On December 19th, in the darkness of the early winter’s morning, the
Germans made another desperate attempt upon the line after discharging
the deadly phosgene gas from cylinders. It was the strongest
concentration of gas sent over by the enemy during the war: the ground
over which the cloud passed was covered with powdered crystals like
hoar frost, and Canadians on parade at Bailleul, twelve miles back,
felt the effects. The 4th Duke of Wellington’s was in the front line,
the 6th had B company and the machine gunners on the Canal Bank and the
remainder in ruined farms a short distance behind. At 6-30 a.m. the
battalion received orders to move forward through the clouds of gas to
support the 4th. All reached their positions in perfect order and the
men of the 4th were astonished at the speed with which the much-needed
succour had reached them. The Germans, though they inflicted heavy
losses on the 147th Brigade, reaped no tactical advantage from the
outrage. The 6th had many casualties both from gas and shelling. The
machine gunners, worn out by a particularly arduous time in the line,
suffered very heavily, and among the eight who succumbed to gas was
that excellent soldier Lance-Cpl. J. W. Willan, of Skipton, who had
refused a commission elsewhere to serve in the ranks of the 6th.
The battalion, sadly reduced in numbers, had a last turn in the line
and lost 2nd Lieut. T. Carson, mortally wounded on patrol, and Lieut.
Malcolm Law, an admirable bombing officer, who was killed in the act of
handing over to the incoming division.
Getting clear of the line by dawn on the last day of the year, the
battalion, now little more than 200 strong, travelled by motor-bus to
the neighbourhood of Herzeele and Wormhoudt for a month’s rest and
reorganization. The Machine Gun Corps had recently been formed as a
separate arm of the service, and the machine gunners under Sergts.
J. Watson and F. Stork, who had both done sterling work for the
battalion, were transferred to the brigade company under the new corps.
At the beginning of February, 1916, the battalion moved by train to
the neighbourhood of Amiens. It was a welcome change and the clean
fields and green hills were a grateful sight to Craven eyes after
the shellmarked flatness of the Salient. Though the Division was by
no means up to strength it had temporarily to take over the line at
Authuille, north of Albert, during a snowy spell at the end of the
month. The share of the 6th Battalion was limited to two or three
unpleasant days. Water up to the knees was no novelty, but the men have
vivid recollections of some lively trench-mortaring, and of the droves
of enormous rats that scampered over the snow at night like flocks of
sheep.