We fought madly at St. Jean, after Ypres, and retreated. We rested
eight days at Bailleul, marched through Steevwerck and rested eight
more days there; we also rested at Estaires for eight days, then
through Vieille Chapelle, and then had another eight days' rest. We
reached Lacouture at night and went into battle again at Richebourg.
We arrived there in May, 1915. Richebourg is in France, eight
miles from the Belgian border, on the English front. A very small
agricultural village we found it, coming to it after a hard twelve-hour
hike from Bailleul. We got into the Richebourg trenches in the evening.
I found myself in a German trench, captured by the British. Five hours
before the battle had raged, and the place was still full of wounded
and dead, both German and British. Trench by trench we worked our way
into the British front line. We had been reinforced by the Twelfth
Battalion of reserves, which was made up of French Canadians and
Englishmen; thus our decimated regiment was swelled to 365 men.
The battle was going on. Relieving the front line proved a dangerous
task. We had to proceed cautiously to avoid bullets, and it took us
three hours to reach the front line, which we did at midnight. Ten of
our men were killed by shrapnel or stray bullets on the way.
Then came the report from our left that the Germans were trying to
counterattack. Our officers called for volunteers for a bomb and hand
grenade throwing party. We were gone twenty minutes, fifteen of us in
all; three of us were wounded, and Carrier of Montreal was killed. We
were able to report on our return that we had done effective work.
After that things quieted down and gave us a breathing spell.
The next morning we were ordered to take the German first-line
trenches. Our cannon began to clear the way first at 2 o'clock in the
morning. The famous French 75--the French 75 which is always helping
the English at difficult times--blasted out the pathway over which we
were to charge. We had thirty-two of these 75s--four guns to each of
the eight batteries. When worked hard, these guns can fire twenty shots
a minute.
We were all Catholics. At 5:30 o'clock we began to say our prayers,
and soon after we were charging with fixed bayonets. We had no great
difficulty in taking two lines of trenches. But when we reached
the third, they rallied and drove us out. There the Germans made a
counterattack, raking our flanks with their machine guns as soon as we
reached their third trench. They killed 75 of us, wounded over 100, and
took 20 prisoners. We were obliged to leave our wounded in their trench
with the dead.
I lay until night in the German second-line trench, among the dead
and wounded. There was, of course, no communication and we could not
clear the place we had taken or get medical help for the men who
writhed in agony all around us. A company of Highlanders from the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Battalions came to our relief at night. The
Highlanders and my company were given orders to capture an orchard on
our left. Through this orchard ran the German trench. German snipers
were concealed in the old apple trees, and the place seemed one huge
shrapnel, which burst and never ceased bursting. Three-quarters of our
men were killed. And I, as usual, was among the unwounded survivors.
We took the orchard trench, but were glad enough to retire at the
counterattack, and unfortunately lost our orchard and our third trench.
Listen! Out of 250 Highlanders, only forty came back. Of my own company
(which you will remember had been reinforced to 365 men), only seventy
came back. And Roméo Houle, with the charmed life, was again among the
few who returned, and had not a single wound.
About one and one-half miles on the right of Richebourg, we took up a
new position, after three days' rest in a village next to Lacouture.
The Scots Greys and the Coldstream Guards were in the trenches. To
our surprise, they greeted us with shouts and cheers. We asked them
why they cheered us so. They answered that they thought so well of
the Canadians that, helped by them, they would encounter any odds.
The shooting was then going on; the Scotch had tried to advance and
had been pushed back. When our company came, we all tried to advance
together. Again our company had been reinforced, this time to 420 men.
The Germans occupied a hilly place. Although they were only sixty yards
away, we fought back and forth for an hour. Our first two charges were
stopped by their entanglements. The wires in many places were not down
at all and we could not pass. Then our artillery began to mow among the
wires. In thirty minutes our way was clear, and on the third tussle
we got into the German trench. It was a close fight. We used even our
fists. My bayonet was broken, and I used my gun as a club. There we
remained until we got reinforcements. Out of 420 men, my company was
reduced to eighty. No, I could not be killed.