=Lf} - o _ _ ::r L=ru = - ru = - = _ c:() .... _ = ,...=t en CJ ...= ,...=t !:: ...D = l"'- == ,...=t -- fT1 CANADA IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR PATRICIA EDITION This edition is li1nited to One Thousand Numbe'ted Sets, being the first pJ"'inting, of which this is Number a, . . ... Â N THE T ,N 'm-..-' h T I lHE ßILll RY I-u-,TORY )f l AnA F \f ir'L J ..ULI ]" 3 T\) ï liE Lú... C.. THr: b.R L T-IE NA 1<'" ' 3 . P \ L V HE TRIU Ph F THE LLIES :I ,t. ,8 u " J. u. J ") MAJOR-GENERAL SIR A. C. MACDONFLL, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. COMMANDER 1sT CANADIAN DIVISION COM M^NDANT ROY MILlT.\RY COLLEGE OF CAN^ . CANADA IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE MILITARY HISTORY OF CANADA FROM THE EARUEST DAYS TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF THE NATIONS BY V ARIOUS AUTHORITIES Vol. V THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES TORONTO UNITED PUBLISHERS OF CANADA LIMITED COPYRIGHT, 1920 BY UNITED PUBLISHERS OF CANADA, LIMITED ... CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 0 1 By W. A. WILLISON CHAPTER II WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER AT THE FRONT . 32 By Wo Ao WILLISON CHAPTER III HOLDING THE LINE By 'Vo A. WILLISON 57 CHAPTER IV LAST DAYS OF THE VIl\IY FRONT By W. A. WILLISON o 104 CHAPTER V ON THE EVE OF A GREAT BATTLE By ROLAND H. HILL o 126 CHAPTER VI THE BATTLE OF AUIENS 0 By ROLAND H. HILL o 137 CHAPTER VII BREAKING THE DROCOURT-QUÉANT LINE By ROLAND H. HILL . 172 CHAPTER VIII BATTLE OF CAMBRAI . By ROLAND H. HILL o 195 CHAPTER IX CAMBRAI TO VALENCIENNES By ROLAND H. HILL o 2J3 CHAPTER X VALENCIENNES TO MONS 0 By ROLAND H. HILL . 221 CHAPTER XI FROM MONS TO THE RHINE By J. S. B. MACPHERSON o 230 v vÌ CONTENTS APPENDICES I. THE WAR IN THE AIR By LAWRENCE J. BURPEE PAGE . 267 II. THE CANADIAN FORESTRY CORPS By ROLAND H. HILL . 300 III. CANADIAN RAIL WAY TROOPS . BY ROLAND H. HILL AND H. L. RoBERTSON . 308 IV. THE CANADIAN ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 327 BY ALLAN DONNELL V. THE CANADIAN ARMY DENTAL CORPS. BY ALLAN DONNELL . 341 VI. THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE OF CANADA 351 BY ERNEST F. WV'RTELE VII. CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT WORLD WAR -1917-1919 . 368 Major-General Sir A. C. Macdonell, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. . FrontÏ3piece General Currie unveiling the monument to the Ca- nadian artillery who fell at the capture of Vimy Ridge . lacing page 4 A Canadian light railway carrying wounded " Nova Scotians making clay ovens . " The shoeing-smiths at work . " Officers of the 1st Battalion Machine-Gun Corps " A high-explosive shell bursting in Amiens " Canaries rescued from ruins in Amiens . " General Pershing at the Canadian front " Tanks in their stables " Back from battle on a tank . Ie M. Clemence au, Prime Minister of France, at the Canadian front Officers of the 2nd Battalion Machine-Gun Corps . The funeral of Sister Margaret Lowe, murdered by German raiders Sir Robert Borden and Hon. J. A. Calder at the Canadian front Sir Douglas Haig at the Canadian front Officers of the 14th Battalion, 1916 A whippet tank returning from battle . Premier of Newfoundland examining a whippet tank Officers of the 22nd Battalion, 1918 A section of a German Engineers' Park and German prisoners capt;ured by Canadians Funeral of Major-General L. J. Lipsett, C.B., C.M.G. General Tuxford and Staff of the 3rd Brigade Denain veterans OI 1870 march past with the Ca- nadian brigade that relieved Denain The Canadians in Valenciennes A Canadian armoured car in Mons The Army Commander taking the salute in Mons: the Canadian brigade which captured the town as Guard of Honour . . . . . Canadian troops crossing the Rhine at Bonn . ILL USTR.A.TIONS 25 46 46 66 88 88 90 98 98 " 108 118 " " 122 130 132 144 156 156 182 " 194 198 214 " " " 216 220 226 " " " 223 256 " vii Vlll ILL USTRATIONS The Relief of N amur . facing page 258 Canadian officer of a Royal Air Force squadron in France . Pilots of a Royal Air Force squadron A night's rations for a bombing squadron A bombing machine on a night raid Fighting planes leaving their aerodromes Major-General Alexander McDougall, C.B. The Forestry Corps at work Canadian troops on Canadian Light Railway trucks Veterinary Officers and N.C.O.'s of the 2nd Division A Canadian Army dentist at work . lAPS " 280 282 282 290 290 302 304 320 328 346 " " " " " " " " " PAGE Operations Canadian Corps, Aug. 8th to Aug. 17th, 1918 152 Operations Canad;an Corps, Aug. 26th to Oct. 11th, 1918 178 Operations Canadian Corps, Oct. 11th to Nov. 1st, 1918 212 Operations Canadian Corps, Nov. 1st to Nov. 11th, 1918 222 Grouping of Canadian Divisions before starting for the Rhine 232 March to the Rhine 254 Belgium and Franco-German Frontier . 262 CHAPTER I IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 1. BACK IN THE LENS AREA V I fY RIDGE, Fresnoy, Avion, Hill 70, Passchen- daele - such was the record of the Canadian Corps that marched back from the Ypres salient to take over its old familiar positions around Lens in HIe late fall of 1917. Well might Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Currie call it " a wonderful year." N ow the grim fighting was over and the corps was entering upon a long period of comparative quiet. It was time. As the year had been glorious, so it had been costly. Spring, summer, and autumn fighting had added many new graves to those that marked the heroism of the Can- ada of the New 'V orld on Old 'V orld battlefields. Indeed, the story of the Dominion was written in crosses over that ancient, war-torn earth. From Ypres, one could go out towards Passchendaele and the writ- ing was new; or one might pass Shrapnel and Hen Fire Corners and so on towards the older battlefields of Zillebeke and Observatory Ridge. Ploegsteert was rich in ll1emories of Canadians, and, as the corps 111arched out of the blood-soaked area, it passed an old château of high-walled grounds and green and delight- ful spaces which had been Corps Headquarters during the Battle of Festubert. So the Canadians came out of the salient and took up their old positions in the coal region around Lens, where their valour had won them Vimy Ridge and Hill 70 and where they had maùe themselves a " home." Pel aps nothing had made the name of Canada so 1 2 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES dear to France as the history of the Dominion'8 troops in this famous area. In the early days of the war, Germany tried desperately to cripple the repub- lic by winning the whole of this rich coal land. France gave her dead in thousands to recapture Lorette Ridge, and Britain, with the same end in view, paid a terrible price at Loos. The little Souchez ran literally red with blood. But the ridge was recaptured, and when, in the April of 1917, the Canadians actually drove the Germans off Vimy Ridge and removed the menace to so many of the mines of that area, France thrilled with the victory. Reinforcements which had joined the corps during the Passchendaele operations found the Souchez clean again, but running through a wilderness. Souchez church was a mass of ruins. Under its shadows were the nameless graves of France. The shrine of Our Lady of Lorette upon the ridge no longer knew the worship of the people of the little villages; for what had been villages were mounds of broken stone and waste. Tradition declared that when the church came first under heavy bombardment, the poilus, toiling in their trenches, made another and earthy shrine for Our Lady under their own parapet - and so wor- shipped until they died in their thousands to win the ridge. The graves of those thousands filled many cemeteries - row upon row of little earthen mounds; upon each mound a cross; over each cross the rosette of the republic; on each cross the words" Un lnconnu." The Unknown Dead of France- buried in many in- stances by soldiers of Canada when they first entered the area! When Edith Cavell died, the civilized world, knowing the truth, gave her rightful place among the great dead - and Britain raised an army in a night. Near Notre Dame de Lorette - in a little space of green - there is a grave of France under a cross that men from the Dominion erected. The cross bears the simple inscription: IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 3 R. I. P. MME. DELABRE CELME SHOT BY THE GERMANS OCTOBER, 1914 Indeed, over all the area from Lorette Ridge on to Arras were French and British and Canadian ceme- teries. On one little cross of stone- standing alone on a hillside was an inscription telling that it had been erected in memory of one of Canada's soldiers by " his chums of St. Catharines." Further over Vimy Ridge, near the cemetery of the little shattered church of Givenchy, where huge shells had shattered the ma- sonry of many vaults, there was an old wooden cross, standing apart by itself, and having on it only the words" Ein Engländer." Weather-stained and worn, almost concealed by foliage, it marked the grave of some brave English gentleman and provided an un- happily only too occasional reminder that among the German forces there were some who could honour a courageous foe. On Vimy Ridge were the graves of gallant Canadians of the 4th Division who had fallen capturing it. ....<\t La Folie Farm a cross commemorated the dead of the 3rd Division. There was a 2nd Divi- sion cross near the Arras-Lens road, north of Les Tilleuls. So the 1st Division honoured their dead. Time was to witness the unveiling by Sir Arthur Currie of a memorial of stone, enclosed with German arm ur-piercing shells, crowned with a great cross, and bearing the inscription: ERECTED IN MEMORY OF OFFICERS, NON -COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE CANADIAN CORPS ARTILLERY WHO FELL DURING THE V IMY OPERATIONS ApRIL, 1917 CANADIAN FIELD ARTILLERY ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY CAN ADIAN GARRISON ARTILLERY ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY SOUTH AFRICA:N FIELD ARTILLERY 4 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES Into this solemn country of graves and ruins, the Canadians came as men coming home aftør trying days. It did not matter that from Givenchy Wood one could look upon the ruins of five villages. It did not matter that winter was coming with all its ordeals of cold and exposure. They had made this area their own before they went to Passchendaele and they slipped back into their old positions rejoicing. Start- ing at Hill 70, the front lines ran south and east to- wards Lens, claiming the higher levels and half cir- cling the city. They skirted Cité St. Auguste, which was German, while Cité St. Emile and Cité St. Eliza- beth were in Canadian hands. The Green Crassier was German; so was Cité St. Antoine; but A vion was in our hands. Further south, No Man's Land widened, and from the eastern slopes of Vimy Ridge the Cana- dian line ran well forward, ,vith the enelny in posses- sion of Mericourt and Acheville. At Fresnoy, which was in German hands, the lines narrowed again, with the Canadians holding Arleux-en-Gohelle. Our men were practically in the outskirts of Oppy, where the lines were so close together that in one place only a few feet separated the trenches. Further south, Ga- vrelle, in our hands, practically marked the end of the Canadian front. It was all familiar ground, and all ranks settled down for a " comfortable, quiet winter." The phrase, of course, was purely a comparative one. There was little of comfort or quiet in France at any time. But the Vimy area was not the Somme or Passchen- daele and there were many " luxuries " even in win- ter. The trenches were good, particularly where captured German " trench mats " had been used as sidewalks. Also old German dug-outs were deep, dry, and commodious, things to delight the heart of Joey Blagstock, for they were "devilish sly" and held many unimagined secrets of rooms and tunnels and entrances. They were wen ventilated and boarded. . i; J,:. -.S ' . L ' - .,- , t; . ,'" . ' A . it"" .. ,:.Ii.' ..p .' _.1 · , ' 1- .' "\., i. , 1.(,"'- c:;\- , ...... ., , ..-'" , 1 ":''-' - ',', - '-. ....:\.. . . e ,.1 , .. 'it,,"'..'" . 'I' "I' _ "": · .a.':. V · . - ",...-: . r ....>. 1 '} I " I '"!.I ,...._ '" . .6' {/'- . -' . ',.,. ..,, . 'A -(:!.... -: ... . . ,. ._- ._ ,, 4 , i . . ,.. , ) t . , . " " ... '...! }1 "" __ l .... . \...---'" .,.... . ,, \.. ., \- ......:' .-- 4 -:: . . . -h1 1 -._.... .,.:.J: ,. '-' , '"', o Z ..... .... 8 1,. ,. ""':(iJ t::, 0 e o E: a 8 0 0 E-< ú:1 E-< Z p pO " 8 I' E-< o...:J 2Sæ l p Ë: e:J <:.> p o ...:J Q -1 z 8 i ... .. \ .1- ! '\ ,i .., . 'p I ' t , , IN '''-'INTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 5 Then the pill-boxes, hell to take, were easily adapted to charitable purposes and did splendid service in housing those who had taken them. Also, there wa plenty of coal in the area - waiting to be taken by the official or unofficial working party or conscien- tious batman. Then there was wood in abundance. Half a score of wrecked villages offered only too tragic a supply. It could not be called" looting" to use shattered doors, broken window sills, splintered beams, and wrecked flooring for the beneficent purpose of warming those who, after all, had won the villages back from the Hun. There were braziers in the front line; stoves in underground chambers. There were shattered houses to give shelter to parties of half-a- dozen men or officers, who used the ancient, damaged fireplaces and rejoiced that fortune had given them a real floor to stand on, a suggestion of wall-paper on the walls, a shelf and a table, and other outward and visible tokens of civilization. 2. THE LIGHTER SIDE OF WAR These were some of the reasons that men returned rejoicing to the area. Other reasons were to be found further behind the line, at Brigade, Divisional, and Corps Headquarters, or at the Corps Rest Station, or behind that again, where battalions in rest were play- ing games and arranging concert parties. The concert parties were such a part of the life of the corps dur- ing this long period around Lens that it may be per- missible here to anticipate time a little and review some of the performances. Every division had its official company of players. Here and the-re in bri- gades and battalions were lads, more or less gifted, who could always be counted upon to amuse the men. The Y. I.C.A. had companies of its own, theatres, and many cinema halls. The Chaplain Service staged many entertainments at Corps and even the area em- 6 THE TRIUMPH OF THE .ALLIES ployment company at Corps had its players. These last ('aIled themselves the Rambler Theatrical Company. They gave a memorable performance on Christmas afternoon and brought joy to the hearts of over three hundred men. Their theatre was a ramshackle old building. There were holes in the roof. There was no fire. Tbe audienee, sitting on rough, wooden benches, faced a stage that contrasted strikingly with the rest of the interior. It was draped with the flags of the Allies. A spot-light revealed it, a riot of colour in an otherwise gloomy place; and a Y.M.C.A. piano stood in one corner, serving as the orchestra. All were happy; not least the French nlothers and fathers and children of the village who had come as the hon- oured guests of the players. The buck private and the villager spoke different tongues, but the- Entente Cordiale found as warm expression as it ever did amongst statesmen. A priceless sergeant-major hu- moured the audience-, ,vatched it, fathered it, brought it surging into crashing choruses that had caught the popular fancy, particularly where some song of senti- ment hushed the audience and carried men back, as one did, to " the homeland, across the deep blue sea." For it was a striking thing about these men engaged in desperate affairs that they responded most warmly to all gentle things that touched the affections. No noisy or questionable performance ever secured that complete tribute of absolute attention which the others won. As to the business of the show! There was the opening chorus by the members of the troupe. A novelty quartette followed. There was a whistler who surpassed himself and a " lady " who won much applause by his entirely competent emplo)îIlent of Inuchly " made-up" eyes. There were comic songs, duets, and more choruses. The nigger and clown were there, the conjurer and the dude. All were singers, singing songs written by one of their comrades and set to music by another. The manager, who was also IN 'VI TER QUARTERS, 1917-18 7 the conjurer, was a corporal froln \Vinnipeg, not un- known as an entertainer before the war. 'fhe bass- a buck private - was an old St. Andrew's College man, a well-known cricketer, who played for Canada against the Australians when they toured the DOlnin- ion and visited Calgary some years ago. 'rhe baritone and whistler was a famous boxer, sparring partner to Freddie Welsh for two years, to l\fatt \Vells for six months, at one time champion nine-stone-three wres- tler of Britain, holder of a Lonsdale belt for boxing, and hero of eighty-one battles in the ring with only three adverRe deeisions. Of such was the troupe made, surely a strange and interesting group of n1en, even where war makes for such a:-ìsocia tions. Such was the concert in its lnoùest fonn. ,risitors to the Canadian Corps on the night of January 21st, 1918, saw quite another sight. It was just dark enough to see the flares breaking over N 0 Ian 's Land in the distance - marking the fighting line with intermittent flashes of light. Ien were pushing and jostling and chaffing one another in a long queue that stretched for many yarrls down a pathway. The re- partee was pointed and entirely of the army. The spirit was friendly and cheerful. Everyone was ex- cited. . For the Canadian Y.:JLC.A., better known as the" Y Emmas," was not only giving the premier of a true cOlnedy, - the first of its kind in the history of the corps, - but it was the opening of tlw new Y. LC.A. theatre. The play was the three act cOlnedy, The Private Secretary, and its presentation was as re- Inarkable a:-, the theatre in whieh it was played or the audience which watched it. -'ron1 the rear of the stage to the end of the building, where standing rOOlll no longer existed, not a foot of space lacked interest. The stage with its curtain might have come fron1 some Canadian city. It was flanked on both sides with boxes, - actual boxes, four of theIn, - faced ,vith wooden mouldings all done hy hand and trÍIllmed with 8 THE TRIUMPH OF æHE ALLIES velvet hangings. Further, it was lighted by electric lights, which were covered with lamp-shades of white silk and pink overlaid with green. Spot-lights from the ceiling revealed a beaver and maple leaf over a st.age made bright by footlights. An orchestra from a battalion band played popular airs. In the boxes, the Corps Commander and his aides, famous French gen- erals who had known the area well in the days of the bitter Souche-z fighting, a Belgian general of the Bel- gian l\Iission, and generals of the corps, of " A " and " Q " 1 and other serviceR, waited for the play to begin. The rest of the theatre was packed with over five hun- dred officers and nlen from the line, from support and reserve, from battalions and batteries - engineers, signallers, pioneers, nlachine gunners, officers and men from supply columns and field ambulances, from field companies and corps tramways - these and others filled the building to capacity: generals and colonels, majors and subalterns, sergeants and men - all in orderly rows on actual chairs. The engineers of the corps had carted this theatr in pieces from a place miles away. Then they rebuilt it. A foreman carpenter with five others spent six weeks working on the stage, the boxes, and the fit- tings. Universal praise- for their work was their re- ,vard. The curtain came from Paris. Indeed, it was wonderful where these con('ert companies got their men and material. On this same- night in another theatre at Corps- this one old and reminiscent of the earlier fighting period, when such splendours as the YJvLC.A. building were unthought of - an Imperial concert party was playing Cinderella, with a first violin who was for- merly the first violin at the falnous Piccadilly in Lon- don. It was further reported that the wonòerful " creation" which Cinderella wore at the Prince's 1 See Vol. IV, p. 219. IN 'VINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 9 ball was originally made for the Czarina of Russia. It may easily have been so. Divisions spared little money and no pains to make their companies the best on the western Îront. Some of them even played in London, as, for instance, the famous concert party of the 3rd Canadian Division. The " l\faple Leaves" Concert Party of the 4th Divi- sion played the first pantomime ever played on the western front and earned a treluendous reputation. Their object - as with all other companies - was to give to the fighting men out of the trenches some touch of lighter thiIlgS, some memorable entertain- nwnt, that would send thf'ID back to their tragic ".ork at least refreshed in mind and rested in body. It was on New Year's Eve that the "Printers' Devils " presented their pantomime Aladin France. .A lad in France was the star of the performance. Other lads were with hiln. The play they produced was a marvel. The theatre - in reality a lecture room, specially adapted for the purpose - held a thousand. The stage was over twenty feet wide, and had a brilliant display of electric footlights. The scenes were of an Emperor's palace, a village in Eng- land, a demon's cave. The music was partly from Chu Chin Chow, partly from the lJ,faid of the It!OUll- tains, partly from Cloches de Corneville, partly from the Palace Revue" Airs and Graces," and partly com- posed by the players themselves. There were other airs, too, from N ew York. The orchestra was sup- plied by a l\fanitoba regilnellt. To crown all, elabo- rate progranlmes were issued. One man devoted three days of his leaye in London selecting the costumes and accessories. The band- nlaster worked past midnight for many nights. The scene painters were busy for weeks. The" lovelies " - the Emperor's adopted daughter and the Fairy Princess - spent weeks over their clothes and hours over their make-up. They had to be as perfect as art 10 THE TRIUl\il'H OF THE ALLIES ('ould make them, and the Princess in this particula.r company had a reputation to maintain. He had made his début during tIlE' bitter days of Passchendaele, when the company - playing behind the line to men who had just come back from the hell in front - was without its lady. ..At an hour's notice, he had taken the desired part and carried it through without a slip. Indeed, the division was greatly attached to this " lovely." .J ust before Christmas a rumour had gone through the ranks that he had been killed. The va- rious staffs at headquarters were burdened with in- quiries. Moody men interrogated even Major-General Sir David vVatson hÏ1nself. Gloom reigned until the mmour was denied. So the Fairy Princess worked to prove that he was worthy of the division's high re- gard. And the adapters of lyrics and dialogues worked to the same PIld. The electrician had many troublE's. A whole- wing fell on the night of the dress rehearsal, and while the carpenters were repairing the damage he had twelve more footlights to find. Fi- nally, Abanazar, the "'\Vicked Uncle, had troubles of his own, and the 'Yidow Twankey had a multitude of them. It was no ordinary play, nor were they ordi- nary players. Private Petch, the Emperor, was well known in amateur theatricals in Victoria before the war. Skeen, a Scotch-American, had been a stage director in the United States before he enlisted. Ser- geant Evans, the \Vicked U nde, had played in his tinle with George Edwardes in musical comedy in London and was known in Canada and over the border. Birch had been mure or less of a professional. 'Vinnipeg knows the name. Reyes had bE'en in the business all his life and had been connected with the "Lanca- shire Lads" for some years. Livett had been with the famous old conledian Harry Pleon in vaudeville in England. Stafford, the manager, - who received his conlnlissioll as a lieutenant just before the opening perfornlance, - had ùeon with George Edwardes in IN JVINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 11 The Country Girl as a musical director. He had then gone into vaudeville with Alice Raymond in A Night in Egypt, toured the States, and finally settled in Winnipeg. But it is New Year's Eve. The troubles of the concert party are over at last and the test of their efforts is at hand. The band, having just celebrated at a Highland dinner, is at its best. Hundreds of men and officers have filled every available inch in the building. The orchestra of fourteen pieces is tuning up. Carved in wood above their heads at the top of the stage is the Maple Leaf, the badge of the division. A stage hand slips from behind the scenes and re- moves a sign " No Smoking." Applause from the audience! Then silence as the orchestra begins and the voices of men are heard in the distance, singing, the old, old song, "Come, all ye FaithfuL" The theatre is strangely silent. The curtain goes up. It is the prologue-a dug-out in France. In it, a sleeper, rousing himself, begins the story. Again the curtain. Now it is pantomime land. The Emperor's palace is in the distance with the royal baths to the right of the stage and houses to the left. Abanazar, the villain, is there in robe of black and gold, ,vith a white and red blotched dragon of the Empire on his skirt. It is the Emperor's birthday. Squint-eyed Celestials are prom- ised a banquet by the wily one. And here comes the army touch, for Abanazar, digging deep into a hench- man's bag, brings forth the following with song: Here be :fine Fray Bentos Bully And McConachie's Stew so grand. Here be Batger's Plum and Apple And Pork and Beans of Simcoe Bramd. Here be Huntley Palmer's famous hardtack That breaks your teeth to bits; And that lovely Maypole cart grease Uøed for frying eggs and frits. Here We'Y8 Ruby Red Havanas- Smokes well known as Wills's best- 12 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES And the famous brown jar lotion Which someone swiped from a Q.M.S. Only a villain could sing such a song with success. That is perhaps Abanazal"s greatest triumph. fIe does. The men cheer him to the echo. The Emperor enters, accompanied by the Princess. The unfolding of the plot reveals the fact that the Princess is an adopted child, that a marvellous lamp was stolen years ago from the Palace, and that the finder of the lamp shall marry the " lovely "Princess. Enter the American. Everyone sings ' , Yankee Doodle." Aba- nazar, Aladdin, and the American vie with one an- other in making eyes at the Princess - not forgetting her nlaid. The Elnperor - once in France in the Great 'Val' - decides to visit the Widow Twankey, formerly his cook, in England. Great enthusiasm. Chorus and stars shake the building with" Take me back to dear old Blighty." Audience highly enthusi- astic. Curtain. The next scene is England indeed. The painter has excelled himself. The inn, the- lane, the sky - these are as well done as the three yokels drinking their ale while the 'Yidow Twankey - in a voice that never was before- on sea or land - sings to theln of her husband, " for no one would think I was only his wife, he treated me more like a friend." Having sung, she takes the audience into her confidence. "Don't you think I am married f " she asks. "Don't I look as if I had had an accident " The' point is well taken- almost as well as the song which preceded it. But it is when she is talking of her elder son that she really C'atches the" birds" just out from the trenches. Son was in France - a "bird" himself. He won the lvfilitary 1Iedal. "But he ,,"'ouldn't tell me why," his nlother compJains. "Said he dic1n't know. It was a n1ilitary secret. But if he had caJled heads instead of tails, the sergeant would have got it." IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 13 The next act is remarkable for a rosebud scene that would have done justice to Daly's, the Palace, or the Hippodrome, and also for a quartette, - the Bones Quartette, - " Come Seven - Come Eleven." And so to the end, with the house ringing with cheers for the performers. Then, it being New Year's Eve, a thousand officers and n1en join hands in .L-'\.uld Lang Syne. Outside the guns are 111uttering in action. 'Vith the concert parties to lighten the long eve- nings of the winter months, there were also any num- ber of canteens for the men and clubs for the officers. At Château de la Haie, for instance, which was the headquarters of numerous divisions during the last extensive period before Lens, there were- both an officers' club and a men's canteen in the same building. The club was open from 10.30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Lunch and tea were served daily, and refreshments could be secured from noon until 9.30 p.m. There was a large lounge-room, with a splendid fireplace, easy chairs, small tables, magazines, illustrated ,veeklies, and dai- lies. The dining-room catered to between eighty and ninety a day, and excellent lunclwons were served at four francs a head. The men's canteen ,vas almost a general store, selling, among other commodities, candles, matches, biscuits, cigarettes, tobacco, station- ery, chocolate, and tinned milk. The charges were' low anù the stock good. l\r n were able to secure IIlany of the little extras that helppd so muph to make life liv- able, and the popularit)T anù usefulness of the canteen were proved by the fact that its staff of two men were kept busy from nine in the morning until eight at night, catering sometÏInes to as many as six thousand men in the area. Receipts from the- club and canteen amounted to fully three thousand francs on some days; the money saved out of running expenses being used in a variety of ways for the benefit of the men. Such cantf1ens as this were good, but the Y.I\I.C.A. stalls were a blessing alrnost beyond appreciation. 14 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES On any night in the forward fighting area ration par- ties going up to the firing trenches and working par- ties coming out could be found cursing the blackness, and the wet, and the cold. To the east, flares marked the German line: to the west, unseen in the darkness, were the heights that Canada had won in so much hard fighting. And those who tramped forward or back, be they frOlD batteries or battalions, pioneers or engineers, wore their steel helmets, and their gas masks were at the alert. It was dreary, cheerless work until, in a jog in some communication trench or by SOlne ruined house in a wrecked village, the dim- mest of dim lights would make them welcome and they would hasten forward where a subdued chorus of voices told them of hot tea and coffee. It would be one of the advanced posts of the " Y," with its free hot drinks and its biscuits, cigarettes, gum, chocolate, and other things to ease the mind and please the belly at prices far below those of estarninets or other civil- ian establishnwnts. For the" .Y " did for the men in the line what the officers' club did for the captain and the subaltern, and did it weB. It gave rest and food and recreation, with paY111ent only for the food. "\Vith- out these things there would have been little to relieve the stern ordeal of war. So zealous ,vas the associa- tion in the performance of its work that at one tin1e it had an advanced coffee stall in the ruins of Lpns within one hundred and fifty yards of our furthest outpo t line. There were always su('h stans in thf' support area. Indeed, they were sprinkled all over the corps, from the forward zone to the rear, - at Brigade and Divisional Headquarters, at training camps and traffic junctions, - everywhere where the concentration and movement of men were pronounced. And the canteen was only part of the work of thf' association. It fostered sports and supplied the ma- terials. It organized and presenteò both concert par- ties and cinema. shows. It conducted educational IN "TINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 15 classes until it gave its support to the University of Vimy Ridge and undertook to furnish the huts, books, and other luaterial required for classes. It had libra- ries on loan, and gramophones and gramophone rec- ords. It catered for company celebrations and bat- talion dinners. Indeed, its activities were manifold. To spend twelve hours with the senior officers of the association was a revelation. .At Corps there was a central establishment with rooms for educational classes, a canteen, a reading and writing room, and other special departments. Here also, in addition to tlle theatre, which in one week in seyen perfonnances played to no fewer than 4,64-0 men, with every seat free, was the centre of " Y'8 " athletic system for the corps. It had gradually devised a system so thorough that it ensured the representation of eyery unit in championship meets. It had an athletic officer with each division, co-operating with the divisional author- ities, and it supplied great quantities of athletic ma- terials free to the troops, the only stipulation being that such supplies were nominally on loan, to be ac- counted for at the end of the season all( 1 to be re- turned to the con1mon corps, division, brigade, or bat- talion pool when not in use by particular formations. The demand for supplies was tremendous. Amongst the indents presented to the association, for instance, was a single day's order from one brigade for 6 base- ball sets, 4 basketba1J sets, ] 0 badminton sets, 46 footballs, 33 indoor baseballs, 1 7 pairs of boxing gloyes and shoes, 9 cricket sets, 1 medicine ball, 15 tennis sets, 2 tug--of-war ropps, 4 lacrosse sets, 154 sneakers, 141 knickers, 114 jerseys, 98 pairs of stock- ings, and 3 volley ball sets. So much for the athletic activities. A visit to one of the divisional training schools would reyeal two large sheds marked with the rerl triangle. The first would contain the canteen, reading- room, librarj", writing, and lounge rooms. It fonned IG THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES part of the educational system and such large signs as the following were prominent: SPEND AN HOUR IN THE LIBRARY. RATIONS FOR THE MIND. FICTION. SCIENCE. CIVICS. AGRICULTURE. BUSINESS. DON'T STARVE MENTALLY. TAKE IN THE TALKS GIVEN IN THE CANTEEN LECTURE ROOMS. AGRICULTURE. THE HISTORY OF THE WAR. CURRENT EVENTS. POLITICAL PROBLEMS. LITERARY READINGS. SOMETHING EVERY NIGHT BETWEEN 7.30 AND 8.30. Special lectures were given on various questions. One series dealing \vith the war read as follows: A GENERAL SKETCH OF TlrE 'V AR 1. TWO BOCHE DREAMS. 2. BULL Y BA ULKED - SERAJEVO TO THE AISNE. 3. RACE TO THE SEA - SLAMMING THE DOOR. 4. BLACK 1915 - FIGHTING FOR TIME. 5. VERDUN. 6. TURNING OF THE TIDE. 7. TURKEY ON FOUR FRONTS. 8. STIRRING 1917. 9. UNCLE SAM AND THE WAR. 10. RUSSIA" BEA UCOUP ZIG-ZAG." 11. WAR AIMS AND THE FUTURE. On an average from two hundred to two hundred and fifty men a night attended these lectures, a proof not only of the keen interest of the men in war develop- IN ,WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 17 ment, but of the high educational standard of the Cana- dian private. The Y.M.C.A. headquarters at Hesdin consisted of a series of office and supply buildings and was the centre of the system that kept canteens and concerts, cinema shows, athletics, and other recreational activi- ties alive in the corps. There were motor repair shops for the moving-picture machines and the small lighting plants, etc. During the bitteT fighting at Passchendaele one of these miniature lighting plants helped to illu- minate a main dressing station. There was a carpen- ter's shop, a post-office, an equipment office, and a piano repair and sign-printing shop. All manner of games, athletic supplies, flags, and gramophones took up much space in another large storehouse. An extensive room was devoted entirely to books, magazines, and period- icals. A franc deposit was required to protect the asso- ciation against loss when a book was taken away, but the- money was returned when the volume was brought back. The average weekly demand for new books throughout the winter ,was eight hundred and the Y.M.C.A. bought them in quantities of ten thousand. It had selected books, constituting circulating libraries which it gave free to branches of the organization for use in the men's reading-rooms, and the selections ranged all the way from the Bible and religious sub- jects to Oppenheim and Le Queux. The gramophone service was handled in much the same way, there being an exchange library system, whereby battalions, bat- teries, or other units could .secure fresh records for old; and there was a repair plant for the machines. The association brought from one thousand to two thousand records monthly. There were other offices and buildings at this headquarters, but the greatest of all was the food supply depot which made the canteens possible. There cocoa was kept by the barrel, matches by the case, orangeade in five-gallon casks. In one year the corpl!! :was furnished through the depot "rj th fifty 18 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES tons of maple sugar. Buying was done at rock-bottom prices, markets were closely studied, and the associa- tion received valuable assistance from the Canadian Manufacturers' Association in its purchases. The prices of all commodities that were sold to the men were those officially adopted for the British canteens. Finally, the Y.1f.C.A. had a concert school where it trained men from batteries and battalions and fitted them to entertain their units. At one time, they had fifteen concert parties " on the road," the " y " pro- viding the scenery, scenario, music, and costumes- and the theatres. It had as nlany as twenty-five cine- mas and theatres within the corps area around Vimy. Some of their" plants," as they called their theatres and canteens, were of considerable size. One, for in- stance, in the forward area, consisted of two specially designed huts, each one hundred and four feet long and twenty feet wide. One served as the concert and cinema house. Any day, groups of men, muddy from the trenches and with their steel he'llnets and gas masks beside them, could be found singing popular songs or giving some impromptu concert from a real stage with footlights. There was seating capacity for nearly six hundred men. In the other building, there were three rooms, one a canteen, the second a lounge and writing-room, and the third a library and read- ing-room. There was frequent criticism of the Y.M.C.A., but little of it was justified. The association did splendid work, work which was officially appreciated by the Corps Commander in the spring of 1918, when, ad- dressing the officers of the association, he said:- " I did not expect to be invited to speak, but to see you at your work. But now that I have this oppor- tunity, I wish to bring you the sincere thanks of all in the Canadian Corps for your work. " There are two features in winning a fight. One of these is the moral of the troops. It is in this you IN 'rINTEl Ql;l\.HTERS, 1917-18 19 have done so much. Canadians have the reputation of being good soldiers. That is because their 'moral is high. I realize that the Ino ral of the Canadians is only pos ible because they are well looked after, and this is where the Y.M.C.../1.. comes in. The men for- get the sights of war and seem to get a fresh start through your programmes, your sports, and your can- teens. Your canteens provide things for the ml'n that they cannot get elsewhere, and you supply them at such rem;onable rates. "You are a wonderful help to us in beating the Boche. It is apparent to all in the corps and it is 110t necessary for me to say tIns. But this year we are going to need your help more than ever. Heretofore the Canadians have always been pushing forward and winning, and that is a great stimulus to the men. This year it will be different. It will be harder to keep up the spirits of the men. Even some of tho keenest are beginning to get a little tired; and then we may be on the defensive this year. This will make it more difficult to keep up the rno1"al. If we let the moral sag, our efficiency will topple over. I believe the authorities should recognize the extremely valu- able factor the Y.: LC.A. is in winning battles, and I think you ought to have the proper personnel and equipment necessary to carry on your work. If there be anything I can do to impress your needs upon the authorities, I shall be glad to do it. " I can only repeat what I said a few moments ago, that the need for your work is greater than ever. ".... e are going to need the influence of the Y.1I.C.A. more than ever, and if such a thing is possible, you all must work harder than ever, though I do not see how, with the men and material you have, you can do more than you are doing. But if you can, do so. We need it. " How great that need was going to be, only General Currie and those in high command knew then. But 20 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES the Y. I.C.A. did its best, and Canada at home gave it powerful financial support. The association devoted much the greater part of its efforts to the men. It had some clubs for the officers, however, and men with commissions were well served, particularly at Corps, where early in the New Year a magnificently equipped officers' club was opened by the Corps Commander. It took the Y.M.C.A., the Chaplain Service, the Engi- neers, and " Q " to make such a building possible within the battle area. It boasted a lounge-room, dining-room, bedrooms, barber shop, bath, white table- cloths, linen sheets, electric lights, brass candelabra, rugs, bed mats, wash-basins, wash-stands, books, papers, periodicals, cigars, cigarettes, and refresh- ments. The lounge and dining-room occupied one building, with additional space for a cloak-room, office, kitchen, scullery, and pantry. The exterior of the building was tarred and brightened with sprightly green paint on windo\v frames and porch. The cloak-room was on the right and the office on the left of the entry. Fold- ing doors opened into the living-room. The interior was spacious, with a large, brick fireplace and blazing logs to supplement the heat that was given out by two Klondike stoves in other parts of the room. There was a piano, and many tables, from long central ones for books and periodicals to square tea-tables running along the sides of the room. Each table had a spot- less white cloth and bras8 candelabra with red J apa- nese shades to give a joyous touch of colour. There \vere some comfortable lounge chairs and many fancy, wooden ones with cane bottoms. There were numer- ous rugs on the linoleum-covered floor. Red blinds covered the windows, and on the mantelpiece over the fireplace were bits of bric-à-brac and a real clock that ticked out signal tÍIne. Then there was a piano and a bookcase, and ceiling electric-light chandeliers of brass, with triple globes and cut-glass shades. From IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 21 the lounge-room, double swinging doors gave entrance to the dining-room. Here, again, the floor was cov- ered with linoleum and rugs. 1\lany pictures decorated the walls. A great stove, after the style of the" Klon- dike, " provided plenty of warmth. In one corner was a refreshment bar of the most approved pattern. In another was a "pukha" sideboard, upon the third shelf whereof appeared to the military eye such lay things as actual crumb trays. There were six tables in the room, with four covers apiece; but upon occa- sion, it could easily accommodate thirty diners. The bedrooms, bathroom, etc., were in another building, which contained fourte-en cubicles, each one roughly twelve feet by eight feet, with large windows which gave plenty of light. Each room boasted coat hangers, mirrors, and towel- racks, washstand and basin, jug, soap dish, and candle. The beds were glorified with sheets and also pillow-slips. The end of the building was devoted to the bathroom and barber shop. Heat was supplied by l{]ondike stoves. The Corps Commander, in formally opening the club, emphasized the desire of the corps that it should be used by all visiting officers. It provided a welcome link between the battle front and civilization. It was to be the home of the officer caned to Corps Head- quarters on special duties, going or coming from leave, or down from the firing line for tea and dinner and a theatre. The club was placed in charge of the Chap- lain Service and was a success from the outset. It be- came a centre of Corps' social activities and when the Canadians moved to another area there was universal regret at leaving an institution which had done- so much to ease the anxieties of war. There were other and important features of the lighter side of the war. For instance, the bath houses, scenes of riotous tumult where many men under hot showers rejoiced in a real " clean-up." Old clothes were cast aside to be " debugged " and men emerged 22 TIlE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES from the sho,vers rid of the corruption of the trenches and with clean things all ready to be donned in place of the old. One bath house had a capacity of two hun- dred men an hour, and every possible precaution was taken to ensure the cleanliness of the water. It was twice filtered, once through a coke bed and then through fine sand. 1vIontreal, Toronto, and Ottawa might know something about filtration, but so did the Army. Noone who has not been forced to go dirty in dirty trenches for many days can appreciate what a boon those baths were for the men; and only wounded who have had their wounds attended to in gloomy places and doctors who have worked by uncertain, flickering lights can know what the installation by tile Canadian Red Cross Society of portable electric- light plants in advanced dressing stations meant for the C.A.l\f.C. and its patients. These plants had long been a dream of the advanced agent of the Red Cross in the battle area. The first plant was installed at La Coulotte. Its success 'vas immediate and its service invaluable. 3. THE CORPS TRAMWAY SYSTEM No appreciation of the many factors which made life easier for the men in the line could be anything like complete without some description of the corps tramway system. All through the winter and spring it gave splendid service. Indeed, it was a marvellous network of lines and junctions and sidings, and it would be hard to overestimate its value. Before the battles that wrested -Vimy Ridge from the enemy, the tramways ran forward beyond the support lines and so running fed batteries with shells, evacuated the wounded, brought reliefs up with their equipment, mu- nitions and stores, hauled up heavy and light guns, trench mortars, camouflage, machine guns, ammuni- tion, bricks, coal, water - in short, relieved the shell- IN WINTER QU \.RTERS, 1917-18 23 torn roads of the burden of continuous lines of great lorries and mule-drawn ammunition trains and horse vehicles of all descriptions. Up to the support Jines and beyond, the light tramways fed the army with essentials, doing the work of hundreds of men and hundreds of animals. And the service to the army was perhaps greatest for the wounded. For the rail- ,,-ray lines ran to the doors of advanced dressing sta- tions. Specially constructed Red Cross trucks stood waiting for their human burdens. Battle areas were cleared with extraordinary rapidity. After the first Vimy advance, complete- evacuation was reported as early aR 3.30 in the afternoon. During the first ,veek of preparation for the .Vimy advance, the diary of the tramway company shows that on one section alone 793 trucks covered 2260 miles and hauled 4154 tons. Five petrol tractors antI four hun- dred mules were used, four and five mules to a train. It was a period of continuous construction, mules be- ing employed over the new rail sections. Time anù again the line was torn by shells and repaired. On the night of April 9th, the first attack, visitors at tlH end of the railheall saw piles of construction material. The tramways were preparing to advance with the in- fantry. Advance they did, laying their ne,v track rail by rail as the troops went forward. In sixteen days, 4600 metres of new track were laid in one section, and during the battle operations this section alone sup- pJied eighty per cent. of the field ammunition for one division - delivered to the batteries at the rate of 1200 rounds a day. The same section supplied ninety- .:five per cent. of the trench-mortar bombs and gre- nades for the same division. The tramways altogether hauled 234 trucks of water in the month, 1463 of am- munition, 212 of rations, 829 of steel, 73 of ballast, 67 of salvage, and 77 trucks of other material, making a total tonnage of 11,308 for the thirty days. During the fighting special trains of two nine-ton trucks, holding 24 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES thirteen stretcher cases, evacuated wounded from ad- vanced dressing stations. In four days 1250 stretcher and 510 sitting cases were handled, fifty special trains b ing employed. Every day of the whole month the tl amway company suffered casual ties. But the work never ceased. The spirit of all was the spirit of one of their number, a private. He put out a fire in a truck of ammunition " by drawing up to a shell hole and throwing water on the truck by means of his steel shrapnel helmet," as the heroic incident is recorded in the bald words of the war diary. There was no such splendid assistance from the tramways at Passchendaele. No such system of tram- way lines existed; but the Canadians in the period they were there constructed two and a half miles of railway over the hideous country. There was also no such demand on the Vimy system in the winter of 1917-18 as there had been in the previous spring, but the tramways continued to give invaluable service, re- lieving transport, assisting reliefs, and carrying out manifold operations that saved money, animals, and men. A trip on one of the lines on any night ,vas, a memorable experience, with the petrol-electric engine pulling its flat cars loaded with" birds" toward the front line -men who sang as they went forward to the :firing trenches to relieve others who had done their turn. Running along in the shadows of strangely unfamiliar things, the baby engine approached closer and closer to the enemy's lines. The singing of the men would be stopped. Cigarettes would be put out. ,r oices would be heard offering heart-felt prayers that no " Bairnsfather " moon might appear to lighten the gloom and perhaps reveal the presence of the reliev- ing troops to the Boche, thus exposing the location of the line and inviting a bombardment that might create disturbance and bring confusion to the intricate little railway system. Finally the engine would stop. The men would alight. The curt, muffled voices of officers IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 25 . would be heard breaking the silence, and the little or big detachment, fresh for the night's work inste-ad of tired out by long marching, would go forward up some communicating trench to complete the " relief." And going forward they would bless the tramways that had saved them many a weary mile on foot with full kits. In reading of the tramways, care should be taken not to confuse them with the light railways. In the corps area, the light railways, built by French, Im- perial, or Canadian Railway Construction Battalions, ran from the standard gauge railhead to the battle area. There the tramways began. They were the same railways in that the narrow gauge was the same and the trucks were the same. But the engines were no longer steam. Telephone control replaced sema- phore control, and the lnen who built the tramway lines were chosen from the infantry - shell-tried, war-hardened veterans. They were old railway men, most of them, who talked of the C.N.R., the G.T.R., and the C.P.R. as a man talks of his friends. They worked under shell, and often machine-gun, fire and called it " blighty." They watched their tracks blown up and repaired them " under the guns." They told stories of engineers - their hearing dulled by the noise in their cabins - who were deaf to the warning whistles of shells which signalled passengers to jump and who continued at their posts until they were blown up with their engines. The story of the traln- ways is a story of great service paid for in casualties, and it is a romantic story of dogged determination and proved success against great difficulties. It was in the Ypres salient in 1916 that the engi- neers first decided to build tramways. A separate or- ganization was found necessary. Divisions were asked to supply eighty men apiece, battalion men with railway knowledge. Eighty rifles was a lot in those days; but the men were provided and the Composite 26 THE TRIUMPH OF rrHE ALLIES Pio.neer Co.mpany was fo.rmed. Organized, but un- autho.rized, the little unit was no.bo.dy's child, and had to. struggle hard fo.r existence. The General Staff permitted it to. live, and that was abo.ut all. The days that fo.llo.wed were as dramatic as they were difficult fo.r the small bo.dy. The Canadians had been spending abo.ut $25,000 a day o.n ro.ads, using so.me o.ne hundred lo.rries and emplo.ying 2,500 men. Twelve hundred to.ns o.f sto.ne were being used daily in ro.ad co.nstruc- tio.n that was never really finished, fo.r repairs -started befo.re co.nstructio.n was co.mpleted. Light tramways IIleant saving men, mo.ney, and material. But there was no. ro.lling-sto.ck. The unit was no.t reco.gnized o.fficially. Officially, the men co.uld no.t be paid, pro.- mo.ted, fed, 0.1' equipped. They co.uld no.t even draw " dixies" to. co.o.k in. Under such handicaps, the wo.rk started. The first ro.lling-sto.ck was two. Bo.che engines dug o.ut o.f Dickebusch lake. The men made their o.wn trucks o.ut o.f all kinds o.f material. Eycn the track spikes had to. be fo.rged. 1V o.o.den brakes \\ ere made and cars co.upled with any kind o.f co.upling that wo.uld serve. The first line was in o.peratio.n by J nne, 1916, - six miles o.f it, running east fro.m Po.pe- ringhe. It was the first light railway line built in the British army area, where experiInents were then go.- ing o.n with push lines and mono.rails. Engines ran off the pio.neer track; co.uplings bro.ke; shells to.re up tbe ro.adbed, - but the work went o.n and triulnphe :3 z -1 -; z ü s: :;, .;: o . o I::! =5 c IN \VIKTER QU.A.HTERS, 1917-18 27 times as extensive a system as any Imperial unit in France. But it was not until November 10th, 1917, that the Pioneer Company finally won recognition. Authority was then obtained for the formation of two units, a tramway operating company and a tramway construction company - all personnel to be Canadian engineers. The child had been accepted. Armies praised it. It was beloved of the corps. 4. THE UNIVERSITY OF VIMY RIDGE With so many varied duties to relieve the terrible routine of the war, the Canadian Corps, in the winter of 1917-18, also established the University of Vimy Ridge, an educational institution unique, not only in Canadian history, but in the battle history of the world. The establishment of the university was of- ficially sanctioned by the Corps Commander in De- cember and the 3rd Canadian Division was selected to test the educational SclW1l1Ü, with the unò(\l'standing that if the experiInent proved mccessful, the activities of the university would be extended to other divisions and embrace all ranks ana all services. The character and purpose of this pioneer war ul1i- yersity were set out at length in a calendar of ten typewritten pages issued frOln the office of the A.ssist- ant Director of Chaplain Rervices early in Decelnber. It waR pointed out tllat for many the w::tr had meant an interruption of their studies and of preparation for tlwir life-work, whilr> for others the experience and vicissitudes of the gr(\at struggle involv(\d, on tlwil. return to civilian life, a change of occupation from that to which they werp accustolned before en- listInent. "For all alike, how-eyer, the need of more effective training in all departments of industrial ac- tiyities bas been emphasized." These considerations. togpther with the opportunity for instruf'tion affol'òed by the long winter eveningR wll('fL J11('n Wp]"(' in I'fls1 or 28 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES reserve, led to the establishment of the university, " not only to relieve the men from the monotony of the daily routine, but, as well, in some measure, to equip men for greater e'fficiency in business, the pro- fessions, agriculture, and the other great industries of the Dominion." A threefold mode of operation was proposed:- "1. Lectures to large groups of men, delivered at convenient centres, dealing with civic and imperial topics, or relating to the present struggle, or looking forward to the duties and opportunities of the fu- ture. "2. Classes for smaller groups taught by experi- enced teach rs in each unit throughout the division. "3. In the case of more advanced students, pri- vate reading will be prescribed and records ,viII be kept in order to secure for the student on his return to Canada some recognition and credit for the work ac- complished. " Another aim of the university was to have pre- pared" for the period of demobilization at the con- clusion of hostilities an organization and staff that could immediately devote its attention to the voca- tional and technical education of soldiers during the inteTval that must elapse between the conclusion of peace and their return to Canada." The university had a regular academic constitution, with the G.O.C. 3rd Division as chancellor; a presi- dent; a registrar; a senate representing each branch of the Service and including the heads of the univer- sity departments; a faculty selected frOln professors and lecturers from the universities of Canada on ac- tive service in France; and subsidiary schools operat- ing throughout the division. Under the constitution, the senate was composed of the chancellor, the president, registrar, senior chap- lain, Y.M.C.A. supervisor, representatives of the bri- gades in the division, of the artillery, engineer8, pio- IN "\VINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 29 neer battalions, Army Medical Service and Veterinary Section, and the members of the faculty. Captain R. H. Oliver, LA., of the Chaplain Sery- ices, was president of the university and also chair- man of the executive. Other members of the faculty were Lieutenant Edward Duval, Captain G. S. Easton, B.A., Lieutenant J. S. Eaton, M.A., and Lieutenant rhomas, B.A. On the University School Staff, anlongst others, were Sergeant S. A. "\Vatsoll, Privat(\ .T. F. Higham, Private E. E. Barnes, and BOlnbardier I{. E. Ames, B.A. All of these men were scholars of nlore or less distinction and for the most part had had experience as teachers. The university course consisted of lectures and ('lasses, the syllabus of lectures being as follows:- I. Civil and Imperial: (a) The Development of Civilization; (b) The Bases of True Citizenship; (c) Imperial Geog- raphy; (d) The Romance of Greater Britain; ( e) The Iaking of Canada. II. Interpretative: (a) The History of the 'Varring Nations; (b) The Issues at Stake; ( c) Phases of the Struggle; (d) Freedolll of the Seas; (e) Con- stitutional Readjustments; (f) The Triumphs and Dangers of Democracy; (g) The Contribu- tion of Science and Invention. III. Reconstructive: (a) The New Order; (b) The Demand for N e-..v }'Iethods; (c) The Lessons of the War; (d) The Social and Political Significance of Scraps of Paper; (e) A League of Nations; (f) The Economic Resources of the Empire; (g) Can- ada, the Land of Opportunity; (h) Canada, To- day and To-morrow; (i) Intensified Farming; (j) The Agriculture of France; (k) Reorgani- zation of Industry and Commerce; (1) Success 30 'fHE TRIU IPH OF 'fHE ALLIES in Business; (m) Technical and Vocational Training; (n) Conservation of National Re- sources; (0) Sanitation and Public Health; (p) The Future of Aviation and Transporta- tion; (q) Public Opinion. University courses were given in ..A.griculture, Busi- ness Economics, Education, Engineering, English. French, History and Geography, Latin, IatheInaticsJ Philosophy, Religious Literature, Science, ForestrY', l\iining and Fisheries. The classes included:- 1. Agriculture: (a) Field I-Iusbandry; (b) Animal Husbandry; ( c) Iarketing; (d) Poultry, Bees, etc. 2. Business: (a) Commercial Arithmetic; (b) Business En3'- lish; ( c) Shorthand; ( d) Bookkeeping; (c) Banking. 3. Literature and Language: (a) English Composition; (b) English Litera- ture; (c) }-'renc}l. 4. History and Econolllics. 5.. Applied Seience: ( a) Physics and Chemistr)T; (b) Engineering ( Ci viI, Electrical, 1\Iechanical); (c) Mechanical A.ppliances of the 'Var. G. Religious and Philosophical. 7. Y.ocational. 8. Elementary Instruction. University or other advanced students were alloweù to register with the university for special lines of pri- yate reading. vVhere evidence of satisfactory .work was given, the student was to be recOIllinended to the educational institutions of Canada for recognition anù crpdit. It was hoped o make arrangements with IN WINTER QUARTERS, 1917-18 31 Canadian Trades Unions whereby men taking artisan and vocational training courses would be given credit for their apprenticeship when so recommended by skilled instructors. CHAPTER II "\V AR, POLITICS, AND CHRIST:ßIAS CHEER AT THE FRONT I T was characteristic of the Canadian Corps that it had no sooner taken up its position around Lens than it began raiding the enemy's lines and gener- ally making itself obnoxious to the foe. A great deal has been written of the initiative and dash tha.t character- ized the troops of the Dominion. The Canadians are offi- cially credited with the first raiding operations in the "Testern theatre of war, and it is certain that they were never quite happy on an absolutely quiet front. They believed it good tactics to " keep the other man worry- ing " vn.d they seemed ÏIupelled by smne offensive im- pulse to COlllmence worrying operations at the earliest possible moment. If they found the enemy sluggish, they administered a tonic of steel and knobkerries; and if they found him active and impudent, they per- sisted in being more active and more iInpudent until their enen1ies had been reduced to a proper frame of mind. It was good tactics. The Cana.dians, after a few weeks, usually succeeded in dominating the front they held. They did so before Lens. "\Vhile they were carrying on these customary minor operations, they were electrified by the news of the daring attempt of the Third British Army under General Byng to break the Hindenburg Line and seize Cambrai. The secret of the advance was so well kept that it was not until the afternoon of the first day of the battle that the Canadian battalions and batteries heard that their old and well-beloved leader was strik- ing hard far to the south of them. "lien the news 32 \\"'AR, POLITICS, .A.:ND CHRIST1\IAS CHEER 33 of the brilliant initial successes was received, the warmest congratulations ,vere sent from the corps, and throughout the battle the hearts of "By-ng's boys" were .with him. So, too, were the Canadian cavalry, and the corps later thrilled to the story of the Fort Garrys and their famous charge " into the blue." It was the first time, since the German retreat from Bapaume in the spring, that the Canadian horse had had an opportunity of going into action. Operating in the right centre opposite the village of Masnières, the caY aIry, fifteen miles behind the line, waited at dawn for the signal that would send them forward after the tanks and the infantry. The Strath- cona Horse were in support and the Royal Canadian Dragoons in reserve. To the Fort G arrys had fallen the first right of battle. Finally, the anxiously waited signal came, -" Hell for Leather! " - and the vol- unteer horsemen from the West galloped to the attack. But Iasnières was not clear. The bridge over the river in front of the village had collapsed under the weight of a British tank, and the approach was swept by rifle and machine-gun fire. For an hour and a half. while patrols reconnoitred the country, the Fort Garrys waited under fire. Another bridge was found, but they only crossed the river to be confronted by the Canal de l'Escaut. Under concentrated enemy machine-gun fire, troopers working side by side with the splendid British infantry bridged the gap. Dis- mounted and in single file, the men of the first squad- ron of the Fort Garrys crossed. But they crossed without their g'allant commanding officer, for death came to him during the bitter hours around 1\Iasnières. It was 3.30 in the afternoon when they finally pene- trated the enemy country through gaps cut in the wire by British troops, who were then south of the town, and galloped on. 'Vbat follows equals anything in the cavalry history of tlle Empire. There was only a squadron of them. A peremptory order had come 4 THE TRIU IPH OF THE ALLIES froln Cavalry Hea.dquarters commanding the cavalry to stop at Masnières. This one squadron had " beaten the order." There were enemy to right of them and (.nemy to the left of them, but forward they raced, cresting the first hill that confronted them and charg- ing down the slope to find themselves facing an enemy battery of field-guns. Charging straight for the bat- tery, officers and men raced to the guns. They camp so quickly that the Gennan artillerymen had no time to bring two of their pieces into play. The third was out of action. The gunners blew up the fourth, the pieces hitting our troopers as the squadron swept over the gun positions. And here it should be written that a few brave Germans stood to the salute and were cut down beside their guns. The majority fled. Thirty had been killed in this hurricane attack, and the little squadron swept on with its ranks thinned and with many wounded horses and men. Engaging and overcoming straggling parties of enemy infantry, the cavalry went on until dusk found them two miles inside enemy territory, cOInmanded only by a lieuten- ant. A defensive position had to be found immediately, and they fought their way to a sunken road. There they dismounted - what was left of theIne Of the squadron strength of one hundred and twenty which left J\1:asnières, over forty men were missing, and only five sound horses remained. Two messengers, sent back to report the situation, had their horses killed under them, but managed eventually to reach the British lines. Darkness was falling. The gallant band was isolated. Stalnpeding tLeir horses to divert enemy machine-gun fire, what was left of the squadron prepared to return. They had charged forward, sa- bring as they came; they were to fight back on foot with short Lee-Enfields and the bayonet. The retire- ment started about five 0 'clock. It was a succession of hand-to-hand struggles. Four tÏInes the little party, growing smaller with each attaek, met the enemy de- WAR, POLITICS, A.ND CIIRIST.l\lA.S CHEER ð5 tachments and dispersed them with the bayonet. For two hours the spent and weary men slept in enemy shell holes in enemy country, with enemy all around them. Then up and on again! Midnight had passed when the fragment of the squadron reached 1Iasnières again. They fought their way through the hostile infantry in the town to the wrecked bridge and then crossed to safety, wading waist-deep over the big sunken tank that had wrecked the structure. Forty- three men reached the other side unwounded. Th(' squadron had suffered eighty-three casualties and lost one hundred and forty-five horsps. But they brought :fifteen prisoners back with them; and onp of their lieutenants, ,,",ounded in the throat, led his sec- tion back hundreds of yards to safety and then re- fused to give up his prisoners until he received a proper re-ceipt for thenl. At a conservative estimate over one hundred and fifty Germans had been killed. A battery had been put out of action. Three main lines of enemy telephone com]nunications had been cut and invaluable information had been secured of enemy dispositions. It was a thrilling and important episode. The squadron earned many distinctions, among them the V.C. for Lieutenant Henry Strachan, who had assumed command when the cOInmanding officer fell at 1\1:asnières. The official award of this coveted distinction reads:- "For most conspicuous bravery and leadership "during operations. lIe took command of the squadron of his regiment when the squadron leader, approach- ing the enemy front line at a gallop, was l{illed. Lieu- tenant Strachan led the squadron through the enemy line of machine-gun posts, and then, with the surviv- ing men, led the charge on the enemy battery, killing seven of the gunners with his sword. All the gunners having been killed and the battery silenced, he rallied his men and fought his way back at night through the 36 THE TRIU1\iPH OF THE ALLIES enemy's line, bringing all unwounded men safely in, to- gether with fifteen prisoners. " The operation - which resulted in the silencing of an enemy battery, the killing of the whole battery personnel and many infantry, and the cutting of three main lines of telephone communication two miles in the rear of tbe enemy's front line---was only ren- dered possible by the outstanding gallantry and fear- less leading of this officer." The corps rejoiced in the valour of the Fort Garrys and, next to the battle activities in the south, centred its attention upon the coming Federal elections. Poll- ing was to begin in France on December 1st. At first there was little individual interest in the event. There were no parties to make their appeals on these unique war hustings and there were none of the famil- iar election devices of home to stir enthusiasm. The corps looked quietly to Canada to reinforce its ranks, to carryon the great work of those who had fallen, and to support the living who were now enjoying some rest after their stelïl struggles in the fields of France and Flanders. The task of voting those on active service was a tremendous one. Not only the Canadian Corps, but Canadian nurses, V.A.D. 's, attached to the Expedi- tionary Force, the Canadian cavalry, the Canadians serving in the British and French forces and in the Royal Flying Corps, Canadians in forestry and rail- way construf'tion battalions, and other detached units sprinkled all over the western theatre from the coast to Switzerland, "every person male and female on active service, whether as an officer, soldier, sailor, dentist, nurse, aviator, mechanician or otherwise en- gaged, " - all these had to be given a proper oppor- tunity to record their ballots. Outside of the Cana- dian Expeditionary Force on lines of communication in each army area, special polls had to be established and provision had to be made for adequate accommo- WAR, POLITICS AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 37 dation for polling booths and for billeting and ration- ing the deputy presiding officers and polling clerks. Within the corps itself each company and battery commander was responsible for providing such neces- sary facilities for those under his cmnmand and was also required to see that adequate time was afforded all voters for registering their ballots. Election day was literally ushered in by the guns. The days that preceded it ,vere ones of marked trench activity. On November 27th, the Germans, employing assaulting troops and determined to identify the units opposing them, launched two raids against our lines in the A vion sector. Some Germans got into our trenches in the first attack, but were immediately ejected; the second was broken down by our rifle and machine-gun fire before the raiders reached our lines. At six 0 'clock on Thursday morning another raid was attempted in force south of A vi on. It was com- pletely repulsed, and the enemy retired, leaving ten dead in No Man's Land and one wounded and one un- wounded prisoner in our hands. Again on the morn- ing of the 30th, a small hostile party operating against the right of our line was driven out by our patrols, who captured a prisoner. They reported that a str9ng German party of one hundred was preparing to attack. The raiders were dispersed by the concen- trated :fire of rifles and machine guns. Earlier in the week the enemy was also treated to a favourite Cana- dian pastime, no less than twelve hundred drums of gas being projected against his lines. Under such conditions and with our guns harassing the enemy's concentra- tion areas, polling began with the heroes of Passchen- daele, Hill 70 .Vimy, and other great engagements casting their ballots in the most vital, as it was the most dramatic, election in all Canadian history. For a week previous, special officers had been perfecting the arrangements for voting and ensuring proper bal- loting facilities for all ranks. Over four hundred 38 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES booths were opened on the first day and voting was general throughout all ranks with the except.ion of troops in the line and in support. Lists of candidates, which had just arrived in time, were posted in all the booths, while not.ices outside indicated the hours for polling. Special offices had also been opened in Paris for polling the votes of men on leave. While thp army was voting, it wa.s also subscribing with splendid spirit to the 'Tictory War I...oan. One instance was recorded of $500 being collected from four privates in five minutes, while in another case two officers and seven men outside of the corps area subscribed $2,000. Incidentally, the corps claimed the youngest bondholder inside or outside of the Domin- ion, for one optimistic father bought a bond for his son two hours before the child's birth. Intermittent raiding activity continued, with one curious incident recorded. The Gennans, signalling one of their of- fensive parties to make an attack, used the same flare as that which notified our machine gunners to open their barrage. The result was that the advancing enemy marched into a hail of machine-gun bullets, which caused severe losses and effectually disposed of the attack. By December 7th, over twenty-five per cent. of the ballots in the corps had been polled, with voting re- ported in favour of the Union Government. Active service conditions made the circulation of ballot pa- pers a complex matter, while persistently moving units added to the difficulties of polling the votes; but not a single complaint had been made to the corps representative of the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery and the election ,vas running smoothly. In- terest in the contest ,vas developing and Canadian events were being closely followed. On the firing line, clashes between our own and enemy patrols were of frequent occurrence, but the enemy's enthusiasm for raids had been somewhat WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 39 dampened. In one outpost skirmish one of our non- commissioned officers with five men had put nine Ger- mans to flight after all but one of our men had been wounded. Earlier in the week a gallant and success- ful fight had also been recorded of one Canadian against five Germans. The incident is worth record- ing. It took place early one morning after the enemy had been particularly active with his trench mortars and machine guns on one of our outposts. In order to avoid casualties, the garrison was ordered to move. The men moved and when some distance from the post two of them heard a voice calling in English to them to " throw down your rifles and come up here." A bomb followed the words. One of our men was wounded; the other taken prisoner. The remaining two of the little garrison we-re then bombed, and four or five of the enemy rushed the miniature position, capturing one of its defenders and stunning the other by a .blow over the head. The Germans then retired. But their last prisoner managed during the retirement to get a trench dagger from the boot-top of OIl(\ of his captors and made such good use of his Slllall weapon that he routed tbe whole party, wounding two of them. The next night the body of a dead German was found in a shell hole beside our wire with the trench dagger beside it. Such little events as this merely added zest to the elections. By Decpmber 1] tlI, sixty per cent. of the corps had voted and the balance was decidedly in favour of Union GO\Ternnlent. The voting zone had been extended so that votes were being poned ill the òattle area, infantrymen voting in their front-line trenches and gunners beside their guns. 'Vith the progress of the election, signs of political activity had also increased within the forward zone. Campaign posters of various kinds were to be found in the ruins of Avion and even in the outskirts of Lens. Interest was now keen, and reports of election preparations 40 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES in the cabled news from Canada, together with the comments of the British press on the importance of the issue, were being read with the closest attention. The grave nature of the contest was now realized fully, and not less so because of a revival of activity in the firing line which had culminated in enemy raids in some strength in the A vion sector, where three enemy parties, each some eighteen strong, had en- deavoured to penetrate our trenches. The raids had been preceded by a fifteen-lllinute artillery barrage on our front line and one of equal duration on our sup- port area. 'Ve suffered no losses and met the enemy with such a vigorous Lewis-gun and rifle fire that one of the attacking parties never even reached our wire, while the other two were compelled to retire in dis- order, leaving three prisoners in our hands. These testified to the increasing nervousness of the enemy at the presence of Canadians on their front, a nervous- ness founded upon the somewhat harsh experiences of three years of conflict. Indeed, it was nervousness that was responsible for such raids as these. Our patrols really dominated No !ian's Land, penetrating the enemy's wire and frequently his trenches, and the Germans were greatly concerned to discover the true strength and disposition of the Canadian forces. In all this dramatic war-time election no more dra- matic incident was recorded than that of voting the men wounded in this intermittent trench activity. Deputy presiding officers, scrutineers, and poll clerks took their ballot boxes with them to advanced dressing stations and voted the men as they lay on their stretchers, men who were so weak from suffering that they found it difficult even to mark their ballots. In one station alone ninety men voted. Election officers also took their boxes with them on tramways behind the lines and voted the railwaymen practif'ally as they worked. They went through the front-line trenches. They wo:r]red all day and far into the night and risked WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 41 their lives in their anxiety to give every soldier an opportunity to exercise the franchise. One poll clerk was seriously wounded. A presiding officer was sent down to the base as a casualty. One gunner, while voting beside his gun, was hit by shrapnel. Polling booths were damaged by shell-fire. But there was no interruption in the work. By the night of December 13th, with polling scheduled to close on the 17th, eighty-seven per cent. of the total corps vote had been poned. Some units had polled one hundred per cent. of their ballots, while the general experience was that the number of men refusing to exercise the franchise was negligible. The results already constituted a signal demonstration of the practicability of active service elections when adequate attention was given to details of organization and proper facilities were provided for the voters. Altogether, roughly, six hun- dred polls had been opened in the corps area. Battal 4 ion and battery officers had co-operated with the elec- tion officers, and the Deputy Clerk of the Crown in Chancery and his fourteen assistants reported all ar- rangements working smoothly and with a pleasing and surprising lack of complaints. 'Yith four days of bal- loting still to come, the corps was following the con- test with the liveliest interest and waiting for the result of the elections at home as it would have waited for the outcolne of a battle. What that result was is history. It was a foregone conclusion that the vote of the men on service would be overwhelmingly in favour of the Unionist adn1Ïnistration. In the midst of all this, preparations were going on apace for Christmas. Already many of the Christmas parcels fronl hOllle had arrived and the Red Cross had received quantities of special supplies of streamers, Chinese lanterns, crackers, masks, and other special- ties of the season and were distributing them to units throughout the area. For these things thanks weTe due not only to the Canadian Red Cross Society and 42 THE r.rRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives anrl friends at home, but to the efficient organization and unending activity of the Canadian Corps Postal Serv- ice. The Home mail came by boat and train and lorry and wagon and man to the firing line. Handled within the corps area by ex-Canadian Post Office em. ployees, it was pouring in now, bringing Christmas messages and letters to those on active service. Houghly, one hundred thousand letters a day and fifty thousand parcels were being delivered, though not all of them from the Dominion. A great deal of mail was coming from England, both from families and relatives there and from countless friends that the men of the Canadian divisions had made in Great Britain since the landing of the 1st Division. The normal corps postal staff of one hundred had been increased by thirty per cent. to meet the emergency, just as it had to be increased after the troops left the salient and men of all ranks, drawing their extra Christmas allowance, were sending their messages and presents to those at home. It was confidently ex- pected that by Christmas day all Christmas mail would be delivered - thanks both to the efficiency of the corps service and to the action of the Canadian authorities in closing the Christmas mails at home on November 10th. It was a complex system, this active-service postal establishment, dealing with complex problems. The service was mobile, as it had to be to make deliveries to battalions, batteries, and units which were periodi- cally on the move. Themail of those killed in action; the mail for casualties who might be in :field or base hospitals in France, or in England, or on the way home; the mail for special details - all these services were specialized and required constant attention. But the system was so well established that all letters posted within the British area in France could be de- livered within the day and a morning's London TÎ1nes - - --- ..- 1V AR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTl\f.A.S CHEER 43 could be read at Divisional Headquarters at night. This because of His fajesty's lorry express mail service. Forty per cent. of the mail from Canada was sorted before it reached England. There all of it, together with the English mail, was assembled at the London .A.rmy Post Office. It was divided into direct bags for units. It crossed the Channel to the base post office. There were two services - regular and special. Offi- cialletters, papers, and letters written in the British area in France were despatched by the lorry express. Such mail was relayed by lorry from base to army, from army to corps and divisions and brigades. The regu- lar letter and parcel post service went by rail to rail- heads within the corps area. Here the Canadian Corps Postal Service met it. Each division had a railhead post office and was supplied in normal times with two ton-and-half lorries (in such an emeTgency as Christ- mas-time the llumber was four, and the extra two each had a capacity of three tons). From railhead the mail was taken by lorry to divisional and brigade " dumps." Here it was deliverr-d to mail orderlies of battery, battalion, and other units. It went by Gen- eral Service wagon or limber to battalions and bat- teries, where it was forwarded by ration parties to the men in the :firing line. There were twenty-seven post offices altogether within the corps are'a. Beforo the Christmas rush, 1,000 unit bags constituted a nornlal incoming mail. Since Decpmber 6th, the total had averaged between 3,200 anll : ,500. It was expected to reach 4,800. One brigade post offi e handled 279 outgoing registered letters and parcels in one day in the first week in December where the normal daily average was 100, and it sold stamps during the week to a total value of 1,200 fruncs. 'rhe registration fee was twopence, with an extra charge of a penny an ounce for all letters over four ounces. In addition to its registration work 44 THE TRIU1\IPH OF THE ALLIES and its stamp sales, the post office sold postal orders to a total value of over 1,150 francs in the same period. Giving an intimate picture of the work of the Postal Service during the Christmas rush, a visitor to one of the brigade post offices on December 15th wrote:- " Mail was being sorted for the front line and as- sembled for the base when I arrived. There were neat packages of parcels and letters on shelves and rough tables in the hut that served as a post office and quar- ters for the staff. There was also the touch of trag- edy inseparable from the battle line. For in one cor- ner, neatly piled, and decorated in some cases with the little paper tokens that are such a part of the Christ- 111as season, were bundles of undelivered mail. They contained 'soldier's comforts,' cake, candy, gum, socks, cards, tobacco, cigarettes, chocolate, handker- chiefs, and other presents as shown by the customs declarations. But there was further writing on the covers - official testimonies fronI of1Îcers that those for whom they were intended had been killed in action. Such parcels go to the returned l tter office in London, where the casualty is verified and the mail sent back to the original senders. "So at battalion headquarters," the visitor con- tinued, " I found other such parcels, and also many for the wounded scattered in hospitals in France and England. Great pains are taken to ensure delivery of parcels to men who have left their units through sickness or "\\Tounds or by transÏer. As an example, the following is a true record of one case, that of a private who left his unit for the hospital on August 31, 1917:- Parcel returned - Sept. 30 - re-addressed 1 No. 5 Convalescent " " - Oct. 4 - " j Camp. " " -Oct. 16- " " " - Oct. 30 - " C nadian Base Depot. " " - Oct. 18 - " cc " N 5 3rd Can. IVlachine - ov. - Gun Co. ,...-- Nov. 9 - " l Can. Corps Staging Nov. 20 - ". J Camp. " " " " "\V AR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 45 " Every hospital sends in a record to the .L\ssistant Adjutant-General, Canadian Section. Mail matter for casualties is redirected from such records. In the above case, the history of the casualty can be traced from the office records. No mail is returned unde- liverable except in case of death or ' missing.' Mail for prisoners of war is forwarded to London to the Canadian Records Office and sent on from there." The above details give some idea of tllf' efficiency of the system and of the difficulties that had to be overcome. There was tragedy in the ,vork. A field post office was demolished by a direct hit from a shell on the Somme. A member of the service was killed just out- side his office during the .Vimy operations. At Pass- chendaele, however, the service did not suffer a casu- alty, though it worked under unprecedented condi- tions. Field post offices were ne-arly all in tents in the forward battle area, where no lights were allowed and work was impossible at night. Finally, the service was not without its humourous side, though the humour was not always appreciated by the officials. Iany quaint letters came into Head- quarters; for example, the following:- " I sent a letter to Pte. but neglected to give his number which is . 'Vill you kindly put the number on the letter and make certain of its de- livery. " Now that number was up in the two hundred thou- sands. The letter was one of a normal fifty thousand a day. The men of the Postal Service found it, made sure of its receipt, and notified a concerned mother at home of its safe delivery. Much of its Christmas cheer, tbe Canadian Corps owed to its Postal Service; much of it also to " Q." It was the pride of the corps that there ,vere no bet- ter-fed men in France. It was the pride of " Q " to keep them so fed and particularly to supply every man 46 THE THIU1vIPH OF THE ALLIES with every possible delicacy that war organization could permit to ensure the best of Christmas dinners. " Q " was straining to provide those delicacies, and while doing so it was carrying out countless other operations. The Navy is called the" silent service." " Q " lnight well be called the service of mysteries. Its operations were shrouded under routine orders which gave little suggestion of the extent of its ad- ministration. Its men worked at manifold tasks and only the initiated could either comprehend or appre- ciate the labours which fell to its lot. It provided, daily, food, and forage for scores of thousands of men and thousands of horses and mules. It worked in ad- vance of the clock and it could check each last, least little item with a precision which was the despair of the careless. As it fed the men, so it clothed them and washed them and did a million other things- from saving " dripping" and rendering it down to grease to supplying great and little guns with tons upon tons of ammunition. In each operation there was a story. Take that of bread alone. The company in the line had to indent four days ahead of time for its loaves. The wheat to make those loaves came from overseas. The Navy brought it to the base. .At the base there were baker- ies with a capacity of 500,000 pounds of bread, or 250,000 loaves, a day, and a personnel of twelve hun- dred qualified bakers. Baking went on day and night, with men working in shifts over groups of ovens. Ten pel' cent. of the bakers at one base port Wflre Cana- dians. Others were to be found in Inany establish- ments. The Canadian Divisional Field Bakeries were all at the base except in perioùs of open warfare. One of these divisional units baked over 9,000,000 loaves in ten months - from February, 1917, to DecemLer, 1917. The loaves went from the bakeries to the base rail- heads, every pains being taken to prevent crumbling. There, with other supplies, they were loaded on a pack .r ì vy.. '- . /: , .\ . .! Co'J4 . -:----- ...t " ... ,a ...#r'f' , ...r . .,/ /'. 4: '.. 11:'-' -.. ;- '. ..r ,. . . . '''" . -: ..... . ;:;-.. !'- r- ;. -""".. ......' ,.... cl I - f . . p: \ "::;: \ i j . .,.,:- - "'.... . I .... - -- 4 4<:J ... . ...- ..:.. ',p. - ."""'. ... ......". .! JÜ,. -. :v : NOVA 8COTL\XS l\L\KIKG CLAY OVENS P"t' " " , "'4.. . 1 ,"1' L- J. \, - , '- ...- V ..- .t='- .,- .. l .. ,.i .'to r ;...r ... " , '. , , ":... . . ... " ; -... "'J I - , .- --- .: ..... '" .,- "". 'Þ . "7-' ....'- << 4 -\: i ... --:- .. - -.:.: . - ... ... TIlE ::SIIOEINU-:::; I.ITll;:; .iT WORK ('01W(7ian Official P1lOtograllh.'l WAR, POLITICS, Ai D CHRIST I \.S CHEER 47 tl"'ain - a train with a number and whose destination was known to only two men. Th re was no chance of favouritism in the distri- bution of food-stuffs. From the base to railhead, th pack train was under the charge of the Army Service Corps. At the railhead, the Divisional Supply Colun1n took it over. If there was a system of light railways, as in the Vimy area, it was utilized to carry the food- stuffs on to the refilling station, where the work of the -Divisional Train began. If there was no light railway system, - if open warfare, for instance, had taken the place of trench fightillg,- the railhead would be the assembly centre for scores of great three and four-toll lorries, for the Diyisional Supply Column was mechan- ical and lived by petrol. The Divisional Train- which, of course, was not a train, but a service of horses and mules and General Service wagons- came into action at the refilling point. It served bat- talion and battery quartermasters. It was an ordered, efficient, mobile machine which thought first in terms of food - which was its duty; second, in tenns of horses - which it loved; and, third, in terms of itself, which it regarded with more or less content, according to the cleanliness of its wagons, the health and com- fort of its animals, and the rapidity with which it could erect stables and build quarters on muddy wastes. From the refilling point, the Divisional Train supplied the transport lines of the fighting units, where battalion and battery quartennasters divided and sub-divided the supplies for the ration parties un- til each individual in each ration party had his exact share. These ration parties in their turn made final deliveries to the gunners and the infantry. And the whole work of rationing, confused enough in itself, was infinitely more confused by the fact that the strength of units was an uncertain quantity depending on casualties, sickness, leave, and other factors, and that this varying strength had to be anticipated four 48 TIlE TRIU iPH OF THE ALLIES days in advance. Ability to anticipate was not the least of the qualities of a quartermaster, and a good quartermaster took his greatest pride in the correct- ness of his estimates. Much might be written of the detail of transport lines; of the care with which horses were fed and \vatered and groomed; of the lines of buildings erected in brief order out of the scantiest supplies of ma- terial; of the roadways made out of hundreds of thou- sands of " salvaged " bricks; but the story would be too long and the detail immense. "Q" had so m:1ny things to do. In another part of this work there is mention of the bath-houses for the men. "Q" built then1. Something has been told of the work of the Salvage Companies at Passchendaele. They came un- der" Q." The Corps Salvage Unit was composed of Corps Headquarter and Divisional Salvage Com- panies and formed one of the greatest links in the economic chain of the army. All through 1916 and 1917, - in the great battles of the Y pres salient, the Somme, and Vin1Y Ridge, and during the quieter months when action gave place to routine, - The Ca- nadian Corps Salvage Con1panies worked persistently and extensively, backed by battalions and battery and Headquarters organizations, as concerned as any civilians at home for the good conduct of their busi- ness. The results achieved in the two years were re- nlarkable. Carefully compiled figures, in which a margin of no less than twenty-five per cent. was al- lowed for deterioration, showed a total saving by salvage in the period of 1:2,457,666, or roughly $12,000,000. Besides these Salvage COlllpanies, " Q " had contri- vances for torturing old tins until they gave up their solder, and they gave it up, to the extent, for one lnonth in the corps, of no less than 345 pounds. Men- tion has been made of saving dripping and rendering it down to grease. In the six months from June, WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 49 1917, to January, 1918, the dripping saved by the whole corps totalled nearly 300,000 pounds, with a value of nearly $20,000. It was " Q," attending to such infinite detail, that was working to nlake the Christmas before Lens mem- orable, and the Canadian Red Cross and Chaplain Service and the Y.M.C.A. were straining just as hard. So were corps, divisional, brigade, battalion, battery, and company conlmanders, while the spirit of the corps that had gone through such a terrible year ,vas nothing short of wonderful. What that spirit was is perhaps best given expression in the message which constituted the only editorial in the Christmas number of The Listening Post, that famous chronicle of the 7th Battalion. The heart not only of the regin1ent, but of all ranks and an units of the Canadian Expe- ditionary Force, was in it, and it read:- " For the third time Christmas finds the Canadians under arms in the trenches of Flanders. vVhat they have endured during the past three years; what they have hoped for, striven for - and in their thousands died for - is not yet in sight; but the spirit that car- ried the original Canadian division through the Sec- ond Battle of Ypres is still marching with the Cana- dian Corps to-day through all the mud and slime- and hell- of the modern battlefield, and will march with them, to the only goal that is worth striving for - Peace - and a Real Peace that will make a recur- rence of this hideous nightnlare impossible. 'Berlin or Bust' in letters a foot high was the motto that greeted one when the first trains rolled into Valcartier in August, 1914. 'Berlin or Bust' it is after three years - but silent now - written only in the thoughts of those who carry on. " And to our own folks whose dearest wish was that we should be with them at the festive board this Christmas-time, just the old, old message, ' A Merry Christmas and a glad New Year' from the bottom of 50 THE TRIU IPH OF THE ALLIES our hearts. A Ierry Christmas in the real and true sense of the word - not the abolition of the old cus- toms in the absence of loved ones, but the whole- hearted enjoyment of all that is worth while. Life is short and this old world too small for misery and long faces -look on the brighter siùe of life and keep in training at smiling ready to welcon1e us back. And if in the midst of all you pause with sober faces and silently drink to those who have paid the utmost price, remember that they too - those happy, cheery lads ('ut down on the very threshold of life - would wish it so." In the same publication, there was another message, this one from the commander of the glorious 2nd Bri- gade, then Brigadier-General Loomis, C.M.G., D.S.O., who wrote" from every member of the ,Vestern Cana- ùian Infantry Brigade to anxious hearts at home, to assure them that they have our constant love and de- votion, our daily thoughts, and our wishes for a l\ferry and Happy Christmas. Keep the Home Fires burning. I{eep our places in your hearts and in our homes fresh and fragrant, for though long years and long leagues separate us, our love and. loyalty know no space of time or distance." There was also a letter from the general to the officers, non-commissioned offi- ('ers, and men of his brigade, a letter which enùed:- " It is three years, over, since the First Canadian Contingent sailed away from Canada, and they now march silently over the roads and lanes of France and Flanders because their thoughts are of Homes and Loved Ones far away. They know that Fathers, l\Iothers, ,Vives, Children and Sweethearts are also thinking of them and working for them. "Happy Canada which possesses such well-loved Homes! Fortunate Country with such loving Fathers and l\fothers, such faithful Wives, such devoted Chil- dren, such affectionate Sweethearts! So long as Can- ada possesses such as these, her Sons will be ready to WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 51 go to the ends of the world to fight for them, to die for them, and they will love them forever." Many were the divisional and brigade messages that went home to the Dominion, but that sent officially from the whole corps read:- " _ To our comrades and friends in support in Can- ada this Christmas message from the Canadian Corps and from every division, brigade and battalion, is a deeply sincere wish for your future happiness and our early reunion, coupled with the warmest feelings of gratitude and appreciation for the strong and splen- did verdict of support recently expressed throughout almost every part of Canada. We feel to-day that the force behind us is of such strength and magnitude that it will inspire each one of us to greater deeds and nobler actions and will surely lead us to the goal of victory, peace and home." To the fighting men themselves, Major-General "\Vatson, Acting Corps Commander in the absence of Sir Arthur Currie, who was in England, sent the fol- lowing official message:- " The Corps Commander takes this opportunity of sending every officer, N.C.O. and man in the Canadian Corps all good wishes for Christmas. He trusts that the coming year may bring with it the a tainment of our great objective, a victorious peace and a happy re- turn to our near and dear ones in Canada. This is not a mere stereotyped wish. Behind it lies deep ap- preciation of the splendid work which has been carried to such a successful conclusion by every unit in the corps and also full recognition of the sacrifices that have been made, the difficulties that have been over- come, the hardships that have been endured, and the high standard of discipline that has been maintained. Your actions have made the name of our Homeland one to be revered, respected, and honoured now and throughout the years to come." On Christmas Eve the front line was quiet. The 52 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES preceding twenty-four hours had been featureless save for an expensive Hun mistake which had caused three of his aeroplanes, in the poor visibility, to sweep their own trenches with machine-gun fire. Christmas day en- tered in with rain, but by the afternoon a proper snow- storm was raging, and a cold and clear evening saw the ragged country blanketed in white and transformed so that there was about the land the fan1Ïliar appear- ance of Christmas at home. Men forgot the war, to drink the old toasts, observe the old customs, remem- ber the old associations. In many messes that before had been little more than comfortable sheds, boasting perhaps two fireplaces, built of wood and hastily built, and lined inside with green canvas or sacking, the ugly rafters were hidden with paper decorations, holly, Christmas bells, Chinese lanterns, and other tokens of the season; walls were draped with the flags of the Empire and the Allies; and many men of many services and all ages sat down to drink to the King, absent friends, the corps, and the Dominion. The waits - members of theatrical companies belonging to the various headquarters - came in to sing the old songs. And where there were no theatrical companies and no formal messes, friendly groups in Armstrong and Nissen huts, in dug-outs and wrecked buildings throughout the area, had their own particular celebra- tions. At the Corps Rest Station and in field ambulances and dressing stations, the wounded men had their Christmas cheer as they were having it in hospitals all over France. The Canadian Red Cross Society had provided cigarettes, cigars, chocolates, raisins, dates, fruits, nuts, games, and toys. No one was for- gotten. Even men under arrest and undergoing pun- ishment had their dinners of turkey and Christmas pudding. Of all the Christn1as celebrations, none is more worthy of description than that at the Corps Rest Station. The institution itself merits a few WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 53 words. Operated in turn by the various field ambu- lances, its purpose was to prevent serious casualties by providing a complete rest and change for slightly wounded and nervously exhausted men and officers. In the Vimy area, it was established in a delightful old ivy-covered château 'with surrounding hutments in a quiet valley many miles from the firing line. It had a capacity of five hundred patients, and the treatment consisted of warmth, good food, clean clothes, hot baths, and rest. There were special officers' quarters, with a lounge-room, dining-room, bedrooms, and kitchen, in addition to private wards. There was an- another special ward for N.C.O. 's, a special ward for those suffering from " P.U.O.," that slight fever of unknown origin which was peculiar to the ,val', and another for those suffering frOln "scabies." The rest of the men, afflicted with blistered feet, rheuma- tism, and other ailments inseparable fron1 the expo- sure, damp, nlud, and cold of the trenches, were quar- tered together. Cases were confined to those likely to be cured in a fortnight. The station was generally full to capacity. The war-weary private, tired and wet and miserable, was met at the admittance roon1. Particulars of his case were taken and he was assigned to a special ward. His pack was placed in a " stores " room, where an N.C.O. in charge saw that its contents were cleaned pending the man's departure. fIe handed over his rifle to have it cleaned and oiled. He himself was marched off to a bath-house, where he got a hot shower, next to the cigarette well described as "the greatest boon the trench man knew." His under- clothing was taken away and sent to the laundry, and he was supplied with a clean issue. Then he went to his ward and a warm bed. When not in bed, he had a lounge-room in which to spend his time, a small library well stocked with books, and a recreation-room in which were cards and games provided by the Red 54 THE TRIUl\;IPH OF THE ALLIES Cross. For his meals, he had jam in abundance, jam made in Canada by mothers and sisters and aunts, and one of his ,supreme delights after army rations. ,Yith jam he had other things not so delectable, but more sustaining. Mter two weeks of such treatment, he was ready for the trenches again. The barber had bar- bered him; the shoemaker had repaired his boots; the tailor had attended to his clothes; his pack was clean; his rifle was clean; his clothes were clean; he was clean; and his belly was full. l\Iany men of many services were at the Corps Rest Station on Christmas night - infantrymen, gunllerR. engineers, stretcher-bearers, men from mf\chanical transports, from trench-mortar and Stokes-gun bat- teries - these and others who had helped to make the glory of Canada in France and Flanders. The great hut that was their dining-roolll was cool with ever- green, brightened with innumerable red and white and blue and green streamers, lightened by many Red Cross and Chinese lanterns, and warmed by two big stoves. There were maple leaves to decorate the walls and many flags to cheer the room, while a Christ- mas-tree groaned under presents from home. The men who sat down to the banquet were dressed in the uniforms of their respective services or in ho:spitaJ blue or in pyjamas supplied by the Red Cross. The dinner was worthy of the night and of the men who shared it. Here, as elsewhere, the C.A.M.C. and the Red Cross worked hard to make the period as happy' as possible for the wounded. They succeeded. So, the Y. LC.A. and the Chaplain Services vied with one another in helping all to have a good time. Where- ever men were present in large numbers, there were concert parties or motion-picture shows. At Corps Headquarters, for instance, three hundred men com- prising the area employment company enjoyed a din- ner of roast turkey and veal dressing, boiled ham, mashed potatoes, and mashed turnips, Christmas pud- WAR, POLITICS, AND CHRISTMAS CHEER 55 ding and brandy sauce, nuts and raisins and tea and coffee. They were entertained by the Rambler Theatri- cal Company and later witnessed a special cinema show given by the Chaplain Service. So the day passed. But another event that had to do with the season has still to be recorded. On the afternoon of December 27th, in the Chaplain Service cinema at Camblain I' Abbé, where Corps Headquar- ters was situated throughout this period, the Acting Corps Commander presented gifts to the children of the village. Their mothers and fathers came with them. There was a concert in their honour and Santa Claus was there with games, toy pistols, dolls, bal- loons, blocks, and other presents. Everyone was de- lighted and not least those officers who had contrib- uted through their messes to meet part of the ex- penses and had abandoned their work for an hour to watch the pleasure of the youngsters. With that courtesy which is so much a part of France, the little visitors, through one of their number, gave thanks for their entertainment in these words:- " 'Ve have been too pleased and honoured by your gracious invitation not to have responded in great num- bers. Moreover, in coming to you we are given a happy opportunity of expressing both our admiration for, and our gratitude to, the British Army and par- ticularly the Canadian Corps. We have followed your triumphant progress in Belgium, at Iessines, at Passchendaele, Vimy, Hill 70, and Cambrai; and your victories have increased our gratitude and our love. " The gallantry of the Canadians will be recorded in history with our cities plundered, burned, and ruined by a barbarous enemy. It is impossible to admire too much the magnificent behaviour of Canadian officers and soldiers in this terrible drama in which the fate of Belgium, France, justice, and civilization are at stake. " God has seen and recorded your splendid services. 56 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES He will reward your gallantry, granting you an early and decisive victory which will put an end to sacrile- gious encroachment upon the rights of nations. We will help you with our prayers. He will hear them and grant them and soon we shall have peace between the nations established on the eternal principles of right, justice, and liberty." CHAPTER III HOLDING THE LINE I T was a grim New Year that opened for the Allies on the western front on January 1st, 1918. Mov- ing to Bolshevisln, betrayed and betraying Rus- sia was now a menace to the Entente, and the large German forces which had been held on the eastern front during months of uncertainty could be released in the spring for the decisive theatre in the west. Italy had not recovered from the staggering blow to her prestige and moral caused by Austrian forces and internal corruption. America was moving mightily towards the firing line, but she could not be effective for months. France and the British Empire stood practically alone against the whole forces of tl1e Cen- tral Empires, which enjoyed great advantages from internal lines of communication and which were prompted to desperate efforts by the realization that once the United States became powerful in the theatre of war victory for them would be impossible. Throughout the long battle line from Switzerland to the sea, there was a vivid consciousness that the com- ing campaign would be as deadly as anything in the "history of the war. There was no assurance that the Allied line could be maintained along its whole length or that there would not be extensive retirements in particular areas, but everywhere there was confidence that, whatever the immediate success of German anllS, there would be no break in the Allied front, no shat- tering of the Allied powers of resistance, no irretriev- able disaster, no dishonour to the arms of the Entente. It was felt that a great storm was brewing which 57 58 TIIB rHIUl\IPII OF TilE ALLIES would break down some of the barriers of trench war- fare, which would overwhelm some areas through the sheer might of its ferocity, but which would be im- potent to destroy the solid foundations of the power of the Allies. Nowhere was there thought of defeat. Men were sure that the storm would come; they were equally sure that the stonn would pass. And then they anticipated another and a greater fury of armed hosts, reinforced by the llleH and the materials and the munitions of the United States, that would follow swiftly upon the ebbing tide of the enemy's last hopeless endeavour and would break his forces and demolish his breastworks and send him stumbling, baffied and broken, back to the Rhine and beyond. It was with such thoughts that the Canadians in front of Lens welcomed the New Y ar. Their spirits ,vere good. Their trenches on the av rage were far better than they had known before in sucll seasons. They had fuel for fires and places to build the fires. The health of all ranks was excellent. The physique and training of recent reinforcements had given satis- faction. Battalions were up to strength. 'Yhatever the spring might hold, the present might have been much worse. .And they had the further satisfaction on New Year's night of administering salutary treatment to certain audacious Germans. The enemy endeav- oured to raid the line in no fewer than four places. The main attempt occurreù early in the evening in the l\fericourt sector, when three groups, carrying machine guns and protected by flanking parties, attacked our line after it had been subjected to a short but intense barrage. Twelve men succeeded in entering a portion of our trenches, but were driven out, and the raiders were forced to retire, leaving three prisoners in our hands. Three hours later in the same area, one of our posts was attacked, but here the enemy had no success and presented us with another prisoner. Further north two other attacks were launched after heavy HOLDING- THE LINE 59 bombardments. Neither one reached our lines. The first was easily beaten off, and the second, executed in some strength, was repelled effectively. The en- emy must have suffered appreciable losses from Our artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire. At least his ardour was dampened, for nearly a fortnight passed before he attempted any further familiarities. In the meantime, the Germans continued persist- ently shelling our back areas. The desire for useless destruction was strong upon them. Noeux-Ies- lines, Hersin, Coupigny, Bruay, and other towns in the Lens district, together with Bethune, many miles behind the lines, 'w'ere subjected to intermittent shelling by day and bombing by night, which threatened to reduce them to ruins, making of Bethune - as it was event- ually made - another Arras or Y pres, and of the towns such wastes as were Liévin, Angres, and Vimy within the battle zone. Churches were hit, school- houses dmnaged, private shops and dwenings ,vrecked, and all with a steadily rising toll of casualties to men, women, and children. Another page was being writ- ten in the war tragedy of France. In these little places, homes were laid waste in a day, and as the air war developed other homes were demolished in a night - the horror of darkness adding to the horror of bombs and shens. Little children were ]rilled or wounded as they played in the streets. Fathers lost