Left Out of Battle

S.S. 135 — The Division in Attack; Issued by the General Staff, November, 1918
Appendix J – Number of Officers and Other Ranks to be Left behind before an Attack

1.     Infantry battalions, machine gun companies and light trench mortar batteries must not go into an attack with their full complement of officers and other ranks; a certain proportion must always be left behind to provide a nucleus upon which to reorganize the unit in the event of heavy casualties.

2.     The following is the minimum number of officers and other ranks which must remain behind when the battalion goes into action. Such officers and other ranks will not be available as reinforcements.

3,     A minimum of 25 per cent. of officers and other ranks must be left behind by machine gun companies and light trench mortar batteries when going into action. Such officers and men will not be available as reinforcements.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

The Creeping Barrage (1918)

S.S. 135 — The Division in Attack; Issued by the General Staff, November, 1918
Appendix A – Artillery in Attack

Barrages

(i.)     Object.—The object of the barrage is to prevent the enemy from manning his defence and installing machine guns in time to arrest the advance of the assaulting infantry. The barrage must be sufficiently heavy, therefore, to keep the enemy in his dug-outs, and sufficiently accurate to allow the infantry to get so close to the points to be attacks that it can cross the remaining distance before the enemy is able to man his defences. The barrage should be organized in depth to ensure, as far as possible, the protection of the infantry from effective rifle and machine gun fire. What the depth of each actual barrage may be, depends primarily on the artillery resources available, the configuration of the ground and the enemy's dispositions for the defence. The enemy's machine gun fire may prove dangerous at ranges up to 2,500 yards from the attacking infantry.

(ii.)     Organization.—In accordance with the foregoing principles, the barrage is organized in several belts of fire, the belt nearest to the advancing infantry being composed of the fire of the major portion of the 18-pdr. guns and generally known as the "creeping barrage."

The 4.5" howitzers and the remainder of the 18-pdrs. form a barrage in advance of the "creeping barrage"; their fire, while dwelling on strong points, and working up communication trenches, is at the same time organize in depth.

Beyond this again, a further belt of fire is formed by medium and heavy howitzers and a proportion of the 60-pdrs. their fire is directed so as to search all ground which commands the line of advance of the infantry or from which it is possible that indirect machine gun fire might be brought to bear through the creeping barrage. Especial attention must be paid to localities from which flanking fire can be brought to bear on the front of attack.

All these barrages roll hack according to a time table, the main principle being that there should always be a searching fire up to 2,000-2,500 yards in front of the advancing infantry. The fire, other than that of the "creeping barrage" should not follow as even cadence, or lift in regular lines. It should be so handled that the enemy's machine gunners may be unable to realize when the lift has taken place.

Finally, from the beginning of the barrage, the fire of long-range guns of all natures should be, used against the probable approaches of troops which may be brought up for the purpose of counter attack.

(iii.)     The Creeping Barrage.—In the first assault, the "creeping barrage" opens and dwells a few minutes on the enemy's foremost position. If the opposing 1ines are so close that this cannot be done without endangering the attacking troops, or if the position of our own front line is uncertain, it is advisable to withdraw the troops slightly before they form up for the assault in order that there may be no danger of opening fire beyond any locality which the enemy may occupy with advanced machine guns.

In an attack on an entrenched system the barrage does not as a rule lift direct from one trench to another, but creeps slowly forward, sweeping all the intervening ground in order to deal with any machine guns or riflemen pushed out into shell-holes in front or, of behind, the trenches. This creeping barrage will dwell for a certain time on each definite trench line to be assaulted.

From both an artillery and an infantry point of view simplicity in the organization of the barrage is desirable; curves and irregularities must be avoided as far as possible. The advance of the infantry will be much facilitated if the creeping barrage is moved forward in a straight line parallel to the line of departure of the assault.

The barrage should be arranged so as to help any change of direction which the troops may have to make. Direction is a matter of particular importance. Troops are trained to keep up to the barrage and can only do so by conforming to its shape. Curves and irregularities in the barrage are, therefore, always apt to cause a loss of direction.

(iv.)     Pace of the creeping barrage.—(a) The pace of the barrage is governed by the pace decided on for the infantry advance. The pace decided on for the infantry advance is dependent on local conditions, and it is impossible, therefore, to lay down as a general rule any definite rate of movement for the barrage, the pace of which will, with rare exceptions, be identical with that decided on Eor the infantry.

In estimating the correct rate of advance, the following factors should be carefully weighed:—

First—the probable resistance of the enemy, depending on the moral, quality and number of his troops, the nature of his dispositions and the strength of his defences.

Secondly—The state of ground and weather. The extent to which the ground has been cut up by shell fire, the presence or absence of mud, wet or dry weather conditions, and the existence of woods, houses, villages and streams in the line of advance, all affect the pace at which the infantry can move.

Over good ground, and in the absence of serious opposition, infantry can advance at a rate varying, according to the depth of the advance, between 50 and 100 yards a minute.

Thirdly—The length of the advance. A uniform pace for the barrage throughout the advance is, as a rule, unsound; the general principle should be for it to move more quickly at the start and to reduce its pace during the later stages, in order to allow the infantry time to reorganize.

In the case of a long advance, the attacking troops should be afforded the opportunity of recovering their places close up to the barrage by means of short pauses between the different objectives; the barrage should also be kept on each objective for an increased period in order to ensure that the attacking troops are closed up and ready to rush to the assault immediately the lift takes place.

Fourthly—The moral effect on the attacking troops. A slow advance checks, a rapid advance stimulates the keenness of the attacking troops.

(b)     If the pace decided on is too rapid, the whole advantage of the barrage will be lost, since the attacking infantry will fail to keep up with it and the enemy will be given time to man his fefences before he is attacked.

As a result, the advance may be brought to a standstill in close range pf the enemy's rifle and machine gun fire, while the barrage will continue to move on in accordance with the time table.

If, on the other hand, the pace decided on is too slow, the rear portions of the attacking force will tend to push on too fast and will become mingled with the leading portions, thereby forming a denser line and incurring heavier casualties, and also losing the momentum of the attack. Further, the enemy will be given time in which to withdraw his guns and infantry, and to reorganize his defence.

Finally, it must be remembered that the slower the rate of advance the greater will be the amount of ammunition expended in the barrage. This is an important factor for consideration in cases where the rapidity of the general advance may have rendered ammunition supply a matter of difficulty.

(v.)     Barrage Tables (or maps).—The arrangements for the barrages are made, as part of the corps artillery plan, by the corps commander after consultation with the divisional commanders, particular attention being paid to the points of junction between divisions to ensure that the barrages on each divisional front overlap properly.

Lifts and timings worked out are then embodied in a time table or map and issued to all concerned, the corps being responsible that these maps or tables are issued in sufficient time to enable the artillery to carry out the necessary arrangements. [From a later paragraph these arrangements include the supply of additional ammunition to batteries, the working out of firing data for the guns, and the setting of fuses and preparation of ammunition according ti the firing plan]

When the barrage maps or tables have been approved and issued by the Corps, no alterations by subordinate commanders are allowed, unless there is a change in the general plan of attack.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 9 September 2014 7:43 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

---

Results of Events at Canadian Corps Sports; Tinques, Domionion Day 1st July, 1918

From the War Diaries of the 1st Canadian Division (General Staff); 1918/07/01-1918/07/31

The Little Armistice

A Holiday in Wartime, from "My Grandfather's War; Canadians Remember the First World War, 1914-1918," William D. Mathieson, 1981

Remember them, troops!? The crowd, the bands, the games, the thirsts—Collishaw and that crazy squadron swooping down over the grandstand, parting the hair of the brass-hats with the wheels of their under-carriage—nursing-sisters screaming with fright and fainting into the arms of the officers—the officers, their arms full of nursing-sisters, sighing, "Atta-boy, Collishaw!"

The Corps Sports, 1918! What a day! Thirty thousand veteran soldiers of the Canadian Corps assembled in that field between Tinques and Aubigny, and every one of them as dry as a wooden god. It's terribly impressive when you come to think of it. Half-way up the hill, 300 yards to the left-rear of that particular canteen which ran out of beer before mid-day, were "The Volatiles"—the Division Concert Party playing to ten houses a day.

Crowds! The engineers had provided seating accommodation for 6,000 out of 30,000 who attended.

During the sports, airplanes photographed the scene; the pictures were developed, and the airmen returned to drop them in the grandstand. The grounds were splendidly arranged and it is claimed were better than at the first Stampede in Calgary. The grandstand was 300 yards long with special stands for distinguished visitors. The Canadian Y.M.C.A. furnished bunting and other decorations.

The idea and organization go to the credit of the Padres and the Y.M.C.A. A Corps Committee had been formed in 1917, when special attention was given to athletic competition among the units. The plan was broached to celebrate Dominion Day, 1918, with a great national meet. The whole scheme provided for the participation of 800 teams, involving 60,000 individuals. It was estimated the total entry list was about 13,000. The eliminations went on apace, from platoon co company, company to battalion, and so on, right up to Division. Winners from the Divisional meets were put into special training camps with a "Y" physical director in charge. And here they practiced for the Corps Meet— Monday, 1st July, 1918.

And so, on Dominion Day, everyone went to Tinques—music and flags and crowds and gaiety. The Duke of Connaught, late Governor-General, Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, General Horne, Sir Arthur Currie,— all the Big Shots turned up. The Guard of Honour greeted the Duke. All the bother and training for a brief two minutes of ceremony. Drawn up, they presented pipes when H.R.H. arrived. He walked rapidly between their ranks, then buzzed off to the grandstand.

Picked men from every Division—400 athletes—swung around the track. Following the athletes came a mass of piped bands, 200 strong, playing "Bonnie Dundee", as they halted in front of the Duke and Sir Robert.

Later, each Divisional band entered the enclosure, playing the divisional march. Massed in front, the guest, including representatives of every allied army, and all the thousands of Canadians present bared their heads as the bands played "O Canada".

Baseball, lacrosse, football, and tennis were all carried on at the same time, while the famous circus of the Western Brigade furnished a humorous part.

The sports concert party gave an entertainment, there being present over ten thousand. Sir Robert received a wonderful reception, then addressed the men. "How about leave, Sir Borden?" yelled someone. "Every Canadian has long leave to do his best to beat the Huns," retorted the Prime Minister, and ten thousand soldiers sprang to their feet cheering and waving their hats.

All round it was a holiday in wartime, and every man knew that in another day or two, or another week or two, he might be in the midst of battle; so this jollity had a sweet spice to it, and all these men looked so fine and hard and splendid that to see them have one a sense of safety and of victory in the fighting that must come.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

"Hope" (cropped from full image) by Keri Orozco.

A Padre in No-Man's-Land; "The Little Armistice"

Gregory Clark, "The Little Armistice," The Legionary, 1937; republished in "My Grandfather's War; Canadians Remember the First World War, 1914-1918," William D. Mathieson, 1981

But the little armistice that fewer than a thousand Canadians and Germans saw was staged by only one man.

It lasted 30 minutes. But this one man, with his pallid face and his blue chin, had something. Joshua made the sun stand still on Gibeon. This one man made the battle of Passchendaele stand still. And because what he had, all men may have, and what he did, any man may do, I would like to tell the tale.

The fury began to grow again. Now began the worse part of the battle, the holding.

It was about 3 p.m. that he was first noticed.

A familiar figure. Sturdy, his helmet tilted curiously forward over his eyes.

He was surely the unlikeliest figure to be expected in such a place, in such a bloody slime and sea. He should have been back at the wagon lines, on the Canal Bank, in far-off Ypres. He was the padre.

Dramatize padres as we may have done, the fact remains that the normal place to look for a chaplain is not in the middle of a battle. In the front, frequently, yes. But this 4th C.M.R. Chaplain, the Rev. W. H. Davis, formerly of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan, was a little odd. He more or less lived in the front line.

And here he was about 3 p.m. of the afternoon, floundering around right in the open, in full view of the enemy, in advance of the newly established line, acting in a very queer manner.

He had a handkerchief tied to his walking stick. Padres are not allowed to bear arms, by international law. Holding his stick up and waving it every time a blast of fire came near him, he went plunging about, bending and straightening, and stabbing rifles into the mud. If it was a German wounded, he hung a German helmet on the gun bun. If a Canadian, a Canadian helmet.

Men shouted to him to come in out of that. The heavens were about to break. Aye, they were, in a funny way.

Serenely, the padre continued to quarter the dreadful ground this way, that way, while the crumps hurled in and the machine-guns stuttered and filled the air with their stomach-turning zipp and whisper.

One major caught the padre's ear. Through the crumps the padre waded over.

"I was getting anxious about you!" the major cried.

They held him there a little while until, unnoticed, he slipped away and appeared, far to the right, dipping and floundering, and setting up that ever-growing ragged chain of rifle butts, helmets aloft.

Small parties of his own men tried to reach him or to carry in one of the wounded he marked. But they were flattened with enemy machine-gun fire. The padre beckoned nobody. He called no man, Canadian or German, though he passed close to both. He simply stuck up the rifles, hung the helmets, and left them mutely there.

Then the heavens opened. But with silence. Shellfire ceased. Machine-guns died, all across that narrow C.M.R. belt. To north, to south, the fury raged. But out from this solitary figure, resolu tely plowing his zig-zag course in horror, there radiated a queer paralysis.

In a matter of minutes, silence grew. It was as if the sun stood still. As if the whole mad world were abashed. And there, all alone, in the middle of the silence, walked the solitary figure, bending, rising and stabbing rifles into the earth.

From the Canadian side figures crouched up, ventured forward. From the German side men rose. Where an instant before had been a 3-year-old hate, men were cautiously advancing, empty- handed, to meet one another. They ran to their own markers, the helmets, German or Canadian. Some of the wounded Canucks were far over amidst the Germans. Some of the wounded Germans lay back of the Canadian outposts. Canadians began to carry the Germans forward.

Padre Davis went and stood on The ruined remnants of a pill box, a few vast hunks of concrete. Aloft, he stood and beckoned the parties to him. He had established a clearing house. They traded wounded. Cigarettes were offered.

For nearly 30 minutes this armistice maintained. Then, a mile away, some artillery observing officer, through his glasses, beheld the target. He could make out enemy uniforms. Clustered, right in the open. What folly.

Shells came whistling. The silence vanished in a rising mutter. In three minutes the whole dreadful business was in full roar again.

They pinned on Rev. Davis the M.C. when he arrived back. They ordered him to sty behind at the wagon lines but later, while leading stretcher-bearers during a battle, he was struck by a shell. He was buried in Le Quesnel Cemetery.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

The War of Life

Letter from the Rev. Albert Woods to his wife in Winnipeg (undated); republished in "My Grandfather's War; Canadians Remember the First World War, 1914-1918," William D. Mathieson, 1981

Now let us suppose a man is wounded in the front trench. He is at once picked up by the stretcher bearers, given first aid, placed on a stretcher and brought to the R.A.P., where he is examined, iodine put on his wound and redressed. If the patient is suffering and if the wound permits, a small dose of morphia is given. His Regimental Number, Name and Unit, nature of wound, and Treatment given is indicated on a card and fastened to the patient's tunic.

If the wound is dangerous, or serious, a red card is red, if slight, white, all these particulars are entered in a book kept solely for the purpose by the Battalion M.O. The patient is given a drink of hot coffee and sent on to the Advanced Field Ambulance Dressing Station where he is again examined and sent on to the main Dressing Station by Motor Ambulance, usually about three miles behind the firing line. Here the patient is given a dose of anti-toxin as s preventative of Tetanus. His wounds are redressed, dry socks put on if needed and available. Here he is given plenty of hot food and drink. If he is a serious case he's sent on ac once co the Casualty Clearing Station where necessary operations are performed. Thus I have known patients entered at the C.C.S. only five hours after they were wounded.

The whole system works like an endless chain propelled by an unseen power; there is no confusion under the most severe stress. Every ounce of energy is used to the best advantage, nothing being wasted, the thing moves as in a circle. We do not as a rule credit the Medical men with a keen business ability, but at the front (I know nothing of the conditions as they exist in England) there is no department of this vast and complicated Military Machine that is better organized, more efficiently managed, or has produced better results than the Canadian Army Medical Service. When the Field Ambulances have delivered their patients to the Casualty Clearing Station, their responsibilities cease. The C.C.S.

are aways situated on a railway line and as soon as possible the patients are moved by Ambulance train to one of the Stationary Hospitals and from there to England. At the C.C.S. there is a large staff of nurses, or "angels in white" as we call them, and the patients receive the same attention they would receive in an old established hospital. They are well equipped with the modern appliances, such as X-Ray machines, etc. The best Surgeons procurable are found there. So amongst all the misery of war and within easy distance of its relentless activities are found the more civilized and humane endeavours of humanity; the desire to alleviate suffering. The war of life against death and pain. On the one hand it is science straining every nerve to accomplish man's destruction, on the other hand it is science working overtime to save his his life.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Privilege to the Permanent Force

Officers and Men Who Were Retained in Canada May Go Overseas

Montreal Gazette, 11 October 1918

Ottawa, October 10.—An order has recently been promulgated by the Militia Department for the purpose of doing justice to a number of officers, warrant officers, and non-commissioned officers of the permanent force who have been retained for service in Canada. By its terms the privilege of going overseas for service in France is granted to all in this position. If they are not senior to the rank of lieutenant colonel, they are not required to revert to a lower rank to obtain this privilege, officers of higher grade are required to revert to that grade.

To raise, organize, train and dispatch the Canadian Expeditionary Force overseas, a staff is necessary in Canada, alike at headquarters and in the various districts, camps and schools. Permanent officers and non-commissioned officers were particularly useful for service on these staffs, because they were familiar with military methods; numbers of them accordingly were retained in Canada against their will, to the detriment of their professional careers, because they were necessary, and in some cases indispensable for work at the base. These men were thus victims of their own efficiency. Their position has become invidious the more so as persons who did not appreciate the need in Canada, accustomed to the working of the military machine have reproached them for not going abroad, when as a matter of fact they had sought to do so and had been refused.

Garbled versions of this order have been circulated to the effect that it is to "compel" these officers and other ranks to go abroad. It does nothing of the kind. It confers on them the privilege of going abroad. The authorities only recently have been able to make this arrangement because qualified men who have been overseas are available for the work in Canada.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

War Inventions, Discoveries, Science

The Canadian Annual Review War Series; 1918, by J. Castell Hopkins, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., published 1919 (pp. 71-74)

An important phase of the [First World] War which developed along opposing lines was that of discoveries in science and medicine and surgery, inventions in killing and curing, in transportation and industry. Aviation, from a painful effort by isolated enthusiasts, became one of the wonders of the War and one of its most effective instruments; Submarines from a Jules Verne atmosphere of utter improbability assumed a status which imperilled the commerce, shipping and transportation of the world; motor-cycles, motor-lorries, automobiles, electric trucks, many and varied forms of electric transport assumed a place of fundamental importance in the carriage of millions of men and hundreds of millions of tons of supplies, of artillery, of ammunition, &c. in motor-cycles alone the Germans used about 18,000 at the first Battle of the Marne, the British had 40,000 in the spring of 1915 and the French 11,000 while the total in use by all the belligerants during the War ran up to one million in number. Huge Tanks, super-tanks and little whippets, revolutionized the practices of war over difficult country and largely contributed to solve the trench problem which for two years had held up armies of millions and caused many sanguinary conflicts. To British ingenuity and initiative was due this discovery as were the chief Aeroplane war-improvements of the period. To Italy and the genius of Marconi were due the discovery and, first uses of Wireless Telegraphy; to War requirements were due the tremendous adaptations of this discovery between ships, and under water, in aeroplanes and moving trains, between countries and Continents.

When the War commenced Germany was popularly supposed to lead the world in scientific implements of warfare; as a matter of fact she lead chiefly in preparedness and quantity. As the struggle developed initiative passed to the British Allies whose aeroplanes knocked out the Zeppelins just as the British tank was perfected in face of German ridicule and the Machine gun, originally invented by a Frenchman, was perfected in the British Maxim. The British made the first big bombing war-plane—the Handley Page—and the German Gotha was only an inferior copy; the Stokes trench-mortar revolutionized for British armies the use of this otherwise ancient weapon. Poison gas was one of the German inventions, or adaptations of ancient barbaric warfare, with ; which they hoped to win and perhaps might have done so by its earlier use yet in 1918 they were denouncing the cruelty of Allied application of an improved and more powerful gas and declaring it contrary to Hague declarations! So effective had it become in their enemy's hands that Canadians on the Lens' front in one night alone, and in the greatest of the War's gas effects, projected 80 tons of liquid gas against the German lines. Meantime the horrible "mustard" gas had been invented by the Germans and at the close of the War the Americans had vast quantities of a new gas ready for use.

In Naval types and designs the British were dominant—even the Submarine in its discovery being a mixture of American and British inventiveness. There was the Super-dreadnaught with its biggest of all guns and its vast machinery oil-fired and turbine driven, there were the fastest of light cruisers, the Super-destroyer, the Coastal motor-boat. The invention of the Turbine was claimed by Americans as well as British; the first turbine ship was the Turbinia, a British Naval craft. The torpedo originally was a British invention as was the system of combined gun-fire on a battle-ship; the depth charge or water-bomb which did so much to arrest Submarine supremacy, also, was of British origin. Other inventions, mostly British in invention or application, were the listening or sound device by which Submarines could be heard and exactly located under water at a considerable distance—a sort of water Wireless which, also, promised to be most useful in days of peace and the marine under-water telephone or picking up of the human voice from one Submarine to another. The manufacture or preliminary use of concrete ships became a fact in Canada, and elsewhere, and might in time have proved another fatal obstacle to the submarine. Aero-photography was developed from aeroplanes to a high degree of scientific and war effectiveness. The utilization of rubbish, of war debris, of torn and smashed weapons, shells, fragments of castaway food, or garments, or utensils, was brought to a point of wonderful effectiveness. The dust-tin or garbage-can was mobilized throughout England and France, fertilizers were extracted from refuse, shipping was salvaged to a quite remarkable extent, bones were turned into glue or phosphates, or glycerine. Germany in these latter points had acknowledged eminence; isolation, necessity, scientific precision of knowledge, and application along certain lines, wrought wonders in the form of substitutes.

Surgical and medical developments were one of the miracles of War. That, with the single exception of the Influenza epidemic near its close, 50,000,000 men could grapple over a term of years in deadly conflict, amid the devastation of whole countries and nations, without any general spread of contagious diseases, or epidemics of deadly and world-wide nature, was due to expert sanitation and surgery. There were, of course, local exceptions such as the Typhus which ravaged Serbia early in the War and at times attacked the Austrian and German armies; but, as a whole, these conditions were not of the nature so greatly feared in preceding wars. The use of anti-typhoid and anti-tetanus sera to prevent infection was wide-spread and to these and other advanced application of bacteriology, with hygiene and sanitation, the British and French armies owed their wonderful health. So, with the large proportion of wounded men saved as to their lives, or made efficient again as fighting units or private citizens, the result was due (1) to the masterly control of wound infections and (2) to a surgery such as the world had never before known or believed to be possible. As to the former the Germans claimed that at least 60 per cent. of their wounded returned to the field; it was alleged by Allied medical men that of the wounded who survived 6 hours 90% recovered. Anaesthetics and antiseptics had much to do with this and Dr. Woods Hutchinson in his book, The Doctor in War, declared after a year at the Allied front that chlorin had saved more lives in wounds and in drinking water than it had killed in gas:

The armies in Flanders and Northern France last winter, out in open trenches in some of the vilest and 'sickliest' weather troops ever had to face, had less sickness and fewer deaths from pneumonia and all other diseases than they used to have in barracks in time of peace, and far less than the general civil population at home. Instead of five men dying of disease to every one in battle, in the British army on the Western front, only one life has been lost by disease to every ten in battle. In fact, disease as a factor in the Army death rate has been almost wiped out, completely so in the sense that the amount of sickness in the camp and the deaths from disease at the Front have been barely half what they were in barracks in times of peace.

As to Surgery the most marvellous things were done in saving life to the smashed and broken human frame or in replacing flesh and skin with imitations which seemed to take the place of the original. Let a quotation from Colonel Pierre Duval of the French Reserve Medical Corps, as expressed (Nov. 1, 1918) at Fort Oglethorpe, in the United States, indicate the surgical situation: "I have removed the human lung from the chest cavity with forceps, tied its bleeding blood vessels, cleansed its outer surface and while still holding it in my hands and manipulatingit as you would a handkerchief, I have run thin pieces of gauze up its tracts. Feeling my way carefully along its walls I have removed a bullet or shell fragment. Then, after suturing the aperture, I have placed the respiratory organ back into the cavity of the chest. In two-thirds of the cases upon which I have so operated the patient lived."

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

The gravestones of the Chenier bothers, killed 9 April, 1917, on Vimy Ridge.

Multiple Sons in Service, 1917

The Canadian Annual Review War Series; 1917, by J. Castell Hopkins, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., published 1918 (pp. 548-549)

Mrs Charlotte Susan Wood, of Winnipeg, photographed during the 1936 Vimy Pilgrimage for the dedication of the Vimy Memorial. Mrs Wood lost five sons during the Great War and was Canada's first Silver Cross Mother.

---

See this post on the Great War Forum for an interesting discussion as reasearchers attempt to verify the claims of the service and sacrifice of the Wood boys.

A feature of the military life of Canada in this war was the number of families who contributed all their eligible sons three, four and upwards to the Army, with very often the Father also. Reference has been made in preceding volumes to some of the better-known cases; a few more instances may be given here. The six sons of H.O. Bell-Irving of Vancouver all distinguished themselves in different branches of the Service: Lieut. Henry B. Bell-Irving, D.S.C., Dover Patrol; Major Richard Bell-Irving, R.F.C.; Major Fred. Bell-Irving, M.C., 14th Battalion; Capt. M. Bell-Irving, M.C., D.S.O., Royal Flying Corps; Fl. Comm. Duncan Bell-Irving, M.C., and Bar and Croix de Guerre; Lieut. A. Bell-Irving, R.A. The Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia, MacCallum Grant, had 5 sons on active service: Lieut. Eric M. Grant, 13th Batt., Capt. Gerald W. Grant, C.A.M.C., Lieut. J. M. Grant, R.C.N., Lieut. G. Grant, V. Battery, Mid'n H. S. W. Grant, R.C.N. The Stairs family of Halifax grandsons of Hon. W.J. Stair included Gavin and George, who were killed, and Herbert and Denis fighting in Flanders during 1917. Major-Gen. S.C. Mewburn, C.M.G., M.P., Minister of Militia, had a son killed in action, 8 nephews and 14 cousins on active service. The family of the late Thomas Brown, Toronto, had 24 members in the Army, of whom one was the late Lieut. G.A. Ewens and another Major Howard Jeffs. M.C. Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Sullivan of Winnipeg boasted 3 sons and 4 sons-in-law on active service; J. G. Cosgrove of Winnipeg had 3 sons at the Front and with them were 9 cousins all of Manitoba; Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Glenday of Toronto had sons or nephews 12 on service.The following statement compiled from all parts of Canada further illustrates this point:

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 28 June 2014 8:31 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Manual of Field Engineering (1911)

1.     By Field Fortifications is implied all those measures which may be taken for the defence of positions intended to be only temporarily held. Works of this kind are executed either in face of the enemy or in immediate anticipation of his approach.

2.     Field Fortification presupposes a defensive attitude, and, though recourse to it may under certain circumstances be desirable, it must always be regarded as a means to an end, and not an end in itself.

3.     The principal aim of field fortification is to enable the soldier to use his weapons with the gates effect, the second to protect him against the adversary's fire. By thus reducing losses and increasing the power of resistance in any part of the theatre of operations or field of battle, more troops are available to swell the force destines for decisive action there of elsewhere.

Thus begins the 1911 Manual of Field Fortification. Many people perceive the beginning of trench warfare was during the First World War, where th occupation and fighting from extensive trench systems was a defining feature of the western front in France and Flanders. But the concepts of trenching and trench warfare were well developed before they were tested on such a massive scale between 1914 and 1918.

The manual shows, in its language and diagrams, its point of evolution from classic siege warfare entrenchments to the more expedient infantry entrenchments of the American Civil War and the Russo-Japanese War, both of which had British Army officers observing their actions, and the South African War. With Manuals such as this one, officers of the British army and the Canadian Expeditionary Force had a ready manual for the basics of field fortifications in hand as they took to the field of battle.

The following points should be borne in mind when examining a locality which it is desired to strengthen:…

(a)     The strong and weak points of the position to be defended should be carefully studied, and the site for entrenchments chosen with due regard to tactical requirements and economy of men.

(b)     The enemy in attacking should be exposed to the fire of the defenders, more especially for the last 300 to 400 yards. To ensure this, the foreground may require clearing.

(c)     The enemy should be deceived as to the strength and dispositions of the defending troops, and the character of their works.

(d)     The defenders should be screened from the enemy's view, and sheltered from his fire by natural or artificial cover, so arranged as to permit the maximum development of their own rifle fire.

(e)     The free movement of the attacking troops should be hampered by obstacles to detain them under fire and to break their order of attack.

(f)     The free movement of the defenders should be facilitated by improving communications within their position, and clearing the way for counter attack.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 19 May 2014 4:13 PM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Matron Katherine Osborne MacLatchy

No. 3 Canadian General Hospital

Katherine Osborne MacLatchy was born at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, on 15 February, 1874. She was serving with the Permanent Army Medical Corps at Montreal when she attestedt for overseas service on 4 March, 1915. proceeding overseas with No. 3 Canadian General Hospital, which was raised at McGill University, she served as Matron with No. 3 C.G.H. throughout the war.

Matron MacLatchy was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, and was Mentioned in Despatches twice (London Gazette # 31089 and 29422).

Katherine MacLatchy can be found in the Soldiers of the First World War Database at Library and Archives Canada:

• Name: MacLatchy, Katherine Osborne
• Rank: NS
• Date of Birth: 15/02/1874
• Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7020 – 31

No. 3 (McGill University) Canadian General Hospital

Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War; The Medical Services, by Sir Andrew MacPhail, 1925

• Organized Montreal, 5 Mar 1915
• Shornecliffe, 16 Mat 1915 to 16 Jun 1915
• Dannes-Camiers, 19 Jun 1915 to 5 Jan 1915
• Boulogne, 6 Jan 1916 to 29 May 1919
• Officers Commanding: H.S. Birkett, J.M. Elder, L. Drum
• Matron: K.O. MacLatchy

Notes from the Genealogical Forum "nsroots"

[nsroots] Matron Katherine Osborne MacLatchy born Grand Pre, NS in 1874

Matron Katherine Osborne MacLatchy of the of the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia (founded in 1909 as the Graduate Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia — changed to Registered Nurses Association of Nova Scotia, and now the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia) — … is a recipient of one of the College's Centennial Award of Distinction that was presented on May 13, 2009, when the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia celebrated 100 years. The awards were presented to 100 current/former registered nurses (10 per decade) whose significant accomplishments have influenced the advancement of the nursing profession. In 1910, an Act to Incorporate the Graduate Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia (original name) was passed so we have celebrations from 2009-2010.

This is a short profile that we have on file:

Katherine Osborne MacLatchy

Katherine MacLatchy was born in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, February 15, 1874. Katherine graduated from the Saint John General Public Hospital in Saint John, NB in 1898. She enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (Over-Seas Expeditionary Force) in Montreal as a trained nurse in 1915. She held the position of Matron, at the Cogswell Street Military Hospital and Camp Hill Hospital in Halifax. Katherine was Vice-President of Graduate Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia (GNANS) in 1921, and Honorary President, (member of the executive) of GNANS in 1922. Katherine registered with the Association in 1923 and remained a member until 1932. During her term on the executive of the Graduate Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia, the Act to Incorporate the Graduate Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia was amended, and passed on April 29, 1922.

I have received the following information from the Archives at Acadia University — "Kate and Fran McLatchy both of whom served as nurses in WW1 returned home to Grand Pre. They lived in the Borden house next door to the Covenanter Church for years. Kate died in 1969 at age 95, and is buried in the graveyard that surrounds the Covenanter Church. Neither married and Fran outlived Kate. As far as relatives—nieces nephews- K and F had a brother my sources felt that there were some but they did not know where they were."

The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs, by Brian Tennyson

1158.     MacLatchy, Katherine Osborne [1874-1969]. "No. 3 Canadian General Hospital." Canadian Nurse and Hospital Reviews,18:7 (July 1922): 414-18. ISSN 00084581. AMICUS 7505937. OONL. Reprinted as "Matron MacLatchy's Recollections" in Clare Gass, The War Diaries of Clare Gass, ed. Susan Mann, Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, c2000, xlvii, 306 p.: ill., bibl., maps, 22 cm., 243-47. McGill-Queen's/Hannah Institute Studies in the History of Medicine, Health and Society 9. ISBN 0773521267. AMICUS 26573404. NSHD. Brief memoir, 1915 to 1918. Born at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, MacLatchy was a niece of Sir Robert Borden. She studied nirsing in Montreal and was working there when she joined No. 3 (McGill) Canadian general Hospital as matron in May 1915. After the war she served as matron of Camp Hill Hospital in halifax from 1918 to 1920, when she moved to New York. She later retired to Grand Pré.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | View Comments (3) | Permalink

The X-Ray Staff

No. 3 Canadian General Hospital

For most of the First World War, from 6 Jan 1916 to 29 May 1919, No. 3 Canadian General Hospital was located at Boulogne sur Mer. The photo album of Nursing Sister Ada Andrews Kemp, of Port Hope, Ontario, shows rare glimpses of life at No. 3 C.G.H., such as the above image of the X-Ray Staff.

The Canadian medical services during the First World War were supplied with 520 x-ray outfits and used 1,076,000 x-ray plates in a single year.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Last Mess Dinner of the Canadian Mounted Rifles

Officers gathered at Windsor Hotel to Honour Lt. Col. Rhoades
Tribute to Fallen
Ex-Commanding Officer Said Total casualties had been
107 Officers and 2,943 Men

The Montreal Gazette, 5 April, 1919

Many decorated heroes foregathered last evening at a dinner given at the Windsor Hotel by the returned officers of the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles in honour of their ex-commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. W. Rhoades, D.S.O. (with bar), M.C., Croix de Guerre and Mons Star, also wearing the Queen's South Africa medal and the Coronation decoration.

The dinner was arranged as a reunion for the returned officers of the 5th C.M.R., and as a send-off to Lieut.-Col. Rhoades, who is leaving in a few days to take an appointment at the Royal Military College, Kingston.

The function took the form of a regulation mess dinner, and Major J.S.E. Todd, M.C., was mess president, with Lieut. J.J. Harold, M.C., as vice-president. Among those present were Major J. Hawson, M.C., Capt. Lelanne, M.C., Capt. H.S. Cox, M.C., Capt. H. Daubney, M.C., Capt. C.J. Hanratty, Capt, H.R. Gifford, M.C., Lieut. B. Porter, M.C., Lieut. L.A. Atto, M.C., and Lieuts. J.S. Gifford, R. Eberis, Dunning, and R. Poley, M.C. Amongst other guests were Lieut.-Col. G. Munroe of the 8th C.M.R., Ottawa; Lieut.-Col. Vipond, D.S.O., Brigade Major Campbell, D.S.O., M.C., Ottawa, Major Wilcox, Magog, and Lieut.-Col. Bradley, Sherbrooke.

Many Casualties

A warm reception was given Lieut.-Col. Rhoades when he rose to speak of the history of the Mounted Rifles and the splendid work they had done overseas. He remarked that the C.M.R. Had always worked together at the front as a happy family, officers and men always being willing to take their share of the hard work and hard knocks.

Lieut.-Col. Rhoades paid tribute to the memory of the late Lieut.-Col. Harry Baker, who organized the regiment, and died at its head, and the many other who had given their lives from the 5th C.M.R. During the war. He said that the regiment had lost 18 officers and 467 other ranks killed in action, while four officers and 150 other ranks had died of wounds. In addition to this the records showed missing or prisoners of war, four officers and 221 other ranks; wounded, 81 officers and 2,000 other ranks, making a total casualty list for the regiment during the war of 107 officers and 2,943 other ranks.

After giving these details, Lieut.-Col. Rhoades led a silent toast to the departed officers and men of the 5th C.M.R.

Following this brief speeches were given by Lieut.-Col. Vipond and Lieut.-Col. Munroe, who paid tribute to the late Major D'Arcy Smith, who was killed during a particularly daring raid on the enemy trenches.

• Wikipedia - 5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF
• 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles at Mount Sorrel
• War diaries of the 5th C.M.R. (Library and Archives Canada):
  • 29 July 1915 – 28 February 1917
  • 01 March 1917 – 31 March 1918
  • 01 April 1918 – 17 March 1919
• The 5th C.M.R. Association
• Casualties of the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles (Quebec Regiment)
• Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force – Canadian Mounted Rifles (Library and Archives Canada)
• 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, Nominal Roll 1915 (July 18, 1915)

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Sir Sam inspects the 19th Battalion

"The Orderly Sergeant," Five Nines and Whiz Bangs, 1937

The weirdest notes ever sounded on this earth were heard at the Exhibition Grounds one raw, winter's day in December, 1914. The Hon. Sam Hughes had travelled down from Ottawa to review the troops, and there we stood, shivering and grousing, knee-deep in snow, waiting for the Great Man's arrival. On this occasion he was to be accompanied by the Governor-General, H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, who was very interested in the various gangs of enthusiasts scattered throughout Canada, all trying to learn this new soldiering game.

He did come, his descent being signalised by a snappy bit of invective levelled at General Lessard for something or other. Things got mixed. Everybody was in a rotten temper. The 19th Battalion tried to present arms from the order, or it may have been the other way about; and the pipe-band of the 19th made a stab at playing "God Save the King."

Did you ever hear a pipe-band playing the National Anthem? Did you? Well, did you ever hear a pipe-band, whose instruments were all frozen solid, trying to do it?

The squeaks and groans, the wails and the mi-a-a-oos that shuddered and shrilled from these bagpipes were plain awful. Some of the lads tried to go right through with it. Others, caught a few bars behind when the pistol went off, hurried along to catch up. One or two kept tuning up—all at the same time.

You'll understand, then, what I mean when I said the weirdest noises ever distilled on this earth poured into our ears that dreadful day. Dear old Sam got apoplectic. He stamped around roaring and hollering — "Take that g—d—band outa here," he bellowed.

Frightened brass hats, glad to escape from the wrath, scurried over to convey Sam's profound displeasure to the aggrieved virtuosi.

Discouraged, but unconquered, the pipers vanished.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 17 April 2014 12:18 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Canada's Great Response;
the National War Memorial

Silent Witnesses, Herbert Fairlie Wood and John Swettenham, 1974

Down the street from Parliament Hill, at the centre of Confederation Square, stands the National War Memorial. It is the most impressive monument erected in Canada and may best be viewed from Elgin Street to give as its background the Parliament Buildings and the distant Gatineau Hills.

In 1925 a competition for the design of a national memorial resulted in the selection of a model submitted by an Englishman, Vernon March. March's theme was "the great response of Canada" and uniformed figures representing all services, passing through a granite arch, eloquently portray the response of the Canadian people. These bronze figures, each about eight feet high, are purposeful; they pass through the archway and symbolize the going of the people to the triumph of their achievements overseas in a spirit of self-sacrifice and with no suggestion of glorifying war.

The figures were completed in 1932 but Confederation Square was being redesigned at the time; in 1933 the government decided to display the figures in London's Hyde Park and it was not until 1937 that they were shipped to Ottawa. More than five hundred tons of granite were then hauled to the site and construction began.

The memorial rests on a massive block of reinforced concrete which in turn is based on steel columns, sunk to bedrock. Little can affect it. Each year, since King George VI unveiled the memorial in the spring of 1939, on the morning of Remembrance Day (11th November) the traffic of Confederation Square is silenced and a solemn ceremony is conducted at the foot of this cenotaph. Wreaths are laid by the Governor General, the Prime Minister, the President of the Royal Canadian Legion, the Chief of the Defence Staff and a mother who has lost sons.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Must Fight Hun With Own Weapons, Says Canadian

Only Way to Beat Him Is To Use Gas, Asserts a Hero of Langemark

(Special to the Gazette)

The Montreal Gazette, 21 May 1915

Halifax, N.S., May 29—James W. Johnstone, a Halifax boy, and great grandson of Hon. J.W. Johnstone, the Conservative leader in Nova Scotia in the early days of Joe Howe, is at the front as a private in the Second Battalion. In a letter received today, dated May 5, written after the battle of Langemarck, Private Johnstone describes the battle. He says:

"We are now back from the fighting line, about 15 miles, to rest and reorganize. We have nearly 700 casualties in our battalion alone, not enough remaining to make two full companies, even with a draft of ninety new men, and nearly all the Canadian battalions have about the same number of casualties as ours. Everyone behaved splendidly and did what was required of them in spite of the fact that it was really the very first time they had done any serious fighting. For two days we got a merciless shell-fire, I don't know how I escaped for men on either side of me got struck by shrapnel. A Jack Johnson exploded just outside our trench and covered us with the parapet it blew in, so it required some little digging to get out. Those gas shells the Germans use are awful things. The gas affects the eyes and throat and one has not even a fighting chance against them. The only way for the British to do is to fight the Hun with his own weapons.

"The say that there were nearly 100,000 Germans opposed to use but we held the lines until reinforcements came up. Our company, old No. 3 company, was in the trench holding it while the rest retired. Our major was the last man to leave the trench, and as we passed him he told everyone to keep low and run for it. How I got through I don't know. Two bullets went through the pack I was carrying and later I was struck on the side. The iron entrenching tool I was carrying saved me. The bullet glanced off, denting the tool and stunning me for a bit."

• Canadian Memorial - Gemeente Langemark-Poelkapelle
• World War One Battlefields - Langemarck
• The British observe strange greenish-yellow clouds at Langemarck
• Gas Warfare

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 14 March 2014 7:11 PM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

"Canada's Glorious First Contingent; The Dominion's instant response to the call sent regiment after regiment piling across the seas, establishing a remarkable record of defying the submarines. This picture shows Canadian troops after arrival in England drilling on Salisbury Plain preparatory to a review by King George" - from Canada's Sons and Great Britain in the Great War, by Col. George G. Naismith, 1919

The King's Message to the Canadians

King George V

Canada in Flanders, by Sir Max Aitken, M.P., 1916

To the First Division.

On February 4th, 1915, His Majesty the King inspected the 1st Canadian Division on Salisbury Plain, and afterwards write a message to the troops, which was read to all units on board ship after their embarkation for France. The full text of the message is as follows:—

Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Men:

At the beginning of November I had the pleasure of welcoming to the Mother Country this fine contingent from the Dominion of Canada, and now, after three months' training, I bid you Godspeed on your way to assist my Army in the field.

I am well aware of the discomforts that you have experienced from the inclement weather and abnormal rain, and I admire the cheerful spirit displayed by all ranks in facing and overcoming all difficulties.

From all I have heard, and what I have been able to see at today's inspection and march-past, I am satisfied that you have made good use of your time spent on Salisbury Plain.

By your willing and prompt rally to our common flag you have already earned the gratitude of the Motherland.

By your deeds and achievements on the field of battle I a confident that you will emulate the example of your fellow-countrymen in the South African War, and thus help to secure the triumph of our arms.

I shall follow with pride and interest all your movements. I pray that God may bless you and watch over you.

To the Second Division.

On September 2nd, 1915, the King, accompanied by Lord Kitchener, inspected the 2nd Division in Beachborough Park, Shorncliffe. Before leaving, His Majesty directed General Turner to inform all his Commanding Officers that he considered the Division one of the finest he had inspected since the beginning of the war. Subsequently the following message from the King was published in Orders:—

Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Men of the 2nd Canadian Division—six months ago I inspected the 1st Canadian Division before their departure for the front. The heroism they have since shown upon the field of battle has won for them undying fame. You are now leaving to join them, and I am glad to have an opportunity of seeing you to-day, for it has convinced me that the same spirit that animated them inspires you also. The past weeks at Shornecliffe have been for you a period of severe and rigorous training; and your appearance at this inspection testifies to the thoroughness and devotion to duty with which your work has been performed. You are going to meet hardships and dangers, but the steadiness and discipline which today have marked your bearing on parade to-day will carry you through all difficulties. History will never forget the loyalty and readiness with which you rallied to the aid of your Mother Country in the hour of danger. My thoughts will always be with you. May God Bless you and bring you victory.

British pathé - George V inspects Canadians

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EST

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Over the Top!

From the website of the Canadian War Museum comes a new interactive site to help Canadians learn about the experiences of the soldiers in the First World War. With a glossary to introduce the language of the era, sections for teachers and reference lists, the site provides an easy introduction to the War from the comfort of your home.

As introduced by the Museum website:

Over the Top - An Interactive Adventure

Over the Top is an interactive adventure game that allows you to experience life in the trenches during the First World War. As a young Canadian soldier stationed somewhere along the Western Front in the late Fall of 1916, you will live through some of the excitement, despair, brutality and sheer horror of trench warfare.

Over the Top is based on the real-life experiences of Canadians who lived and died in the trenches during the First World War. Part history and part adventure story, Over the Top is divided into sections. At the end of each section, you have to make a decision. You then click on your choice and read the outcome of your decision. A good decision will allow you to continue your adventure. A poor decision might mean trouble or, worse yet, disaster. But don't worry, you can always start over and try a new adventure. You should also keep in mind that not all decisions are life and death situations.

Throughout the story, you will come across many words and expressions that were quite common at the time. To help you understand what these words mean, a dictionary has been included for all words typed in bold underline. Just click on the word to get a definition.

Your goal in Over the Top is the same as that of thousands of Canadians who served in the trenches during the First World War: merely to survive. This will often depend on cunning, attention to detail and just plain common sense on your part. A fair amount of good luck doesn't hurt either.

So pick up your rifle, put on your helmet and get ready for a truly unique experience!

Fall In!

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EST

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

The Fort Garry Horse training at the charge.
Source page at fortgarryhorse.ca

Restoring the Infantry's Confidence

Herbert Hill; quoted in Guy Chapman, OBE, MC (Ed), Vain Glory; A miscellany of the Great War 1914-1918, 1937/1968

24th Mar. [1918]

We were crouching down in the narrow trench talking casually of when we had had a square meal last, and what was more important, the chances of getting one in the near future, when a jingling sound made us look round. We stared incredulously as a crowd of horsemen emerged from the trees. They took no notice of our heads, bobbing up from the ground, and manoeuvred their mounts into some kind of order. They were Colonials, and their uniforms were spick and span. The horses snorted and their coats shone. The men were big fellows and their bronze faces were keen and oddly intent. They were very splendid compared to us…

We ducked in alarm as the squadron spurred their horse into a gallop and came straight at us. With a thunderous drumming of hoofs they took our trench in their stride. From the bottom, as I cowered down, I had a momentary glimpse of a horse's belly and powerful haunches as they were over and away like the wind, sword in hand.

They spread out as they went into two lines and were half-way across the open when there came a sudden pulsating blast of fire and gaps appeared in the double line. Bullets came hissing about our heads. A man a couple of yards away from me slithered down to his knees, and then sprawled full length on the floor of the trench. Realizing our danger we ducked. Looking down I saw blood gushing from a wound in his throat…

Then uncontrollable excitement possessed me and, defying the bullets, I raised my head and looked at the cavalry. Their ranks were much thinner now. Just as the foremost of them reached the trees they hesitated, turned and came racing back, Iying low in the saddle.

The machine-guns barked triumphantly at their victory over mere flesh and blood. Only a handful of the once proud squadron put their blowing horses at the trench and lunged across to the shelter of the wood behind. Others tailed away on either side and in a moment were hidden from view among the friendly trees.

The whole thing from when we saw them first had only occupied a bare five minutes. We stared at each other in amazement. The fire died down. Looking over the top we saw that the ground in front, which before had been bare, was dotted here and there with shapeless mounds.

The screams of horses in agony pierced our ears with shrill intensity. As we looked animals struggled convulsively to their feet and galloped off at a tangent. Some of them swayed drunkenly and fell back, with their legs in the air. Smaller, more feeble movements showed that some of the troopers were still alive.

Single rifle-shots sounded, whether from our side or not, I didn't know, and by and by the horses were mercifully silent, but men moved at intervals—crawling behind the horses for cover, perhaps.

Footnote: The charge near Villescle was made by 150 of the Fort Garry Horse, of whom 73 were casualties. The Official History states: "And the confidence of the infantry was restored.")

Survivors of the Squadron of the Fort Garry Horse returning to the Canadian lines.
See source page.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EST

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)
Discharges in England

Adjutant-General's Branch

Report of the Ministry; Overseas Military Forces of Canada; 1918

Prior to the Armistice the discharge of Canadian Other Ranks in England might be roughly divided into two classes-those who were discharged in order that they might accept commissions or be re-engaged on some branch of the Imperial Service, and those who were discharged to civil life or to engage in work of National Importance. Those of the first class included soldiers whose applications for training with a view to commissioned rank in the Imperial Service had been favourably considered and those who had undergone a course of training at a Cadet School and had been granted a commission in the Imperial Army. It also included those who had been granted commissions under the Admiralty and those who had been appointed Flight Cadets in the Royal Air Force.

The second class consisted of men who might have been asked for by the Imperial Authorities for work of National Importance in such departments as the Ministry of Munitions, the Ministry of Food and the Ministry of Shipping. Such men were usually in a low category, and in most cases it was considered that they would be of greater value if they were employed on such work rather than if they continued to serve in a Military capacity. In the same class also came the very infrequent cases of men who were discharged in England on compassionate grounds and also those cases of soldiers boarded for discharge or invaliding to Canada on account of medical unfitness, who had applied for discharge in England.

In respect to the last-named cases it was the settled policy of the Canadian Government that members of the Canadian Forces found no longer fit for War service should be discharged in Canada, and that discharge would not be permitted in England except under very exceptional circumstances and where grave hardship would otherwise be caused to the individual concerned. Applications under this heading were not numerous, but they were very carefully scrutinised as it was not considered advisable that the Canadian Government should allow disabled Canadians to remain in England. In all such cases the application had to be put forward by the man himself, and it should be clearly understood that before the application was allowed it was necessary to prove that very great hardship would be entailed if the applicant were returned to Canada. In addition the man was required to provide written guarantees by a responsible citizen in England to the effect that he would not become a charge upon the public, and it was also necessary that he should furnish a Magistrate's Certificate to the effect that the person acting as guarantor was able to fulfil his obligations.

All discharges in England were carried out through the 2nd Canadian Discharge Depot in London, and on being discharged the soldier was required to sign a waiver of any claim against the Canadian Government for free transportation to Canada. He was also required to sign a statement that he understood that by being discharged in England he would not be entitled to receive the three months' bonus of pay under the arrangement which was then in existence. He was given the usual Discharge Character Certificates, and when his documents were completed they were sent for custody to the Officer in Charge of the Canadian Record Office, London, by the Officer Commanding the 2nd Canadian Discharge Depot.

Present Policy re Discharges in British Isles. — Since the Armistice, it has been laid down that a soldier may only receive his discharge in the British Isles provided

(a)     He was born in the British Isles.

(b)     He has no dependents in Canada.

(c)     He has dependents or relatives in the British Isles in such circumstances as warrant his retention here for financial or domestic reasons.

(d)     He has a bona-fide offer of employment or has independent means of support irrespective of any pay or gratuity payable by the Government.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)
Enlistments in England

Adjutant-General's Branch

Report of the Ministry; Overseas Military Forces of Canada; 1918

Applications for enlistment into the Canadian Forces in England were constantly being received. Some of these were from persons who alleged themselves to be Canadians, and who had been called up for Service by Imperial Authorities and who desired to serve with the Canadians rather than with the Imperial Forces; others were from Canadians, who, for various reasons, happened to be resident in England and who desired to join the Canadian Forces there. Requests were also received from Canadian who had, voluntarily or otherwise,

The last class of applicant was advised that he must apply through his Imperial Unit for transfer to the Canadian Forces, and where the Imperial Authorities saw fit to forward his request for such transfer, together with the statement that there was no objection to his discharge from his Imperial engagement and his re-enlistment in the Canadian Forces, his application was approved, provided that the man concerned satisfactorily passed a medical examination by the Canadian Authorities and was found in Category A as fit for General Service. All individual applying for enlistment in England were advised that their applications could not be considered unless they furnished a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship issued by the High Commissioner for Canada in London. This certificate was only issued by the High Commissioner after he has satisfied himself that the man's claim as to Canadian citizenship was well founded. In addition, all applicants had to submit to examination by the Canadian medical Authorities and be found fit for General Service.

The applicant having fulfilled these conditions was sent to a territorially affiliated Reserve Unit. There he was again medically examined, and if considered fit, was enlisted. His completed documents were returned to the Adjutant-General's Branch and a record kept of his enlistment. The documents were sent to the Canadian Record Office, London, and a copy of the Attestation Paper sent to the Department of Militia and Defence, Ottawa, for custody. The man's Certificate of Canadian Citizenship was kept on file in the Adjutant-General's Branch.

The number of enlistments completed in England from the beginning of the War to December, 1918, was 1,733, representing approximately 10 per cent. of the applications actually received, the balance of applications having been rejected either as a result of medical examination or through inability to produce the requisite Certificate of Citizenship.

In some cases applicants were unwilling to persist in their applications after they had filed them.

Except in special circumstances applications for enlistment in England were only accepted for service in the Infantry.

Posted by regimentalrogue at 12:01 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink