Canada in Flanders. Volume III

By 1.20 a.m. the 46th and 47th had overrun their objective, and dug in some 100 yards beyond it. Unfortunately, this new line came under our own protective artillery fire, and had to be abandoned. By 2.20 a.m., however, consolidation was well advanced. The required posts were established, and work started on new connecting saps and trenches. The working party which the O.C. 46th had been ordered to detail came up on time, and everything was rapidly rounding into shape, including the new connecting trench between Regina and Kling Trenches.

At daybreak a concentration by the enemy in Below and New Gallwitz Trenches was dispersed by our artillery. Conditions rapidly became normal, and it was now possible to take stock of the position. Altogether it had been a notable success for the 4th Division.

The casualties in the 10th Brigade were 3 officers killed and 4 wounded, and 41 other ranks killed, 156 wounded, and 26 missing. The majority of these were of the 47th Battalion.

The 102nd Battalion of the 11th Brigade had 4 officers wounded, 10 other ranks killed, 34 wounded, and 8 missing.

Three officers and 84 other ranks were captured, also 4 machine-guns. About 50 German dead were found in the trench; and, in addition, they lost a number of men who endeavoured to escape across country.

Regina Trench itself proved a disappointment. It was knee-deep in mud, and some of the dug-outs had only been commenced. In addition to the capture of Regina, the advanced salient shown on the map was pushed out in order to secure observation of Coulée and Below Trenches.

All concerned in the operation received the congratulations of the Higher Command. The whole of Regina Trench, which had defied the Canadian Corps for over a month, was now in British hands; and the 4th Canadian Division had earned an enviable reputation for a young Division – a reputation which was to be further enhanced by the achievement of the 11th Brigade a week later.

On November 18th this Brigade, taking part in the resumed general offensive, carried out its task of capturing and consolidating Desire Trench. The whole operation, which is described in the succeeding chapter, was executed with dash and thoroughness, and brought to a fitting conclusion the strenuous campaign of the Canadian Divisions on the Somme.

CHAPTER X

DESIRE TRENCH

Throughout the closing operations against Regina Trench our Battalions had been forced to pluck every hard success from the teeth of a new foe who had come suddenly to the support of the German defence. This foe was the mud, the hated Somme mud, deep, slithering, tenacious as glue, foul with all the filth left behind by the enemy as he gave back yard by yard. For the weather had turned against us. The rains of the rainiest autumn which had scourged their high plateaus for many a year were a timely reinforcement to the hard-pressed enemy. When it came to the attack upon Desire Trench, on November 17th-18th, the disastrous alliance of mud and rain-drench had reached such a pitch of obstruction that the capture of this line was reluctantly recognised as marking the limit of our possible advance, for the time, upon this sector. The light railways, spread over the vast, red, undulating expanses of naked mud, between the engulfing and omnipresent pits of slime, were being constantly scattered and put out of service by the German shells from north and east – from beyond the Ancre and from the hidden batteries in Lupart Wood; and they were utterly incapable of keeping up the ammunition supply for our valiant advanced batteries of 18-pounders. Our heavies, the great 9.2 howitzers lurking in and around the tossed ruins of Pozières and behind Courcelette, were well supplied, thanks to the indefatigable labours of the road-making companies along the great and crowded artery of the Bapaume Road. But the 18-pounders, in their shallow gun-pits far out across the shell-swept stretches of the mud, had to be fed by pack-mules, carrying shells in panniers slung across the back. Such a method of transport was torturingly slow, and perilous to the last degree, but it was the only one capable of coping with the situation. Under the numbing strain the spirit and humour of our men remained irrepressible, as instanced in the following retort to a sentry's challenge. Under the chill downpour of the unrelenting rain, through the blind night, a soldier, just returned from four days' duty in the front trenches, came stumbling in along the Bapaume Road toward the billets of Albert. Shrapnel helmet, overcoat, pack, everything but his precious rifle, was covered thick with that chalky mud which sticketh closer than a brother, and he waded heavily through the mire of the tormented roadway. He reached a dripping sentry. "Halt! Who goes there?" came the challenge, as the labouring figure lurched up in the gloom. "Submarine U13," grunted the traveller. "Pass, Submarine U13," responded the sentry cheerfully; and the moving shape of mud rolled on toward the shattered billets brooded over by the falling Virgin and Child.

Under such conditions, but in such unshakable temper, the men of the 4th Canadian Division moved to the taking of the position known as Desire Support Trench, on which for days they had been casting covetous eyes. Our objective lay across our whole Divisional front, from about Farmer's Road on the right to some 600 yards west of the West Miraumont Road on the left. At this point our left flank made connection with the 18th Division, which was to attack, simultaneously with our advance, the western sector of Desire Trench, and other trenches which were protecting the approaches to Grandcourt Village. The right of our attack – a frontage of only five or six hundred yards, but one offering extreme difficulties – was confided to the 10th Brigade, under Brigadier-General W. St. P. Hughes. The left, and main, sector, beginning at the Pys Road, was committed to the 11th Brigade, under Brigadier-General V. W. Odlum, who had two Battalions from the 12th Brigade, the 38th and the 78th, attached to his command. There were thus three Battalions engaged upon the right sector, and five upon the left. The 10th Brigade, with its restricted frontage and limited objective, attacked with two companies of the 50th Battalion (Calgary Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Mason) and one company and one platoon of the 46th (South Saskatchewan Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel H. J. Dawson) in the assaulting waves, with one company of the 44th (Winnipeg, Lieutenant-Colonel E. K. Wayland) in support. General Odlum made his attack with four Battalions, each represented by two companies in the assaulting wave, and one Battalion, behind his centre, in support. The attacking Battalions, from right to left, were as follows: – The 75th (Mississaugas Battalion, of Toronto, Lieutenant-Colonel S. G. Beckett), 54th (Kootenay Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. H. Kemball), 87th (Canadian Grenadier Guards, Montreal, Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Frost), and 38th of the 12th Brigade (Ottawa, Lieutenant-Colonel C. M. Edwards); while the Battalion supporting was the 78th (Manitoba, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Kirkcaldie), also of the 12th Brigade. The artillery supporting the operation consisted of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Canadian Divisional Artillery (commanded respectively by Brigadier-General H. C. Thacker, C.M.G., Brigadier-General E. W. B. Morrison, and Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Mitchell), the Yukon Motor Machine-Gun Battery (Captain H. F. Murling), and also by the 11th Divisional Artillery and the 2nd Corps Heavy Artillery.

The barrage work of the artillery was admirably co-ordinated, and effectually cleared the way for that success which so abundantly rewarded the operation as a whole in spite of failure on the extreme right. While a concentrated standing barrage was flaming and crashing along the whole line of the enemy trench, at the hour for launching the attack (6.10 a.m.) a creeping barrage was put up along a line 200 yards in front of our own parapets. This line of roaring death rolled onward at the rate of 50 yards per minute, with the first wave of our assault following close behind it – so close, in their eagerness, that a sergeant swore he might have lighted his pipe at it. Presently this barrage merged into the standing barrage along the German trench. At fourteen minutes after the launching of the attack the combined barrage lifted from the doomed trench and rolled inexorably onward for another 250 yards, where it rested as a barrier against counter-attacks. The trench was seized, all opposition being swiftly overwhelmed, and our men rushed on behind the barrage to a distance of 150 yards beyond the captured line. Here they hurriedly dug themselves in, knowing that the Germans would begin to shell Desire itself as soon as it should be reported that we had captured it. In order that the enemy might not discover our ruse in time to thwart it, a dense smoke-screen was flung out by a special company of the Royal Engineers in front of the line where our men were furiously digging. The positions thus gained, about 150 yards beyond Desire, were consolidated and held; and they stood to mark the limit of Canada's advance on the Somme.

So much, in brief, for the battle of Desire Trench. Viewed as a whole, it was a rounded and clean-cut success, and earned warm commendation for General Watson and his hard-fighting 4th Division. To get an idea of the fluctuations of the struggle, it is necessary to take the operations of the 10th and 11th Brigades separately.

The task assigned to the 10th Brigade, as already stated, was an attack on a very narrow but extremely exposed and strongly defended objective. The whole line of this objective lay open to concentrated artillery fire from the enemy's rear, and was murderously cross-raked by the fire from a number of machine-gun nests. It proved, in the event, difficult to carry and impossible to hold. But this comparative failure, happily, did not vitiate the success of the main operation, which lay along the left front.

The 50th Battalion, occupying the Brigade left, made its advance successfully to a depth of some 300 yards, and gained its objective with small loss. This objective was a line running east from the Pys Road. Here, however, it got involved in our own smoke barrage, lost its direction (and consequently its touch with the troops on its left), swerved to the right, and left an open gap of about 200 yards between the two Brigades. Then the German guns from Lupart Wood in front opened an annihilating fire upon it, machine-guns swept it from both sides, and it was forced back with a loss of 12 officers and 200 other ranks – over half its total strength in the attack.

Meanwhile, the 46th Battalion, on the right, was faring no better. The attack was made by one company and one platoon, in two waves, on a front of 100 yards. There was a distance of 40 yards between the waves. The first wave, keeping a fair line in spite of the shell-holes, escaped the German barrage, and got to within 70 yards of the enemy's parapets with small loss. Here, however, it was met by massed rifle fire full in the face – for our own barrage at this point was playing behind instead of upon the German trench, and the trench was occupied in full force. At the same time a torrent of machine-gun fire opened up on the left. The wave was broken. The survivors took refuge in shell-holes, where they had to lie all day under a ceaseless storm of shell and bullets, till darkness enabled them to crawl back to our lines. The second wave fared even worse. It was caught by the enemy's barrage as it was coming over the parapet. Torn and diminished, it nevertheless rushed on, in the face of intolerable punishment, till it was a line no longer. Its remnants made their way into a sap and crept back into Regina. Later in the day, however, the Brigade was able to thrust forward again for a short distance on the left, toward the Pys Road, and so to contain the position which it had failed to capture. Thus contained the position ceased to be of service to the enemy or any serious menace to our new line on the left; and day or two afterwards it was simply pounded out of existence by a "combined shoot" of all our heavy guns.

In the main attack, all along the line westward from Pys Road, things went well from the start. By 7.30 reports came back from the 75th, 54th, and 38th Battalions that all were in their objectives and busy consolidating their gains. The only mystery was in regard to the 87th, which though apparently successful, had disappeared. While this matter was in doubt the Germans launched a counter-attack from Coulée Trench against the 54th Battalion. They advanced with a great show of resolution several hundred yards, then suddenly, to our astonishment, flung down their bombs and rifles, threw up their hands, and rushed into our line as eager prisoners. About 8.50 came news that the 38th Battalion, not content with having captured its objective, had pushed on and gained a section of Grandcourt Trench, where it was establishing itself successfully. Then about 9 o'clock the mystery of the 87th was solved. This Battalion also, feeling that it had not had enough had gone on to try conclusions with Grandcourt Trench, and made good its footing there.

These fine adventures of the 38th and 87th, however, were doomed to prove fruitless of result. The operation of the Canadians against Desire Trench was, as we have seen, part of a wider movement, extending far to the left, before Grandcourt Village. The 18th Division, on our immediate left, though worn with long fighting and far below strength, had made good upon its right, where it joined our lines, but had been held up by insurmountable obstacles near Grandcourt. For this reason the Higher Command decided that it would be inadvisable to attempt to hold such an advanced position as the 38th and 87th had taken in Grandcourt Trench. In the course of the day, therefore, came orders that all advanced units were to come back to their original first objectives and consolidate there. The line of Desire Trench, thus gained and secured, was an admirable one, strong for defence, and advantageous to attack from when next the occasion should offer itself. And on this line the 4th Division rested until, at the end of the month, they were relieved and moved back to Doullens. The casualties of the Division in this fine action amounted to 75 officers and 1,276 other ranks. The prisoners taken numbered 625, of whom 17 were officers. The Division received warm congratulations from the Commanders of the Corps and the Army upon the success of this its concluding operation in the blood-drenched battlefields of the Somme.

From these fields the Canadian Forces, the four Divisions henceforth united into an Army Corps in all respects complete within itself, were removed to the north of Arras, to take into their competent keeping that vital area lying under the menace of Vimy Ridge and the impregnable outposts of Lens.

Welded now by sacrifice, endurance, prudent and brilliant leaderships, and glorious achievements against the mightiest military Power in the world's history, into a fighting force of incomparable effectiveness, it was no less than their due that the most tremendous tasks should be set to these fiery and indomitable fighters of the North. To the Canadian Battalions the impregnable and the invincible had come to mean a challenge which they welcomed joyously. They knew that the utmost of which men were capable was now confidently expected of them. How gloriously they were to justify that high expectation, on the dreadful Ridge of Vimy, amid the bloody slag-heaps of Lens, and along the fire-swept crest of Passchendaele, remains to be told succeeding volumes of their story.

APPENDIX

CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX

SEPTEMBER 1ST-NOVEMBER 28TH, 1917The Canadian Corps on the Somme

September 1st.

1st Canadian Division arrives at the Somme, with headquarters at Rubempré. 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade takes over right section of line south-west of Courcelette, under orders of the 4th Australian Division.

September 2nd.

2nd Infantry Brigade moves to Brickfields under orders of the 4th Australian Division.

September 3rd.

3rd Infantry Brigade is instructed to establish a line on the left section from a point on the Mouquet Road to north of Mouquet Farm to the north-west and round the farm to the south. Command of the Canadian Corps area in the Ypres salient passes to the G.O.C. 1st Anzac Corps, and command of the line north-east of Albert is assumed by the G.O.C. Canadian Corps.

Canadians very busy patrolling, reconnoitring, and locating enemy lines.

September 4th.

1st Canadian Division relieves 4th Australian Division at Tara Hill. The stubborn fighting round Mouquet Farm commences and our men repulse an attack west of Mouquet. Patrols from the 13th Battalion enter enemy's line and block communication trenches.

September 5th.

1st Divisional Artillery relieves the 2nd Australian Divisional Artillery. 3rd and 1st Brigades in front line with reserves in Quarry and Tom's Cut, Centre Way and Union Trench. A very heavy hostile artillery fire hampers our communications, and scores a direct hit on 3rd Brigade Headquarters. The G.O.C. orders Mouquet Farm to be taken.

September 6th.

The enemy shell the left sector heavily, later extending an intense bombardment over the whole front line and area. A large party of Germans advancing from the direction of Courcelette is dispersed by our artillery.

September 7th.

Preparations for operation on the 9th. Our patrols very busy. Enemy shell Mouquet Farm sectors heavily, obliterating Kay Trench, and our artillery retaliates on Zollern Redoubt. The Royal Flying Corps reports enemy communications full of troops and our guns open heavily upon the Courcelette communication trenches. 2nd Division arrives at the Somme.

September 8th.

2nd Brigade relieves 3rd Brigade. Early in the morning while relief is in progress the enemy attack Mouquet Road and drive our men back. Later in the day a strong attack is defeated by our bombers and machine-gun fire. The fighting round Mouquet continues in the evening – the Germans repulsed.

EXTRACT FROM RESERVE ARMY S.G. 21/0/35 Sept. 8/16. – Object of Canadian Corps operations is to advance our line in co-operation with III Corps until we can obtain direct observation from as many points as possible over German third line running Flers – Le Sars – Pys.

September 9th.

At 4.45 p.m. the 2nd Battalion attacks successfully south-west of Courcelette from vicinity of Windmill to Munster Alley, gaining objectives and capturing two machine-guns and some eighty prisoners. The enemy's counter-attacks repulsed and the captured area consolidated.

September 10th.

Enemy massing troops and bombarding our line heavily. Our artillery barrage along the Pozières-Bapaume Road effectively breaks up hostile formation against 1st Brigade. On the left sector the 2nd Brigade drives back several German raids, repulsing a strong and determined attack from Mouquet Farm. 3rd Canadian Division arrived at the Somme.

September 11th.

2nd Division relieves 1st Division in right sector. Early in the morning the 4th Brigade defeats an attempt to rush our posts established in front of the line captured on the 9th. Pozières bombarded with gas shells.

September 12th.

Canadian Corps takes over new area – the Ovillers-Courcelette Road and the ground south of it to Moy Avenue.

An intense hostile bombardment causes many casualties amongst our working parties. On the Mouquet sectors the 2nd Brigade is relieved by the 8th Brigade, 3rd Division, including the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, who repulse another strong attack from Mouquet Farm in the evening.

September 13th.

Our artillery preparing the way for the attack. The Germans appear to be very nervous and many deserters come into our lines at night. The 4th, 6th, and 8th Brigade, 2nd and 3rd Division, holding the front line.

Orders issued for attack on the 15th. The Canadian Corps Cavalry anticipating work. The enemy advance in numbers against the sector held by the 1st and 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, but the heavy artillery effectively breaks up the attack.

September 14th.

Artillery active, but little infantry work. The 2nd Division to attack Courcelette and the 3rd Division Fabeck Graben. It was hoped that the cavalry might penetrate the German lines east of Courcelette and disable communications and guns round Pys and Grandcourt, but after much reconnaissance and patrol work the country was found impracticable for mounted men.

September 15th.

General offensive at 6.20 a.m. by six battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions. The whole objective secured by 10 a.m., and the attack continues successfully in the afternoon, resulting in a line being established from the point of the original salient east of Mouquet via Fabeck Trench to west end of Courcelette then around north and east side of village down to Gunpit Trench to the north-west corner of Martinpuich. The tanks, in action for the first time, help to secure a brilliant success.

The Commander-in-Chief congratulates the Canadians.

September 16th.

Consolidation of occupied areas. The 4th Brigade in position along Gunpit Trench with the 5th Brigade on its left, and the 8th Brigade along the Mouquet Farm sectors. Orders issued to the 2nd Division to push forward and establish posts in advance trenches north-north-east of Courcelette. The 3rd Division to be prepared to capture the line of the Zollern Graben to Festen Zollern – and Mouquet Farm. The Germans massing troops and hostile barrages damage our communications. In the evening the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles surround Mouquet Farm. At 5 p.m. the Royal Canadian Rifles and the 42nd Battalion attack the Zollern Graben Trench but are driven back.

The 46th British Infantry Brigade takes over the Gunpit Trench line to the Bapaume Road, relieving the 4th Brigade.

September 17th.

Our men repulse several counter-attacks. Early in the morning the 34th British Infantry Brigade relieves the 8th Brigade, taking over the Mouquet Farm sector. In the afternoon the 5th Brigade attacks east of Courcelette, at the same time sending a bombing raid up Sunken Road. Small successful offensives help to clear up our positions, though the hostile artillery fire tries our men severely. The 5th Brigade holding frontage from Bapaume Road to Courcelette Cemetery, to Main Street to Sunken Road to Cross Roads north-west of village.

EXTRACT FROM RESERVE ARMY S.G.21/0/45. – "Canadian Corps will establish posts on all the high ground north and north-west of Courcelette and gain observation over the Ancre Valley and especially over the enemy trenches in R23 and 22, trenches round Courcelette Road, north of Hessian Trench, Grandcourt Road and vicinity."

September 18th.

2nd Division is relieved by 1st Division. Our men establishing bombing and machine-gun posts north of Courcelette under a heavy artillery fire. Hostile bombing parties driven back.

September 19th.

At 9.30 p.m. the enemy attack north-east of Courcelette and gain a footing in our trenches. A counter-attack organised by the 4th Battalion and the line recaptured, though a few advanced posts remain in possession of the enemy.

September 20th.

At 4 a.m. a further attack along this whole frontage is made by the enemy, but is repulsed by machine-gun fire and bombs. Later, the 58th and 43rd Battalions, 3rd Division attack the Zollern Graben Line and after severe fighting succeed in entering the trench. Fighting stubbornly, our men repulse four counter-attacks, until at last, after an intense bombardment, the Germans come on in great numbers under cover of a smoke barrage and force the Canadians back to their starting point.

September 21st.

Our barrages check a very heavy enemy fire on Sunken Road and the right front line, though a German battery succeeds in blowing up the ammunition dump at La Boiselle.

1st and 9th Brigades holding front line.

September 22nd.

In the evening an attack made by the 4th Battalion, 1st Brigade against the maze of German trenches immediately east of Courcelette. This objective secured and some prisoners taken. Patrols from the 9th Brigade establish posts in High Trench West. The Canadians holding a line from a point near Mouquet Road in the Fabeck Graben Trench to north-west Courcelette, to north Courcelette, round the Quarry and east of the village towards Martinpuich.