GIVENCHY, 1915
It was now the turn of the 1st Brigade to emulate the gallant deeds of
the 2nd and 3rd Brigades at Ypres and Festubert, and right gallantly
they did so.
Givenchy, while receiving but slight mention in Sir John French's
dispatches, was perhaps only a minor affair; but the fact that, owing
largely to a shortage of bombs, we were unable to hold the ground we had
gained does not in any way detract from the gallantry of the attack.
Comparisons with Hulluch or Loos cannot be made, as we had nothing like
the support of either infantry or guns that were available on those
later occasions.
The Canadians relieved the Guards in the Givenchy trenches during the
second week in June. Our brigade was still in reserve around Bethune
when they passed us; the Prince of Wales, a slim, tired-looking boy in
khaki, marched by with his regiment. It wasn't often we had any of the
Royal Family march past us; generally the boot was on the other leg!
We entered the trenches at night and, as usual, in a drizzling rain.
Except for the fact that it was miserable weather, that we had followed
the La Bassee Canal in, and that he had a jumping toothache, the writer
has no vivid impressions of that night.
We lay in some trenches just in front of the ruined distillery, dug in a
commanding mound that had been thrown up in building the canal, and
stayed there till next night, when we moved forward again, two companies
going into the front line and two, one of them the writer's, occupying a
support trench.
Here we learned what work was, every bit of food, bombs, and ammunition
required for the front line being carried up these narrow twisted
communication trenches by the support companies, for the proximity of
our line to the enemy would not permit of taking a single man from the
front line. It was the one time we cursed the heavy mailbags that
arrived with unceasing regularity every night.
The right of our trenches here rested on the canal, and could go no
further forward owing to a small marsh that lay in front. But about
the centre of the position the line swooped forward into a small and
dangerous salient known as the "Duck's Bill."
[Illustration: THE DISTILLERY AT GIVENCHY.]
It was opposite here we proposed to attack, the actual objective being
the high ground between points H2 and H3 on the map. If we and the 7th
Division on our left could gain this high ground it would straighten out
this dangerous salient and give us a footing on the Aubers Ridge.
Great preparation was made for this attack. A mine that had been under
construction for months was to be sprung, and we were to give the Hun a
bombardment such as he had never had before.
Two field-guns were brought up on the night of the 14th and placed in
_epaulements_ that had been dug in rear of the front-line trench to
receive them. They were to be kept masked till the last moment before
the attack, when they would cut wire and silence machine-guns along the
front over which we were to attack.
The Central Ontario Battalion was to make the attack, supported by the
Toronto Battalion, while the Eastern and Western Battalions were to man
the captured trench, consolidate it, and provide for any
counter-attacks. On the left, the East Yorks and another battalion of
that brigade were to co-operate.
Meanwhile the mine was being hastily completed, and by noon on the 15th
it was ready for firing, the explosive being carried up by Lyte and his
satellites from near the distillery. They had had rather a bad time of
it crossing the Pont Fixe, a wrecked bridge that was under observation
from the German position.
The Huns, seeing the first load of these white boxes being carried over
the bridge, laid a gun on it and when the second party came across
opened fire on them, wounding several men close to F----, the Quebecker,
who as junior sub. was bringing up the rear. He, however, kept the men
from dropping the explosive, and the party reached the mine shaft
without any further casualties.
Our three days' bombardment, which had started on the night of the 13th,
now died down slightly, and the Germans, having had ample time to bring
up their reinforcements, waited for the attack.
At 3 o'clock our two companies in the front line drew off to the right
and the men of the Central Ontarios took their places, while the
communication trenches leading up were choked with the Toronto men who
were to form their supports. Our artillery now tuned up again and caught
the Germans by surprise. They, in turn, shelled us heavily, causing many
casualties owing to the crowding of the trench.
[Illustration: OUR SUPPORT TRENCHES AT GIVENCHY.]
A---- and the scout-corporal went up the trench and were caught by a
shell and the corporal was killed, A---- being fortunate in escaping,
though very severely wounded.
Another shell lit fairly on a bomb depot about this time and destroyed
one of our reserves of these weapons, and a third shell killed
Lieutenant-Colonel Beecher, the second in command of the attacking
battalion.
The two guns in the front line had been unmasked and were cutting wire
with desperate rapidity, though their crews were practically wiped out a
few moments later, and in the midst of this turmoil the mine went up.
It was quite the largest mine that had been exploded along the front,
and the tremor of the earth could only be compared to an earthquake.
So eager was the engineer officer to reach the German trench, that,
finding he was striking water underground, he loaded in something like
a ton and a half of explosive to make certain. Thus he achieved the
double result of winning the Military Cross for his skill and blowing up
a portion of our front line, from which fortunately our men had been
withdrawn.
But a number of our own men were killed and wounded, and, what was far
worse, another reserve depot of bombs was buried under the _debris_ of
the explosion.
In the meantime, masked by the fountain of earth thrown up by the mine,
the attack had been launched and was already in the first German line,
the bombers were beginning to work along the trench to the right and
left, and the little flags that marked their progress could be seen
moving slowly to the left to link up with the East Yorks.
But the East Yorks had been unable to advance owing to the wire not
having all been cut and the machine-gun fire that enfiladed them from
their flanks.
Meanwhile the Canadians had gained the third German line, but already
the shortage of bombs was beginning to be felt, and they were forced
back to the second line, where they established blocks in the trench
and were able to hang on until the following day, when the German
counter-attack forced them to fall back to our own front line.
[Illustration: AFTER GIVENCHY.
Left to right: Capt. Birdsall, Winnipeg Brown, Ponton, Capt. Richardson,
Gutty.]
The brigade had lost heavily. Of twenty-three officers of the Central
Ontario Battalion who went over the parapet only three returned
uninjured, the remainder being either killed, wounded, or missing!
Nor had the Yorks fared much better.
During the second day of the affair the writer was moving up a narrow
communication trench with a platoon carrying ammunition to the front
line when he encountered a party of about the same strength coming down
the trench in defiance of a notice board marked "In only." After asking
in vain for the officer in charge of the party he was told "For God's
sake, sir, we aren't any party. We're all that's left of two companies!"
There was nothing left to be said!
Once again it had been proved that attacks by daylight, unless supported
by masses of supports, are bound to fail.
The 2nd Canadian Brigade relieved us, marching in by one side of the
canal while we marched out along the other. We called across our best
wishes to them as we passed. We had, it is true, been heavily pounded,
but we were far from being depressed, though we might well have been.
Instead, as we passed an electric towing machine lying neglected along
the towpath, a man in the ranks behind asked his mate what they were
used for.
"Don't you know?" was the reply as he glanced at the broad-tyred wheels;
"why, they use them for rolling down the water in the canal after a
storm!"
It was in this mood we returned to billets.
[Illustration: APPROXIMATE LINE AFTER FESTUBERT AND GIVENCHY, 1915.]