. + +So the days wore on, the surplus officers chafing at the monotony of +drill on a barrack square, relieved as it was by "Thes Dansants" at the +Metropole and promenades along the Leas at Folkestone. + +Then one day a medical officer dropped a sure tip. He had been warned to +prepare beds for a thousand casualties--the Canadians were in something +big at last! + +Just how big it was we realised a week later when the newspapers broke +forth into flamboyant headlines, "CANADIANS SAVED SITUATION," "FOUR GUNS +RECAPTURED," and other startling sentences that danced before the eyes. + +Lyte and the writer were returning from some light festivities, when +the hoarse cry "All about the Canadians" arrested their attention. +Papers were hurriedly bought, and the brief vague lines of the official +_communique_ eagerly scanned. "By Jove!" was Lyte's exclamation; "but +isn't that great!" The writer, however, hardly heard him; he was +thinking of the many good friends who had taken part and the price they +had to pay, and his answer was the monosyllabic "Huh!" of the aborigine. + +That evening we packed our kits. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +YPRES, 1915 + + +The Second Battle for Ypres, as the fighting at Langemarck and St. +Julien is officially designated, was largely a regimental and company +officers' battle. This does not, however, reflect adversely on the +brigade and other staffs, who did all that was humanly possible with the +information that was at hand. Even at this date there are questions +about the action that cannot be cleared up until it will be permissible +to reproduce the whole of the war diaries of the various units that took +part. + +On the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Brigades fell the brunt of the fighting in +which the Canadians took part, as the 1st Brigade was in rest billets in +reserve. + +But, without detracting from their work, it must be admitted that the +account by the official "Eye Witness" does not give the 1st Brigade the +credit it deserves. This, however, is inevitable. In a modern battle +one sees nothing but what happens in the immediate vicinity of the +observer, and we must therefore depend largely on the accounts furnished +by others of what occurred in other parts of the field. + +It will do no harm, however, to quote from the description by an +officer, since killed, of the action of one of the battalions of this +brigade, which from respect for the censor must remain nameless. + +It would, however, serve no purpose to conceal the true names of those +officers and men whom he thought fit to mention, for the majority of +them have also laid down their lives in the field. + +"During the latter part of the evening of April 22nd French and Algerian +troops in large numbers began retreating through _Vlamertinghe_ in the +utmost confusion, throwing away their arms and crying 'Asphyxie! +Asphyxie!!' Empty limbers and gun teams without their guns dashed down +the road, already thick with refugees and fugitive soldiers. Captain +Culling therefore ordered the company to stand to arms and be ready to +move off as soon as orders were received. + +"Orders came about 9 p.m., and we moved off to the battalion rendezvous +at the junction of the _Brielen_ road, where we found the rest of the +battalion formed up. From here we continued north easterly up the +_Brielen_ road, across the canal toward _St. Julien_. + +"A short distance past the canal the battalion deployed from the road, +No. 3 Company being on our (No. 2 Company's) left and continued to +advance. + +"Moving forward in this formation was very difficult owing to the thick +darkness and the ground being so cut up by hedges, but Captain Culling +got in touch with the battalion on our left, which turned out to be the +_Canadian Scottish_ under Lieutenant-Colonel Leckie, at about the +farmhouse that afterwards became our dressing station. The advance +continued slightly more to the north, and a few minutes later the +company lay deployed about fifty yards in rear of a trench (A B) +occupied by the 10th Canadian Battalion. They were enfiladed from a +German trench to their right rear (C) and an adjoining farmhouse (M G). + +"Wounded men, including their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel +Boyle, lay everywhere about the trench and parados, but they were too +weak to attack this short piece of trench, although it was rendering +their position quite untenable. + +[Illustration] + +"One of our platoons successfully attacked this trench, while another +under Mr. Doxsee attacked the neighbouring house and succeeded in +driving the enemy from it with a loss of only two men killed and another +wounded. + +"Steps were then taken to improve the position by reversing the parapet +of the captured trench (C) and extending the original trench to the +right. The house (M G), too, was prepared for defence, and thus the +night was passed and no man slept. + +"At dawn of the 23rd the enemy commenced shelling the house and trench, +but the losses inflicted were slight owing to the two parallel hedges, +which made both ranging and observing difficult. They then commenced an +attack on the house supported by machine-gun fire, which proved a far +more serious affair, as in the house itself we lost two men killed and +some wounded, while in the trench we lost two valuable men, +Platoon-Sergeant Abelarde and Lance-Corporal McGurk. The former had +crawled out along the hedge to a dangerous and commanding knoll, and +from there put eighteen of the enemy out of action before a sniper's +bullet found him. The dead lay exposed where they fell, and could +readily be counted from the house. + +"About 9 o'clock, while Captain Culling was organising a counter-attack +on a small portion of the German trench (D E), two companies of the +Toronto Battalion under a major arrived as reinforcements, and took +cover behind our parados as there was no room in the trench. Captain +Culling asked that they take on the attack, and Mr. Doxsee volunteered +to lead it. The response was feeble, and the attack petered out to +nothing, Bugler Hunt and a man of the _Toronto_ Battalion being killed +by the side of Doxsee, who, finding himself alone, returned to the +trench unharmed. + +"The _Toronto_ men now tried a flanking movement on our immediate right, +but lost eight men and had to abandon the attempt. However, coupled with +our fire from the second story of the house, the effect was sufficient +to cause the enemy to retire from this point, and the remainder of the +day passed quietly, though the enemy's artillery continued to shell our +position and a machine-gun played on the house at every sign of +movement. By evening we had some seventeen casualties, a remarkedly +small number considering the shelling. + +"As soon as darkness set in, under cover of a few skirmishers, two +platoons continued our original trench (A B) along a line (B B 1) about +fifteen feet in rear of the forward hedge surrounding the house and +linked this trench to the position in our right rear with a +communication trench, the majority of this work being done with the +small entrenching tool. + +"This enabled us to get the whole company under cover, and with a +machine-gun of the _10th Battalion_ in the house we felt fairly secure. +Captain Hooper held a house immediately in front of our lines called +_Hooper House_, and our original trench was held by a mixture of our own +men and the Canadian Scottish under Mr. Hugill. + +"Dawn on Saturday found our positions unaltered, but about 7 o'clock +orders came from Lieutenant-Colonel Rodgers, our second in command, to +take over all of the original trench and relieve the _Scottish_. + +"Simultaneously Mr. Doxsee called for reinforcements to repel a direct +frontal attack on our forward trench and machine-gun house. + +"Reinforcements hurried up along the new communication trench, but were +anticipated by Mr. Scott and a score or so of men, who dashed across the +open and repelled the attack, Mr. Doxsee being unfortunately killed at +this point. + +"Captain Richardson now took over _machine-gun house_, and his company +(No. 2) relieved us along our original trench. The two Toronto companies +had entrenched to our right, forming a narrow and very dangerous salient +(C F). + +"All day this house was the target of the enemy's artillery and +machine-guns, the latter sweeping the building so effectively that the +garrison was forced to lie flat on the floors. + +"Six attacks were made by their infantry and repulsed before they could +get closer than two hundred yards, in spite of the fact that our only +machine-gun jammed incessantly owing to the rapidity of its firing. +About 2 p.m. one of our own guns came up, and from then on both guns +remained in action. + +"About this time troops in French uniforms were seen moving down a road +on our right toward _St. Julien_. At first no notice was taken of them, +but presently it became apparent that these were Germans, who had +adopted this ruse to get behind our flank. + +"Fire was immediately opened on them with what rifles could be spared +from our front line, and one machine-gun was hastily posted in a barn +(G), from which it did excellent work. + +"At 3.30 orders were received to retire in the direction of battalion +headquarters. (These orders had originally been sent out at 2 o'clock, +and when Lieutenant-Colonel Watson received no response he sent them +again and again until he finally saw the last company passing the +shattered house that had served alike as dressing station and battalion +headquarters, and not till then did he leave the field himself.) + +"The retirement took place across open ground swept by both shrapnel and +machine-guns, and the men just seemed to melt away. + +"Men straggled in for hours, and when the battalion finally assembled at +brigade headquarters at _St. Jean_ the company had lost one hundred and +thirty-nine of all ranks, of which four were officers." + +It was a black situation. No one knew how other parts of the field had +fared or how much ground had been lost. British troops were being rushed +up to relieve the 2nd and 3rd Brigades, who in some incredible manner +still held on in spite of two attacks with the gas. But they had paid a +terrible price. Of the former brigade there were scarcely a thousand men +and of the latter not many more. + +If this, then, is the account of what one battalion--nay, what one or +two companies--accomplished, what must be the stories, as yet untold, of +those other battalions of the First Canadian Division that filled the +gap that led to Calais? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WITH THE DRAFT + + +On returning to our barracks we found notices that "the following +officers will hold themselves in readiness to proceed to their +respective units with the next draft." Eagerly we scanned the list to +make sure our names had not been omitted, and then transferred ourselves +from the crowd that gathered in the ante-room to those who waited their +turn outside the telephone cabinet. Letters and telegrams were being +feverishly written in all parts of the building, and a hurly-burly of +voices in the mess-room proclaimed the general opinion that we had been +pretty badly cut up. A tailor's agent had somehow made his way into that +sanctuary, and voices were demanding "Who can lend me a blank cheque?" +in a wild endeavour to get him out again. + +Telegrams were also arriving, one or two from the front. A subaltern +spread the sheet of flimsy in his hand to find his cousin had been +killed in action. There was a sudden hush in the turmoil as he turned +and walked slowly to the window; men at such times are mute and trust to +the simple pressure of the hand to tell that sympathy which the tongue +cannot frame. + +A colonel whose hair had grown grey in the service passed from one group +to another, giving a word of advice here and receiving a word of +sympathy there, for his age had debarred any further activities in the +field. "But I have one son over there now," he proudly told you, "and my +other is coming with the next contingent!" + +The orderly room clerk entered and pinned up the daily orders. These +were at once surrounded, and would have perished in the _melee_ had the +colonel not taken the situation in hand and read them out in his +sternest parade voice with appropriate comments of his own. + +"All officers and men warned for draft will parade to the ranges at 5 +o'clock tomorrow morning--that will teach you to sit up all night +playing cards! + +"Markers and other details--that includes you, Lyte--will be at the +butts and all targets ready for firing at a quarter before the hour, +&c., &c. + +"Light marching order will be worn by all ranks, including one hundred +and fifty rounds per man. Haversack rations to be carried. + +"Officers' valises--maximum weight thirty-five pounds--to be rolled +ready for transport by 2 p.m., &c., &c." + +This last caused an immediate thinning of the crowd, and till late that +night we struggled over our kits, rolling and unrolling them to try and +bring their weight down to something like the regulation amount. + +At 4 o'clock next morning we fell in to march to the ranges, Lyte and +his ill-fated companions having left half an hour before, and from then +on till the afternoon we toiled in the hot sun. Returning about 3 that +afternoon, we found the draft ordered to be ready to proceed at 6 +o'clock, barely time for the men to get their tea; and tea in the Army +is a meagre meal at the best of times. + +Then after some hours waiting on the barrack square the draft moved off +down the Cheriton road and through the streets of Folkestone to where +the transports lay awaiting us. + +Here the British Navy took hold of us again, and there were no further +delays. The men were led below decks and packed as close as they could +stand to one another, the officers having the privilege of being able to +sit on their valises, which were piled unceremoniously on the deck. + +Then when all were accounted for the mooring ropes were cast off, and +with no more ceremony than the tinkle of the ship's telegraph we slid +out of the harbour under cover of the scudding clouds. + +But we were not alone. A long, lithe shape, strangely suggestive of a +greyhound, crept out of the darkness around us and came up alongside, +and a brief conversation, ending in "All right, full speed," was held. + +The telegraph tinkled again and our ship bounded forward, leaving a long +trail of phosphorescent foam in her wake. + +The sighing of the rigging in the wind, the slap-slap of the Channel +breakers at our sides, and the lashing "hish" of the spray across the +decks blended with, but did not break, our thoughts. + +And the dark shapes of the destroyers and the other transports +momentarily revealed by gaps in the scudding clouds, the gleaming wake +of the ship, and the faint white of the life-belts, that showed dimly +where little groups of two or three stood or sat together, made a +fitting scene for such an orchestral accompaniment. + +Thus we reached France. + +There followed a long march through the darkened streets of Boulogne to +a camp on the Plains of St. Martin, not far from the tall column that +marks where Napoleon gathered his great army and waited for the time +that never came, when he would be master of that little strip of water +we had just crossed. + +A drizzling rain had started, and the men had now been nearly eight +hours without food and practically a whole day without a proper meal. We +were able to draw bully beef and biscuit at once from the stores, but +the situation was really saved by the ladies at the Y.M.C.A. tent, who +supplied hot cocoa and cake to all who cared to apply. A nominal charge +of one penny was made to those who wished to pay, but no man was refused +because of his inability to find this sum, small as it was. + +Only a small thing, you may think, but it is only the smallest part of +what this wonderful organisation is doing for the soldier at the front. + +And a smile and a cup of coffee at 5 o'clock in the morning "look pretty +good to me," as one recipient expressed it. + +We were held in camp all the following day and then, carrying two days' +rations, we entrained for the north. For a while we made vain attempts +to find our destination from the French railway staff, but concluded +they either did not understand our variation of their beautiful language +or were sullen brutes knowing nothing. + +As we continued northward the throbbing of distant gunfire became +plainer, and a strange flickering could be seen in the morning sky. This +strange light, caused by the flash of the guns and the flares or +illuminating fuzees shot up by the infantry, resembled nothing so much +as our own Aurora Borealis, and we were not surprised to find, a little +later, that our men had already nicknamed them the "Northern Lights." + +Dawn brought us to a halt by some little town where the engine-driver +proceeded leisurely to fill his boiler. We availed ourselves of the +chance to exercise our French on some Algerian troops who were lying +wounded all over the platform. A rough tent had been made with waggon +tarpaulins, and under this lay the worst cases--ghastly wrecks of men +with blood-soaked bandages and blood-encrusted clothing, face muscles +twitching convulsively as masses of flies settled on them. One French +medical orderly with a strip of silver on his sleeves and an assistant +seemed to be the whole staff of the place. + +One tall chap with a handsome beard showed us how a bullet had torn +through his cap and grazed his head, while a rude sling and a crutch +spoke of a more serious injury of which he said nothing. His white teeth +and smiling face turned to a horrible scowl as he continued talking, and +thinking we were over-exciting him, we moved away. Had we only known, he +was trying to describe to us the terrible effect of the asphyxiating gas +on his comrades who were less educated than he! + +A few miles further on we detrained at Poperinghe and were soon marching +along a beautiful avenue of poplars--now perhaps the most famous highway +in Flanders, the Vlamertinghe road. + +Refugees passed us with all their worldly effects piled on a waggon, the +women and little children clattering along behind in their wooden +sabots. It seemed so unnecessary. The guns that had been pounding away +all night were now strangely silent, and the fields on either side +seemed peaceful enough. There was even a farmer plowing stoically in +one. + +A little further on we saw a horse that had been hurriedly cut out from +a gun or waggon team. It needed but one glance to tell us that shrapnel +had done its deadly work there, and we wondered vaguely what had become +of its rider, for the saddlery and harness were still on it. + +On entering Vlamertinghe we saw signs of shelling on most of the +buildings, particularly around the church and the square, the steeple of +the former forming, of course, the aiming mark for the German guns. +Here, too, the body of a woman lay half in and half out of a doorway. +The place seemed absolutely deserted. An aeroplane droned overhead, but +whether our own or the enemy's we could not ascertain. However, we took +no chances and marched on, hugging the shelter of the walls on either +side of the street. + +In this formation we were met by the gaunt figure of old Joey ----, our +quarter-master. He fell in beside Major V---- and guided us to our +transport lines, a farm a little on the Ypres side of the town. Here we +lay for half an hour munching biscuits and bully beef and watching an +anti-aircraft gun shelling the aeroplane we had noticed before, which +was now low enough to distinguish the sinister black crosses painted on +its wings. + +This was the reason for the extraordinary silence on the part of the +guns, so skilfully hidden all around us. + +The "Archibalds," as the anti-aircraft guns are popularly known, seemed +to be making extraordinarily bad practice as the fleecy puffs of +shrapnel burst all around the plane without apparent effect, and the +machine, having spotted something, dropped a signal that burst into +brilliant sparkles and turned for the enemy lines. + +At this moment Joey returned from the outhouse concealing the +telephonists with instructions that we were to proceed to the field, +where the battalion was dug in at once. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BREAKING IN + +"We take the old road we have taken for years; +For you cannot cut corners in war, it appears." + + +The truth of this old maxim was impressed on us by the roundabout route +we took to reach the field only a few hundred yards away where the +remainder of the battalion lay. + +Actually about two companies strong, they looked a mere handful as they +lay huddled close to the hedges in the shallowest of shelter pits +scratched in the soil with the field entrenching tool. + +The draft was immediately ordered to "dig in," as the plane we had been +watching a few minutes before had dropped its signal directly over this +position. + +We lost no time in digging more of these shallow pits, that reminded one +rather gruesomely of graves, and had barely scraped them deep enough to +roll into before a hail of small high-explosive shell fell all around +us. + +For half an hour the whoop and crash of falling and bursting shells kept +us alternately ducking our heads and raising them again to see "where +that one went," for curiosity is many times a stronger impulse than +fear. + +Curious things happened. A tree was cut in half by a shell, and the +plumed top, falling clear of the stump, planted itself like a dart in +the ground a few feet away. + +A pack horse suddenly bolted across the open field with a slight cut on +one flank, and half a dozen men made wild grasp at its bridle before one +succeeded in recapturing the brute. And here and there groups of men +finding their corner of the field a bit too "hot" for comfort would just +as suddenly bolt across to another part and start feverishly digging in +anew. + +The shelling ended with as little warning as it had begun. There came a +pause, and we thought naturally, "Well, thank God that's over!"--and +said so. "Just a minute," said my companion; "there are the Three +Sisters to come yet!" + +Before one could say "Here they are!" the rush of much larger +projectiles was heard, and in quick succession three heavy shells +crashed into the foot of the field, throwing up black columns of smoke. +"Those are coal-boxes," continued my tutor; "they used to have four guns +in that battery, but they are only using three now." + +The chuckle with which he added this last showed that he, at any rate, +had no doubt as to the fate of the fourth gun. + +This was evidently the end of the shelling, the enemy having, +theoretically, made the field untenable. The actual casualties were, +however, very slight, and the field entrenching tool, until now regarded +as a toy, became a valued possession. We were already beginning to learn +that the British infantry equipment is the finest in the world. + +The shelling over, the draft was divided up amongst the remnants of the +four companies, and Lyte and the writer had the good fortune to be +placed with the same one. + +Our company commander had been a lieutenant till a few days before, and +was now a temporary captain. His senior subaltern was wearing a "British +warm," the skirt of which had been riddled by machine-gun bullets, and a +sergeant was to come out in orders that evening as an officer to take +the remaining platoon. + +A machine-gun duel in mid-air between one of our planes and an enemy +machine that was eventually driven off and the dropping of some large +shells into Ypres were the only other events of the day. Most of us +slept, as there was work for us to do that night, until the joyful sound +of "Tea up!" and the smell of hot "Maconachie" rations told us that +supper was ready. + +At 7 o'clock the battalion fell in to move up to the front line and dig +some trenches. Hardly were we formed up when another violent shelling +started, and we hurried back to the cover of our funk-holes. + +Again the shelling was singularly ineffective, due, probably, to the +fact that the enemy was using high explosive and not shrapnel. One shell +by an unfortunate chance caught an artillery limber full of ammunition +on the roadway, and it blew up with a sickening roar. The double report +of this explosion evidently satisfied the German gunners, for a few +minutes later the bombardment ceased and we again fell in. + +The greatest secrecy was observed, and nobody but the guides knew our +destination, and we followed them in silence up the shell-pitted road +and across the pontoon bridge that spanned the Yser Canal. Various dark +forms hobbled past, their baggy trousers showing them to be Algerians. A +French outpost challenged us, and a party of Ghurkas passed us leading +pack horses with the bodies of their fallen officers lashed across the +saddles. The Ghurkas never leave an officer's body on the field, so the +sergeant in rear of the platoon ahead informed us. + +On either side of the road was a ruined trench, and even in the weird +half-light of the flares we could see what a shambles they had become. +The road was well called "Suicide Alley!" + +Then suddenly we left the road and took to the open fields on the left, +passing a trench occupied by some Imperial troops--it was our own first +line trench. Then we knew what our work was to be; we were to dig an +advance trench to link up with the French on our left and the English on +our right. The advance continued up a gentle slope across which--nearly +a thousand yards of bare bullet-swept field--the Ghurkas had a day or so +previously tried to charge. The bodies still lay there in rows just as +they had fallen under the bursts of fire that mowed them down--pitiful +huddled figures in the grass staring ahead into the great void. Few of +the faces showed signs of suffering--such is the mercy of the rifle +bullet; and so great was the resemblance to sleep that later, when we +came to retire, the writer and others shook the bodies mistaking them +for our own men. + +In the midst of this ghastly scene, lit up by fitful glances of +moonlight as clouds scudded over the sky, two companies moved forward, a +long line of shadowy forms, to act as a covering party while the +remaining half-battalion dug the new trench. + +As we moved forward and lay down we could hear the thudding of the picks +as they were driven into the ground, and from somewhere in the darkness +ahead the plick-plock of the sniper began. Captain H----, our new +company commander, passed down the line to warn us to count our men and +see that all bayonets were fixed and magazines loaded. + +The sniping increased, and a farmhouse ahead of us that had been +smouldering for some time burst into flame. Two colts that were +evidently confined near the blaze started to whinny and neigh, and a man +who had been hit began to curse vilely. + +From somewhere in rear a battery of French "seventy-fives" opened up +with their ear-splitting reports, and we could see the outlines of the +ruined farm ahead of us silhouetted against the crimson flashes of their +bursting shrapnel. But of the enemy there was no sign--nothing but the +arching trail of the flares that shot up and the steady plick-plock of +the snipers. It was most trying. + +It was nearly 2 o'clock before the trench was completed and we wakened +our shivering men to retire, for so exhausted were they that, despite +the cold and danger, many had dozed there on the body-strewn field with +one hand firmly grasping the rifle. + +By this time traces of dawn began to show themselves in the eastern sky, +and the moon seemed to flood the whole country with light. + +Platoon by platoon in Indian file we drew off the field, carefully +checking the count of our men as they passed until all were accounted +for. Then the march back to billets began. And such a march! Worn out by +the week's hard fighting, the older men staggered all over the road, all +but dropping out from sheer exhaustion. Nor were the new men in better +condition. Unaccustomed as yet to the weight of their packs, shaken by +shell fire, and in some cases still weak from the sickness of the rough +Channel passage, it was only sheer pride and the cruel taunts of the +older men that kept them in the ranks. And thus we straggled on past the +French outposts and over the Yser again, and on, on past the field we +had lain in all day, on through Brielen to Vlamertinghe, back to +billets. But the draft was broken in. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RESERVE BILLETS + + +It was only the prospect of several days of comparative rest that held +us together at all as we floundered over the slippery cobble stones into +Vlamertinghe. At the cross-roads that formed the battalion rendezvous in +case of alarm, we got into some kind of military formation, for we spied +the gaunt figure of the colonel there sitting his horse like a centaur. +A grim man he was, who never spared his horses, himself or his men, and +his only comment as we hobbled past was, "Dress up those fours!"--and +tired as we were, the fours dressed up. When, however, Captain H----, +who had gone to the rear of the company to chase up stragglers, came by, +his greeting was a little more personal. "All well, H----?" he asked, +and our gallant skipper answered, "All present, sir." It showed rather +plainly the difference in feeling that existed for some time between +those who had been through the Second Battle of Ypres and those who had +not--a difference that it took much hard fighting to outweigh. + +At last the company ahead turned down a side street, and we marched into +our billet alone. It was a deserted warehouse with plenty of straw and +quite comfortable, and, having got our men safely stowed away, the +officers walked across the road to an empty house that formed our +billets. + +On the way H---- pointed out the coffee waggon of which mention has been +made. A sad-looking wreck it was, too, as a result of a stray shell. The +ladies who had been in charge of it had been swooped down upon and +gathered in by an irate provost-marshal some days before the shelling, +and were, I am told, sent back to England for venturing so near the +front line. The loss to the battalion was, however, immeasurable, as the +ladies had been most devoted, and no matter at what hour the troops came +in there was always a cup of coffee or soup awaiting them, and a +smile--a smile that means so much to men whose hearts are lonely. Truly +Raemaekers struck a key-note when, in his address in London, he asked +England to "keep on smiling." + +Arriving at the house, we found coffee ready and breakfast in the +process of preparation. Bacon, an omelette, toast and marmalade (plum +jam being out of season), it was a feast for the gods, any minor +deficiencies being overcome by the keenness of our appetites. Then, +having satisfied the inner man, we climbed the crooked little stairs to +the bedrooms, where we found our bedding rolls stretched out on some +mattresses the owners had left in their haste, and in three minutes we +were asleep. Never did any bed seem more welcome. + +We did not stay long in this billet, however, as we shifted the +following day to a farm on the Brielen road. It was well we did so, for +the enemy bombarded the town again and dropped one shell in our old +billet a few hours after we left. + +The farm we moved into is worthy of a little description, as it was +typical of any farm in Flanders. The three buildings that constituted +the house, barn, and cowbyre were arranged in a hollow square around a +brick courtyard, the centre of which was graced by a large pile of +manure in an advanced stage of decomposition. Outside the square of +buildings was a moat full of green slime and mosquito larvae. Here the +men washed, and here, too, our buckets were filled each morning for the +"lick and a promise" that served as a substitute for a bath. + +[Illustration: FIELD KITCHEN IN RESERVE BILLETS.] + +Yet in spite of its unsanitary surroundings the house itself was +beautifully clean inside, and no one could be healthier than the two +buxom girls who formed part of the family that lived within. An exact +census of the family was never obtained, as they poured out from nooks +and crannies into the living-room occupied by us as sleeping quarters, +generally at such awkward moments as when we were dressing or +undressing. This was a matter of constant annoyance to Lyte, as the +people persisted in announcing themselves with a "Bon jour, monsieur," +no matter what state of nudity they had caught you in. + +We shared this room with an artillery officer, a young Irishman named +Lee, who had a battery hidden somewhere near. We saw little of him, +however, as we were generally falling in to move off when he came in for +the evening, and when we returned after a night dug in in rear of some +other troops, he was leaving to go up to his guns. + +On some occasions we returned so late that the family were already up +and at work, and instead of unrolling our valises we popped right into +their beds. This was the subject of much joking of the simple peasant +sort on the part of the young ladies, and consequent blushing on the +part of poor Lyte. We all accused him of being their favourite, as he +had nicknamed them "Ox-eye" and "Freckleface," names much more +descriptive than the Marie and Jeanne their parents had chosen, and, +having taken "Ox-eye" into our confidence, told her that poor Lyte was +"_tres timide_." That was all she required, and from then on she +directed all her charms toward him. + +The next morning, his servant being as usual somewhere else, he ventured +to ask for a little shaving water, in French of the first-steps variety. +"Oh, monsieur speaks French," she answered, quite ignoring the mess-tin +he held out. "Why did you not tell me?"--this last with an accusing +glance at A----, the senior subaltern. Lyte began to deny all knowledge +of the language, and she suddenly swung into English. "Nevair mind, I +speak bloody good English," and then amidst our whoops of applause she +demanded "It ees good? What!" + +Lee came in one morning in a great state of excitement, his rich brogue +being augmented with the news he brought. It seemed that on going up to +his guns that morning he had found the farm there, till then occupied by +a Belgian family, vacated and the white half-door--so familiar in all +peasant countries where they keep pigs--placed lozenge-wise on the red +roof. A hasty search revealed a partly burnt map and other papers of a +military nature, and a German plane was already buzzing aloft. He had +hurriedly withdrawn his guns; but siege guns take time to move, and +before they could get away the shells were upon them and one gun crew +had been practically wiped out. He was much excited, as became a man who +had seen his first death. + +We, too, had passed a very strenuous night. The Germans had commenced +another attack on our line, using the gas again. We were wondering how +much good the little respirators we were carrying would be, and the +answer came soon enough. + +As we moved forward we met men falling back gasping, coughing and +sobbing, and the stink of their clothing was of hell's own reek, a choky +mixture of chlorine and sulphur. "It's not war, mate; it's bloody +murder!" was all one man gasped as he threw himself coughing on the +ground, where he died before we moved on. It was not a pretty sight, and +more than one rifle-butt was grasped the tighter and more than one oath +sworn to get at the fiends who had let loose this vile poison, against +which the only protection we had was a little pad of gauze to fasten +over the mouth and nose after soaking in water from our water-bottles. +These had been supplied by the thousand as soon as the authorities made +known their wants by the women and children of England, and, feeble +though this protection was, these simple little pads saved many lives +that week. + +But it was not our fate to meet the enemy again while in the salient. +After continuing our march about another quarter-mile we lined a +roadside and commenced digging another trench. + +Here we lay and shivered all night, the men crouching in the trench, +every fourth man alert and watching, the officers lying on the ground +behind in shell holes or walking up and down swinging their arms and +trying to keep warm. It was only one night of many. + +The Germans continued to discharge gas against our line until May 15th, +when they retook Hill 60. The bitter struggle of the past three weeks +had begun as a mere counter-attack to our capture of this small but +important mound. + +By this time, however, the Canadians had been withdrawn, and we left the +salient with few regrets. But somewhere on the German side of our trench +line there are thousands of graves of our fellow-countrymen, and when +the time comes for the balancing of accounts we shall expect these to +weigh heavy in the scales. + +Our brigade was the first to be relieved, marching out on the night of +May 3rd, wondering vaguely where we were going, and also, perhaps, what +would become of our friends "Ox-eye" and "Freckleface," with their +stolid faces, their ample bosoms, and their square hips. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BAILLEUL + + +Our next stop was Bailleul, a town of some fifteen thousand inhabitants +just over the Franco-Belgian frontier. Possibly it was never known +before the war, but it is now, for sooner or later everyone goes to +Bailleul: it was, until the taking over of the line below Arras, the +Mecca of the British Army. + +But it was fifteen weary miles from Brielen, fifteen miles that we +stumbled over in a drizzling rain on slippery cobblestones before +turning up through an archway off the main street to our billets. Good +billets they were, too--a loft with ample straw for one platoon, a +school-house for the other three, and houses on another street for the +officers. + +In spite of the early hour, about 3 o'clock, Madame was up and around +and soon made us fresh coffee and the inevitable omelette; then we +clattered up the steep little stairs to bed. F----, the sergeant who had +been promoted, joined us here and proved a jolly good sort. We went out +to hunt up new billets the next day. He, being a Quebecker, acted as +interpreter, as our room was too small and stuffy for two, and, +moreover, looked into the operating-room of a hospital opposite. + +We were fortunate in finding another billet quite close--an important +point, as we were to mess together--and then took a stroll around the +town. + +Bailleul is, like most French provincial towns, arranged like a star, +the Grande Place and Hotel de Ville forming the centre. We found our way +to the cathedral, where a white-haired old _cure_ showed us around, +pointing out the door leading to the great square tower and the axe +marks left by the German soldiers who burst it open. They had used the +tower as an observing post during the week their cavalry had held the +town the preceding October. The old man had been held as hostage by +them, together with the mayor and some other notables, but when asked if +he had been badly treated he was very non-committal. "Qu'est-ce que vous +voulez?" he answered. "C'est, la guerre!" That is the doctrine of +humility taught France in 1870. "C'est la guerre!" It is used to +explain anything from the shooting of civilians to the high cost of +hand-made lace! + +In a jeweller's on the Grande Place we obtained a little fuller +information as to the Germans' actions. They had robbed Madame of all +her rings, deliberately broken up all her watch glasses--there was not +one to be obtained in the town--and smashed with their sword hilts the +glass of her show-cases. And across the square they had confiscated all +the champagne in a _cafe_, and when no more was forthcoming they piled +the tables on the _pave_ and burnt them; also she had heard----; but +here F----'s patience had worn out, and as he said "Hearsay evidence is +not admitted," so we said "Bonjour" and returned to billets. + +Fortunately we did so, as we found we were slated to take a bathing +parade at 1 o'clock and would barely have time to lunch. However, we +caught the parade in time and marched the men to an old factory labelled +"Divisional Baths." Here each man was supplied with a hot tub, soap and +a clean towel, and was issued on stepping out from his tub with +freshly-washed underwear, turning his soiled clothes in. This was a +splendid system, and when later the clothes were not only washed but +sterilised it ensured the men freedom for a short time at least from +vermin. + +It took some time running the whole company through in batches of forty, +so we had a brief look around that part of the town. We also found that +at the asylum officers could get a real bath--full length that one could +stretch out in--at any time, but as it was late when our last man was +ready to march off, we simply returned to billets. + +We found the streets full of ambulances, most of them being gas cases +from around Hill 60, and, in spite of the respirators, most of them +pretty bad cases. + +Being somewhat of a chemist, I managed to see some of these cases a few +days later. The hospital was so crowded that many cases were lying on +stretchers in the garden that lies at the back of all these hideous +perpendicular French houses, shielded from the weather by an awning +only. But the worst cases were upstairs in a long hall--some eighteen of +them, none of which had any hope. Reeking with chlorine, their faces a +livid purple or an even ghastlier green, they lay there on the +stretchers, each with a little bowl beside him, coughing his life away. +And gradually the body would become weaker, the poor tortured lungs +fail to clear themselves of the secretion that poured from their +outraged tissue, and the fluid would accumulate slowly--oh, so +slowly!--and the agonised victim died, not with the merciful swiftness +of a bullet, but by gradual drowning. + +This was the death that the Germans--ashamed of their own +brutality--afterwards described as painless and merciful! + +They may find justification for their crimes in Belgium, they may even +smooth over the sinking of the _Lusitania_, but it must always be +remembered that they, and they alone, are responsible for introducing +into warfare this most ghastly and hideous death. It is said that German +scientists spent years in perfecting this horror, practising its powers +on plant life in the desert parts of Australia. + +And the neutral nations--what of them? Are they not after all +"accessories after the fact" and equally guilty? For, having sworn in +solemn convention at the Hague to abstain from the use of asphyxiating +gases, they entered no definite protest, though public opinion ran high +on the subject. + +Silence gives consent, and the poisoning of your enemy by chemical gases +has now become the proper and chivalrous thing to do, and warfare has +an added horror. + +But the Allied chemists were at work devising means of lessening and +preventing this danger, and already success was crowning their efforts; +a new pattern respirator was devised and being issued, and a solution +for dipping it in was already available. Dr. G----, of Queen's +University, then serving as a subaltern in No. 2 Company, had been +experimenting in private and devised a solution which varied only in the +proportion of one of its elements from that adopted by the British Army, +so we were probably the first brigade in the B.E.F. to receive this +protection. Bottles of this fluid were carried by that long-suffering +man the platoon sergeant, and parades held showing the men how to adjust +and use the respirators. + +Later we received flannel hoods, with mica windows, that had been dipped +in the same solution, and these gave place in turn to the present gas +helmet--a fearsome-looking affair, which, however, gives almost complete +protection. + +Our stay in Bailleul was enlivened by the arrival of a draft and the +posting up of a schedule of training. The draft, needless to say, was +the more welcome of the two. With the draft--who were magnificently-built +men from the Middle West--we received a major who took command of the +company, Captain H---- dropping back as second in command. We thought +this was rather hard lines, but H---- made no complaint, though he felt +it rather keenly, but finding our new man had the South African ribbon, +we were a bit mollified. + +Here, too, we held a memorial service for our fallen comrades, a +powerful address being delivered by Major the Rev. William Beatty, one +of the brigade chaplains. The troops, both old and new, were addressed, +too, by Major-General Alderson, the divisional commander, who spoke of +what the old men had done that the new men might understand what was +expected of them, and stated that from now on he would count on us all +as old troops. + +Then we marched away feeling we were now a definite part of the old +regiment, and a few days later started our trek southward. + +We had entered another epoch! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TREK SOUTH + + +Until we left Bailleul the Canadian Division had been a part of the 2nd +Army under Sir Herbert Plumer. We were now to go to the other end of the +British line and become part of the 1st Army, then commanded by the +present Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig. + +The news of this change was greeted with little enthusiasm by the old +soldiers in our midst, but old soldiers are invariably pessimists, and +imagine that every inspection is the prelude to more "dirty work at the +cross-roads" and that every change made in their dispositions is for the +worst. + +Still, we were all sorry to leave Bailleul, with its bright little +shops, and to say good-bye to the _cure_ and our other friends there. + +We fell in at night in the Grande Place--the little square that has +probably seen more British troops come and go than any other town in +northern France--and waited there for the battalion to form up. It was +a beautiful summer night, the square tower of the cathedral and the +Moorish spire of the Hotel de Ville forming perfect silhouettes against +the starlit sky. + +We were not kept waiting long; the shrill of a whistle from somewhere in +the darkness put an end to all talking, and we hastily slung our packs +on our shoulders again and started on our long tramp south to La Bassee. + +For a while our route lay through country that some of us had traversed +before, and Merville, Vieux Berquin, and other places were hailed with +delight. There is a certain charm in returning to places that one has +never expected to see again. Much speculation began as to whether we +were going back to our old trenches at Bois Grenier and Fleurbaix or +not, but all hopes of this happening were dashed to pieces when, after +passing through Neuf Berquin, we turned sharply to the right. + +After this disappointment our packs began to weigh more heavily; the +mouth organs and vocalists were less persistent in their efforts and +gradually stopped in disgust, and only an accordion, wielded by a husky +Scotchman at the rear of the company, strove to cheer us up. It was +probably "Lochaber no more" or some other dirge he was playing, as he +always showed unnatural fondness for the weird and the sad--probably due +to the difficulty of fingering lively airs while on the march. + +Passing through Merville, A----, who was marching beside me, regained +his spirits sufficiently to point out a shop where a pretty girl sold +champagne, and then relapsed into silence again. + +A little further along the road we saw the adjutant riding alongside the +major, and we knew we were nearing our billets. We turned up a side-road +through Calonne, and the companies again broke off in different +directions to the various farms to which they had been allotted. + +We were again fortunate in getting very good accommodation--good airy +barns, a mill-pond for washing, and a well of no-worse-than-the-ordinary +water. But imagine our surprise to find chalked on the gate of the +largest and best farm a sign:-- + +"SMALL POX. +BY ORDER." + +Here we were in a fix, as the men would not enter the place till we +hunted up that long-suffering individual the interpreter. Then we found +the placard to be only a ruse on the part of the unsophisticated +peasantry to avoid having troops billeted there. + +Having been found out and beaten at this game, Madame produced a sheet +of paper she called a "reclamation," for some straw she claimed had been +stolen by the preceding troops, and while she and the interpreter +harangued over this we stowed our men away and sought our own billets a +little distance up the lane. + +At Calonne we received newspapers telling of the starting of the French +offensive in the Artois district and prophesying an attack on our part +to co-operate with them. We got out our maps and saw we were quite close +to Neuve Chapelle, and as the Aubers Ridge--the great natural barrier to +Lille--formed the obvious point to attack, we were not greatly surprised +when a day or two after arriving at this peaceful little village we +again took the route--this time toward Neuve Chapelle. We had heard the +guns drumming along the Aubers Ridge all the day before during church +parade service (May 9th), and were, on the whole, rather disappointed +when after a few miles' march we turned off the road into a farm near +"le Cornet Malo" and lay there in the mud all day. Some of the Lahore +Division passed us on their way into the affair, the Indian gunners +sitting on their limbers like statues. + +It was rather a wretched day we spent in this farm. A heavy rain had +turned the orchard in which we lay into a "bit of a bog," and all the +straw we could buy or steal from the inhabitants could not keep us out +of the mud. Here, too, we found the first instance of friction between +the troops and the civilian populace, and the old lady made no bones +about telling us how unwelcome we were. She opened hostilities by taking +the rod from the pump so that we could not fill our watercart, and the +troops retaliated by stealing bundles of unthreshed wheat. This was +speedily put a stop to (and paid for) by the officers, and, for a while, +peace reigned supreme while a thriving trade was done in coffee at two +sous a cup and beer at three sous a glass. + +Then some of the officers, seeing a lot of freshly-baked bread in a room +just off the kitchen, offered to buy some. To our surprise the old woman +started to wave a knife around dangerously and screamed: "You take my +wheat, you take my water, and now you won't even leave me my bread! I +would rather the Germans had come; they at least pay for what they +take!" + +As we had just paid her for the straw we thought this was going a little +too far, and F----, who had a fine taste for sarcasm, waved his +coffee-cup eloquently in the direction of the two slatternly girls that +were peddling the coffee to the soldiers through the window, and said +"What? With all these beautiful daughters," and then continued with a +graphic description of the horrors in Belgium. + +This quieted the old lady down, but we were not sorry to leave there and +shift to billets further up the road that night. It was the only +instance we encountered of our being unwelcome in France, and the billet +we occupied that night, although one of the filthiest houses we came +across, was marked by a much more cordial spirit. + +We were fortunate to get into this farm, as two of the companies had to +bivouac, there being only accommodation for the staff and two companies +in the area. The matter was decided by lottery, the major being lucky +enough to draw a long straw. + +[Illustration: AMATEUR THEATRICALS BACK OF THE LINE] + +It was rather a squeeze getting the company stowed away that night, but +we managed somehow, and then turned into the kitchen. Here we were +entertained with a graphic description by an old hag of how she had been +wounded. It seemed that in some of the preliminary fighting she had run +across a field between our troops and the Germans and received three +bullets. She was quite cheerful about it and showed us two wounds, and +when A---- casually asked about the third she collapsed in a chair and +went into spasms of laughter. All the rest of the evening she would +point her finger at him and start again to tee-hee. A---- was much +annoyed. + +We stayed in that vicinity another day, as it was not certain whether we +would be thrown into support in the attacks on the Aubers Ridge at +Fromelles or the Bois de Biez, but it was eventually decided that the +artillery preparation had been inadequate, and the following night we +continued our march southward. + +Near Locon we passed some of the Indian Cavalry, gigantic-looking men +with their turbanned heads. They surveyed us gravely as we passed, one +or two flashing brilliant smiles in response to some friendly greeting. +Then shortly afterwards we crossed the canal, and without further +incident reached the outskirts of Bethune, where we went into bivouac in +an open field, being favoured, most fortunately, with fine weather. + +Our long trek had ended. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FESTUBERT, 1915 + + +While the 4th Army Corps were trying to gain a footing on the northern +end of the Aubers Ridge near Fromelles the 1st Army was making an +equally desperate attempt to the south in front of Festubert, a village +already in our hands. + +But here, as at Neuve Chapelle, we found that the enemy front line, once +penetrated, brought us in front of a series of strong points bristling +with machine-guns, with dug-outs of almost incredible strength, some of +them twenty and thirty feet under ground and safe against anything but +the heaviest of field-guns, weapons that we were lamentably short of. + +We could batter their front line to bits, for, like our own, it was +situated on lower ground, and consisted of breastwork parapets owing to +the water-soaked state of the whole plain; but their infantry would +retire to these deep dug-outs, only emerging when their sentries warned +them of the lifting of our fire to permit the attack. + +We could, and did, drive the enemy from his front line, and once there +we held on, but that was as far as we could go, for each of these strong +points presented a new and entirely different problem to attack, and +required a separate bombardment. + +Our offensive had started on May 9th and reached its height about the +16th, by which time we had won ground to an average depth of six hundred +yards on a front of four miles. + +At daybreak on the 16th the 7th Division attacked in the direction of +the Rue D'Ouvert and Canteleux, and by 7 o'clock had entrenched +themselves in a line running roughly north and south, half-way between +their original trenches and La Quinque Rue. The remainder of the day and +the following night were spent in consolidating this position and trying +to drive the enemy from some short trenches and posts that prevented +this division from linking up with the 2nd Division on its left. This +was accomplished by noon of the 17th, and by nightfall further ground +had been gained to the right. Slight advances were also made on the +18th, but bad weather had greatly hindered the operation of our +artillery. + +On the 19th, the 2nd and 7th Divisions, having suffered very severely, +were withdrawn, the latter being relieved by the Canadians. + +Part of the 3rd Canadian Brigade had already become involved and had +taken part in an attack on La Quinque Rue, where they succeeded in +advancing the line some five hundred yards and linking up this ground +with the Wiltshires on their right and the Coldstreams on their left. + +Further advance was held up by one of the enemy's strong points known as +the "Orchard." This position was naturally strengthened by a deep ditch +full of water on three sides, besides hedges and wire entanglements. + +During the afternoon of the 19th the Orchard was heavily bombarded by +our guns, the shelling continuing till 7.45 p.m., when the Canadian +Scottish advanced to the assault, supported by the 13th Royal +Highlanders of Canada. Simultaneously the 48th Toronto Highlanders +attacked some hundred yards to the right of the Orchard. + +These attacks were made in broad daylight, and, despite the torrent of +fire with which the enemy opposed them, the objectives were quickly +gained, though the casualties were most severe, and by night the new +line was consolidated. + +Meanwhile the 2nd Brigade, which had been occupying trenches to the +right of the Orchard, had attempted to take a position known as the +"Bexhill Redoubt," but with less success, as the preliminary bombardment +had been quite ineffectual. + +Another bombardment of the position was made, and, supported by the +Grenade Company of the 1st Brigade, a portion of the enemy's line to the +right of the Bexhill Redoubt was gained and barricades erected and this +portion held, in spite of a shelling that continued without ceasing the +whole of the 22nd. The enemy attempted a counter-attack during the +afternoon, but were repelled by our machine-gun and artillery fire. +During the night the troops holding this line were relieved by +Strathcona's and King Edward's Horse, then, of course, serving as +infantry. + +On the night of May 23rd the Bexhill Redoubt was taken by the 5th and +7th Battalions of the 2nd Brigade, reinforced by a squadron of the +Strathcona's Horse. The captured positions were held all day, despite +the enemy's bombardment--the heaviest shelling this brigade had yet +experienced--and when they were relieved that night by the Royal +Canadian Dragoons and the Eastern Ontario Battalion the brigade had lost +55 officers and 980 men. + +The 1st Brigade, during these operations, had been occupying a portion +of the line and suffering severely from shell fire. The writer's +battalion, the Eastern Ontario, had relieved a battalion of the Black +Watch on the night of the 19th near Indian Village. The Highlanders +seemed glad to be leaving; one or two expressed their opinion that it +was a "hell of a hole," a statement no one contradicted, as the place +was vile with mud and stank from unburied corpses. + +Between our line and the Western Ontario men, who held the old German +trench ahead of us, lay hundreds of bodies that had been there since the +last winter, for this narrow strip--not much more than a hundred yards +in width--had been "No Man's Land." Attempts made by day and night to +bury some of these bodies had to be given up, as the enemy swept the +parapets of both trenches, on the least sign of movement, with +"whizz-bangs." The Western Ontario Battalion suffered horribly, a +constant stream of stretchers coming through our lines, starting with +daybreak. These small shells were fired from light field-guns that had +been brought up to the trenches, and were in consequence so close that +the shell arrived and burst almost simultaneously with the report of the +gun. Shells fired at the ordinary ranges announce their coming by a +prolonged whirr, allowing a certain amount of time to get under cover +before the burst comes. + +We held this line till the night of the 24th, when we went forward to +relieve the 3rd Brigade and consolidate the ground won by them. Each man +carried two days' rations, a shovel, an extra bandolier of cartridges, +and twelve sandbags, in addition to his ordinary fighting equipment. + +Most of the companies had some kind of trench to start work on, but at +our end there was nothing but a line marked out by the engineers. +Listening posts and covering parties were sent out, and by morning we +were occupying a ditch about three feet deep with a fairly good parapet +in front. No fires were permitted, as we were hidden by grass from the +enemy and the trench was not yet in shape to stand any bombardment. + +The next night we were fortunate in obtaining more sandbags and some +timber from a German trench we had passed on the way up. Some mail and +parcels of food came up, and we managed to clear out our wounded. Most +welcome was ammunition for the flare pistols the officers carried. We +had come into the trench with six rounds for each pistol and had been +carefully saving them in case the enemy attacked. + +Our parapet was now high enough to be easily visible to the enemy, and +we received considerable attention from his snipers and artillery the +following day. No serious damage was done, however, and we were relieved +the following night by a Territorial battalion of Highlanders. + +On the 26th General French, having attained for the moment the immediate +object in view, ordered a curtailment of the bombardment and a +consolidation of all positions won, and the Battle of Festubert came to +an end. + +By the 31st of the month the whole Canadian Division had been withdrawn +and lay in reserve billets around the outskirts of Bethune. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CARPE DIEM + + +"Home again!" said Begbie Lyte as he watched his servant unrolling his +valise in the little field we had left a fortnight before, and the rest +of us laughed, for he voiced the thoughts of all. + +It required a bit of an optimist to see a home in that apparently +comfortless situation, but men just relieved from the firing line are +not over-critical, and the prospect of a night under the stars, but away +from the crash of shell and the "phit" of striking bullets, was pleasant +enough to satisfy the most chronic grouser. + +We had, of course, only reached this billet about dawn, so without +wasting any time over such niceties as washing we bundled our clothes +into a sort of pillow in the head of our "Wolseleys" and drew from the +depths of that wondrous combination of a valise and bed that luxury of +luxuries on active service, a pair of pyjamas, and were soon dozing +comfortably in dreamland. + +Our men, lacking such comforts as Wolseley valises and pyjamas, merely +denuded themselves of their equipment, and, with perhaps a preliminary +search for "trench pets," slept in their greatcoats under shelters +rigged up with waterproof sheets. They had no blankets, for it was +summer, and blankets and rum issue are alike "Nah pooh" on the 1st of +June. We had in fact turned in our blankets before starting southward +from Bailleul. + +Here and there bivouac fires had been lighted, and round them small +groups sat and talked over our recent losses. In another day they would +mention them no more, though they would never forget them. + +Presently even these fell asleep, and when, a few hours later, the moon +showed herself between the clouds she looked down on a still and silent +camp, the only signs of life being the dying embers of the fires and the +dark forms of the sentries moving slowly up and down the field. + +Custom permitted us to sleep on till noon the next day, and then +everybody had a grand clean up. A shower-bath was extemporised by the +simple process of standing over a ditch naked and unashamed while a +patient _batman_, with the aid of what is called, in official language, +"one pail, collapsible canvas," poured water over until, breathless but +refreshed, the victim shouted to stop. Later on sundry private soldiers +whom one had known in civil life would approach and ask for the loan of +the pail. Such is democracy in the "Colonials." + +Bath being over, the razor was vigorously applied and a week's growth +scraped painfully from sunburnt chins, on which talcum powder was +afterwards daubed in copious quantities till we smelt to heaven like a +Gaiety chorus! + +Then breakfast! Its fragrance had been tantalising our noses during all +this gay preliminary, for dirty as we may get--and yet sit down to eat +in the trenches--it was an unwritten law that no man who was not shaved, +shorn, and washed after the manner of the Romans should sit down to mess +when in reserve. Lyte one day in a burst of enthusiasm, while treasurer +of the mess, decreed that the servants should also wash before starting +to cook, but after one trial, dinner being thereby delayed a couple of +hours, the mess rebelled and the cooks were allowed to revert to their +former state of barbarism. + +Breakfast over, there came the censoring of mail, so that it could be +sent to battalion headquarters before 2 o'clock. This is supposed by +some to furnish an endless amount of amusement to the officers, and +often facetious remarks are introduced by the writer to this end, but to +most of us censoring is a beastly bore, and one views with dismay the +enormous pile of letters that your platoon sergeant dumps down on your +bed each day at noon with the laconic announcement of "Mail, sir!" + +One runs across people of many sorts while reading through this heap. +The first and commonest is the married man who sticks strictly to +private affairs and perhaps says to to his wife: "You remember Jimmy +D----who used to work at So-and-so's. He was killed by a shell, but you +can tell his wife he didn't suffer none, as he died quick." Not a word +you will notice of his own escape or of anything that would tend to +aggravate the sorrow of the stricken family. Of the same affair he would +probably write to a chum: "You know poor old Jimmy D----. He was all +blew to hell by a whizz-bang. A chunk of it just missed my napper by an +inch. I come near going West that time, believe me!" + +Then there is another type whose endless exaggerations make one wish to +scribble the word "liar" at the end of each paragraph, but which you +pass, after scratching out the numbers of our slain and some of the +grosser statements. + +Once in a while you may come across a guileless sort of man who, after +extolling the virtues of his platoon commander, proceeds to tell his +friend Bob: "No, I haven't been made a corporal yet, but our section has +none now and I am the oldest soldier left." One feels great curiosity as +to the state of this paragon's conduct sheet. + +However, these are mere details. The great joy of being in reserve +billets is the ability to go, after parades, of course, into the nearest +town and spend the 125 francs that the paymaster exchanges once a month +for a Bank of Montreal cheque. The private soldier, receiving a meagre +30 francs a month, has to content himself with simpler joys than +champagne (vintage 1914) and hand-made lace. Instead he partakes of +French beer at three sous a glass, and his friends overseas receive +hand-embroidered postcards of brilliant but patriotic designs worked by +the crippled children of Paris. + +The greater part of the soldiers' money, however, is spent on +food--dainties such as oatmeal, sardines, canned fruit, and so +forth--and little shops close to the firing line welcome the +twice-monthly visit of the paymaster. + +Bethune, the town outside of which we were at this time billeted, was +quite the gayest place we had visited since leaving Poperinghe. + +"Business as usual" was its motto, in spite of the almost daily shelling +it received by light guns, said to have been mounted on an armoured +train. + +This bombardment took place, as a rule, between 6 and 7 o'clock each +evening, but the damage done was very slight, only one soldier being +reported killed during our stay. There were civilians killed at various +times, but from a military point of view the shelling was absolutely +useless. + +If, perchance, one was taking tea with Marie, or anyone else for that +matter, and the shelling started, it was quite the thing to seek the +shelter of the cellar and stay there "_en famille_" until the +bombardment was over, when you would emerge, Mademoiselle perhaps +pushing a loosened hairpin back in place, and continue to enjoy your +tea. + +It was not everyone's fortune to have this happen, however. + +The bank took a more serious view of the affair, and, having sandbagged +the cellar windows, posted notices stating that, in the event of +shelling, customers could continue business in the cellar. And this was +in a nation that we have always looked upon as effeminate and excitable! + +Under these pleasant circumstances, plus a little setting-up drill and +"physical jerks," we passed a very pleasant fortnight before going into +the trenches again--this time at Givenchy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +GIVENCHY, 1915 + + +It was now the turn of the 1st Brigade to emulate the gallant deeds of +the 2nd and 3rd Brigades at Ypres and Festubert, and right gallantly +they did so. + +Givenchy, while receiving but slight mention in Sir John French's +dispatches, was perhaps only a minor affair; but the fact that, owing +largely to a shortage of bombs, we were unable to hold the ground we had +gained does not in any way detract from the gallantry of the attack. +Comparisons with Hulluch or Loos cannot be made, as we had nothing like +the support of either infantry or guns that were available on those +later occasions. + +The Canadians relieved the Guards in the Givenchy trenches during the +second week in June. Our brigade was still in reserve around Bethune +when they passed us; the Prince of Wales, a slim, tired-looking boy in +khaki, marched by with his regiment. It wasn't often we had any of the +Royal Family march past us; generally the boot was on the other leg! + +We entered the trenches at night and, as usual, in a drizzling rain. +Except for the fact that it was miserable weather, that we had followed +the La Bassee Canal in, and that he had a jumping toothache, the writer +has no vivid impressions of that night. + +We lay in some trenches just in front of the ruined distillery, dug in a +commanding mound that had been thrown up in building the canal, and +stayed there till next night, when we moved forward again, two companies +going into the front line and two, one of them the writer's, occupying a +support trench. + +Here we learned what work was, every bit of food, bombs, and ammunition +required for the front line being carried up these narrow twisted +communication trenches by the support companies, for the proximity of +our line to the enemy would not permit of taking a single man from the +front line. It was the one time we cursed the heavy mailbags that +arrived with unceasing regularity every night. + +The right of our trenches here rested on the canal, and could go no +further forward owing to a small marsh that lay in front. But about +the centre of the position the line swooped forward into a small and +dangerous salient known as the "Duck's Bill." + +[Illustration: THE DISTILLERY AT GIVENCHY.] + +It was opposite here we proposed to attack, the actual objective being +the high ground between points H2 and H3 on the map. If we and the 7th +Division on our left could gain this high ground it would straighten out +this dangerous salient and give us a footing on the Aubers Ridge. + +Great preparation was made for this attack. A mine that had been under +construction for months was to be sprung, and we were to give the Hun a +bombardment such as he had never had before. + +Two field-guns were brought up on the night of the 14th and placed in +_epaulements_ that had been dug in rear of the front-line trench to +receive them. They were to be kept masked till the last moment before +the attack, when they would cut wire and silence machine-guns along the +front over which we were to attack. + +The Central Ontario Battalion was to make the attack, supported by the +Toronto Battalion, while the Eastern and Western Battalions were to man +the captured trench, consolidate it, and provide for any +counter-attacks. On the left, the East Yorks and another battalion of +that brigade were to co-operate. + +Meanwhile the mine was being hastily completed, and by noon on the 15th +it was ready for firing, the explosive being carried up by Lyte and his +satellites from near the distillery. They had had rather a bad time of +it crossing the Pont Fixe, a wrecked bridge that was under observation +from the German position. + +The Huns, seeing the first load of these white boxes being carried over +the bridge, laid a gun on it and when the second party came across +opened fire on them, wounding several men close to F----, the Quebecker, +who as junior sub. was bringing up the rear. He, however, kept the men +from dropping the explosive, and the party reached the mine shaft +without any further casualties. + +Our three days' bombardment, which had started on the night of the 13th, +now died down slightly, and the Germans, having had ample time to bring +up their reinforcements, waited for the attack. + +At 3 o'clock our two companies in the front line drew off to the right +and the men of the Central Ontarios took their places, while the +communication trenches leading up were choked with the Toronto men who +were to form their supports. Our artillery now tuned up again and caught +the Germans by surprise. They, in turn, shelled us heavily, causing many +casualties owing to the crowding of the trench. + +[Illustration: OUR SUPPORT TRENCHES AT GIVENCHY.] + +A---- and the scout-corporal went up the trench and were caught by a +shell and the corporal was killed, A---- being fortunate in escaping, +though very severely wounded. + +Another shell lit fairly on a bomb depot about this time and destroyed +one of our reserves of these weapons, and a third shell killed +Lieutenant-Colonel Beecher, the second in command of the attacking +battalion. + +The two guns in the front line had been unmasked and were cutting wire +with desperate rapidity, though their crews were practically wiped out a +few moments later, and in the midst of this turmoil the mine went up. + +It was quite the largest mine that had been exploded along the front, +and the tremor of the earth could only be compared to an earthquake. + +So eager was the engineer officer to reach the German trench, that, +finding he was striking water underground, he loaded in something like +a ton and a half of explosive to make certain. Thus he achieved the +double result of winning the Military Cross for his skill and blowing up +a portion of our front line, from which fortunately our men had been +withdrawn. + +But a number of our own men were killed and wounded, and, what was far +worse, another reserve depot of bombs was buried under the _debris_ of +the explosion. + +In the meantime, masked by the fountain of earth thrown up by the mine, +the attack had been launched and was already in the first German line, +the bombers were beginning to work along the trench to the right and +left, and the little flags that marked their progress could be seen +moving slowly to the left to link up with the East Yorks. + +But the East Yorks had been unable to advance owing to the wire not +having all been cut and the machine-gun fire that enfiladed them from +their flanks. + +Meanwhile the Canadians had gained the third German line, but already +the shortage of bombs was beginning to be felt, and they were forced +back to the second line, where they established blocks in the trench +and were able to hang on until the following day, when the German +counter-attack forced them to fall back to our own front line. + +[Illustration: AFTER GIVENCHY. + +Left to right: Capt. Birdsall, Winnipeg Brown, Ponton, Capt. Richardson, +Gutty.] + +The brigade had lost heavily. Of twenty-three officers of the Central +Ontario Battalion who went over the parapet only three returned +uninjured, the remainder being either killed, wounded, or missing! + +Nor had the Yorks fared much better. + +During the second day of the affair the writer was moving up a narrow +communication trench with a platoon carrying ammunition to the front +line when he encountered a party of about the same strength coming down +the trench in defiance of a notice board marked "In only." After asking +in vain for the officer in charge of the party he was told "For God's +sake, sir, we aren't any party. We're all that's left of two companies!" +There was nothing left to be said! + +Once again it had been proved that attacks by daylight, unless supported +by masses of supports, are bound to fail. + +The 2nd Canadian Brigade relieved us, marching in by one side of the +canal while we marched out along the other. We called across our best +wishes to them as we passed. We had, it is true, been heavily pounded, +but we were far from being depressed, though we might well have been. + +Instead, as we passed an electric towing machine lying neglected along +the towpath, a man in the ranks behind asked his mate what they were +used for. + +"Don't you know?" was the reply as he glanced at the broad-tyred wheels; +"why, they use them for rolling down the water in the canal after a +storm!" + +It was in this mood we returned to billets. + +[Illustration: APPROXIMATE LINE AFTER FESTUBERT AND GIVENCHY, 1915.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NORTHWARD AGAIN + + +After Givenchy the Canadian Division rested for another week around the +outskirts of Bethune before starting its long tramp back to the northern +end of the line again. + +But it was far from being a week of idleness, and hard drilling was the +order of the day. Great stress was laid on bomb-throwing, and, in spite +of the heavy casualties the bombing sections had suffered, there was no +dearth of volunteers for the "Suicide Club," as the bombers termed +themselves. The men, as well as the officers, recognised the value of +this weapon, old as the use of gunpowder itself, but now reinstated to +greater importance than ever before. + +So we started northward, a very uneventful and tiring march, our first +stop being at Neuf Berquin, where we rested a day. + +The march had been very fatiguing; it was the latter end of June, and +"sunny France" had been living up to her reputation, and even the +nights, in which we marched for the sake of coolness and concealment, +were most oppressive. And it was in weather like that that the famous +"First Seven Divisions" fought and marched twenty-five or thirty miles, +dug in and fought again, only to have again to retire! + +And we were only averaging fifteen miles a march! + +Our next halt was at Noote-Broome, a mere hamlet, where we held church +service and then marched straight into the trenches. + +This was a new area for us. We had grown so accustomed to shifting from +one part of the line to another that we had already nicknamed ourselves +the "Canadian Foot Cavalry." + +However, we were fated to rest in that vicinity for several months, +though our brigade shifted from one position to another along that line +all summer. + +We first relieved a battalion of the Middlesex on June 28th opposite a +poisonous little spot known as "la Petite Douve." Here a small stream, +dignified by the name of the Douve River, wandered lazily across the +flat at the foot of the Messines Ridge and coiled like a natural moat +in front of the Petite Douve Farm. + +This, like all farms in Flanders, was a square of strongly-built brick +buildings. In it the enemy had established concrete machine-gun +positions and converted the place into a veritable fort. It projected in +a salient from their average line and enfiladed the main road running +from our position to Messines. + +The Middlesex, on our relieving them, had told us a weird tale of the +number of rounds of rifle ammunition they expended in a single night. We +discounted this by the usual 50 per cent., but our major had an extra +supply brought up in case of emergencies. + +An evening or two later we found the reason for the Middlesex's heavy +expenditure of cartridges, for the enemy, on a three-mile front, +suddenly opened up rapid fire, keeping up this fusillade for nearly half +an hour. + +This occurred at odd intervals for some time while we occupied that +front, and was known as "the Germans (or the Fritzes) getting their wind +up." The Middlesex had been trying to beat down this fire with their own +rifle fire; we contented ourselves with sitting tight and, by careful +patrolling, watching for the first signs of an attack. On such a night +as this poor F---- was out on patrol when the rapid fire opened up, and +we nearly struck him off the company strength. Much to our surprise he +and his patrol came in later, quite unhurt, having discovered, and taken +shelter in, an advanced German trench near some willows. + +Later it became quite the thing to take a few men out with you and bomb +this trench. + +We only did two "tours" in this particular piece of trench, as the next +time we came in that company frontage had been allotted to the battalion +on our left and we moved just around the corner, the Petite Douve Farm +being almost hidden from our view by trees but continuing to annoy us +with its machine-guns. + +It was here that we celebrated "Dominion Day" (July 1st), a Canadian +ensign that had arrived a few days before in a parcel from "home" waving +gaily behind our lines. + +It was here, too, that Captain Frank Tidy, of the Toronto Battalion, +astonished the brigade by making a sortie from the trench in daytime and +bringing in two prisoners whom he had observed moving in the tall wheat +that here and there shut off our view of the German line. + +Much courage is required to make a sortie of this sort, and one is not +surprised that a third German had to be shot before the other two +surrendered to Captain Tidy and his two comrades. + +No information of importance was gained from these prisoners except that +the enemy had sent them out to ascertain who the new troops occupying +our line were. + +Summer was now well advanced, and it was doubtful if a further "push" +would be attempted that season, and we gradually settled down to the +routine of trench warfare. + +During the middle of July we did one tour in the trenches in front of +Wulverghem, relieving a battalion of Northumberland Fusiliers. We only +stayed there a few days, but were greatly bothered with rifle-grenades, +so, finding that our grenades fell short of the German line, the major +and a small party took the grenade-gun out in the long grass until they +were able to reach the enemy and thus secured a temporary peace. + +The East Yorks then relieved us, and when next we entered the trenches +it was a little to the right of our old position and in front of the +celebrated Ploegsteert Wood. + +Here the right battalions of the brigade had rather a strenuous time, +as some mines had been exploded and there was still a struggle going on +around the craters. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO PLUGSTREET WOOD.] + +But on the left, abutting our old position near the Douve Farm, we had +rather an easy time of it, there being little shelling and the trenches +nearly two hundred yards apart. + +In fact our greatest activity was at night and at dawn, conditions at +the latter time being well expressed in an anonymous sonnet we found +pinned up in a dug-out entitled "Stand To":-- + + "Early every morning, + As the stars begin to tire, + Without the slightest warning, + Our maxim opens fire; + A German gunner answers back, + And one by one the rifles crack, + All down the line you can hear the rattle, + And then begins our morning battle; + And as the dawn creeps in the sky + A couple of shells go whistling by. + The bullets are flying in every direction + Just as the larks begin to carol, + And all because the machine-gun section + Wanted to warm their hands on the barrel." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NIGHTS OF GLADNESS! + + +Our nights around Ploegsteert fully made up for the peacefulness of the +days, and "No Man's Land" between the two lines of trenches became the +scene of many exciting adventures. + +This was particularly true of the area directly in front of us, as a +large beanfield extended from the German line nearly to ours. It was a +dull night indeed that our listening post did not either bomb, or get +bombed by, an enemy patrol. Casualties, though, were fewer than one +would expect from such combats, as bombs are very local in their action, +and it was not easy to locate the enemy's position exactly by ear as he +rustled his way through the beans. + +Behind the lines there was less romantic work; for General Joffre, in an +odd moment, had sent a circular letter to the various divisions calling +attention to a new form of trench for protection against shell fire, +and we dug these trenches till there was hardly a foot of Allied soil +unturned. Later, during the rains, we drained our living trench into +them on the principle that the uncomfortable sensation experienced +during a heavy shelling would act as a distraction to the inconvenience +of standing in several feet of water. + +While we were in these trenches the enemy fired the dry yellow grass in +"No Man's Land" a few nights after their capture of our line at +Sanctuary Wood, near Hooge, with the flame projectors or +"flammenwerfers." A hurried "stand-to" was ordered, as we thought a +similar attack was about to be made. + +But the fire died down and we saw no signs of the enemy coming over. It +was, however, an anxious night, and great interest was taken in widening +our wire entanglements as more and more details of the Hooge affair +trickled down to us. How we longed for a supply of the iron stakers that +our patrols brought in time after time from the German wire! We got +them, too--later. + +Later the Germans could not have burned down our wire, even had they +tried, as a week of heavy rains came on, and, on such trifles do the +fates of nations hang, these had a most serious effect on the "Autumn +Push"--it was already September--as our offensive around Hulluch and +Loos was called. + +We were in reserve during the first two days of the attack, and received +with clock-like regularity the _communiques_ telling of our successful +advances. + +Our gunners were co-operating by the process known as "engaging the +enemy's artillery," but we did not doubt that the Toronto Battalion, +then occupying our trenches, were having rather a warm time of it, as +the Hun, instead of being a sportsman and shelling our batteries, used +to retaliate on our trenches. + +We set off the following day for the trenches. It had started to rain +about 4 o'clock, so that by 7, when we reached the head of Mud Lane, we +had no reason to doubt the origin of this homely name. + +In pleasing contrast to our growlings and grumblings as we took their +places, the Toronto men filed out prophesying all sorts of cheerful +things in store for us. All we could see ahead of us was plenty of work, +for the shelling they had received had smashed down our bulwarks and +annihilated the officers' kitchen--rather an elaborate structure, of +which we were justly fond--and they, in the sure and certain knowledge +of a relief, had only cleared away enough of the _debris_ to make the +trench passable. + +[Illustration: OUR TRENCHES, PLUGSTREET WOOD.] + +Meanwhile our listening posts, soothed with a wee drappie o' rum, went +over the parapet laden down with waterproof sheets fully determined to +make the best of a bad job, our sentries were posted, and the welcome +order to "Stand down" came along the trench. Those of us not otherwise +occupied turned into our dug-outs and were soon asleep. After a certain +stage one becomes unconscious to even a revolver-butt prodding one in +the ribs. + +It seemed only a few minutes before the sergeant thrust his head into my +dug-out with a "Midnight, sir!" I groped around for my pocket lamp and +looked at my watch--some way you always hope the sergeant is wrong, but +he never is--and tumbled out to relieve poor Lyte, who had spent a +miserable four hours. + +A rift in the clouds showed our friends of the midnight watch--the Great +Bear and Cassiopeia--twinkling merrily as though it had never rained for +a fortnight. + +I sloshed my way down to the far end of the trench. Pools of water lay +ankle deep here and there along its length. Already one or two men, who +had just come off sentry, had started to drain these into little +catch-pools. From here it was baled by means of the ever-useful +Maconachie tin into an equally useful biscuit tin, which was afterwards +dumped on the enemy's side of the parapet. + +In other places the men had turned in and were already asleep, so they +were promptly stirred up and told to "Get busy," and, for the night, the +blosh of the baling tin took the place of the smack of a shovel on a +freshly-placed sandbag. + +At frequent intervals it was necessary to crawl out and visit the +listening posts, who lay in the rank grass just beyond our own wire. + +On returning, not only were one's feet wet, but knees and elbows as +well. Then it was up and down the trench again for another hour or so. + +A fine drizzle set in and the stars again disappeared, the drizzle +turning to a steady shower. + +I retired to company headquarters, only emerging when necessary to visit +the sentries and listening posts again. There, by the aid of a +sputtering candle, I sought diversion in the shape of a sevenpenny novel +that some kindly soul had forgotten in his haste to be relieved. + +[Illustration: OUR TRENCHES AT PLUGSTREET.] + +Just as I reached the stage where I could sort the various characters +into their ultimate _roles_ of hero, villain, and heroine the sergeant +again intruded with the news that one of the listening posts reported an +enemy patrol approaching. A few flares were fired up, but revealed +nothing except a white glare of grass field, the bean patch, and the +inky black of a few willows with our listening posts huddled at their +bases. These men were, of course, invisible to the enemy, as the flare +had fallen between their line and the willows. A flare must fall behind +the object aimed at to reveal anything with accuracy. + +Even a couple of parachute lights fired from "Little Archibald," as we +called the special gun used for these larger flares, revealed nothing, +so I gave up in disgust, woke the only two men who had not been +disturbed all night, tied a couple of sandbags around each knee, and +once again disappeared over the parapet. + +An hour later, on returning, the signaller warned me it was time for +the "situation" report. I scrawled out the usual formula, "Situation +unchanged; enemy quiet; wind northerly," and handed him the form. + +It was ten minutes late, and though the adjutant would not read it till +morning I knew I was in for a wigging. Wet and disgusted I turned to my +dug-out. + +A few minutes later traces of dawn showed themselves in the east. The +rain ceased and a fine mist took its place. The men stumbled out to +their rifles in response to the order "Stand to," and I made a final +promenade of the trench, dragging out a man here and there who was +tardy. + +Then I stirred up the officer of the day and handed over my duties. + +The mist cleared away, showing the German line, grim and formidable as +ever! + +Another day had dawned. + +It was on such a dawn as this that poor Jack L----, my platoon-sergeant, +was killed. The fog had lifted a little, revealing an enemy patrol to +our listening post. + +He, taking the nearest two men with him, went out in search of them, and +a flare falling near the little party showed them up to the enemy +snipers. He alone was hit. + +We buried him in the battalion cemetery the next day, the colonel +reading the service over his body, and we thought as we lowered him into +his grave what a very good friend he had been. + +It was not very many days later that we changed from this brigade area +to another, leaving Ploegsteert with its memories, sad and otherwise, +behind us. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN FRONT OF MESSINES + + +The Second Canadian Division arrived in France during our stay in +Ploegsteert, and after a short rest took over a sector on the right of +St. Eloi and in front of Messines. + +Here it was that we relieved them about a fortnight later--our third +move while in front of this grim hill, the scene of such hard fighting +in October of the year before. + +The line at this point swung forward in a small salient to within fifty +yards of the enemy--the only footing we now held on this famous +ridge--and to the Toronto and Eastern Ontario Battalions fell the honour +of guarding this point all winter. + +Here, too, we were to learn something of grenade and mine warfare such +as the other two battalions of our brigade had been waging all summer +near Ploegsteert. + +And the little graveyard in rear of the line was to receive the bodies +of many of our comrades and hold them in common sanctity with those of +other gallant men, British and French, Highlanders and Turcos, who had +perished on the slopes of Messines. + +For a week we systematically registered our guns on new points in the +enemy's second and third lines--the usual preliminary to an +offensive--and bombarded them severely. + +This was done to prevent the enemy from moving any of his guns from this +area to the southern end of the line, where, now that the weather was +again favourable, the British were to make another thrust. + +For this purpose, too, we were to make a "little demonstration" on our +front, using smoke bombs to make the enemy believe we were going to use +gas, and, to our great satisfaction, it was announced that in those +areas where the real offensive was being made the Germans would be +treated to a dose of their own poison. Too long we had waited and +allowed the enemy to use this fearful weapon against us, thinking the +neutral nations might intervene; but their interest in the cause of +humanity was largely a financial one, and we determined to adopt a +broader view, perhaps, of what justifiable weapons are, and make use of +the advances of science. France was already using the gas, but Britain +hesitated at setting her hall-mark on such a usage, necessary as it had +become. + +The day, October 13th, was ideal for observation, beautifully clear, +with a gentle breeze from our trench towards the enemy's. Nothing finer +could be desired for our operations to the south. + +About 2 o'clock our guns, along the whole British front, started to cut +wire as though preparing for an attack. + +The Germans in return sprinkled our lines vigorously with shrapnel, the +fleecy white puffs of their shells showing up like clouds on the clear +blue sky. + +From our trench on the hill top we could see the long line of trenches, +hidden here and there by trees, stretching southwards to Armentieres, +the tall chimneys of which were clearly discernible. + +Anxiously we glanced from this view to our watches while the hands crept +slowly around to the appointed moment. In the distance there suddenly +appeared faint lines of whitish smoke among the trees; and we lit our +smoke bombs and hurled them over the parapet. There was a moment's +pause, and then they burst into clouds of yellow smoke, hiding the +German trench from view. + +[Illustration: THE START OF THE SMOKE CLOUDS. The Little Demonstration, +October 13th, 1915.] + +The tone of their bombardment changed immediately, and crashing salvoes +of high explosive fell around us. + +Our guns paused for a moment, and the crisp rattle of musketry, the +droning of myriads of bees, and the bursts of machine-gun fire were +heard alone as they ran through whole belts of cartridges; then all +minor sounds were again drowned out by the clashes of our shells as they +burst all along the German front line. + +Gradually the smoke cleared away as the bombs burnt themselves out and +showed that no attack was being attempted. The bombardment slackened, +though the Germans continued to shell us heavily till almost dusk, but +with little further effect except that they rendered the evacuation of +our wounded more dangerous. + +Our casualties had, however, been slight, but it was simply marvellous +luck, for our parapets were ruined heaps and the trenches filled with +_debris_. + +We gazed sadly around, knowing it meant many nights of hard work to +restore these, and mentally decided to join the artillery in the next +war, as they alone had enjoyed the afternoon's work. + +The German guns had certainly been kept busy, and it was some +consolation to read in their report of the affair that "an attack using +gas on a thirty-mile front had been repulsed with heavy losses to the +enemy." + +We had produced the desired effect. + +Below La Bassee the 46th Division had been equally successful and gained +the Hohenzollern Redoubt, while on their right in the vicinity of Loos +the 4th Corps were holding nearly twelve hundred yards of German +front-line trench. + +It had been a good day's work, but summer was now over and good weather +could not be depended on, so no further offensive was made, though +fighting of the most stubborn and desperate sort took place around the +newly-gained ground, which was, however, successfully consolidated. + +During the remainder of the month, except for the exploding of a mine +and aerial activity, there was little that occurred on the Canadian +front. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MINE WARFARE + + +Among the other things we took over from the outgoing battalion when we +first moved into this position was the care and continuance of a mine, +and this mine was to form our chief worry as long as we held that line. + +At first we were inclined to regard the mining officers--of which we had +two--as a sort of nuisance like engineers, trench mortar men, and some +others, who were always demanding men for carrying and working parties. +But we were not long in finding that they were, like ourselves, +necessary evils, and they became welcome guests at our little mess when +in the trench. + +Whenever the trenches approach as close as they did at this point mine +warfare becomes inevitable, and it is a game at which it is best to be +first. + +To defend a position against this method of attack one commences a +counter-mine at a depth sufficient to take the gallery or tunnel +underneath the enemy's one, which, once it is located, is blown in +before they manage to get under the defenders' trench. The tunnel or +gallery is barely large enough for a man to crawl along on his hands and +knees, and must be boarded foot by foot as it progresses to prevent it +from collapsing. + +In this cramped position the sapper wields his pick, a peculiar affair +not unlike a harpoon, and scrapes the loosened earth back with a short +grubber to another man who removes the earth in sandbags. + +Progress under such circumstances must be slow, but it is made slower by +the necessity of running galleries at right angles to the main tunnel +from time to time in an effort to locate the enemy. + +Here men are posted, while all work is for a time stopped, to listen for +the first sounds of the enemy's sappers--the thud-thud of the picks or +the "cough" of the man whose lungs seek this relief in the stuffy air of +the cramped tunnel. + +If the enemy is not found, progress is continued forward from both ends +of the cross-gallery and the game goes merrily on. + +About this stage the mining officer will, if you happen to be holding +the trench under which he is grovelling, wax eloquent over a crumpled +sheet of tracing linen that he presents to your view as a diagram of the +workings. It looks like nothing so much as a drawing of the kith and kin +of an old and prolific family; but you dare not tell him that, or he +will be your enemy for life. + +Instead you should say, "Ahem!" and "Oh, yes; how clever!"--then he will +ask you for only ten instead of twelve men on the night's working party. + +But once the enemy is located you begin to regard him more seriously, +for on his skill depends the life of every man in the trench above, and +a false change in direction may mean missing the enemy's tunnel +altogether. + +Sometimes, but not often, the mining is so quietly done that the first +sign of the enemy is the sudden collapse of the wall of earth between +the two galleries, leaving the rival workers face to face! + +At other times, and this is a normal occurrence, the enemy are heard to +one side or the other, and a small charge of powder is laid and his +gallery is blown in, crushing his workers to death, or perhaps merely +burying them to perish miserably by suffocation. + +To prevent this occurring men are kept in the ends of all the passages +listening for the tap-tap of the picks that spells danger! + +If the picks are heard for a while and then stop, there are anxious +moments, for it may mean that the enemy has located our workers and +decided to blow first and wreck our galleries, or it may mean the +explosive is already in place and ready for firing, or perhaps only a +change in the direction of the enemy's tunnel. + +The situation is not a pleasant one for either the men in the trench +above or the sappers in the galleries below, and on the mining officer's +decision much depends. + +It was while we were breakfasting one morning that the corporal in +charge of the underground sentries reported that the enemy could be +heard working in No.--gallery. + +This was the third time since taking over the mine that tapping had been +reported, and both the preceding times had proved to be the result of +overstrained imaginations. Captain H----, our skipper, had on both +occasions descended to the bowels of the earth and listened patiently +for half an hour, emerging again disgusted with things in general. + +This time he motioned to the writer to accompany the corporal, and +together we made our way to the mine, shedding our jackets and belts at +the head of the shaft, and taking only our electric pocket lamps we +crawled along the muddy galleries to No.--. + +The noise had stopped, the listener whispered to us when we touched him +gently on the leg, so we lay there all three listening for it to start +again, the tick-ticking of our wrist-watches and the pulsing of our +hearts sounding loud to our strained ears. + +Three--five--seven minutes passed by without a sound, and then suddenly +there came a slight thud. + +The man in front of me stiffened slightly like a well-trained setter and +the corporal behind me pinched my leg in the height of his exultation. + +The thud-thud continued (there was no mistaking it now), then a +pause--and a voice, distinctly guttural, was heard, and a sound, easily +distinguishable from the muffled reports of the rifles some thirty feet +overhead--the scraping of a shovel on the wooden floor of a gallery not +more than eight feet away! + +Passing the sentry a revolver and torch, we blew out his candle and +crept away as noiselessly as we had come. + +On reaching the head of the shaft we met the mining officer, who crawled +down and returned to confirm our judgment. + +Then followed some mysterious telephoning to the "higher authority" +while a charge was hastily laid, and permission was at last secured to +"blow" the mine. + +No time was lost, and in half an hour all was ready, the mining officer +returning from his final inspection with the news that the enemy was +still digging blissfully away. + +Remembering the mine at Givenchy, we cleared the trench in the danger +zone and had this party "stand by to repel boarders" and, if necessary, +man the crater. + +At 2.30 the mine was fired. + +A fountain of earth roared upwards from "No Man's Land," and, armed to +the teeth with bombs, we rushed forward, losing a couple of men on the +way who had been struck by the falling _debris_, and manned our trench +while machine-guns raked the enemy's parapets. + +However, he showed no inclination to man the crater--a yawning pit some +forty feet in width half-way over to his trench--and contented himself +with throwing a few bombs into it and covering it with machine-gun +fire. In spite of which Begbie Lyte, having now risen to the dizzy +height of senior subaltern in the company, took out a small party and +filled it with barbed wire. + +The affair was only briefly mentioned in the _communiques_: "On the 22nd +a mine was exploded under a German gallery on our front. An enemy mining +party is believed to have been blown up." + +The mining officer was greatly pleased, however, as only some few yards +of his own gallery had suffered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MYTHS, FAIRIES, ETC. + + +In every position you take over there are a certain number of myths +which when you go out you carefully repeat to the incoming battalion; +and the tale seldom loses in the telling. These are handed down to +posterity in naming new field-works; hence the frequency of "Suicide +Alley," "Sniper's Cross-roads," "Dead Man's Corner," &c, &c. + +Some of these myths are worth repeating--all are worth noting, for they +are in most cases founded on possibilities. + +The most popular myth or fairy on the Messines front was undoubtedly the +"Mad Major." This individual was supposed to be an artillery officer who +spotted for his own battery--which incidentally always did the most +marvellous shooting--from an aeroplane, in which he performed the most +daring feats while dodging the "Archibalds" or anti-aircraft shells. + +Whether there was any truth in this myth we never found out, but we did +see an enemy aeroplane forced down behind our lines by Robert Lorraine, +the actor aviator, on October 26th, after a very daring fight. + +A large enemy aeroplane of the "Albatross" type had been making a +reconnaissance somewhere northward in the Ypres salient with unusual +boldness when Lorraine sighted the machine and gave chase. Instead of +turning directly back to his own lines the German flew along the line of +our trench at such a tempting range that machine-guns all along our line +started to cough and spit in the air in an effort to wing him. + +Meanwhile our own aeroplane was getting within range, and a pretty duel +in mid-air commenced, the two machines circling and swooping like a pair +of immense white gulls, while the "tut-tut" of their machine-guns was +the only sound as both Germans and British watched this unique battle. + +Suddenly the German machine showed signs of distress, pitched suddenly +forward, and started a long glide for the German trenches, our aeroplane +still pursuing and forcing the enemy even lower. + +But the German had followed our trench line too far down, for at this +point our trenches ran forward nearly a quarter of a mile where a +French cavalry brigade in a dismounted action the year before had made a +last effort to retake Messines. + +And now, when it became apparent their machine could not regain the +German lines, their gunners began to shell their own plane, containing +as it did two of their own men, in an effort to destroy the machine. + +But, though they fired over a hundred shells into the little wood behind +which the aeroplane landed, they were unable to prevent the men of our +Royal Montreal Regiment, who occupied the trenches at this point, from +capturing the observer and his papers, the pilot having been killed in +mid-air at the time the machine made its fatal plunge. + +Then occurred one of the strangest of coincidences, vouched for by the +official Canadian Eye-witness, when, on examining the wrecked aeroplane, +the Royal Montrealers found the machine-gun with which it had been armed +to be one formerly the property of this same regiment, but lost during +the fighting around St. Julien just six months before while loaned to +another battalion. + +The "Mad Major" may have been only a myth, but Lorraine certainly was +not, and for this exploit both he and his pilot subsequently received +the Military Cross. + +But there were a lot of tales that had their origin in a desire to suit +the "Cook's tourists." These individuals were officers sent over from +the Canadian Training Base for short periods of one or two weeks to +receive practical instruction in trench warfare. Incidentally they +brought with them some wondrous ideas about the proper methods of doing +things, gathered from some official publications known as "Notes from +the Front," and were greatly surprised to find we were not in touch with +this "trade" journal. + +Like the "Daily Summary of Events," known to us as "Comic Cuts" or the +"Daily Liar," these little handbooks are written by wise men wearing red +tabs and living miles away from the front, where the continuity of their +thoughts is only interrupted by the tea hour, and not by the "Jack +Johnson" shells. Here they design "wire meat safes," patent refuse +burners, mud scrapers, and other weird contrivances that can be +fashioned from biscuit tins, ruined houses and other _debris_, and issue +these sheets for the guidance of the poor, long-suffering infantry. Once +in a while they turn their attention to steel helmets, grenades, &c., +so that their existence is almost justified. + +The "Cook's tourist," however, is not a dangerous creature, taken in +small quantities, and is a very handy man to send out on working parties +when the company is supposed to be resting in reserve. So he is not +without his uses. + +For those who found the ordinary trench routine dull we had, however, +several stock entertainments that never failed to satisfy. + +The first and mildest was to take the victim through the "Catacombs," as +we called the galleries and connecting passages of our mine. This had +the advantage of rendering his cuffs and decorations less conspicuous +and giving him in five minutes all the war-worn appearance of a veteran. + +If, however, he still craved excitement, he would be allowed to put out +some more wire in front of the parapet--always a delicate operation +where the lines are close. Many were satisfied by this means. + +The third degree was always administered by Captain H---- himself. It +was in the form of a little sortie from the trench to a stumpy willow in +"No-Man's-Land," a willow that bore a striking resemblance to some +giant cacti and was called by us the "Cactus Treen." + +[Illustration: THE CACTUS TREEN.] + +From this point it was possible to bomb the German trench, and a little +excursion of this sort generally satiated the visitor's curiosity. +Incidentally, it kept the Hun from coming out and bombing us. He did, +however, treat us liberally to rifle grenades, and our casualties from +these beastly contrivances were large. + +On one morning we were most unfortunate, a grenade killing our bombing +sergeant and two men, and we started to retaliate with every variety of +grenade we had. At this moment the trench mortar officer came up the +trench and volunteered to assist us. He had a new gun throwing +thirty-pound bombs and was keen on displaying his skill; what was more +important, he had twenty bombs available, and he started to fire these +off with an alacrity that, under the circumstances, was most pleasing. + +But we had reckoned without our host. Before half a dozen rounds had +been fired an eight-inch gun back of Messines Hill started searching for +the trench mortar man and his gun, and twenty-five high explosive +shells plunged around us and shook our trench out of existence. It was +very fascinating to watch these shells coming. From the point, high in +the air, when they started to drop on their target they could be clearly +seen, first as a black ball, then gradually lengthening out till they +plunged into the ground and flung up dense fountains of earth and +fragments. + +The nearest burst was within ten feet of the trench mortar position, and +the officer withdrew his party, a sadder and a wiser man. + +From the rifle grenades, too, we lost both of our mining officers, one, +Lieutenant Alfred Evans, dying of wounds, the other being very severely +wounded. So two merry souls who had shared the vicissitudes of our +messing passed from our ken, and we could only wait our own fate and +say, like the French, "C'est la guerre!" + +[Illustration: APPROXIMATE GERMAN LINE IN FRONT OF MESSINES DURING +WINTER OF 1915-1916. + +(Successive positions held by 1st Brigade shown 1, 2, 3.)] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE WINTER MONTHS + + +November brought with it a week of steady rain, and we knew the winter +months were at hand. In less than two weeks our trenches, once the pride +of the division, were a series of collapsed heaps where the sandbag +walls had been undermined by the seepage of water. + +But we suffered nothing like the discomforts endured by the British +troops during the previous winter. Rubber boots reaching to the thigh +were issued, sparingly at first, but gradually until every man had a +pair, and whale oil and spare socks were available in large quantities +to aid in the fight against trench-foot. Nothing, however, could prevent +the mud, which lay a foot deep along the gangways of the trench. Pumps +were issued, but the mud was too thick to pump; our only hope lay in +drainage, and by the time proper drains were constructed the mud was too +thick to run, even though we were on a hill top. + +[Illustration: AFTER A FEW SHELLS AND A WEEK'S RAIN.] + +So we pumped and drained and built new sandbag walls all winter, and as +fast as one portion of our line was renewed another portion would +collapse, or, more disheartening still, be shelled to bits by the big +"minenwerfer." + +This was a German gun brought up to this front to counteract our trench +mortar. Throwing a shell about six inches in diameter of high explosive, +it could in three bursts do more damage than a whole company could +repair in a night. And regularly twice a week three shells were dropped +along Delta Road, a communication trench forming the third side of the +little salient. + +The effect of the "minenwerfer" was very local, however, owing to the +thinness of the shell wall, but such men as it killed were not a pretty +sight. Fortunately, too, the shells could be seen both by day and night, +and rose to such a height before dropping that men could scamper for +shelter from the threatened spot. But no dug-out could withstand its +explosion, and a series of craters, eight or ten feet in depth and +twelve feet in diameter, marked the "minenwerfer's" work. + +Every battery that covered our area had, by the time winter was over, +reported they had silenced "Minnie," but when we left that area months +later she was still doing business at the old stand. + +To relieve the monotony of this sort of thing the Canadian Corps +organised a series of night raids on the German trenches. + +The first, and most brilliant, of these was conducted by the 5th and 7th +Battalions of the 2nd Brigade on a barricade or forward trench that had +been constructed by the enemy near our old position opposite the Petite +Douve Farm. + +This raid was made on a villainous night blacker than Egypt during the +plagues and raining as only Flanders can. + +With faces blackened with charcoal, the raiding parties crept out to the +enemy wire and cut it strand by strand, a process lasting several hours. +During this time the cooks of one of the battalions carried out +pannikins of hot tea to the men who were lying in the mud hacking at the +wire. + +Finally the path was reported clear except at one point where a deep +ditch full of water could not be crossed, and at the appointed moment +the raiding parties swooped in on the enemy trench. + +Secure, as they thought, on such a vile night, the enemy were +completely surprised, but put up a stubborn resistance. An officer and +about thirty men were secured as prisoners, and where resistance was +more determined the enemy was driven from his trench with bombs. Then on +a given signal the raiders returned to their own trenches, bringing +helmets, saw-tooth bayonets, and Mauser rifles as souvenirs of their +midnight call. + +By this time the alarm had spread through the German lines, and his +artillery, in response to red signals shot up by men very lately +deceased, began to pound their own trench, thus catching their own +bombing parties, who, now the trench was only occupied by dead and +wounded, had regained the barricade. + +But we had another surprise awaiting them. A field-gun had been +man-handled up to our front line and at point-blank range proceeded to +blow the barricade to bits. This was done and the gun successfully +withdrawn by a car from a motor-machine-gun battery, in spite of the +fact that the first car sent for this purpose had to be hauled from the +ditch into which it had skidded. + +So thorough had been the preparations, and so well organised the raid, +that an account of it was published in the orders of the French Army as +an example of efficient preparation. + +The prisoners taken in the Petite Douve affair had boasted of the +preparations they were making for a gas attack on a scale hitherto +unknown, and on the Sunday before Christmas the enemy made another +attempt to gain the Ypres salient by this means. + +Early in the morning of the 20th the smell of gas was evident even down +as far as our position a few miles south of the salient, and our guns +began a desultory bombardment of the enemy lines. Thinking we were as +deficient in artillery as in the previous April, the enemy infantry +advanced in mass formation about 9 o'clock. Then our artillery did open +fire. About noon another attack was made, and also failed without a yard +of our line being lost. + +There were no further attempts! + +On Christmas Eve we were relieved by the Toronto Battalion and marched +out to rest billets in divisional reserve. + +It was a weird march out. Not a rifle was fired nor a single flare shot +up from either trench as the two battalions interchanged. + +We wondered if on the morrow there would be the handshaking and +hymn-singing that had characterised the first Christmas of the war; a +routine order had been published forbidding such demonstrations of good +feeling, but it was hardly necessary--flame projectors and asphyxiating +gas had attended to that! + +Everything was very peaceful in the little hamlet when we arrived, +however. It was a clear, starlit night, a little snow in the fields, and +the dark silhouettes of the houses and church loomed up against the +clear sky. The little church was in darkness--no midnight mass was being +sung this year--and we slipped into our various billets in silence, very +tired and not a little homesick. + +Christmas Day the men were marched into Bailleul, where a big dinner was +given them by the officers of the battalion. In the evening another +dinner was held for the officers themselves. There were the usual toasts +and speeches, and before the party broke up Captain George T. Richardson +asked for a few minutes' silent prayer for those who would not be +present at our next dinner. It was a wonderful tribute to his sincerity +that this was granted, for the evening was well advanced, and soldiers, +as a rule, dislike having their religion tampered with by anyone but +chaplains and other authorised personages. + +Poor George! he was the first of us to go but a few weeks later! + +We relieved the Toronto Battalion on the 29th, giving them a chance to +celebrate the New Year in a similar fashion. + +Then the second week in February we attempted a raid similar to those +made on our right and left by other battalions. The most obvious point +was selected for the attack, and, by an unfortunate chance, a night when +the moon was nearly full. + +As a result we were unable to get the wire cut, and the proposed raid +was cancelled, the enemy having men dug in amongst their wire watching +it. + +For some reason or other Captain Richardson, who was in charge of the +affair, again went over the parapet, possibly to see that all were +safely in, and was discovered a little later fatally wounded in amongst +our own wire. He passed away a few hours later in the little dressing +station at the Support Farm. + +So died a man who never gave a command he would not himself have +executed willingly, and whose character and ideals were such that all +who knew him envied him. + +And on his grave his brother officers placed a wreath with these simple +words: "He played the Game." + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Our later experiences are too recent for publication to-day; here, then, +this brief story of the Canadians must make an end. + + +THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with +the 1st Canadian brigade, by Frederic C. Curry + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. 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