Lest We Forget

 



"No Road To Glory"

"The mad 4th.; the fighting 4th~ -- Ypes, St. Julienne, Regina Trench, Vimy, Hill 70 -- Where now?  Hell, if you like, bring on your Huns!
"A halt was called at Marie Qu'Appelle,  where a week or ten days was spent in further training and polishing up for the coming show;  bayonet and bombing practice, formation in attack, establishing communications, entrenching and marching.  It was now generally known that the corps was to participate in the big offensive on Passchendaele Ridge, and that the Canadians were to have a shot at the position which had proved a stumbling block since early in July."

by Major A. R. Thompson, late 4th
Battalion, C.E.F.

 

"No Road To Glory" by A.R. Thompson

     "Although many tons of wire were used...,and hundreds of miles of entanglements constructed, little was heard about the men who, night after night, toiled away at a job which, though dangerous enough, was not in the least spectular, and did not lead along the paths of glory.  Like many another useful branches of the Service, wiring parties were not concerned with matters of attack; their activities were confined to the construction and repair of barb-wire entanglements.
[...]
     "During the Summer of 1917, the 1st Brigade boasted a wiring party, consisting of two officers and forty men who were detailed for discipline and rations to the 1st Field Company, Canadian Engineers.  Their duty was to look after the entanglements on the Brigade front under the supervision of the Engineer Officer Commanding.
     "The standard obstruction was the South African double apron fence.  Iron stakes with corkscrew points were screwed into the ground by inserting the handle of an entrenching tool through a loop at the top end of the stake, and turning, as one would, a fence auger. [The author includes a detailed description of the entanglement.]
     "On fronts badly pitted with shell holes, or on ground where it was not practical to erect the standard type, frame works were woven in the trenches, or in craters, and rolled into position at intervals where they were secured by short stakes and connected up by a number of loose strands of wire which were fastened from one frame to the other.  This method was often used when working in close to an enemy position, as it was possible to do most of the work by crawling around on the belly, and so avoid, to some extent, the hazard of noise and the movement of ducking for flares.  If a flare broke before a man got down, his only chance was to stand stock-still and pray to be mistaken for a blasted tree stump.
     "At Hill 70, the Brigade wiring-party wired up a gap on the left flank of the 2nd Battalion which had been left in the air by a neighbouring unit.  It was a diagonal stretch of about 100 yards, and at the nearest point not more than fifty yards from the German front line trench.  This chore was finished without a casualty, but had to be done all over again next night.  Heinie had knocked everything to pieces;  wiring was like that -- at times it was damned annoying."

~ Excerpt from "No Road To Glory" by Major A.R. Thompson, son of Colonel Andrew T. Thompson.  Major Thompson served overseas with the famous 4th Battalion, C.E.F. and was for a time brigade wiring officer of the First Brigade.

[Note:  In order to read the excerpts chronologically, begin with Tuesday, November 4 post.]

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"No Road To Glory" by A. R. Thompson

"Four hundred yards..."

     "Shells droned overhead, searching out dumps and batteries in the back areas; scout machines flew back and forth over the front.  The day wore on uneventfully, almost monotonously.  A machine gun spat intermittently; a sniper's bullet sang.  The air was filled with a medley of those humming, buzzing sounds like a chorus of insects in July.  The men in 'D' Company amused themselves in various ways.  Cards and Crown and Anchor boards had been pulled from pockets and packs, and several games were always in progress.  Others smoked and chatted about the things they missed and yearned for;  some slept, stretched full length in the sun.

     "With the coming of night, the Company bestirred itself, for under cover of darkness the bulk of the work was done.  The Deb., as Jones had been nick-named, was detailed with his platoon to act as a ration party and take supplies from the transport wagons, which came up to this reserve trench, to the front line company.  They moved over land as far as the support line where they dropped into a communication trench.  Here the going was slow, as it was still sticky from a recent rain.  Presently they reached the front line where all was as quiet as the grave.  Conversation with a 'A' Company officer disclosed the Hun as very quiet so far, and rather suspected of being up to something.
     ' How far from the German Lines?' asked Jones, staring into the darkness across that stretch of waste called No-Man's Land.
     ' About four hundred yards.  It's quite a respectable distance, and gives a chap a chance to breathe out loud.  If you've delivered your goods though, you'd better get away;  we're sending out a wiring party, and if Heinie gets wise he may send greetings."
     ' It was certain he had already got his nightly windup as flares were now popping all along the line.  The ration party was impatient to be off."

Tomorrow:  "Footslogger/ wiring-officer Jones and his "intimate association with barb wire."

[To the new Reader:  In order to follow Jones' story chronologically, you may want to begin with Tuesday, November 4th blog post.]

"No Road To Glory" by Major A.R. Thompson

    

 
"The 4th Battalion was at Neuville St. Vaast, dawdling until dusk when they would move off to take over their piece of the front.
      The newcomer was introduced to the Colonel and others of Headquarters staff, and was posted to "D" Company, No. 16 Platoon.  At the order to fall in, the Company Commander gave some brief instructions and the whole moved off at a slow, ambling gait in formation of Indian file.  Each platoon was headed by a guide, furnished from the out-coming battalion. Over the crest of the ridge past Farbus Wood they led.  The skeletons of trees - mere stumps and amputations - stood forth like ghostly sentinels, fantastic in the gathering gloom.

[That night, Jones had been tired and somewhat homesick.  He had fallen asleep thinking "a lot of things he couldn't tell to anyone, not even to the Colonel."]

By the side of the road a carrion horse lay where it fell.  The carcass, which was full blown out from putrid gases, stenched and stank most horribly.  Suddenly the column, trudging silently into the night, came under fire.  A rushing sound, that filled the air, screamed past and roared beyond, as shell after shell followed in quick succession.  Each one seemed closer than the last, and bursting rocked the grounds.  Jones rubbed his eyes and wondered - could they all be hit but he?  The whole platoon was stretched upon the ground.  The guide who, a moment before, had walked beside him, and all those following behind, were down.  By what miracle had he been saved?  Now, they were up again.  What did it all mean?
     'My God, Sir,' said a Non-Com, 'That last was a close one.  You'd better duck if we get another like that.'
     Then he understood.  'On the hands down,' which had always seemed a good deal of a bore before breakfast, had been particular training for the useful trick of ducking.
[...]
As the debutante subaltern became acquainted, his feeling of strangeness wore away.  Talk of Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, and other familiar places in old Ontario brought the spirit of home to his unfamiliar surroundings.  He swapped yarns;  made friends with his Sergeants and Corporals, and took unto himself a batman, a red-haired, cheery-faced farm lad called Sowers."

Tomorrow: Four Hundred Yards From the German Lines.



"Drew" A. R. Thompson

[Map Source:  Neuville St. Vaast:  Wikipedia]

"No Road To Glory"

Le Havre

"At last Jones received orders to join his Battalion in the war zone.  He left the night-club life at the base without regret, and wondered if the front line trenches could be any hotter than Le Havre.

 

The first stage to rail-head was hardly a cheerful affair.  It was an all-night journey, and quarters were rather too cramped for anything but a hedgehog.  There were six occupants in the compartment, and four of these were morose and gloomy, as they were returning from leave.  A ration of bully beef and hard-tack had been issued before entraining, and the novelty, coupled with the idea of real campaigning, rather appealed to Jones.  When he gave voice to his enthusiasm, an Austrian, a particularly hard-boiled specimen of that rugged species, ruffled at having to leave London for 'Somewhere,' cussed the rookie for a 'damned young fool.' "

The Family Home in Haldimand that Thompson Left Behind to Go to War

[Tomorrow:  "On The Hands Down."]

[Written by Major A.R.Thompson for the Canadian Military Gazette.  Thompson's own experiences appeared as a series in the publication during the war years 1940s]