ON THE BELGIAN BORDER.
Upon my return from Canada, while waiting in London for orders to
proceed to France, I received a telegram to appear at Buckingham
Palace on the following morning at 10.15. The taxi drove through the
outer courtyard to the inner palace entrance and my coat and hat were
taken charge of by a scarlet-coated attendant who gave me a numbered
check for the same.
An equerry-in-waiting asked me what my decoration was to be, and he
showed me into a large room with an immense bay window from which a
splendid view of a magnificent park could be seen. The bay window was
divided up by scarlet ropes into several sections, into one of which I
was ushered. One of these was for the C.B.'s, and contained a sole
occupant, a naval officer. The next sections were for the C.M.G.'s,
the next for the D.S.O.'s, M.C.'s, etc.
There were eight officers in our section, the first six being
generals. An attendant then came and placed a hook on the left hand
side of our tunics, our names were checked over and we were placed in
order according to rank.
When everything was ready the great doors leading into the room where
King George was to invest us, were swung back and we slowly proceeded
towards it. The first name was called and the naval officer stepped
forward and disappeared into the room beyond. The next officer, Lord
Locke, who was the first in line for the C.M.G. went next, and so they
proceeded quickly until my turn came.
As I advanced I could see the King standing about twenty feet in front
of a large window, dressed in a morning suit, and looking exactly like
his pictures. As he hung the decoration of the order on my little hook
he shook hands cordially and said "I am glad to give you the C.M.G."
Then he added, "Have you been with my army in France?"
I replied, "Yes, sir, with the first army."
"Have you been out there long?" he queried.
"I have been there for eight months, was re-called to Canada for two
months, and am now on my way back," I replied.
He nodded, adding something I did not catch, shook hands for the
second time, and repeated as though he really meant it, "I am very
glad to give you the C.M.G."
I backed away a few steps, and retired by another route, feeling that
this was the simplest and easiest ordeal I had ever gone through. It
was impossible to make a mistake even if you had tried to and
everybody was kindness and courtesy itself. An attendant removed the
decoration, placed it in a box and handed it to me; another attendant
handed me my coat and cap and I left the palace. "So much for
Buckingham!"
Soldiers were drilling in the courtyard and guards sprang to attention
and presented arms as I passed, while a policeman hailed a taxi for me
in which I drove to St. Paul's to see the most beautiful chapel
there--that of "The most distinguished order of St. Michael and St.
George."
As I drove by West Sandling camp and through Hythe to take the morning
packet back to France a cold raw wind searched my very bones. The
channel was rough enough to make the windward side of the deck wet and
unpleasant and the officers with which the boat was packed huddled
into their trench coats and British warms trying to keep out the cold.
The torpedo boat destroyers threshed about hither and thither in
smothers of spray while away to the north the mine sweepers stretched
across from shore to shore intent upon their never-ending search.
It was rough travelling on the road to the north next day; rain, snow,
sleet and hail, driven by a stinging wind, lashed our faces during the
whole of the trip. En route we called at General Headquarters and Army
Headquarters to report, and arrived at noon in the little French town
on the Belgian border which was the new location of our field
laboratory.
The Major and Captain seemed glad to see me and escorted me to my new
billet near the railway station; there was no glass in the windows and
the room was very cold. The officers pointed out a big hole in the
pavement in front of the house, made the day before by a German bomb.
The bomb had killed a number of horses and several men and had blown
the glass out of all the windows in the neighborhood. But the Major
assured me that a bomb seldom struck twice in the same place and that,
as the Bosches were after the railway station close by at the end
of the street, the safest place was the immediate neighborhood of the
station. As this sounded quite logical, I remained at the billet until
summer time, though I never noticed any great eagerness on the part of
my two officers to move to the vicinity of the station from
comfortable billets in the centre of the town.
[Illustration: "HOME, SWEET HOME"--MUD TERRACE.]
The very next day the town was bombed again and one "dud" fell in our
back yard.
The new town was larger than our old one, but very uninteresting and
very dirty in the winter months. The people were distinctly rougher in
dress, appearance and manners than those in France farther from the
Belgian frontier, differences possibly due to the effects of mixture
with Flemish blood. The surrounding country was rolling and much
prettier than that around Merville and it was a great relief to be
able to rest the eyes with the diversities of a rolling landscape
instead of constantly looking out upon a deadly monotonous level
country.
The headquarters of the Canadian corps was in the town and the
Canadians occupied the front line at, and north of, Ploegsteert wood,
opposite the Messines-Wytschaete ridge.
For days and weeks officers and men kept calling to get the news from
home in Canada, particularly about recruiting, and they would listen
as long as I would talk. Favorite questions were: "What does the
corner of King and Yonge streets look like?" and "How is Tommy
Church?"
Among those who called was General Mercer to whom I had brought a box
of candy from one of his office staff in Toronto and he stayed for
half an hour while I told him all the home news. We dined with him
that night and had a very pleasant evening with his staff, Lt.-Col.
Hayter, Lt.-Col. McBrien, Captain Gooderham, Lt. Cartwright; the
General was very optimistic as to the final result of the war, though
he felt that it would last at least three years longer.
Our laboratory was now located in a school which was being utilized as
part of No. 2 British casualty clearing station and the first visit I
made to this hospital was to see an old school friend, Captain Cole,
the medical officer of the Princess Patricia's who was there with a
bullet through his lungs. The very first day after his arrival from
the base after an attack of pneumonia he was caught by a sniper. He
made an uninterrupted recovery and eventually returned to active
service.
The British Army in France was steadily growing larger and troops were
beginning to be shifted about to give place to new divisions coming
into the line to train. A new division is never put directly into the
firing line and given a section of front; that would be too risky. The
new division is billeted in the area back of the lines and is
gradually brought up towards the front. The infantry is put into the
reserve and front line trenches by platoons and companies and mixed
with the old-timers who know all the ropes. In this way the new comer
picks up the routine of trench work very quickly, and, when the men
have all been broken in, the division gradually takes over its
section of front. In the same way the gunners are instructed in
practical artillery work and the men in other branches of the service
are similarly broken in.
There were rumours that the Canadians were again to move on to the
historic Ypres salient and those of the old brigade were not looking
forward to it with any perceptible amount of enthusiasm. Ypres had
associations which a whole year had not been able to eradicate.
Canadian casualties at this time were very slight; in fact almost
nothing. "Plugstreet" was supposed to be the pleasantest part of the
whole line, and to those who had been to Muskoka it seemed very much
like home, for there were log houses and rustic gates and all the
other accessories found in the wild playgrounds of northern Ontario.
"Plugstreet" was an easy place to approach since the woods prevented
observation and motor cars could get right up into the woods itself.
While standing in Ploegsteert woods by the car one day I heard
somebody singing an aria from Faust; the voice was magnificent and
evidently that of a highly trained singer who had sung in grand opera;
I listened with great delight while he sang with the utmost abandon,
and when he stopped, I watched for the owner of the voice to step out
from among the bushes. The songster proved to be a cook preparing the
evening meal. It was another example of the cosmopolitan nature of the
first Canadian contingent, which had in its ranks men of every
profession and walk in life.
Life was at this time becoming very monotonous for our men in the
trenches. The mail was the one great event of the day.
To relieve the monotony of trench life all sorts of games were devised
to pass the time. One unit had an intensely exciting morning in one of
the trenches--racing frogs. Two frogs had by mistake hopped into the
trench and were captured. Sides were formed and bets made as to which
frog would reach a given point first. As their leaders with the aid of
straws goaded their respective frogs into greater activity, the woods
of Ploegsteert fairly rang with the cheers of the rival parties.
Early in April the Canadians again found themselves in the Ypres
salient, as usual alongside the British guards. At St. Eloi they had
had casualties amounting in all to something over 500.
The Australian divisions had arrived on the western front, and two of
them came into our area. In length of limb and general "ranginess"
they greatly resembled our own westerners, and walked with the freedom
bred of a life in the open. Their usual question at first when they
met another soldier was, "Have you been to war or in France?" They got
the surprise of their lives when they found that life on the western
front was far more strenuous than it was on the Gallipoli peninsula.
The British army was learning by hard knocks how to do things, and the
truth of the old saying was constantly borne home to one that in the
early years of any great war England paid dearly for her experience in
blood and treasure.
The Fokker plane had "thrown a scare" into the air service, and there
was a general demand on the part of the British public for greater
efficiency. As a new arm of the service it was not considered by
Whitehall with the seriousness it deserved; only the men who saw
planes come over, hover about, and were in consequence heavily and
accurately shelled shortly afterwards, realized what the command of
the air meant. The air tangle, and the inadequacy of the air service
became such a scandal that Lord Derby and Lord Montague resigned from
the air board as a protest against the way this branch of the service
was being bungled.
As a matter of fact the Fokker was never considered, by our men, to be
a very wonderful machine, and we quickly evolved types that were
superior to it in every respect.
Nevertheless these were bad days on our front, and for a while as a
result of the enemy's air superiority we were bombed with great
regularity. At Canadian corps headquarters, where we dined with
Generals Alderson and Burstall one night after our own town had been
bombed, they were very much interested as they had occupied that town
for several months, and each officer wanted to know whether his former
billet had been struck.
The same night German planes bombed Canadian headquarters fairly
heavily, and also some of the camps and hospitals (the hospitals were
all marked with huge red crosses on the roof). During the same period
the enemy shelled towns, camps and roads far back from the front line
area, making life in the war area on the whole very uncertain and
very uncomfortable. It was necessary to visit many places under cover
of darkness, so accurate was the German observation and shell fire
during the day time.[1]
For example: one Sunday morning we travelled from Armentieres to
Ploegsteert by a road which in spots could be seen from the German
lines, though screened by green canvas at such places. Just before we
entered Ploegsteert village we were in full view of the enemy for a
short distance. Instead of passing right through the long village
street as I had intended we stopped for a minute to look at a well
which was being used as a source of drinking water. As we started
forward shells began to spray the road at the far end of the village
at the very moment when we ourselves would have arrived had we gone
right on. Naturally we changed our course and turned off at right
angles towards home, while heavy shelling of the town continued.
Half a mile out of the village we met a civilian with his wife and
little six year old girl, all dressed in their Sunday clothes, jogging
along in a two wheeled cart to their home in Ploegsteert village,
which was still being shelled. Why people should apparently discount
death as some of these civilians seemed to do, passed our powers of
comprehension; it never ceased to be an astonishing thing to me.
There was great air activity during that period on the part of the
Bosches and with a reason. We knew that they were ready for another
gas attack, for our artillery had burst a tank in the German trenches
and the yellow fumes of chlorine gas had been identified. A German gas
bag used for getting the wind drift was also brought in to us for
examination, showing that the enemy was awaiting a favorable
opportunity.
As I sat out in our garden in Bailleul one evening at the end of April
reading "The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne," three aeroplanes like great
birds volplaned slowly down from the clouds--coming home to
roost--until they were within 100 feet of the ground, just clearing
the house tops as they dropped into their nesting ground on the other
side of the town. I could see the pilots quite plainly.
In that brick-walled garden, full of rose bushes in leaf, I sat and
looked at the cherry trees in early blossom, and thoughts came to me
of other gardens away back in Canada, where I had spent many an hour
in the gloaming, while real birds and bats flitted about across the
sky. I leaned over to breathe the perfume of a white jonquil and a
thrill of emotion swept over me and almost made me dizzy--for the
odour was one I had not met with for a long, long time. This variety
of jonquil my father used to grow at the lake, and in the spring of
the year on which he died some of the bulbs planted with his own hands
were in bloom when we made our first trip up there; they had seemed
like a sweet message from the dead.
I went to bed that night very homesick, wishing that the Kaiser was in
Hades and the war was over. For a long time I could not get to sleep
and an agitated rapping on my door made me start up quickly from a
restless slumber. My window was open and the choking fumes of chlorine
poured into the room while Madame rapped away, exclaiming, "Monsieur
the Colonel; the asphyxiating gas has arrived." I slammed the window
to, soaked a muffler in water and wrapped it over my mouth and nose
while robed in a dressing gown, I hastened down stairs. My own gas
mask, carefully placed in a corner, had been moved, and, in the dark,
I could not find it. I gathered the four women into the inner kitchen
and made them breathe through towels wrung out in a solution of
ammonium carbonate, which we were fortunate enough to find, while we
excluded as much gas as possible by wet towels placed over the cracks
in the doors.
It was a most unpleasant experience. As we were nearly seven miles
from the German line, it was quite evident that the gas must have been
discharged in tremendous quantity to have reached us in the strength
it did. I had visions of the Germans discharging gas for hours and
killing everything that breathed for miles back of the lines. It was a
horrible sensation to realize that you had been caught like rats in a
cellar and would slowly die of asphyxiation. The gas crept in through
the doors, and it was quite impossible to breathe except through
towels saturated with the chemical solution. I wondered how the
Germans would feel about it when they came over through a country
devoid of all life and whether they would take the trouble to bury all
the women and children and dead animals.
Breathing was steadily becoming more and more difficult, when
suddenly the door bell rang. One of the girls insisted on going to
answer it, and quickly came back to report that a neighbor had called
to see whether they were all right, and that the gas cloud had passed.
Never did fresh air taste so sweet to me, and I wasted no time in
sending to a hospital for a set of masks so as to be prepared should
another gas cloud arrive.
The streak of gas that crossed our section of the town must have
drifted along some depression in the surface of the country, for a
good many people in other parts of the town, particularly where the
windows had been closed, were not greatly inconvenienced by it.
The gas was strong enough to kill all the young foliage of the roses
and other plants in our garden, while closer to the front a number of
horses were poisoned by it. Several hundred soldiers of British
regiments were gassed and the Germans, under cover of the gas cloud,
raided the British trenches in an endeavour to locate and blow up
certain mine shafts. That they did not succeed was shown recently when
these same mines on the Wytschaete ridge blew both Germans and
trenches far on the way towards the eternal stars.
Other gas attacks launched by the Germans the same night failed to
achieve any results; and in one section they managed to gas themselves
badly. We reported the gas to be chlorine, and the post mortems of
gassed soldiers carried out by Major Rankin, blood tests by myself to
exclude other possibilities, and evidence obtained elsewhere, all
indicated that the gas employed had been chlorine.
The New Zealand division which had come into our area, held the line
in front of Armentieres. A small epidemic of suspected dysentery in
that division took us through that town frequently, and we found it
almost completely deserted. The Huns shelled it almost daily and had
made the place almost untenable for civilians, though, as usual, a
number of them hung on and did a fairly good business.
The staff of our laboratory had been reduced from three officers to
two, and after a good deal of discussion, Major Rankin dropped out at
his own earnest request and was detailed to the Canadian Corps to
train for the position of D.A.D.M.S. To celebrate the occasion he gave
us a little dinner, and invested heavily in nectarines, strawberries
and peaches from the graperies. The occasion was only slightly marred
by the popping cork of a champagne bottle crashing through a skylight
and bringing down a shower of glass on the Cap.'s head, which bled
profusely.
One evening after dinner as we sat with French windows opened wide to
the warm evening air of late spring, puffing idly at our cigars, a
most beautiful bird song burst upon our ears--a song that made us
stare at one another in amazement; we had never heard its like before.
It might be described as a bird fantasia--the notes covered a wide
range of sounds and the effect was beautiful. Captain Ellis walked
quietly down the garden path and got close to the cherry tree from
which the trills and lilts continued to pour, but could see nothing.
Mlle. C---- said it was a chantresse (songster) but that did not give
us much idea of what it was like.
Every morning and evening after that, this indefatigable songster
made music for us (or rather for his mate, probably sitting on her
eggs) in the cherry tree on the other side of the wall. How we enjoyed
listening to it! Many a time we tried to locate the singer in his
leafy home, but in vain; the nearest we ever came to it was once when
we saw a branch shake as the bird hopped to another limb.
One morning the brilliant bursts of song were lacking, and we missed
them. Just before we left for the laboratory Mademoiselle C----
brought in a rat trap to show us, and there caught in it, was our
little shy singer with grey dappled breast, its head crushed by the
cruel steel spring. Evidently in search of food in the early morning
it had hopped on the trigger of the trap and met its fate. It was one
of the little tragedies continually occurring in nature; to the little
bird-wife waiting in the cherry tree it was just as great a tragedy as
would be the death of her husband to the woman waiting at home.
This was an eventful period in the history of the war for Canadians. A
heavy bombardment all along the line from La Bassee to Ypres
forecasted something unusual. My diary, unusually voluminous for the
day of June 3rd, shows that I was greatly impressed by the occurrences
of that day and had taken the trouble to write down my impressions at
length. The following extract is a word for word copy from my diary:
June 3rd.--Awakened at 2.15 a.m. by agitated firing of anti-aircraft
guns. Heard planes overhead and big guns going. Listened for a while
and got partly dressed and went down into garden. Two British planes
going up--no Bosches visible. Quite clear at 2.30 a.m. with low summer
clouds. Slept till 8. Asked Rankin and Ellis at breakfast about
bombardment; they hadn't heard it. Rad said 18 British ships sunk and
Canadians had lost trenches--laughed at him.
Sanitary officer 24th Division called re beer used at Dranoutre taken
from becque ¾ mile below Locre sewage outfall. Also discussed lime
treatment of sewage effluent, grease traps, etc., etc.
French paper at noon said British and German fleets had been engaged.
After dinner went with Ellis to Abeele, called on paymaster for money.
Major said Canadians had had 2,000 casualties. The Germans started a
5-hour bombardment at 9 a.m., June 2nd. General Mercer and Brig.
General Vic Williams were making an inspection at the time and both
wounded; were last seen at 3 p.m. going into a dug-out, which was
taken afterwards by Germans, and have not been seen since--probably
captured. Lt.-Col. Tanner, O.C. Field Ambulance, badly wounded. In
counter-attacks by 3rd Canadian Division--a good deal of trenches
recovered--not all. Attack made on 3rd Division--General Lipsett now
in command--and part of 1st division. 14th, 15th, and 10th Battalions,
1st Division, made counter-attack this morning--Toronto Highlanders
did particularly well. 4th and 5th C.M.R.'s said to have lost 500
each. Last official bulletin about fleet--Queen Mary, Invincible and
Indefatigable--battle cruisers, sunk. Also 3 cruisers sunk and one
abandoned; 6 torpedo boats sunk and 6 missing. Germans lost one sunk
and one damaged. Evidently the British fleet was done in badly, but
the reason cannot be explained until all the facts are known.
Went to No. 10 C.C.S. to see if Ellis' brother of the 7th Battalion
had been wounded--no news of him but arranged to have any information
telephoned, and that he be sent for by Captain Stokes--saw the
spirochaete of epidemic jaundice. General Porter there, and chatted to
him for a minute.
On the way back we stopped at Mt. Rouge and saw the German lines.
It was a beautiful clear day with a tang in the air like late
September.
From our little observation point on the top of Mt. Rouge we could see
for miles on all sides. Over in front lay Mt. Kemmel, bristling with
guns but not one visible with the field glasses. Beneath us and
between us and Kemmel, on the road that runs from Bailleul to Ypres,
nestled the little village of Locre, with its white walled cottages
and red tiled roofs.
To the left of Kemmel the sun made prominent the ruins of
Wytschaete--a village in the German lines. Just beneath Wytschaete one
could see the German trenches, two lines of them, which showed like
brick red seams in the earth and ran up over and along the crest of
the Wytschaete ridge, which itself ran towards St. Eloi and Ypres.
Between these German trenches and our own was a sandy waste--no man's
land--scarred and churned by untold numbers of shells. Even the forest
patches in this region were dead and slivered by rifle and shell.
To the left of Wytschaete one could see great bursts of brown, black,
greenish and white smoke over a width of country perhaps ¼ of a mile
and a length of 2 miles. It was here that the 3rd and 1st Canadian
Divisions were fighting with the Huns for mastery. Perhaps as we
watched these bursting shells were killing our own friends.
The region of St. Eloi was cut off by the Scherpenberg Mountain and to
the left of that again we could see with wonderful clearness the ruins
of Ypres. As we watched, great clouds of dust went up at intervals
from the square. The tower of St. Martin's Church, and the tower of
the Cloth Hall to the right were clearly distinguishable.
To the left of Ypres again we could see spires of towns, and one town
far away was right on the sea we were told, probably Dunkirk. To the
right of Kemmel was the ruined tower of Messines in the German lines;
to the left of that the smoking chimneys of Armentieres now also
somewhat battle scarred, and away beyond it and a little to the left
the City of Lille.
Thus we could see from Dunkirk on the sea to Lille, that fair city,
well inland in northern France, and could follow the battle line from
Pilken beyond Ypres to La Bassee. In that line we could actually see
the flashes and shell bursts in Ypres, St. Eloi, Wytschaete and near
Levantie. It was a wonderful day, and a view never to be forgotten.
It was a bitter day for us, and we had a bad evening discussing our
hard knocks.
At 10.30 p.m. Ellis came back from the lab, with the latest report of
the sea battle which has worried us so much:
LOSSES.
British. German.
3 Battle Cruisers sunk: 2 Dreadnaughts sunk.
Queen Mary. 1 Battle Cruiser sunk.
Indomitable. 3 Light Cruisers sunk.
Indefatigable. 6 Destroyers sunk.
3 Cruisers sunk: 1 Submarine rammed and sunk.
Warrior. 2 Battle Cruisers badly damaged.
Black Prince. 3 other ships damaged.
Defence. 1 Zeppelin destroyed.
8 Destroyers and Torpedo Boats
sunk.
Hooray! even if above is not true.
The corrected report of the battle of Jutland was confirmed later and
caused profound relief in the army. Why such a report had been allowed
to pass and remain uncontradicted so long could not be fathomed. Those
were very black days for the army in the field and many a man died
with despair in his heart, convinced that what had been the greatest
fact in his whole life--the invincibility of the British Fleet--was a
myth. The British nation will take a long time to forgive the
Admiralty for that unnecessary delay.
In that dark period the army in France, with the fleet destroyed, saw
its lines of communication being cut, and the end in sight. I ran
across Lt.-Col. (Canon) Scott, C.M.G., in a rest station the day after
the correct report had arrived. His eye was blacked, his nose skinned,
and his wrist sprained and he presented all the signs of having been
in a fight, though as a matter of fact he had fallen from his horse
while suffering from the effects of anti-typhoid inoculation.
Notwithstanding his condition he had slipped away from the rest
station that night and had gone up to the Canadian area to spread the
good news of the naval battle in order to cheer up our men who were
going into action. A German barrage had prevented him from getting up
to the front line but he managed to have the good news telephoned in
to the trenches. That was characteristic of the unselfish work of
Canon Scott; he never spared himself and his thought was always for
"the boys in the trenches." He is a great soul.
The Canadian losses in the St. Eloi battle were said to be about 6,000
and there was little glory for anybody and a good deal of prestige
lost by many in that affair....
The death of Lord Kitchener off the Orkney Islands had startled the
world and all wondered what catastrophe would happen next. The loss of
Kitchener was greatly deplored by the French people who looked on
Kitchener, the inscrutable, as a great mystery and one to admire and
marvel at....
One day at Boulogne returning from leave after an uneventful channel
crossing with some sort of Russian delegation, we had picked up our
grips and started for the gangway, when the strains of a band on the
dock became audible, and we could see a group of French officers
waiting to meet the Russian delegates who were slowly filing down the
gang plank. The band slowly played the Russian national anthem, and we
all dropped our baggage and stood to attention. As the strains died
away we again seized our grips and began to push forward when the
band struck up the Marseillaise and again we dropped everything and
stood to attention. After an interval of about ten minutes the last
bars of the tune died away and for the third time we seized our things
only to hear the strains of the British national anthem rising on the
air. Again we dropped our stuff and smartly came to the salute like
good loyal subjects though we heartily wished that the delegation had
gone by the Archangel route, for we felt certain that the band would
play the national anthems of Belgium, Japan, Serbia and Italy.
However, like most things, it came to an end and we filed off after a
delay of what had seemed to be a good half hour. It is strange how we
were all keen to get back to the front to the work which we got so fed
up with and would sometimes give the whole world to get away from.
[Illustration: BRITISH TANKS AS USED IN THE FLANDERS OFFENSIVE.]
The summer of 1916 was the period of the battle of the Somme and most
of our interests hinged on that offensive. At the beginning of July
the British began their big advance to the south and the fighting in
our area consisted largely of trench raids, artillery bombardments,
gas attacks, aeroplane raids and other events incidental to trench
warfare.
A spectacular show occurred when the offensive began and the enemy
observation balloons, hitherto practically unmolested, were attacked
by our airmen with some new incendiary device with the result that
nine were brought down in a few minutes in flames and the others were
quickly hauled to earth to remain there for many weeks. Only
occasionally during the succeeding months would a captive balloon
ascend and then would quickly disappear on the approach of one of our
planes.
Pens for German prisoners were under course of construction all along
the front--a most satisfactory procedure from the psychological
standpoint, as it seemed to express confidence in what the future was
to bring. The capacity of the hospitals had also been increased from
540 to 1,000 beds, which also indicated business.
The Canadians were still in the salient side by side with the Guards
and the latter used to cheer "the fighting Canucks" as they called
them, as they went into the trenches. The only regret of the Canadians
at that time was that they did not have the "Immortal Seventh
Division" on their other side.
An attack by the Australians on our front resulted in casualties
amounting to several thousands and the hospitals for many days
afterwards were filled with cases of gas gangrene due to the men lying
out too long in the open with infected wounds.
Divisions from our area would move out and go south to the Somme while
battered divisions from the Somme front would drift up into our area.
Among these was the Ulster division whose fife and drum band came
marching gaily up the street, nearly every musician wearing a German
cap. A few days later the south of Ireland division came up and the
two divisions occupied the line side by side. Needless to say they
fraternized in the best spirit while out of the line just as they
supported one another while in it.
In the second week in August the first Canadian division came out of
the salient into the training area preparatory to going down to the
Somme, and the other Canadian divisions soon followed.
During this period a Canadian medical officer, noted for his
self-possession, was proceeding along the road and came across a
private soldier who had been hurt in an accident. At the same time a
car stopped and a young lieutenant stepped out to see whether he could
be of use. The M.O. examined the injured man and said to the
lieutenant rather brusquely, "Is that your car?" The lieutenant said
that it was. "Well we'll just put this man in and take him to the
hospital in Hazebrouk if you don't mind," said the M.O. and without
waiting for permission helped the injured man into the car. The
lieutenant seemed to be quite agreeable and they drove to Hazebrouk
several miles away.
The M.O. thoroughly enjoyed that drive; all along the road officers
and men saluted the car deferentially and the M.O. acknowledged these
salutes most graciously. Somehow or other the world seemed to be
peculiarly affable to the M.O. and by the time Hazebrouk was reached
he simply beamed on everybody.
As they drove up to the hospital there happened to be a General and a
Colonel chatting to the officer commanding the hospital at the front
door. Much to the M.O.'s surprise the General saluted first but as he
made haste to acknowledge the salute, he observed that the General was
smiling at the lieutenant beside him. Then, only, did it dawn upon the
M.O. that the lieutenant was the Prince of Wales and his confusion was
so great that he could never afterwards recall just what he did for
the next three or four hours. He was heard to say that night that the
Prince of Wales was "an awful decent chap and a thorough gentleman"
and also that the Burgundy wine in Hazebrouk was of very inferior
quality.
The work of the laboratory was very heavy from routine work of various
sorts and an attempt to stamp out diphtheria from a Scotch division.
Much the same sort of experiences as have been related elsewhere were
encountered and we had entered upon the fed-up stage of life at the
front. It needed something of extraordinary interest to rouse one's
interest to any unusual degree.
At the beginning of September the three Canadian Divisions were en
route to the Somme, while the newly arrived 4th Canadian Division came
up to take over part of the line near the Ypres Salient.
The British and French were doing well and taking many prisoners on
the Somme, as were the Russians on their front while the Roumanians
began their offensive and swept far over the country much to the
horror of the critics and everybody else.
There was great elation on the day of the big offensive on the Somme
when the British first used "tanks." I shall never forget the thrill I
had when we read a telegram received at one of the headquarters
repeating a wireless message from an aeroplane observer to the effect
that he could see a tank wobbling into a village followed by cheering
troops. It was the first time that engines of warfare had led the way
to an attacking force and the picture of the enemy fleeing before
these new engines of terror spouting fire and destruction and rolling
over trenches and machine gun emplacements, while cheering Tommies
followed in their wake, will never be forgotten. We envied the air men
their view that day and thought of how they must have thrilled at the
sights below them.
We had been ordered to get out of our quarters in the school on
October the first. After some difficulty we decided to build a hut for
laboratory quarters and selected a field near the British isolation
hospital. The view from the site selected, overlooking the rolling
fields, with the Mt. de Cats surmounted by its monastery to the left,
and Mt. Rouge to the right, is about as fine as anything I have seen
in Belgium.
With the aid of a carpenter from the Canadian casualty clearing
station, we built the hut, 40 feet by 20 feet, ourselves, and when I
left for England early in October, it was a great satisfaction to feel
that we were established in what a Surgeon-General subsequently stated
to be "an ideal field laboratory."
On the way from what proved to be my last stay in France, we visited
the Somme area and saw some of our old comrades. The Canadians had on
the previous day suffered heavy casualties in trying to take Regina
trench and we passed homeward through the tent covered area behind
Albert with the knowledge that more of our old school friends were at
that moment lying out wounded and dead in no man's land.
As we drove along the moonlit road from Albert on the way to Boulogne
we passed company after company of soldiers trudging along towards
the front; they did not sing. It was the 4th Canadian Division going
into action--about to experience that great adventure of battle for
which they had trained so long and had come so far to obtain.
Farther along the road we could hear away in the distance a song; we
could not distinguish the words but we knew that soon we would hear
"Pack up your troubles in your own kit bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!"
They were Canadians coming out of the trenches.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Our men have since been astonished at the wonderful view of our
lines obtained from the Messines-Wytschaete ridge.
INDEX
A
Air service, 237;
battle, 88
Alderson, General, 94, 237
Advanced Dressing Station, 128
Ambulance, work of, 129;
Field, Canadian, No. 3., 104, 108
Artillery, Canadian, in billets, 22;
Shelling by, 158
Aubers ridge, battle of, 170
Australians, arrival of, from Gallipoli, 236
B
Band, British Guards, 173;
Indian, 174
Bailleul, garden in, 116, 240
Balbaud, Professor Paul, 121
Barrows, Roman, Salisbury Plains, 27
Battalion, first Canadian, 117;
third Canadian (Toronto), 70, 115;
Winnipeg rifles, 7;
work of medical officers of, 127
Baths, divisional, 146, 147
Bird life, Salisbury Plains, 25;
the nameless, 242
Bombs, on Bailleul, 233;
on Canadian Headquarters, 237;
on Merville, 72
Bournemouth, 52
Boyd, Capt, 104
Brielen, 91
British officers, 66
Buckingham Palace, investiture at, 230
Burstall, General (C.B.), 94, 237
C
Canadian contingent, first, leaving Gaspé, 5;
arrival at Plymouth, 9;
Salisbury Plain, 10;
sickness among, 19
Canadian division, first, review by King, 29;
after Neuve Chappelle, 70;
sports of, 74;
German attack upon, 97
Canadian division, second, arrival in France, 123
Canadians in Ypres Salient, 1916, 250, 252
Canadian graveyard, 176;
laboratory arrival in France, 65;
work of (See 'Laboratory').
Casualty clearing station, work of a, 128
Chalons-sur-Marne, 206
Champagne, visit to, 205
Channel, crossing the British, 232
Cartwright, Lt., 234
Chlorine gas used by Germans, 94
treatment of water (See 'Water'), 140, 155
Cole, Capt. Cooper, 234
Cock fighting in France, 73
Creeks, pollution of, 147
D
Disease, (See 'Epidemics');
"Carriers" of, 139, 142
Dressing Station, Canadian Advanced, 99
Dysentery, suspected epidemic of, 157
E
Ellis, Major Arthur, 68, 107, 164, 232, 242, 245
Epidemics, how spread, 136;
lack of, in British Army, 134
F
Festubert, battle of, 118, 166
Fire fete of Merville, 180
Flowers in Spring, England, 57;
France, 67;
Experience with Parisian flower-girl, 194;
in Bailleul garden, 239;
in Merville garden, 121
French artillery, 109;
front, visit to, 205
Foch, General, 106
Foster, Col. (C.B.) (Surgeon-General), 113
Funeral, a Canadian Soldier's, 116
G
Gas, original, attack on Canadians, April 22, 1915, 93;
attack by Germans, Spring, 1916, 240;
on Belgians, April, 1915, 111;
masks, suggested use of, 107;
poison, nature of, 94, 95, 107;
work of laboratory on, 115
Gaspé basin, 5
Gooderham, Capt., 234
Graves, Canadian, 176
H
Haig, General Sir Douglas, 170
Hardy, Lt.-Col. (D.S.O.), 101
Hayter, Lt.-Col. (D.S.O.), 234
Haywood, Major Alf. (M.C.), 71, 116
Highlanders, Canadian, at Ypres, 96;
(Toronto), 115
Hospital on Salisbury Plain, 28;
French Canadian, Paris, 199;
at French front, 205;
barges, 131
Hotel, Continental, Paris, 1916, 196;
Lotti, Paris, 1916, 196;
de l'Angleterre Beuvais, 1916, 190;
Savoy, London, 1915-16, 36
Hutchison, Capt. John, 71
Hughes, General Sir Sam, 2, 35
Hygiene work of laboratory, 154
I
Institute for maimed soldiers, Paris, 207;
blind soldiers, Paris, 208
Indian band concert, France, 174;
(Lahore) division, 107
Inoculation against Typhoid in Canadians, 24
Investiture, a royal, 230
J
Jutland, battle of, 244, 247
K
Kemmel, hill of, 245
Kipple, Sgt., description by, 15
Kitchener, death of Lord, 247
Kirkpatrick, Major, 76
Klotz, Capt. Herbert, 30
L
Laboratory, Canadian Mobile, 253;
work of Canadian Mobile, 123, 152, 154, 159
La Gorgue, 79
Laventie, 80
Larkhill, 18
Laundries, waste from army, 147
Leicester square, 1914-15, 37
Lice and typhus fever, 144
Lipsett, General (C.M.G.), 244
London, 1914, 32
Locre, 245
M
Maclaren, Major, 100
Macpherson, Surgeon-General, 126, 169
Malaria, work of Rankin on, 163
Mavor, Major Wilfred (D.S.O., M.C.), 119
McBrien, Lt.-Col., (D.S.O.), 234
McPherson, Lt.-Col., (C.M.G.), 87
Mitchell, Lt.-Col., (C.M.G.), 100
Milk, use of, in army, 141
Medical service, British organization, 126, 138;
officer's duties, 127;
specialists, work of, 133;
stores, advanced depot, 133
Mercer, Major-General (C.B.), 70, 110, 117, 233, 234
Mignault, Lt.-Col., 199
Moroccan troops (French colonials), 96
Mosquitoes and Malaria, 143
Muntz, Capt. Jerry, 71
N
New Zealand division, arrival of, 241
O
Opera in Paris, 1916, 192
Orbeliani, Prince, 202
P
Paris at night, March, 1916, 195;
demi-mondes, 193;
morality of, 194;
women and dress, 198;
Montmartre district, 191;
opera in, 192
Pasteur Institute, Paris, 204
Piccadilly circus, 1914-15, 37
Plague, how spread in armies, 149
Ploegsteert, 235-238
Prince of Wales, 251
Poperinge, 105, 107, 111, 113, 114
Pollution of water (See 'Water').
Q
Quaker search party, 142
Queen Mary battle cruiser, 8
R
Rankin, Lt.-Col. Allan, 68, 93, 97, 112, 163, 232, 242
Rats, destruction of, in army, 204;
carry plague, 149;
story of, 150
Red Cross, Canadian, in Paris, 203
Rawlinson, General Sir Henry, 106
Refugees, 98, 102, 165
Rennie, General Robt., 70, 76
Roberts, Lord, funeral of, 42
Robertson, Capt. E., 99
Rowland, Capt. Sydney, 62
Ryerson, Capt. George, 71
Russian delegation, 249
S
Salisbury Plain, Old Sarum, 26;
Silver Grill, 47;
Stonehenge, 27;
white horse, 26;
arrival at, 10;
description of, 11;
bird life, 25
Sanitary Commission of War Allies, 189, 200
Sanitary section, organization of, 130
Sanitary officers, 132;
methods employed in field, 137
Scrimger, Capt., (V.C.), 92
Serbia, Prince of, 197
Scott, (Canon) Lt.-Col. Frederick George, (C.M.G.), 86, 247
St. Jean, 88
St. Denis, 210
St. Eloi, 246, 248
St. Cloud hospital, 200
Search party (Quakers), 142
Sketches, Dirty Jock, etc., 184
Sloggett, Sir Arthur, 126
Somme, battle of, 249-253
T
Tanks, 252
Tanner, Lt.-Col., 244
Tetanus, 153
Typhoid fever among refugees, 165
absence of, in British army, 135
Typhus fever in Serbia, 144, 145, 201
U
Ulster division, 252
V
Valcartier camp, 1, 3
Verdun battle, Paris during, 191
Vlamertinge, 104
Van Straubenzie, Major, 70
W
War office, London, 1914, 39
Warren, Capt. Trumbull, 91
Water carts, 155;
chlorination of, 140, 155;
mobile filters, 141;
supply, 140, 157;
purification, control of, 154, 156;
value of analysis, 156
Williams, General Vic., 244
Wickens, Major Bert, 71
Wieltze, 88, 98, 99
Winnipeg battalion, 7
Wounded, evacuation of, 128
Wytschaete, 245
Y
Ypres, city of, April 17, 1915, 83;
April 22, 1915, 84;
description of, 84;
history of, 85;
Cloth Hall of, 85;
second battle of, 94, 100, 102, 109, 114
Warwick Bro's & Rutter, Limited.
Printers and Bookbinders, Toronto, Canada.
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