"Well, they're giving poor Heiny hell tonight," and the tone would almost imply pity. A grunt4 from the rest of us, and then we'd roll over on our steel-hard cots to try unsuccessfully to find a soft spot, and shortly the snores from one of the officers who was notorious for snoring would drown even the roll of the guns.
Since the Somme advance in 1916 no great pushback of the Germans had occurred. After all the many and great preparations had been completed, an attack was now to be made on a ten-mile front north and south of the ruined city of Arras by British and Canadian troops. To the Canadians fell the lot of taking the famous Vimy Ridge5 which they, with the absolutely necessary assistance of almost unlimited6 artillery7, successfully took, consolidated9, and held, on Easter Monday, April 9.
The argument which sometimes occurs as to whether the artillery or infantry10 did the greater work in the taking of the Ridge is beside the question; one was as necessary as the other. The artillery could have hammered the Ridge until it became absolutely uninhabitable by the enemy, but the artillery could not consolidate8 and hold the Ridge, which could be done only by foot-soldiers. Without the proper aid being given by artillery, no foot soldiers in the world, be they ever so valorous, could have taken this strongly fortified11 hill.
The taking of this Ridge was considered a most difficult achievement for the reason that the French in 1915 nearly captured it, but with losses estimated unofficially at from 150,000 to 200,000 men. Anyone who has been in this neighborhood and has seen the areas dotted with equipment and bones of killed French soldiers, and the trenches13 marked at almost every turn by little white wooden crosses, "Erected14 to an unknown French soldier," by their British allies, could hardly doubt these figures. Then the Allies, after holding the conquered part of the Ridge for some months, were pushed off it by the Germans, who successfully held it till the Battle of Arras.
Before this battle it was said that French and British were betting odds15 that the Canadians would not succeed in this project of taking the Ridge. These facts are not given in any spirit of rivalry16 or criticism, but only as points of interest and to give honor where honor is due. The Canadians certainly can never complain that they were denied their proper meed of praise by the British press and public for their work at Vimy, but neither can it be gainsaid17 that they deserved the praise accorded.
The advance was to have taken place much sooner, but preparations were not complete. Easter Sunday, then Easter Monday became the day decided18 upon, and 5.30 a.m. of that day was to be the zero hour, or hour of attack.
Promptly19 at that hour the wonderfully heavy artillery barrage20 multiplied one hundredfold. Three minutes later the soldiers began going over the top and following the barrage. So complete were the arrangements, and so successful every move, that objectives were taken almost to the minute as planned, and returns coming in to Brigade H.Q. on the immediate21 front on which our battalion22 attacked were as optimistic as could be hoped for by the most critical.
A little over one hour after the first wave of Canadians started across No Man's Land, our O.C., Lieutenant23 Colonel J——, with an orderly room staff, signalers and scouts24, started for the German lines to open a battalion H.Q. at Ulmer House dugout, about 600 yards behind the trenches which two hours before this had been the enemy front line. I accompanied the party, for I was to establish a Regimental Aid Post somewhere near the H.Q.
When we stepped out of the tunnel which led from Zivy cave to the center of No Man's Land, we had the misfortune to arrive in a sap—a trench12 leading toward the Hun lines—which sap at the moment of our arrival was being very heavily shelled by German artillery. As the sides of the sap were no more than two or three feet in height, and as the shells were dropping so close that we were continually in showers of mud from them, our party became broken up, leaving the Colonel and five of us together.
Some two hundred yards on our way we stopped to rest. The Colonel and I were sitting behind a small parapet, our bodies touching25, when a shell dropped beside him, pieces of it wounding him in five or six places. He pluckily26 insisted on going on toward our goal, but soon fell from exhaustion27. The problem then was to get him back in safety, for there had been no cessation in the shelling. Fortunately this was accomplished28 with no other casualties, with great pluck on the Colonel's part, and some slight assistance on the part of his companions.
Major P——, M.C., then took charge, and with most of the original party set out for Ulmer House. Our route this time was slightly altered by dodging29 the unlucky sap and going directly overland. Stepping around shellholes and keeping well away from a tank stuck in a mud hole to our right, in order to avoid the numerous shells that the Germans were pouring about it, we proceeded on our trip through the German barrage, which was somewhat scattered30 now.
In passing it may be said that on this immediate front, because of the depth of the mud, the only assistance given by the five or six tanks to the troops was that of drawing and localizing the enemy fire to a certain extent, and so marking out areas of danger that it were well to avoid. None of them got even as far as our first objective, but remained stuck in the thick mud till they were dug out by hand. On hard ground they are no doubt dangerous weapons of war, but in this deep mud their only danger was to their occupants and to those about them.
Our trip across this time was not particularly eventful. Veering31 this way and that to avoid the most heavily shelled bits of ground, stepping over corpses32 of Germans, or, what was more trying, of our own Canadian boys, saying a word of comfort to some poor wounded chaps in shellholes, we gradually and successfully made our way across the shell-devastated and conquered territory to Ulmer House. We suffered only two slight casualties, a wounded hand to the assistant adjutant, Lieutenant C——, and a bruised33 chest to the signaling officer, Captain G——.
A couple of hours later the shelling had ceased so completely that it was comparatively safe for anyone to wander about the field which had so recently been the scene of one of the greatest battles in history. Here and there, in shellholes marked by a bit of rag tied to a stick, we found many of our own boys and the boys of other Canadian battalions34 who needed attention. Stretcher parties were made up, generally of German prisoners, and the wounded were cleared with all possible speed.
One poor young chap we discovered late in the afternoon in an advanced shellhole, with his leg badly wounded and broken, he having lain there from 6.15 in the morning. Yet he smiled good-humoredly and thanked us gratefully for what we did, asking only for a cigarette after we fixed35 him up. Field ambulance stretcher bearers and German prisoners under Captain K——, M.C., of No. — Canadian Field Ambulance, worked tremendously to clear the field. Other working parties were encountered at different points, all with the same object.
In our rounds we visited all that remained of Thelus and saw some of the many captured guns. One of the most interesting visits we made was to a cave at Les Tilleuls, near Thelus, which was being used as H.Q. for another battalion as well as H.Q. for C Company of our own. Here Lieutenant J—— greeted us warmly but failed to tell us the details of his own exploit, which has acquired a fame it well deserves and for which he received the Military Cross. Here is the story:
Lieutenant J—— was second in command of C Company, the C.O. being "Old Pop," who was killed early in the fight, the command of the company devolving upon his subordinate. He is a boy of twenty-two, a bank clerk in civil life, as mild, gentle and good natured a lad as one could find in a day's march. He had led his men on till they obtained their objective, and then he and a corporal who were scouting36 about came to this cave with its long, winding37 staircase. They threw down a couple of Mills bombs, drew their revolvers, and went down, to be confronted in flickering38 candle light by one hundred and five German officers and men, all armed.
Bluffing39 that they had a large force upstairs, they covered and disarmed40 the 105 Germans, took them prisoners, and, hunting up an escort for them, sent them to the rear. Those are the cold, bare, undecorated facts. And then to complete as pretty a bit of work as was done at Vimy Ridge, Lieutenant J—— took a German carrier pigeon that he found in the cave, tied to its leg a message giving the necessary essentials, and finishing with the words, "everything bright and cheery," he freed it. It found its way to our battalion H.Q. at Ulmer House, where we had the pleasure of reading the note!
To stand at the mouth of this cave and look about on all sides as far as the eye could see, and to know that all that shell-racked ground was won in a few hours by the citizen army of Canada made one feel a legitimate41 pride in being a native of that land. And the stories which kept dribbling42 in for days, as we held the line, of the gallantry of this man or the nobly inspiring death of that one, were of deep interest to us all.
Of our own battalion we lost on the 9th, 217 men out of a total of 657, and ten officers—not counting two who were slightly wounded—out of twenty-two of us. Three of our officers were killed outright43: "Old Pop;" Lieutenant Beechraft, an American lawyer from Michigan, who often said to me with a confident smile: "The Germans have not yet made a shell to get me." And he was right, poor Tom, for I saw him lying dead that day on the field with a German rifle bullet wound in his head. The third of our officers killed was Major Hutchins, a man well past fifty, who had recently joined us and who had taken a Lieutenant's position of platoon commander in order to serve at the front. This was his first fight, and he was killed by a shell while leading his platoon across No Man's Land. All honor to his gray hairs, and may they ever be an inspiration to younger men!
One of the best stories of this battle concerned a Canadian Brigade on our left under the command of Brigadier General H——. This brigade on April 9 took all its objectives except one very difficult hill, No. 140, nicknamed, because of its shape, the Pimple44. The General of the division sent word to Brigadier General H—— that he was going to send in some British troops to aid him in capturing this hill. Brigadier General H—— is a bonnie fighter, an Anglo-Indian who has been living some years in British Columbia, and he has a temper much resembling an Irish terrier's. He curtly45 sent back word that his Canadians needed no assistance. Knowing him well, the General of division good-naturedly replied that if General H—— succeeded in taking this difficult hill they would give him the title Lord Pimple. The next day the division received the following message:
Have taken, am consolidating46, and will hold Hill 140.
(Sgd.) LORD PIMPLE.
The main facts of this story can be verified in the official records of this division.
I have a vivid recollection of General H—— when he was Lieutenant Colonel in command of the —th Canadian Battalion. I had been sent there to relieve the regular Medical Officer who was away on leave in England. Lieutenant Colonel H—— was also away on leave during my first few days' service with his battalion.
On a certain day when we were being relieved from the front line opposite Bully47 Grenay I had not yet seen General H——. On going out with my orderlies we were to pass along Damoisette trench, which was one of the front support trenches, and was an "out" trench that day. We found it blocked by some other officers of our battalion and a couple of platoons, for this trench was being heavily shelled just ahead of the block. We joined the others and waited some time, when an officer said:
"By G—, I take enough chances without waiting here for the Huns to drop those shells on our heads. I am going out Caron d'Aix," which was an "in" trench that day for this relief. But the relief was to have been completed at 10 a.m., and it was then 10:15, so we would hardly cause any obstruction48. This fact, combined with the fact that probably everyone, as is often the case, was waiting for someone else to propose going back, made us all turn about and retrace49 our steps. We were going along Caron d'Aix trench when I heard an angry voice behind me demanding:
"Doctor, what are you doing in this trench? Don't you know that this is an 'in' trench?"
I turned and saw a thin-lipped, square-jawed Lieutenant Colonel who, I guessed at once, was our returned O.C. I explained that Damoisette was being shelled heavily, that relief was complete, and that only three of the men ahead were mine. His face was quite dark and frowning, and I could see that he was debating as to whether he should give me a strafing, or pass it over. Finally, he said sharply:
"All right; carry on."
That night at Bully I did not look forward with any great pleasure to my dinner, for I had heard of his reputation as to temper, and I expected he would say a few things to me, though, as Kelly well put it, "it's none of an officer's business to put his nose against an advancin' German shell." But I plucked up my courage and entered the H.Q. mess room, to be greeted in a kindly50 and friendly manner by Lieutenant Colonel H——.
"How are you, doctor? I have not had the pleasure of meeting you before," shaking my hand.
"Pardon me, sir, but you met me in a trench today where I had no right to be."
"No. You were quite right to be there. I made inquiries51, and find you were right. And anyway, I had no damned right to be there myself."
In the time that I remained with his battalion I found him always to be a courteous52 gentleman, but with an irascible temper. One would not be surprised if, since his becoming a Brigadier General, his temper is less touchy53. And the incident of the Pimple shows that he is an efficient officer, well worthy54 of the land of his forefathers55, and a credit to the country of his adoption56 and of his men.
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1
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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consolidate
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| v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并 | |
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consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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10
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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11
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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14
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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15
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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gainsaid
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| v.否认，反驳( gainsay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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barrage
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| n.火力网，弹幕 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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pluckily
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| adv.有勇气地，大胆地 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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31
veering
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| n.改变的；犹豫的；顺时针方向转向；特指使船尾转向上风来改变航向v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的现在分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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37
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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38
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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bluffing
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| n. 威吓，唬人 动词bluff的现在分词形式 | |
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disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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42
dribbling
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| n.（燃料或油从系统内）漏泄v.流口水( dribble的现在分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球 | |
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43
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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44
pimple
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| n.丘疹，面泡，青春豆 | |
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45
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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46
consolidating
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| v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并 | |
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47
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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48
obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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49
retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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50
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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51
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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52
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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53
touchy
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| adj.易怒的；棘手的 | |
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54
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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55
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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56
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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