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War Story of the Canadian Army
Medical Corps

Major-General G. L. Foster, C.B., Director General Medical
Services, Overseas Military Forces of Canada.

'.Front'.tp'ece,

War Story of the
Canadian Army Medical Corps

J. GEORGE ADAMI, M.D., F.R.S.

(Temporary Colonel C.A. M.C.)

A.D.M.S. in Charge of Records, Office of Director-General,
Medical Services, O.M.F.C.

Volume I.

THE FIRST CONTINGENT

— (to tht Autamn of 1915) —

PUBLISHED FOR THE CANADIAN WAR RECORDS OFFICE

COLOUR LTD.,

53. VICTORIA STREET. WESTMINSTER. S.W.
AND

THE ROLLS HOUSE PUBLISHING CO. LTD.

BREAM'S BUILDINGS. FETTER LANE. B.C.

INTRODUCTION

THE RT. HON. SIR ROBERT L. BORDEN, G.C.M.G., P.O., ETC.,
PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA

To some the call of adventure, to others the fighting
spirit of the race, but to most the duty of service ap-
pealed. Fresh from the avocations of peace and un-
trained at first in the art of war, they went forth strong,
joyous, eager, confident. Valour and heroism were
never more truly symbolized than in the story which
their deeds have given to the world.

Such was the spirit of the Canadians in the battle
line as I have seen and known them. One could not
return from such a visit without renewed courage and
strengthened determination. From the wounded in
the hospitals one gained at least an equal inspiration
in witnessing many a triumph of the spirit over the
dull pain and monotony of long, weary months.

Let the Nation also give its tribute to those who
consecrated their service to the care of the wounded ;
to the men who went forward through the battle storm
with bullet-spattered ambulances to rescue those who
had fallen ; to the women whose first thought was of
the helpless and suffering, when hospitals were bombed.

It is fitting that the story of the Canadian Army
Medical Service should be told ; and no one is more
qualified for that purpose, whether by experience, by
service, or by the truest ideal of duty, than he who
has written the pages that follow.

i6th August, 1918.

PREFACED

AN attempt is here made to record the outstanding
facts bearing upon the activities of the Canadian Medical
Service in such a form that the general reader may
realize and become interested in the part played by
medicine and surgery in modern warfare, while at the
same time the professional reader may be given, as it
were, a bird's eye view of the progressive development
of military medicine in the great war as exemplified by
the work of the C.A.M.C. How far the attempt has
succeeded the reader must judge.

Based as the work is upon the official documents and
the diaries of individual Medical Officers, the writer is
only too well aware of its deficiencies. Official docu-
ments are apt to be painfully meagre in regard to the
very matters which the historian needs for a full presenta-
tion of any particular happening : they may at times
be wholly wanting. The Officer in the position to give
the fullest details may constitutionally be unwilling to
set pen to paper : may put down a line or two of bald
official data, when for the credit of his unit and the
officers and men under him, he should have set forth
a detailed statement of events ; on the other hand,
some officer concerned in actions of subordinate im-
portance may note these so clearly and interestingly
that perforce the historian quotes at length from his
description. If, therefore, too full credit is given to
certain units and individuals, too little to others, the
fault must to no small degree be attributed not to the
historian, but to the material at his disposal. So also
the limits set to the size of the volume have limited the
publication of operation orders and the minutiae of
movements and activities of individual units.

viii PREFACE

The work will be of distinct service if, by calling
attention to defects in the official records and that
at a time not too distant from the events, it gives
occasion to those actually concerned to afford the
needed information and so prepare the way for a fuller
and more accurate presentation of the facts at a later
date. What has impressed the writer is the difficulty
in securing accurate information even within a few
months of the event : the difficulty, therefore, that
must confront the historian who writes years after the
event : the value of such a " contemporary history "
as demonstrating to the officers in charge of units the
importance of keeping adequate War Diaries.

So many of his colleagues have aided him that the
writer finds it invidious to mention their names. He
has studiously endeavoured throughout to acknowledge
the sources of his information. One essential source
has, however, been left out, and he would here call
attention to the fact that for events in France as they
affected the C.A.M.C. the underlying basis of his work
has of necessity been the War Diary and reports of the
A.D.M.S., First Canadian Contingent, now Major-
General Foster, D.G.M.S. To General Carleton Jones
and Colonel Lome Drum he is indebted for much of
the information upon which has been based the chapter
upon the rise of the C.A.M.C.

London,
August, 1918.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PACK

INTRODUCTION 5

I. — RISE OF THE C.A.M.C. •/ . .11

II. — THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER, AND THE

CROSSING 36

III. — SALISBURY PLAIN 57

IV.— WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE*". . . 79
V. — THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES : THE

ONSET; POISON GAS S . -97
VI. — THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES CON-
TINUED : THURSDAY AND FRIDAY . in
VII. — THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES CON-
TINUED : SATURDAY AND SUNDAY . 133
VIII. — THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES : CON-
CLUDED 151

IX. — FESTUBERT 179

X. — GIVENCHY 204

XI. — " PLUGSTREET " 213

XII. — HOSPITAL UNITS AND THEIR ESTABLISH-
MENT IN FRANCE : THE GENERAL

HOSPITALS X 232

XIII. — HOSPITAL UNITS : STATIONARY HOSPITALS ^256
XIV. — OTHER MEDICAL UNITS ON THE LINES OF

COMMUNICATION .... 272

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Major-General G. L. Foster, C.B., Director-
General Medical Services, Overseas
Military Forces of Canada . . . Frontispiece

Salisbury Plain .... Facing p. 57

Northern Sector of Ypres Salient, Medical

Disposition, April 2ist, 1915 • . „ 99

Forenoon of Friday, April 23rd J V . „ 124

Evening of Saturday, April 24th . . „ 133
The Shortening of the Line : Position on

April 22nd and May 4th . . . 160

Medical Disposition, May 22nd . Facing p. 184

Bullet-wounds ...... 199

North of the Aire-La Bass6e Canal Facing p. 206

Admission tent . . . . . . 250

No. i Canadian Stationary Hospital,

West Mudros . . . . . . . 261

Bailleul, Kemmel and Ploegsteert Area Facing p. 286

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

CHAPTER I

THE RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

WE are apt to forget how intimately the Army
and the Army Medical Service are asso-
ciated with the medical history of the Dominion.
But so it is. For sixty years and more after the
conquest, Canada was too poor and" too thinly
populated to be able to establish and support
medical schools, or to attract well-trained doctors,
either from the old country or from the States to
the south. As a result, the surgeons who came over
with the British regiments found their services
in such request that many of them elected to
remain when their regiments were recalled, and in
all the older centres of population we meet with the
same story : these old Army doctors became the
recognized heads and leaders of the profession.
Their connection with the Service gave them an
immediate standing in the young community.
They brought with them the old-world ideals of
professional conduct, ideals strengthened, and
indeed raised, by their military training and asso-
ciations ; and, as Major-General Fotheringham
has well pointed out,* it is largely owing to their

* British Medical Journal, October i3th, 1917 ; II., 471.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

influence that Canada has escaped the haphazard
legislation, defective training and irregular medical
practice which have cursed so many of the States
of the Union to the south. When at last the
population had increased sufficiently to maintain
and justify the establishment of medical schools,
we find that in Lower Canada two out of the four
founders of the Montreal General Hospital and of
the Medical School which in a few years became the
Medical Faculty of McGill College, were old Army
doctors ; that another Army surgeon, Widmer,
" scrupulously punctilious, and in every detail
regardful of the proprieties of life,"* was the father
of the profession in Upper Canada ; a man of the
very highest character, who did more than anyone
else to promote the progress of the profession in
what is now Ontario. Similarly in Acadia it was
the old Army doctors, who in 1783 came along with
the ship-loads of loyalist fugitives from the south,
and formed the mainstay of the profession, while
later, the British regiments at Halifax and elsewhere
provided for two generations the foremost practi-
tioners of Nova Scotia, and of New Brunswick,
when in 1784 this was separated as a distinct
province.

It is difficult for us, after fifty years of confedera-
tion, to realize that before that event there was no
Canada proper, but a collection of separate pro-
vinces, which with difficulty had obtained some-
thing more than the status of Crown Colonies. So
long as the Mother Country with its troops garri-
•oned and protected these, there was no urgent
need for provincial militia. Militia regiments

* Sir W. Osier, Address in Medicine, Montreal Meeting of
the British Medical Association, 1897.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

there were, it is true, here and there, but these
existed more for ceremonial than for practical
purposes ; and their medical organization was the
outgrowth of pre-Napoleonic conditions, when the
regimental medical officer was still looked upon,
along with the chaplain, as, if not the servant,
certainly the nominee of the colonel of the regiment.
Organized medical service was wholly wanting.

With Confederation, in 1867, the removal of the
British troops necessitated that the new Dominion
take some steps to establish a military system for
itself. But it has to be acknowledged that Canada
was not in a hurry to become a military power.
It looked forward to a long era of peace. Can there
be more striking evidence of the essentially pacific
nature of the Anglo-Saxon peoples than the fact
that the long-drawn line of boundary between the
United States and Canada has no patrol ? It was
in June, 1914, a few brief weeks before the war,
that the English speaking peoples celebrated the
completion of a century of peace among themselves.
We speak of the long frontier of some eight hundred
miles that Russia had to protect against Germany
and Austria : what is that to the three thousand
miles of the Canadian frontier ? Thus the Canadian
Militia grew somewhat slowly. The Mother Country
was most considerate ; for strategic reasons it
retained Halifax and Esquimalt for some forty
years, until, under Admiral Fisher's naval scheme,
Halifax, Esquimalt, Bermuda and St. Lucia were
no longer employed as naval bases. As militia
regiments were raised in each province, each had its
surgeon-major chosen from among the local prac-
titioners, but there was no Army Medical Service
proper ; nor was any course of preliminary instruc-

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tion required for those who became Regimental
Medical Officers. Gradually a small permanent
medical force developed. Certain permanent mili-
tary units had to be established at what may be
termed strategic points — at Quebec, Kingston,
St. John's, P.Q., Winnipeg, etc., and with the
garrisons came the need for military hospitals and
their personnel. In this way it came about that
certain local practitioners obtained appointments
over long years as medical officers to these garrisons,
attending to the troops in addition to their private
practice ; but these rudiments of an Army Medical
Service were for a generation so inconsiderable
that there was no Director-General or Headquarters
Medical Staff at Ottawa.

The Riel Rebellion in 1885 afforded Canadians
their first independent experience of warfare since
the campaign of 1812 (the Red River Expedition
of September, 1870, was under British leadership ;
the Fenian Raid of 1875 was abortive and may be
neglected) ; and here, while giving all credit to all
actively engaged, it has to be confessed that the
Medical Service was crude. There had been little
or no preliminary organization. With the raising
of the Field Force, it became essential to appoint a
staff of medical officers. Dr. Bergin, M.P., of
Cornwall, Ontario, was appointed Surgeon-General
at Ottawa, there to control the medical branch and
advise the Minister of Militia ; Dr. (now Sir Thomas)
Roddick, of Montreal, was made Deputy Surgeon-
General, and directed to proceed at once to Qu'-
Appelle in the north-west and establish hospitals
in such localities as the General in charge might
designate ; Surgeon-Major Douglas, V.C., who had
been in the Imperial Service and on retirement had

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

settled in Halifax*, was appointed Director of the
Ambulance Corps ; Dr. (later the Honourable M.)
Sullivan, Professor of Surgery hi Queen's Uni-
versity, Kingston, was Purveyor-General ; Dr.
James Bell (later Professor of Surgery, McGill
University) was appointed Surgeon, to take charge
of one of the hospitals (the Field Hospital with
General Sir F. Middleton's Division), and under
him were six assistant surgeons ; these in addition
to the Regimental Medical Officers attached to each
regiment, and a number of Toronto and Montreal
medical students, who volunteered to go to the
front as hospital dressers. There were only between
four thousand and five thousand troops actively
engaged in the field, and the preparations, therefore,
had to be on a much smaller scale than we have
become accustomed to in the great war. The
campaign was conducted, it will be remembered,
in a virgin country during the spring and early
summer months, so that the amount of sickness
was inconsiderable ; there was an entire absence
of typhoid, malaria and dysentery ; even diarrhoea
was almost unknown. Nor was the number of
wounded such as to overtax the hospital accom-
modation provided at Saskatoon, Battleford
and elsewhere. In other words, despite their lack
of previous experience or previous training, the
Medical Service rose to the occasion, which
fortunately did not, medically speaking, become
grave.

Following this little campaign there were those
who urged the reorganization of the Service, with
a Surgeon-General at Ottawa and Deputy Surgeon-

* He there married Mrs. MacMaster, the widow of another
British Medical Officer and V.C.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

General and staff in each province ; but nothing
was accomplished for many years to come, save
that Dr. Bergin remained titular Surgeon-General,
and three Deputy Surgeons-General were appointed :
Drs. Roddick (Montreal), Ryerson* (Toronto) and
Tobin (Halifax). But these all continued their
civil practice, as did the whole service. The Regi-
mental Medical Officers, it is true, were there, chosen
by the officers commanding each militia regiment,
and gazetted in due course as Surgeons-Major :
that rank they retained whatever the length of
their service. Not a few believed that they were
ornaments to their regiments, and that they fulfilled
all that in decency could be demanded of them if
they appeared, in a uniform becoming progressively
tighter, at each annual church parade. The only
active members of the force were the semi-permanent
officers, the local practitioners attached to the
garrisons ; these were, in general, appointed Prin-
cipal Medical Officers at the annual camp of the

* Of the three these two still survive. It is, indeed, a question
whether Sir Thomas Roddick and Dr. Ryerson were ever gazetted
out, and whether they are not still Deputy Surgeons-General.
Sir Thomas Roddick, as late M.P. for the St. Antoine division
of Montreal, and President of the British Association upon the
occasion of its first visit to Canada, is widely known as the
father of the " Roddick Bill," whereby practitioners registered
in one Province can gain entry to practise throughout the
Dominion. Dr. G. A. S. Ryerson is another well-known Canadian,
who served in the Fenian Raid in 1875, and becoming surgeon to
the Royal Grenadiers, Toronto, served with them in the North-
West Rebellion. As Canadian Red Cross Commissioner he par-
ticipated in the South African war. Besides being General
Secretary of the St. John Ambulance Association for Canada
he in 1896 played a prominent part in founding the Canadian
Red Cross. The Quarterly Militia List for the Dominion,
while recording his appointment as Hon. Colonel in January,
1917, admits also his rank (in brackets) of Hon. Surgeon-General.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

district, and, as such, gave courses of instruction.
There was, in fact, little or no organization. Be-
tween camps the permanent medical officers had
no control over the regimental medical officers.
Medical equipment for the annual camps, preserved
between times at the District Medical Stores, were,
to say the least, meagre.

This state of affairs persisted until 1896 : until,
that is, it so happened that a medical man, the late
Sir Frederick Borden, became Minister of Militia.
In this year a definite Medical sub-department of
the Militia was created, with a Director-General
at its head, having his headquarters in Ottawa.
From 1896 dates thus the development of the
Canadian Army Medical Corps. The first Director-
General was Colonel Hubert Neilson. John
Louis Hubert Neilson had not a little army
experience. Born in Quebec in 1845, he received
his training at the Army Medical School, Netley,
and in 1869 became Medical Officer of the Quebec
Garrison Artillery. He saw service during the
Fenian Raid ; acted as a Red Cross Surgeon in the
Russo-Turkish war of 1878 ; was surgeon to the
Canadian " voyageurs," called by Sir Garnet
Wolseley after his Red River experience to aid in
the Soudan campaign of 1884-85 ; was attached
to the British Army for two years, making a tour
of Europe and the United States to study army
medical organization. Being largely independent
of his practice, he accompanied his unit, the Garrison
Artillery, when it was ordered elsewhere — to
Victoria and Kingston. It was from Kingston that
in 1898, after this preparatory study of army
medical organization elsewhere, he was called to
Ottawa as D.G.M.S. Here his headquarters were

17 2

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

constituted by railing off the end of a corridor, and
in this simple improvised room a single cupboard
of no great size was sufficient to contain all the
reserve stores of the Service !

But here was a beginning along modern lines,
and the first important action of the D.G.M.S. was
to take advantage of the carefully-thought-out new
organization of the Royal Army Medical Service.
He had himself already been attached to the
R.A.M.C. at Aldershot, and now he persuaded the
minister to send him, and with him several medical
officers, to England, to follow courses of instruction
there and thoroughly familiarize themselves with
the working of the R.A.M.C.*

The officers so trained were to be utilized as
instructors of the new Canadian Medical Service
which Colonel Neilson proposed to form. Lieu-
tenant G. C. Jones had already been concerned in
an important innovation, namely, in the formation
of the first Canadian Bearer Company after the
British model. This was before the Field Ambu*
lance, as at 'present constituted, had been developed.
The establishment of the Bearer Company arose
out of an agreement with the Imperial authorities,
whereby the Canadian Government supplied the
medical personnel for the Halifax garrison and

* Among those Medical Officers who in this way first under-
went a full course of training at Aldershot and in London were
the present D.G.M.S. Overseas Military Forces of Canada,
Major-General G. L. Foster, C.B. ; the late D.M.S. Canadians,
General G. Carleton Jones, C.M.G . ; Majors Nattrass and Belton,
of the Royal Canadian Rifles ; Major J. D. Brousseau, of the
Field Battery at Quebec and Major H. S. Birkett, C.B., of
Montreal, until 1918 Colonel in command of No. 3 Canadian
General Hospital, and at home Dean of the Medical Faculty
of McGill University.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

kept it at war strength, Great Britain supplying the
equipment and Canada finding and supporting
the officers and men.

Then in the autumn of 1899 Colonel Neilson
drafted an all-important Order in Council, which
was duly promulgated. Authority was granted
by this for the formation of an Army Medical Corps
consisting of six bearer companies and six field
hospitals. The officers of the Corps were to be
arranged in due Army order, were to hold substan-
tive rank, and to receive promotion by seniority
as vacancies should occur. The order recognized
the regimental officers already existing, and formed
these into a Regimental Medical Service, to include
all medical officers appointed to regiments. These
officers were to receive promotion not by seniority
but by length of service, and to rise from the rank
of lieutenant to that of major. It detailed, further,
the relationship of the two services — the Army
Medical Corps and the Regimental Medical Service —
in the event of mobilization, and, what was of
fundamental importance, laid down a course of
instruction for those seeking to qualify as medical
officers.

During the winter of 1899 and 1900 the Director-
General visited the various main centres throughout
Canada, explaining the scheme and calling for
volunteers for the new Medical Corps with good
success. The bearer companies were classed as
" city units," and, in addition to their training
during the winter in the armouries, were required
to do three days' training in camp. The Field
Hospital units were classed as " rural units " ;
they underwent twelve days' training in camp.

When, in September, 1899, the Boer War broke
19 2*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

out and Canada spontaneously offered her First
Contingent, the organization of the Medical Corps
had not proceeded sufficiently far for the Dominion
to send with it anything beyond the Regimental
Medical Officers, and, it should be added, the
regimental stretcher-bearers which were supplied
from the personnel of the Halifax Bearer Company,
the only body of trained orderlies in the Dominion.
This was not due to the fact that the officers and
men were lacking, but that organization was still
far from complete. As a matter of fact, Canada
did not send a division. It was merely an infantry
battalion which composed the First Contingent to
South Africa. After the departure of the First
Contingent from Quebec, on October 3ist, 1899,
three Field batteries and two battalions of Mounted
Rifles (the ist C.M.R. and the R.C.D.) were enlisted,
sailing in January, 1900, and in March the Strath-
cona Horse followed, and were succeeded later in
the year by a large draft of Canadians to join
the newly-established South African Constabulary
(fashioned after the type of the famous North- West
Mounted Police). But it was only in January, 1902,
some six months before the end of the war, that the
first Canadian medical unit, the loth Canadian
Field Hospital, was ready to leave Halifax, with
the late Colonel A. Norris Worthington, M.P. for
Sherbrooke, in command.* The equipment differed
from that of the regulation British field hospital
in that it was a combination of British and American

* The Staff was as follows : Colonel A. N. Worthington, in
command ; Major G. Carleton Jones, second in command ;
Captain H. G. Johnson ; Lieutenant J. A. Roberts (now Colonel,
C.B., later O.C. No. 4 (University of Toronto) General Hospital ;
now A.D.M.S. Canadians, London area) ; Lieutenant P.
Weatherby ; Quartermaster, Lieutenant H. V. Tremaine.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

usages. The Hubert tent (so-called after Colonel
Hubert Neilson, who devised it) replaced the
British hospital tent, and the wagons were lighter
than the British model, being built upon the lines
of a Canadian express wagon. It carried with
it another innovation of Canadian origin — namely,
a mobile acetylene gas plant.* Arriving at Durban,
Natal, in February, the unit trekked up country
through Laing's Nek and across the Orange Free
State to the Transvaal, until it reached Valbank,
where the larger part of the unit, under Colonel
Worthington, became established as a stationary
hospital, and, as such, was an important medical
factor in the final decisive operations of the war.
Under the command of Major G. C. Jones, a detach-
ment became a mobile unit with Cookson's column
in General Walter Kitchener's force on " trek,"
and took part in the operations in the Transvaal
and Northern Cape Colony. This detachment
never rejoined the unit, but had the good fortune
to be present at the Battle of Hart's River or
Buscbolt, along with the 2nd C.M.R. A bullet-
marked Red Cross pendant from one of its
ambulance wagons remains as a relic of this engage-
ment in the office of the Director-General at
Ottawa.

The Regimental Medical Officers saw abundant
service. Three had accompanied the First Con-

* The acetylene gas plant, it must be remembered, is a
Canadian, not to say Ottawa, invention. Lieutenant-Colonel
Whitton (now O.C., H.M.H.T. Araguaya) reminds me that
in South Africa, in comparison with the few lamps in other
buildings and tents, the loth Field Ambulance was so brilliantly
lighted, and could be seen from such a distance, that it was
commonly made the location point by which individuals and
bodies of troops steered themselves.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tingent, but only one — Captain Eugene Fiset*
(of Quebec) — was present with the battalion during
the greater part of its service in the field. Joining
the contingent as Junior Medical Officer at the last
moment before it sailed, he remained with it during
its whole service, save when he was a prisoner. He
received the D.S.O. for distinguished service at
Paardeburg, an honour which also was gained by
Major Keenanf (of Montreal) of the Strathcona Horse.
When, in June, 1902, the war came to a sudden
end, preparations were made to hold a training
camp in the autumn. As can easily be grasped,
the war exposed the weak points in the militia
medical system, and active efforts were made to
remedy deficiencies. There was still no proper
provincial or district medical organization ; where
there was stationed a permanent unit, its Regi-
mental Medical Officer had been the natural channel
through which the Director-General kept in touch
with local needs. There were, however, large dis-
tricts with no permanent units, and therefore with

* Sir Marie Joseph Eugene Fiset, C.M.G., D.S.O. , son of the
Hon. I. B. R. Fiset, was born at Rimouski, Quebec, in 1874.
A graduate of Laval University, his army service dates from
1890, when he became attached as Second-Lieutenant to the
89th Regiment ; Major, 1898 ; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel,
1901 ; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1903 ; Colonel (P.A.M.C.), 1904.
He served in the South African war 1899-1902, and was present
at operations in the Orange Free State and Eastern and Western
Transvaal. Three times mentioned in Dispatches, he possesses
the Queen's Medal with four clasps, and was awarded the
D.S.O. ; P.M.O. with the Coronation Contingent, 1902 ; Staff
Adjutant, 1902-3 ; D.G.M.S., 1903-6 ; Deputy Minister of Militia
and Defence, 1906 ; Surgeon-General, 1914 ; knighted, 1917 ;
Knight of the Legion of Honour.

t Now Lieutenant-Colonel. In this war M.O. to the
" Princess Pat's " during the first year, and, later, Senior Surgical
Officer to Na. 2 Canadian General Hospital.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

no local heads. Now a move was made in the
first place to change this, and appoint Principal
Medical Officers, who should supervise the medical
units of their districts and keep Headquarters
informed regarding matters of personnel and equip-
ment. Subsequently on the formation of com-
mands P.M.O/s were appointed to the commands
and Senior Medical Officers to the districts. After
the war Lieutenant-Colonel Fiset, D.S.O., had
taken a course of instruction with the R.A.M.C.
Upon his return in 1902, he was appointed Staff
Officer to the D.G.M.S., succeeding Lieutenant-
Colonel Neilson as Director-General, when the latter
officer retired in 1903.

Experience in South Africa had led the Imperial
authorities to combine the old bearer company and
field hospital into one unit, the Field Ambulance.
The object of this step was to attain increased
mobility at the front, and more particularly to
combine under one command the two intimately
related functions of collecting the wounded and
affording immediate but temporary care of the
same. It is interesting to note how, as the great
war progresses and the scale of operations becomes
increasingly vast, there is a tendency of necessity
to resort to the old separation of these two
functions ; but undoubtedly, by the extent and
variety of the duties imposed upon it, the Field
Ambulance has become a most attractive and
excellent training ground, affording a wider experi-
ence than does any other unit. The old Bearer
Company, as the " Bearer Section," still remains
as the basis of the new organization ; the Field
Hospital is represented by the " Tent " and trans-
port sections, but, shorn of its iron cots and heavy

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

marquees, it has become more mobile, capable now
of rapid movement. How necessary is this ease of
movement has been abundantly demonstrated in
this war, when one day a Field Ambulance may be
running two or more Advanced Dressing Stations
close to the trenches, the next day a Main Dressing
Station three or four miles back of the line, and the
third a Divisional Rest Station at " the back of the
front." The first move of the new D.G.M.S. was
to introduce the Field Ambulance unit into the
Canadian Service, and this, not by combining rural
"hospital" and city "bearer" units, but by
expanding each of these units wherever possible
into a full ambulance unit.

This expansion was of set purpose. The British
Field Ambulance called for ten officers and 241
other ranks, of whom sixteen were to be non-
commissioned officers of the rank of sergeant or
higher. Colonel Fiset, in the Canadian establish-
ment, called for the same number of officers and
N.C.O.'s, but for only seventy-five other ranks —
i.e., one- third the number. Where the British
organization consisted of three sections, the
Canadian provided but one full section, with the
skeleton of the other two ; the idea being that
upon mobilization it would be easy to recruit the
rank and file to full strength, and that here was
a means of inducing the maximum number of
civil practitioners to accept commissions and
interest themselves in the Service. This policy
has fully justified itself.

In the same year (1904) the officers and personnel
of the permanent medical service were definitely
banded together into a corps — the P.A.M.C.

To Colonel Fiset also belongs the credit of initiating

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

the first movement in the direction of a well-
ordered modern camp sanitation. The present
war has proved most conclusively that the pre-
ventive and hygienic functions of the military
medical service are of greater importance than the
purely medical functions. But it has taken long
years to dissipate the old idea that, a camp being
only a temporary abode, filthy surroundings had
to be put up with ; and that if, as was noted in
the Crimea for example, a horse happened to die
in the lines, it might lie there and pollute all its
surroundings, it being nobody's business to remove
it. And Colonel Fiset began with the " slop sink."
Until 1904 the removal of kitchen waste in camps
was of the crudest. Pits were dug close to the cook-
house, and into these were dumped the kitchen
refuse, fluid and solid. The refuse, exposed to air
and sun, soon stank, and as one pit filled up it was
replaced by others equally unsavoury, fly-infested
and fly-blown. The D.G.M.S. showed that this
nuisance could be effectually removed by pouring
all the refuse into a box provided with holes in the
bottom and a movable top, placed over the inter-
section of two cross trenches ; the fluid drained
into the trenches, and when the box became full,
all that was necessary was to burn the contents in
the kitchen fire. To Colonel Fiset, in short, is due
the credit of having impressed upon the medical
officers the fact that camp sanitation is more than
a quartermaster's duty. It took some years,
however, to impress this upon the camp authorities
and regimental commanders, who, regarding the
medical officers as " cure doctors " and not as " pre-
vention doctors," held that their duties began after
the series of sanitary defences had broken down

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

and the men fell ill. Regarding sanitary matters
as belonging entirely to the (lay) quartermaster,
they were apt to regard recommendations by their
medical officers concerning matters of hygiene as
a rank intrusion, and to turn them down as a
matter of principle. Remember that we deal here
with the state of affairs as they were little more than
a dozen years ago. Our camps were sanitary blots,
nuisances which the old-timer in the militia, with
nose and stomach hardened to the conditions,
regarded as necessary evils. But already at this
period the lines of the medical units, as a rule, were
the bright spots in each camp. They were kept
as hospitals should be kept — clean and fresh, and
method after method which made for cleanliness
was readily adopted ; they were, in fact, the show
places of the camp.

It is no exaggeration to declare that the main
advance in the Canadian Militia from 1906 to the
opening of the war was in the steadily increasing
realization that where men are massed together
their welfare and their effectiveness centre around
the preservation of their health, and that sanitation
is a matter that concerns all. And to the next
Director-General fell the task of bringing about this
realization and obtaining the co-operation of all
the military authorities in the campaign of rational
hygiene. For in 1906, when Colonel Pinault, the
Deputy Minister of Militia, fell ill, the duties of his
office were taken on by the D.G.M.S. in addition
to his own ; and upon the death of the Deputy
Minister, Colonel Fiset was appointed to the vacant
position, and Lieutenant-Colonel G. Carleton Jones*,

* Colonel (now Surgeon-General) Guy Carleton Jones, C.M.G.,
is a Nova Scotian, born in 1864, the son of the late Hon. A. G.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

who had been Principal Medical Officer for the
Maritime Provinces, was called from Halifax and
made Director-General in his place.

The co-operation above noted was obtained in a
somewhat paradoxical manner. On first con-
sideration it might be thought that the direct
method would be most effective — namely, to endow
the medical officers with greater powers. But to
do this would mean divided authority in the unit
and in the command. As a matter of fact, in what
may for comparison be termed the pre-sanitary
days, the responsibility for sanitation was placed
upon the M.O. without, however, affording him the
means to carry out his recommendations. On
further consideration this will be seen to have been
a shelving of responsibility by the officer to whom
the duties rightly belonged. Camp sanitation is a
matter of discipline, the discipline of cleanliness,
and all matters of discipline are, and ought to be,
in the hands of the Commanding Officer. The Militia

Jones, well known as a Lieutenant-Governor of that Province,
who for years had been a bitter political opponent of the late Sir
Charles Tupper. Educated at Edinburgh and at a well-known
Canadian school, the Gait Collegiate Institute, he obtained his
medical training at King's College, London, and at Halifax,
graduating M.R.C.S.Eng. in 1887 and M.D., C.M. Halifax
Medical College, 1890. He entered the Volunteer Medical Service
as Surgeon- Lieutenant to the ist Regiment, Canadian Artillery
in 1896, and transferring to the Halifax Bearer Company in
1898, received his majority in 1899. He served in South Africa
as second in command of the loth Canadian Field Hospital
1900-2, receiving the Queen's Medal with two clasps ; was
appointed Lieutenant-Colonel P.A.M.C. in 1905 ; D.G.M.S.
December, 1906, occupying this post until September, 1914,
when he became A.D.M.S. First Canadian Contingent, a title
altered to D.M.S. Canadian Expeditionary Force, December,
1914. In 1917 he was appointed Medical Inspector, Canadian
Expeditionary Force. He is now D.M.S. in charge of Hospitals
in Canada.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Order issued in the spring of 1907 took the important
step in advance of officially recognizing this.
Henceforth the responsibility for sanitation was
laid upon the O.C. If matters went wrong, upon
him was to be placed the blame, and, as a result,
he became bound to consult his M.O. and to follow
his recommendations.

Colonel Jones's next move was to establish
courses of lectures upon military medicine, and
more particularly upon military sanitation, at each
permanent station, to be given by the P. M.O.
during the winter months to the permanent and
active militia officers of the district. To these
courses, and through the way in which they brought
home to the medical officers the importance of
hygiene, and to the working of the order just noted,
must largely be ascribed the rapid improvement
in the Service and its increasing influence. Plans
were drawn up of the proposed sanitary lay-out of
every unit with explanatory designs, and when,
in the autumn of 1907, the annual camp of the
Nova Scotia district was opened, the Camp Com-
mandant held a meeting of the commanding
officers and regimental officers at Camp Head-
quarters, when a model installation of all the
sanitary constructions required for a battalion had
been prepared. These were carefully explained,
and the plans and instruction given out, and within
three days a sanitary encampment on the new
model had been achieved, with ablution tables,
shower baths and other sanitary needs, and the
new constructions were not only working smoothly,
but formed a subject of enthusiasm and pride to
their builders. This difference in the health and com-
fort of the troops here and at Petewawa, the artillery

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

camp held a few months earlier, was very notice-
able. Indeed, Petewawa materially strengthened
the hands of the Director-General, for through the
milk supply a small epidemic of typhoid fever
broke out in this camp, and while this was rapidly
suppressed, the widespread publicity given to it
afforded the militia authorities the opportunity to
institute a general reform of the whole sanitary
arrangements.

Roughly, the main maxim of camp sanitation is
to provide a billet for every bullet of dirt, and dirt
iSrinatter in the wrong place : the right place must
be provided for it. And this right place is not where
it is hidden. To hide it away means that proper
arrangements have not been made for its disposal.
Thus, contrary to preconceived notions of pro-
priety, constructions in a camp which are apt from
carelessness to become dirty are now placed, not
in a retired spot, but wherever they are likely to
be most exposed, and where any possible defects
or careless usage are brought into the limelight, and,
for the credit of the camp, relentlessly repaired.

Colonel Jones had early recognized the advantage
of affording a meeting ground for, and of bringing
together, the medical officers of the permanent
force and the militia. In his first year of office
he utilized the occasion of the meeting of the
Canadian Medical Association in Montreal to call
a gathering of officers and to found an " Association
of Medical Officers of the Militia." The meeting
next year was held under similar surroundings.
In 1909 the association had proved its value, and
was strong enough to hold a meeting of its own in
February at Ottawa, with a good programme of
papers and discussions. This annual meeting in

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the winter became a regular event and did much
to promote a good service spirit, to bring the
officers from the different divisions to know one
another and to kindle enthusiasm. Another step
in the same direction was taken at London, Ontario,
in 1911, where, in place of medical units attending
the annual camps of their districts or divisions,
there was held the first full Army Medical Corps
Camp. Medical units from different districts were
here brought together for sixteen days' training.
Beginning with a scheme of attack and defence,
which called into play purely the work of the regi-
mental officer with a battalion, next schemes
calling into play the work of the field ambulance
with the brigade, and, finally, the divisional
co-operation of field ambulance and casualty clear-
ing unit were worked out, and an insight given
into the functions and inter-relationships of the
different branches of the service that no local
annual camp with the infantry and other arms
could have supplied.

And now was published the " Manual of Estab-
lishment and Equipment of the Army Medical
Corps, Canada," for peace and for war. This, it
may be emphasized, was the first official publica-
tion on behalf of any department of the Canadian
Militia, in which the word " war " was used, or the
state of being at war clearly faced. The corps
camp at London served to test, and, where necessary,
correct, every detail of the establishment and equip-
ment as drawn up during the preceding months — the
constitution of the different units, the stores neces-
sary for each, the number of transport wagons
essential for each unit, their packing, the contents
of the Field panniers, the number and contents of

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

the boxes of drugs and apparatus. All this was
put to a practical test, with the result that when
the war broke out there was no confusion, and, so
far as regards medical stores and equipment proper,
the medical units accompanying the First Contingent
were ready to start.

Each year, prior to the war, the D.G.M.S.
conducted a course at Ottawa, in which, winter
after winter, the medical history of one or other
great campaign was carefully studied, and labora-
tory training given in sanitation and bacteriology,
this latter course being under the supervision of
the D. D.G.M.S., Major Lome Drum.* In short, so
far as was possible with the framework of a regular
army in place of a full regular army proper, the
future administrative heads of such an army were
given a thorough training ; and they, in their turn,
conducted courses of lectures and training during
the winter months in their respective divisions,
which all regimental medical officers were encouraged
to attend. As a result, in 1914, the D.G.A.M.S.
could call to the Service, not an untrained herd of
general practitioners, but a group of officers keenly
interested in their work, familiar with the problems
and difficulties of the Service, and, what is more,
familiar with the forms and administrative procedure
of the A.M.C. : men who fell rapidly into line.

The main weakness of any permanent Army
Medical Service is that in the long years of peace

* Major (now Colonel) Lome Drum, born at Quebec, 1871 ;
graduated B.A. McGill, 1892 ; M.D., C.M. 1898 ; Lieutenant
Q.O.H. 1895; Second Lieutenant A.M.S. 1900; served in
South Africa, 1902 ; Captain P.A.M.C. 1905 ; Major, 1906 ;
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, December, 1914 ; temp. Colonel,
August, 1917 ; D.D.M.S. 1915 ; A.D.M.S. Witley Camp, 1917 ;
O.C. No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill), 1918.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the officer whose duty it is to undertake the medical
supervision of a body of men in the prime of life
obtains little opportunity for the performance of
major surgical operations, little experience other
than what may be termed minor medicine and
surgery. The tendency is for the officer's profes-
sional capacity to become reduced in the same ratio
as his administrative capacity becomes steadily
raised. Now, admittedly, the ordinary medical
man, working for and by himself, has not the
stimulus to develop into a good administrator,
and administrative ability is all-essential in dealing
with large bodies of men. There is much to be
said for the Canadian system, which provides a
small nucleus of officers of the Permanent Army
Medical Corps thoroughly trained in executive
work, and a large body of medical officers conversant
with the ordinary routine of Army Medical Service,
who, at the same time, through their civil practice,
have kept themselves thoroughly in touch with
modern medicine and modern surgery.

In the seven years preceding the war other
changes had taken place affecting the organization of
the Canadian Militia in general. With the develop-
ment of the North- West and growth of Alberta
and Saskatchewan, it became necessary to modify
the commands and districts, and with the medical
organization of each the previous P.M.O.'s and
S.M.O.'s were replaced by an Assistant Director
(A.D.M.S.) in medical charge of each divisional
area.*

* No. i, London, Ontario ; No. a, Toronto ; No. 3, Kingston,
Ontario; No. 4, Montreal; No. 5, Quebec; No. 6, Halifax;
No. 10, Winnipeg; No. II, Victoria, British Columbia; No.
13, Calgary, and (established in 1914) No. 14, Regina.

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

One other and outstanding feature of the C.A.M.C.
remains to be noted, namely, the relationship and
status of the nursing service. As a young country
developing an army with no old traditions to hamper
it, the logical course could be taken, rather than
that which can be excused only on historical
grounds. The British Army Nursing Service, it
will be recalled, began by Sidney Herbert calling in
the services of Florence Nightingale to mitigate the
terrible condition of affairs in the hospital at
Scutari during the Crimean War. One has but to
read Sidney Herbert's " Life " to realize that,
great and admirable as was this devoted woman,
she was the despair of the official, making it im-
possible to incorporate her and the organization
she controlled as an integral part of the Medical
Service. Thus, from the Crimea onwards, the
Nursing Service in the British Army, and other
armies which have copied it, has been an auxiliary
rather than an integral branch. Nevertheless,
the nursing sisters have for long been an absolutely
essential section of the Army Medical personnel ;
their work is performed under the control and
direction of the medical officers. There is not one
adequate reason why, as a body, they should belong
to a separate organization— or to one of several
separate organizations.

Thus it was that in 1906 the Minister deliberately
created the Army Nursing Sisters as an integral
portion of the Army Medical Sendee, under the
command of a matron who, in her turn, is responsible
to the D.G.M.S. Doing this, regulations were laid
down as to the qualifications and course of training,
and the fully qualified sister was given the relative
rank of lieutenant. As distinguished from the

33 3

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

nursing sisters of all other armies in the field, the
Canadian Nursing Sisters have thus military status,
and are under direct military control. This explains
their uniform and their " stars," which apparently
have given offence to the illogical.

Now, although this is a delicate matter to place
upon paper, yet, with reference to this grant of
relative rank, it is essential to call attention to
certain facts. While the best are peers of the best,
and there are English, Scotch and Irish nursing
sisters not one whit behind their Canadian sisters
in any respect, socially, as a body, the nursing
profession in Canada has, in the first place, a higher
status than it possesses in the old country. It
attracts, in general, the daughters of professional
men, and those from comfortable households. In
a family of daughters, for example, it is quite the
custom in Canada for the elder girls, when they
have been " out " for three or four seasons, to
realize that they have had their opportunity, and
rather than be in the way of their younger sisters,
to elect to become nurses. It is a rule that Canadian
Nursing Sisters have had, not a common, but a
High School education, or what corresponds thereto.
And as nurses their training has been very thorough,
with fuller courses of lectures on the basal subjects
than is usual in Great Britain. As a result, a
remarkably large proportion of the matrons of the
great hospitals in the United States are of Canadian
birth and training. Add to this that the Canadian
nurse embarked on her profession is paid on a scale
which in Great Britain would be thought extrava-
gant. But then she is thoroughly competent, and
this high recompense is found eventually economi-
cal. But just as at Oxford and Cambridge we may

RISE OF THE C.A.M.C.

encounter those who do not attain to the quality
which we associate with graduates of the older
universities, so, among the Canadian Nursing
Sisters, an occasional individual may be open to
criticism ; yet certainly as a body, for capacity,
alertness and bearing, the Canadian sisters deserve,
and more than deserve, the rank which has been
given to them. And in this war they have abun-
dantly " made good."

It should be emphasized that this step was taken
on military grounds, and by the Ministry and
Militia Council, not as the result of any agitation
by the nursing sisters themselves — in fact, some
years before the suffragettes became militant.
The experience of the Canadian Army Medical
Service has abundantly justified the innovation
and proved it to be right and wise.

The first Matron to be appointed was Miss
G. Pope, R.R.C.,*who had been through the South
African campaign as Matron. She was succeeded
at the beginning of the war by Matron Macdonald,f
who, with the establishment of the Headquarters
Staff in London, took charge there, under the
D.M.S., of all matters connected with the nursing
personnel.

* April ist, 1908.

f Matron-in-Chief Margaret Chisholm Macdonald, daughter
of D. Macdonald, of Bailey Brook, Nova Scotia, graduated from
the New York City Training School for Nurses in 1895 ; served
as N.S. in the Spanish- American War ; selected to accompany
the Second Canadian Contingent to South Africa in 1899
served for eighteen months with Health Department of the
Canal Zone, Isthmus of Panama ; appointed N.S. in P.A.M.C.
with rank of Lieutenant, November, 1906 ; Matron C.E.F.
September, 1914 ; Matron-in-Chief, November, 1914, R.R.Ci

CHAPTER II

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER AND THE CROSSING

IT was on Saturday, August ist, 1914, that Germany
declared war on Russia ; on Sunday, the 2nd, that
France entered into the war ; on Tuesday, the 4th,
Great Britain.

On the 6th Canada took her first active step :
By Order in Council His Royal Highness the
Governor-General called out various corps upon
active service ; these including the Militia Council,
the Permanent Staff at Militia Headquarters,
Ottawa, and in the several divisional areas and
districts all corps of the permanent force and
various units in the different divisions. Among
those called out were No. 7 and No. 9 Field Ambu-
lances from Quebec and Charlottetown, • Prince
Edward Island, respectively.* Subsequent orders
in these first few days called out No. i Clearing
Hospital (Toronto) and No. 18 Field Ambulance
(Vancouver). Rapidly Canada's part in the war
became determined, and on August I7th was pub-
lished the Mobilization Order, f the first important
instructions for general guidance, by which it was
directed that there be mobilized for service overseas
a Canadian Expeditionary Force, consisting of one

* This for temporary service at Quebec and Valcartier.
f Militia Orders 372, 1914.

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

complete division (less a brigade howitzer artillery),
along with certain units, such as the Princess
Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, in excess of
divisional requirements, the force to be equipped
in a manner similar to that of the British Regular
Army, to be Imperial and have the status of British
Regular troops. Already the Minister of Militia
had selected the plain at Valcartier, near Quebec,
as the assembly place, and the order laid down that
the troops should concentrate there,* where final
selection and acceptance for service would be
determined and medical and veterinary equipment
would be issued.

These were busy days for the Minister of Militia,
and in nothing did his resourceful energy and
initiative gain the whole-hearted admiration of the
Dominion more than in the establishment of
Valcartier Camp.

While fuller experience showed that it would
have been less costly and more practical to have
mobilized and selected the western troops at some
central camp in the west, and Ontario troops at,
say, Petewawa, and to have reserved Valcartier
Camp for eastern troops only,f it has, nevertheless,
to be admitted that General Sir Sam Hughes' s
scheme appealed to the imagination. He came
swiftly to the conclusion that an assembly camp
was essential near to the port of embarkation,
selected the ground at Valcartier, which was
already under consideration for an artillery training
ground ; and realizing that this must be prepared

* The exception was made that the " Princess Pat's " should
mobilize at Ottawa.

f This, as a matter of fact, was the plan adopted in con-
nection with the assembly of subsequent contingents.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

immediately, without waiting for formalities, votes,
tenders, etc., with the approval of the Prime Minister
he secured the ground, and placed its preparation
as a camp for twenty thousand men in the hands
of the engineers and of large contractors whose
capacity for rapid and effective work was known
to him, these and the local arrangements being
under the supervision of Captain W. Price (now
Sir William Price and Honorary Lieutenant-
Colonel), a leading citizen of and late Member of
Parliament for Quebec, as his local representative.
With Colonel Price were associated Lieutenant-
Colonel H. E. Burstall (now Major-General Sir H. E.
Burstall, K.C.B.), Colonel W. McBain, and others.
It is a striking story this, of the conversion as
though by magic of a countryside largely unre-
claimed into a busy city ready to receive twenty-
five thousand inhabitants. The situation was
admirable — a gently sloping ground, in the main
sandy, with an abundant supply of water from the
Jacques Cartier river, which ran through it, and
at a day's marching distance from the port. Farm
buildings were razed, crops harvested. Hundreds
of acres of second-growth timber were attacked by
field companies from Toronto, McGill and Queen's
Universities, and, as Captain Curry puts it, "A
patch of land that one day was covered with cedars,
would next day be bare of all but the stumps, the
brushwood blazing merrily in huge fires. Next day
the stumps would be gone, and by evening the area
would be covered with tents."* Roads were made
and bridges over the river ; pavements built.

* " From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the ist Canadian
Brigade," by F. C. Curry, late Captain and Eastern Ontario
Regiment, 1916, page 32.

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

Ditching machines, each accomplishing the work
of fifty men, aided the speedy establishment of a
drainage system, for which twenty-eight thousand
drain-pipes were employed, and of a very complete
camp water-supply. When Valcartier was taken
over, Major H. M. Jacques,* of the office of the
D.G.M.S., after inspection, reported that there were
only two wells in the camp area in which the water
was possibly fit for drinking purposes, and that there
was pollution of the Jacques Cartier river higher up,
so that its water could be employed with safety
only after chlorination. The establishment of a
proper system was placed under the medical control
of Major H. A. Chisholm, P.A.M.C.,f as Sanitary
Officer, until Dr. G. G. Nasmith, of the Ontario
Provincial Board of Health, was by the Minister
appointed head of a special department in the Army,
the Hydrological Service, with the rank of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel, and placed hi charge of the water-
supply under the A.D.M.S., at the camp.t Pumps
drew the water from the intake on Jacques Cartier
river above the camp to tanks and a chlorinating
plant, where the water underwent repeated daily

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. and A.D.M.S. Military
District No. 6 (Halifax, N.S.) ; Acting D.G.M.S. Ottawa, 1914 ;
later D.A.D.M.S. and A.D.M.S. 2nd Division, C.E.F.

f Later Colonel D.A.D.M.S. ist Division, A.D.M.S. 4th
Division, and A.D.M.S. in charge of personnel in London. D.S.O.

J The wisdom of the choice was shown by Colonel Nasmith's
subsequent career. Although not a medical graduate, and at
most, therefore, attached to the C.A.M.C., Colonel Nasmith
was virtually given the position of head of the Canadian (No. 5)
Mobile Laboratory in France, and there showed himself so useful
to the Imperial authorities as a consultant in applied sanitation,
but more especially in connection with water supplies, that in
1916, after repeated mention in Dispatches, h« was awarded the
C.M.G.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tests. From here miles of pipes carried the water to
every part of the camp, so that every company had
its own ablution tables and shower baths, every
cook-house its own water-supply ; in the horse lines
troughs were supplied which filled automatically.
Incinerators were built for the destruction of refuse.
It is doubtful whether any camp in the Empire
planned and improved over years of experience
and deliberation, possessed a better sanitary system
than did this mushroom growth of a fortnight.
In addition, three miles of siding were laid down
in connection with the Canadian Northern Railway,
which skirts the camp ; electric light throughout
the camp was supplied from Quebec. The engineers
installed a field telegraph and telephone system,
and there was constructed a unique rifle range,
three and a half miles long — the longest, it may be
remarked, in the world, with targets at which men
could practise by the thousand.

Of necessity, it was a tented camp, but large
hutment buildings were rapidly raised for Head-
quarters' offices, pay, and other purposes, and for
stores — ordnance, army service, medical, etc.— -and
dry canteens (for alcohol was rigorously excluded
from the camp and district). It is interesting to
note that of these more permanent buildings the
first to be erected was the pathological laboratory,
which immediately busied itself over the water-
supply. Soon a bank and a moving-picture theatre
made their appearance, and with these the camp
reached the level demanded by modern civilization.

The response to the call for men was such that
by the middle of August the number necessary to
form a division had been exceeded by four thousand.

On August I7th, the day of the publication of the
40

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

mobilization order, troops were already beginning
to pour in. On that day there arrived 10 officers,
230 O.K., with 23 horses, of the 5th Field Ambulance
from Montreal, followed rapidly between this and
the 22nd by detachments from Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8,
9 and 10 Field Ambulances. On the 22nd there
arrived 8 officers and 41 O.K. from No. 2 Clearing
Hospital, Nova Scotia.* Day after day the sidings
were filled with troop trains and freight cars. By
the end of the month the camp was already over
full.

At the beginning of September the total number of
men under arms throughout Canada was 40,600 ;
and after consultation with Colonel V. A. S. Williams,
O.C. Valcartier, and his Staff, and the Os.C. of
the various units, Colonel Sam Hughes approved of
the reorganization of the camp and formation of a
fourth brigade.

Besides the " Princess Pat's," the number of
battalions outside the ist Division had by now been
swelled by the Royal Canadian Regiment (R.C.R.),
two cavalry regiments, namely, the Strathcona
Horse and the Royal Canadian Dragoons (R.C.D.),
the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (R.C.H.A.),
and the 2nd Field Company Engineers. Early in
September the War Office requested, in addition,
the supply of Lines of Communication units, among
which were included two General Hospitals, two
Stationary Hospitals and a Casualty Clearing
Station. And now the Dominion asked and re-
ceived willing consent to furnish an additional ten
thousand men, this number including the 4th
Brigade and these additional units — a contingent

* Valcartier Camp Orders No3. 64 and 175 of August 25th,1
1914, and August 3Oth, 1914.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

of altogether 31,200 men with 7,500 horses, and the
number still grew, until actually more than 32,000
men embarked in the Canadian Armada.

So large a camp of hastily organized units meant
abundant work for the Medical Service. Lieutenant-
Colonel H. R. Duff,* A.D.M.S. of the 3rd Division,
was appointed A.D.M.S. of the camp. Unfortu-
nately at an early stage he was thrown from his
horse and severely injured, his place being taken on
August 22nd by Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Bridges, f
A.D.M.S. 4th Montreal Division. Gathered together
rapidly and enthusiastically from all parts of the
Dominion, all who offered themselves for service
were given clearly to understand that the personnel
of the contingent would be decided at Valcartier.
Thus at Valcartier each man had to undergo a
careful physical examination before being definitely
enrolled, or, on the other hand, rejected. The
labour of examining, passing upon and filling up the
medical papers of more than thirty-two thousand
candidates may be imagined. It required the work
from morning until night of a staff of some thirty
officers and a hundred clerical orderlies,! the whole

* Lieutenant-Colonel Duff had been in South Africa, 1899-
1901, and had the Queen's Medal with four clasps. On his
recovery, he joined No. 5 General Hospital, and did excellent
service at Cairo, as Head of the Medical Service of the hospital,
until his death from pneumonia in 1916.

f Later O.C. No. 2 General Hospital, A.D.M.S. 3rd Division
at the front, A.D.M.S. Brarashott and A.D.M.S. Shorncliffe
Area.

I " Six clerks or legible penmen will be detailed from each
Provisional Battalion to report to the A.D.M.S. each morning
at 8 a.m. to aid in preparing Attestation Papers for recruiting
and records of inoculation." — Camp Orders No. 186, August 3ist,
1914.

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel A. T.
Shillington.*

Further, all who had not already conformed to the
regulations for the Expeditionary Force re vaccina-
tion against smallpox and inoculation against
typhoid fever had to undergo the necessary treat-
ment, and through the imperfection of many of the
units this entailed an extraordinary amount of
clerical work. There was no desire to submit those
already inoculated to a second treatment ; at the
same time, it was essential for the safety of the
force that none should go to the seat of war unpro-
tected against what had been two of the greatest
Army scourges. This work was under the control
of Lieutenant-Colonel Hodgetts,f assisted by a
corps of ten officers and some twenty N.C.O.'s and
men.

It is not a little interesting that the introduction
of inoculation against typhoid fever as a (prac-
tically) I compulsory measure was accepted without
serious opposition. The practice was virtually
unknown among the civil population of the
Dominion. Nor had it before the war been intro-
duced into the Militia. In the autumn of 1913

* Later O.C. No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital, A.D.M.S.
in charge of personnel in London, and O.C. Kitchener Hospital,
Brighton. Now retired.

f Lieutenant-Colonel Hodgetts had been Chief Sanitary
Officer for the Province of Ontario, and later Medical Secretary
of the Conservation Commission. Subsequently, upon the
sudden death of Lieutenant-Colonel J. Burland, Major Hodgetts
replaced him as Red Cross Commissioner in London, was pro-
moted Colonel, and awarded the C.M.G. He resigned this
position in 1918.

I The individual soldier was at liberty to refuse inoculation,
but was advised that unless inoculated he would not accom-
pany his battalion overseas.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the D.G.M.S., Colonel G. C. Jones, had been in
England at the same time as the Minister of Militia,
and had brought to the notice of Colonel Sam
Hughes the valuable work accomplished by Sir
William Leishman, R.A.M.C., in perfecting the
technique of the procedure, and the striking results
gained in the British Army. Sir Almroth Wright,
when Professor of Pathology at Netley, had origin-
ally introduced anti-typhoid inoculation as a volun-
tary method during the Boer war. In that cam-
paign the losses from typhoid (or enteric) fever
were appalling — one out of every eight of the British
soldiers in South Africa went down with the disease.
With Colonel Sir William Leishman's improved
method of preparing the vaccine, inoculation had
become as widely prevalent in the Imperial Army
as the curious distaste which exists in Great Britain
for compulsory measures of any order would allow,
and this with such good results that the more auto-
cratic United States had no hesitation in making it
compulsory for their Army and Navy. Within a
year typhoid fever was to all intents and purposes
banished from the American forces. The Minister
of Militia applied, therefore, to the War Office to
be granted temporarily the services of Sir William
Leishman, with the result that this distinguished
officer of the R.A.M.C. visited Canada in the early
spring of 1914, and, giving an admirable series of
addresses at Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, brought
well before the Canadian medical and general public
the advantages of the procedure. Thanks to this
visit the country thus was well prepared to accept
the innovation. We shall have later to demon-
strate the remarkable results obtained.
As many of the troops arrived unprovided with

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

regimental numbers, and were drafted from various
regiments into units of the Expeditionary Force,
the difficulty in tracing the papers and records of the
individual seemed at tunes almost hopeless. But,
over and above this, as drafts of various sizes came
pouring in from all over the Dominion, each accom-
panied by its medical officer, the men had to be
allocated to the battalion proper of the overseas
contingent. It will be readily grasped that as each
battalion is provided with one Regimental Medical
Officer, where a battalion was made up from two or
three militia regiments, this meant a considerable
rearrangement of medical personnel. As many of
these officers as could be spared were utilized for
medical examination of the volunteers and for
inoculation, but these were not adequate, and not
a few of the medical officers of the First Contingent,
including some of the most prominent, were mem-
bers of units in Montreal and elsewhere who had not
volunteered in the first place, but who had been
summoned to Valcartier in order to aid in the medical
examinations.

As a matter of fact, while by the mobilization order
it was directed that medical units should mobilize
at Valcartier and medical stores be issued there,
this almost from the first was found impracticable.
In the first place, as was foreseen, the Army Medical
Service appealed to a very distinct and valuable
element in the general population — to men who,
while thoughtful, and, what is more, eminently
patriotic, were not of the militant disposition,
men who, in the absence of conscription and the
long era of peace, had had no training as soldiers,
to whom, before the full realization of what this
war signified had been borne in upon us, the thought

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

of the active destruction of their fellow-men, even
for the sake of a great cause, was distinctly repug-
nant. Such men are no cowards, as has been
abundantly proved by their devoted and fearless
work as stretcher-bearers at the front, than whom
none are more exposed to bodily danger, and as
a body they have suffered heavily. Cowards !
Not merely have they suffered heavily, but there
has been a higher percentage of casualties among
the personnel of the C.A.M.C. at the Front than
in the infantry, or, indeed, any other branch of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force. Your ordinary
soldier during an engagement, save when engaged
upon an advance, has a certain degree of protec-
tion in the trenches. He is not expected to move
from his place save during that advance. The call
to the stretcher-bearer demands that he moves
irrespective of protection ; his duty is to bring in
the wounded. And nobly have our bearers worked
in the open, retrieving their wounded comrades
of other branches. Many have seemed to bear
charmed lives, working in full view of the enemy
under machine-gun and rifle fire, shell and shrapnel,
working without haste, intent upon their mission
of salvage. Many — alas, too many ! — have fallen.
But in loyalty and patriotic spirit the men of the
C.A.M.C. are not one whit behind their comrades
in the fighting line. It is merely that to men of this
order the saving of life appeals more than does the
taking. And they applied in great numbers to
join the C.A.M.C. : so much so that one regiment
alone in the middle west (the 48th Battalion) re-
ceived no less than three hundred volunteers who,
joining the C.A.M.C. in the first place, had to be
transferred as being in excess of strength. And

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

as the standards for eyesight, etc., are somewhat
lower for the medical than for the militant
branches of the Service, the country was saved
the transport of a considerable body of men
who might not have been found transferable at
Valcartier.

And, in the second place, thanks to the organiza-
tion before the war, the equipment and stores for
the Field Ambulances had already been brought
together to a very large extent in different Canadian
centres, and the plan of local mobilization had
already been worked out. It was, therefore, much
more practical to mobilize a western medical unit
at Winnipeg, an Ontario unit at Toronto, and ; i
eastern unit at Valcartier.

Thus it was that the Officers and personnel of
No. i Field Ambulance were drawn from medical
units in Eastern Canada — i.e., the Maritime Pro-
vinces, the Province of Quebec and Ontario up to
and including Kingston, and came under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Ross,* the
Senior Medical Officer in this area, who had been
Mayor of Kingston and Member of the Ontario Parlia-
ment. Major R. P. Campbell and his unit (No. 5
Field Ambulance) were at first attached to this,
but later he and many of the officers and personnel
were transferred to No. i General Hospital. No. 2
Field Ambulance was drawn from Central Canada
— i.e., from Ontario, with the exception of the
Kingston and Ottawa districts, Lieutenant-Colonel
D. W. McPherson,f of Toronto, being placed in

* At Valcartier, President, Standing Medical Board. Now
Brigadier-General, D.M.S. Canadian Section, G.H.Q., France.

| Now Colonel and C.M.G. Officer in charge of the Ontario
Military Hospital, Orpington.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

command, while Lieutenant-Colonel W. L. Watt,*
of Winnipeg, commanded No. 3 Field Ambulance,
which was mobilized at Winnipeg with officers and
personnel drawn from Western Canada. This
arrived at Valcartier on September ist as a complete
unit with stores and equipment.

When the Lines of Communication units were
authorized, those volunteering for service from the
two clearing hospitals, No. I from Toronto, under
the charge of Captain C. E. Cooper Cole, and No. 2
brought from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, under the
charge of Major F. S. C. Ford.t were largely amal-
gamated (on September 3rd, 1914), and sent to the
front as No. I Canadian Casualty Clearing Station,
under the command of Major Ford, Captain Cole
being transferred to No. 2 General Hospital. The
necessary general and stationary hospitals were
formed de novo from men who had volunteered from
the various medical units throughout Canada. No. I
General Hospital had as its basis the volunteers,
officers and men from No. 5 Field Ambulance, Mont-
real, brought to camp by Major R. P. Campbell, who
was given temporary charge of the unit until
Lieutenant-Colonel Murray MacLarent was ap-
pointed O.C. The majority of the officers and men
of No. 2 General Hospital, drawn from this general
list were from Toronto and other parts of Ontario.

* Now Colonel, C.M.G. O.C. Granville Canadian Special
Hospital, Ramsgate, 1915; A.D.M.S. London Area, and O.C.
Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Taplow,
1917; A.D.M.S. Seaford, 1918.

t Now Colonel and C.M.G. A.D.M.S. ist Division, until
seriously wounded in June, 1917. At present Inspector of
Military Hospitals, Maritime Provinces.

{ Now Colonel, C.M.G. D.D.M.S. in London, 1916; O.C.
Granville Canadian Special Hospital,

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

At first, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Bridges, when this officer was appointed A.D.M.S.
Valcartier, the command fell temporarily to Major
R. L. Gardiner, of Ottawa, reverting to Colonel
Bridges when the troops went overseas.* Similarly,
as regards the stationary hospitals, the draft from
No. 4 Field Ambulance from Montreal afforded a
basis, with Major Hanford McKeej of that unit as
O.C. No. 2 Stationary Hospital was brought
together from the General List, and Major McKelvey
Belli was placed in temporary command, delivering
up the position later to Lieutenant-Colonel
Shillington.

There ensued, in fact, a period of rearrangement.
Officers in the prime of youth belonging to the con-
verted field ambulance units were transferred to
their appropriate positions as Regimental Medical
Officers : men of older standing who in their
patriotism had accompanied the overseas drafts
from their old regiments, found themselves removed
to base hospitals units, where they would be of
greater service. And when this had been accom-
plished, the modified units had to be trained, and
as the particular aptitude of particular individuals —
or want of aptitude — revealed itself, a process of
culling and frequent rearrangement was under-

* Many of these officers of the two General Hospitals were
practitioners who had not originally volunteered, but who had
been called to Valcartier to assist in the physical examination
of the recruits.

t Now Colonel and C.M.G. O.C. Westcliffe Canadian Eye
and Ear Hospital. Major McKee had been in charge of No. i
Camp Hospital at Valcartier, and later of the Ambulance Train.

I M.O. 5th Dragoon Guards* Ottawa. Later A/D.D.G.M.S.
Ottawa, and A.D.M.S. 6th District. Now on the Staff of the
Canadian Invalid Soldiers' Commission.

49 4

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

taken, with the object of gaining the right man
in the right place, and a maximum of efficiency.
In this way members of medical units from all
parts of the Dominion found positions, whether
as Regimental Medical Officers or as members of
the staffs of field ambulances of hospitals. Of the
two field ambulances first called up, No. 9, from
Prince Edward's Island, in command of Major Yeo,
opened up an improvised camp hospital at Val-
cartier for the treatment of local sick. These two
units having been called up and not having volun-
teered, when the camp became organized, the
hospital was taken over by No. 5 Field Ambulance
from Montreal, and this unit was returned to its
base. The other, No. 7 Field Ambulance from
Quebec, under Major Percy Wright,* which had
been doing duty at Lever's Camp, volunteered almost
intact.

THE CROSSING

To convoy across an ocean in one body an army
of thirty-three thousand men was an undertaking
of a magnitude greater than had ever hitherto
been attempted. In the Crimea Great Britain
at no time had more than twenty-five thousand
men ; France had a larger number, but these arrived
piecemeal over safe seas without a sign of the enemy.
In South Africa, similarly, troops arrived in detail
from Great Britain and India, Australasia and
Canada. Napoleon made preparations to convoy
100,000 men across the twenty-five miles which
separate France from England, but never convoyed

* Now Colonel. Later O.C. No. i Field Ambulance,
D.A.D.M.S. and A.D.M.S. ist Division. D.S.O.

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

them ; Trafalgar made him desist. The only com-
parable undertaking is the Spanish Armada three
centuries and more ago, with 21,627 troops on
board some 132 ships of a total of over 60,000 tons,
for that period an adventure of even greater mag-
nitude, but as disastrous as it was notable.*

The Canadian Armada, on the other hand, was
both notable and favoured by fortune. But it was
an adventure on a huge scale, requiring ample and
most careful preparation. To requisition and
employ for one purpose thirty-two great ocean liners
was in itself an indication of the resources of the
Empire : to shepherd them in perfect order and
without a mishap across three thousand miles of
ocean speaks volumes for both the navy which
marshalled them and the mercantile marine in
charge of the individual ships. Even if at this early
period of the war the seas had been swept clear of
German warships (which was not the case), there
was always the sudden peril of the mine and the
submarine. The collection of the liners in Canadian
waters had to proceed cautiously ; the rendezvous
could not be divulged, nor again the date of sailing,
while in addition the Admiralty had to make the
convoying arrangements. The wonder is that in
the time afforded the arrangements were so perfect.
With no advertisement throughout Canada, day
after day during the last week of September, troops
marched from Valcartier to Quebec in the order of

* The convoy of the First Contingent from the United States
did not, we believe, greatly exceed 20,000 men. We possess no
figures for the convoys of 1918, but some of them, utilizing the
great commandeered German liners, filled to the brim with
troops, will probably have exceeded in numbers the First
Canadian Contingent.

5i 4*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

their embarkation, they and their stores were
expeditiously embarked, and liner after liner dropped
quietly down the river to the place of rendezvous,
until upon October 3rd each vessel had been given
its appointed place in Gasp6 Basin, and thirty-one
vessels in all were collected, with five accompanying
war vessels.

This, however, is not a general history of the war ;
these matters are but mentioned to indicate the
profound impression made upon every medical
unit that was privileged to be part of the great
convoy. The many diaries that have come into
my hands show that the two incidents which had
the greatest appeal were the quiet assemblage of
the liners in the beautiful Gaspe" Basin, and the
ordered departure from the bay.

The medical units accompanying the First Con-
tingent were the following : No. i Canadian Field
Ambulance, O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Ross
(of Kingston, Ontario) ; No. 2 Canadian Field
Ambulance, O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel D. W.
McPherson (of Toronto) ; No. 3 Canadian Field
Ambulance, O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel W. L. Watt
(of Winnipeg) ; No. I Canadian Casualty Clearing
Station, O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel F. S. C. Ford (of New
Germany, N.S.) ; No. i Canadian General Hospital,
O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel Murray MacLaren (of
St. John, N.B.) ; No. 2 Canadian General Hospital,
O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Bridges, P.A.M.C. ;
No. i Canadian Stationary Hospital, O.C. Lieu-
tenant-Colonel L. Drum, P.A.M.C. ; No. 2 Canadian
Stationary Hospital, O.C. Lieutenant-Colonel A. T.
Shillington (Ottawa).

Just as the D.G.A.M.S. in England, Sir Arthur
Sloggett, found it essential to accompany the

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

British forces overseas to Flanders, there to super-
intend an organization which had not been tested
in any great war, so was it necessary for the
D.G.M.S. Canadians to control the organization
for which he had been so largely responsible, an
organization which during the last seven years had
been developed under his supervision. There was
no other officer in the Service with the same intimate
knowledge of the personnel of the various units and
the capacity of individual officers ; no one, again,
so fully conversant with the medical staff at the
War Office, and the methods of the Royal Army
Medical Corps. It was far from being realized at
this period what developments would take place,
and that once overseas the expansion of the Service
would be so great that a permanent Canadian
Central Staff would inevitably have to be formed
in England.

At Valcartier Colonel Jones, regarded as being
in temporary medical charge of a division, reverted,
when it was decided that he should accompany it
overseas, to the status of A.D.M.S., with Lieutenant-
Colonel G. L. Foster,* late A.D.M.S. 2nd District
(Toronto) as D.A.D.M.S.j Nevertheless, from the
moment that Lines of Communication units were
authorized, Colonel Jones had medical charge of
more than a division, and the moment he reached
England, dealing directly with the War Office, he
had to assume the responsibilities of a Director of
Medical Services. This was fully recognized by
the authorities there, and, as a matter of fact, his

* Now Major-General and D.G.M.S., O.M.F.C., C.B., succeed-
ing General G. C. Jones. At Valcartier Colonel Foster had been
Chief Instructor, A.M.C. See also note, p. 115.

t Militia Order (Canada), No. 463, October t4th, 1914.
53

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C

promotion to Surgeon-General and appointment as
D.M.S. was dated from September 2ist, 1914. In
the same order and from the same date Lieutenant-
Colonel G. L. Foster, P.A.M.C., was appointed
A. D.M.S. ist Canadian Contingent, and Major
H. A. Chisholm D.A.D.M.S.*

In the absence of Colonel Carleton Jones, Major
Jacques, of the P.A.M.C., was appointed Acting
D.G.M.S. at Ottawa.

The passage was necessarily slow, the speed of the
convoy as a whole being attuned to that of the
weaker members, one or two of whom could with
difficulty muster just under ten knots. To those
accustomed to the Atlantic crossing the outstanding
feature was the abundant exercise enforced — drills,
games, marches and runs at stated periods. Thus,
to quote the private War Diary of Captain P. G.
Bell,f of the 3rd Field Ambulance, which crossed on
board the Tunisian :

" 28.9.14. Have moved down to Rimouski by
easy stages. . . . Regular drills now at 10 a.m.
and 2 p.m. with physical exercises, marches and
runs about the deck. We have established our
tent division on board and taken over the ship's
dispensary. Sick parade 9 a.m., lectures to the
men daily on First Aid, etc. Food is very good on
board.

" 30.9.14. Vaccination still hi progress — did
ninety-eight to-day myself. There are no ' con-

* Orders by Lieutenant-General E. A. Alderson, C.B,, Com-
manding ist Canadian Contingent, No. 1009, of January 24th,
1915.

f Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O., four time* mentioned in
Dispatches ; O.C. No. 12 Canadian Field Ambulance,

THE ASSEMBLY AT VALCARTIER

scientious objectors.' . . .Inoculation for typhoid
was voluntary, but nearly all not already inoculated
accepted it, the insertion of some five hundred
million little corpses into their bodies apparently
not worrying them very much.

" 1.10.14. Several of us are making a practice
of taking a mile run every night at 6 p.m. (fourteen
tunes round upper deck). We come down and
tumble into a hot bath before dressing, which is all
very nice, and is gradually, I think, getting us
pretty fit. I am getting infinitely more exercise
than I ever did on shipboard before. The men
are marched and doubled about the deck for an
hour daily, as well as having physical exercises."

But otherwise on the whole the seas were quiet,
and the voyage was singularly uneventful. Land's
End was sighted and passed during the forenoon
of the I4th, and that afternoon the transports, all
in battle grey, and now in a double line, ran in to
Plymouth Harbour, rounding the point and past
the Hoe with its memories of Francis Drake and that
other Armada of centuries ago, and so they moved
up the river to Devonport, and that same evening
found all moored two by two to buoys at the
Hamoaze, over against Devonport.

And here in the Hamoaze there was for many
eager spirits a painful pause, for Plymouth, while
welcoming the Canadians with the utmost cordiality,
was unprepared for an invasion upon so large a scale.
As a matter of fact, Southampton had been the
original destination, but rumours of submarines
lying in wait off that port caused a change at the
last moment. The dockage space was small, and
much naval work was in progress which was im-

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

perative, and could not be interfered with. Many
days elapsed before the last transport came along-
side and discharged its contents. It was, for
example, five days before the Tunisian, with the
3rd Field Ambulance on board, landed its troops,
and a week before the 2nd Stationary Hospital
found itself entraining at Plymouth for Lavington
and Salisbury Plain.

.
/; / / xx

-t"' \ \ J

/ V 7/Xs>6<:/'/'{/V\C<5S«s*EU

.67.

CHAPTER III

SALISBURY PLAIN

To those Canadians who have not been overseas,
Salisbury Plain, as seen from the uplands, may best
be likened to the rolling, grass-covered country
stretching around Calgary, at the foot of the foot-
hills proper, that is, when seen with the back turned
to the Rockies — for here are no distant, snow-clad
peaks, but in every direction is a wide horizon.
Descend into the valleys and a very different
impression is gained. Here nestle little, old-world
English villages, with elm-shaded thatched cottages,
and even thatched farmyard walls built of clunch
— i.e., of chalk some four feet or so in thickness, with
strengthening courses of brick ; old Queen Anne
and Georgian manor houses which, were they in
the eastern states, we would call colonial ; old
gabled inns with swinging signboards and low-
raftered rooms — villages which are mellowing into
a gentle decay. For Wiltshire is an agricultural
county that has not kept up with the march of the
rest of the world, and its agricultural labourers
have had the reputation of being more poorly
paid than those in any part of Great Britain. All
lads of spirit have migrated to the towns or across
the ocean, leaving behind the old and the very
young, and those who find content in continuing

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

ways of life that satisfied their forefathers. But
each cottage has its little well-cared-for garden, and
somehow the villages give the impression of the
simple life rather than of poverty, or, if of poverty,
then of a poverty that respects and will not flaunt
itself. The plain is curiously old world. Nowhere,
save perhaps in Brittany, are to be found more
abundant prehistoric remains — dolmens and crom-
lechs, long barrows and round barrows, camps,
earthworks, dykes and roads, remains of neolithic
man, of Druids, Romans and Saxons. Stonehenge
is but one of many memorials of a distant past.

The plain covers a stretch of country some
twenty-five miles from east to west, by fifteen miles
from north to south. It is watered, and poorly
watered at that, by five streams* which, distributed
like the fingers of the outstretched hand, converge
and join at or near Salisbury, which thus is the
natural capital of the district, the centre to which
all the main valleys trend.

The rolling downs, devoid of fields and fences,
and the diminishing population, make this an ideal
ground for camps and army manoeuvres and
exercises, and as such they have of late years been
employed by the British Army. There is a pre-war
cavalry school at Netheravon, and the least popu-
lated district to the north has been employed for
artillery, with heavy gun and other ranges. It
was in this area that the Canadians were camped.

Yet it has its disadvantages, as our Canadians
were soon to experience. This undulating " down "

* As witness the many villages of Winterbourne — Winter-
bourne Stoke, Winterbourne Dauntsey, Winterbourne Earls and
Winterbourne Gunner on the Bourne— all placed upon streams
which run dry in summer.

SALISBURY PLAIN

country is, geologically speaking, situated upon the
chalk, a formation of which we have little or no
knowledge in Canada. Perchance it was useful
for us to become accustomed to it, since the forma-
tion extends over southern and eastern England,
from Wiltshire on the west and Cambridgeshire to
the north, across the Channel over northern France
down to the Somme and the Champagne district.
It makes for thin if not poor soil ; the chalk is
covered by a clayey compost from eight to eighteen
inches in depth, with intermingled fragments of
flint, and this pulverizes into abundant whitish
dust in dry weather, and in wet weather, since the
water does not permeate the underlying chalk, it
forms, when " puddled " by the feet of marching
men, a most appalling quagmire — a mud through
which one sinks it may be up to the knees, until
brought to by the terra firma of the underlying chalk.
That mud will remain a memory with the men of
the First Contingent until their dying day — will,
in fact, be the main memory of Salisbury Plain.

Most of the Canadians arrived at Lavington or
Patney, or other stations on the outskirts of the
Plain, in the early hours of the morning, and
marched thence into camp through darkness. There
at West Down North, in the reserved artillery area,
medical units found the tents already pitched, put
up by the British Army Service in expectation of
their arrival. And now followed a winter of steady
training — and yet more steady raining.

As for the training, the men were drilled, weather
or no ; were given route marches, even though the
Canadian pattern army boot had not been built
in anticipation of British rain and Wiltshire mud ;
they took part in concentration schemes, bivouacs

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

and manoeuvres, now here, now there, over the
plain. The Field Ambulance units went through
the familiar routine in unfamiliar surroundings.
There was not an officer of the three units who was
not a trained member of the C.A.M.C., conversant
with the field exercises of the annual camps. The
same was true of most of the non-commissioned
officers and of a large number of the rank and file.
The personnel had been carefully selected. Now
they found themselves, tent, bearer and transport
sections, drilled and exercised and route-marched
here and there over the Plain — marching to Salis-
bury with transport and equipment, the bearers
acting as patients ; or, again, they marched to
Black Copse supposedly with the advanced guard,
and the bearers were sent forward with their
stretchers ; an Advanced Dressing Station was
opened up, and the tents pitched by the tent
division as a Main Dressing Station further back ;
the cooks, too, being exercised, taking out the
field kitchen and feeding the unit. In each camp
to which they were attached they ran a Medical
Detention Room in two or three hutments, for the
treatment of mild and transient cases — cases under
suspicion, or not deemed sufficiently serious to be
sent to the main military hospital and struck off
the strength.

The original arrangement with the Imperial
authorities had been that the latter would care for
cases of serious sickness and casualties occurring in
the contingent, either in the Military Hospital at
Tidworth, on the eastern border of the Plain, or in
the General Infirmary at Salisbury to the south.
This plan was defeated by the heavy influx of
wounded from Flanders after the First Battle of

SALISBURY PLAIN

Ypres. Like all the other large hospitals in the
south of England, Salisbury Infirmary had little
accommodation to spare. It was decided, therefore,
to utilize one of the Canadian General Hospitals as
a camp hospital, only the most serious cases being
sent to Tidworth and Salisbury, infectious cases to
the Salisbury Isolation Hospital, and mental cases
to the district asylum. No. 2 General Hospital,
which had been the first to arrive on the Plain, had
opened a camp hospital in the tents provided
immediately upon arrival at West Down North,
utilizing equipment lent by the 3rd Field Ambu-
lance, their own stores being still at Plymouth.
In the last week of October this was taken over by
No. i and greatly enlarged.* In a week the
marquees were full and more accommodation was
needed. Next, owing to the wet and inclement
weather, every endeavour was made by the camp
authorities to get the patients under shelter. Several
houses were secured along the valley of the Avon :
Bulford Manor, a fine old seventeenth century
mansion ; three commodious cottages, just com-
pleted for the use of officers of the Bulford Camp,
and Ablingdon House, the residence of General
Vaughan, which was most generously placed at the

* The orders were that No. 2 General Hospital should run
the Camp Hospital, but, receiving a " rush " order and working
at night, the officer in charge of the hospital stores forwarded
the equipment of No. i Hospital out of the warehouse instead
of that of No. 2. This latter unit has vivid memories of being
landed from the Franconia and rushed to a waiting train at the
beginning of nightfall, dumped at one o'clock in the cold, foggy
morning at the little country station of Lavington with only
their private kits, and of the eight miles' march through the night
to West Down North, guided by a policeman on a tricycle. They
thought the Fates somewhat spiteful in these early days.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

disposal of the Canadian authorities by that dis
tinguished officer. Many Canadians have grateful
recollections of the care and attention bestowed
upon them by Mrs. Vaughan. Somewhat later
Figheldean House was taken over for convalescent
patients.

It was on November 6th that Bulford Manor
became the Headquarters of No. i Canadian
General Hospital. Here was accommodation for
sixty cases, under Lieutenant-Colonel K. Cameron,*
head of the Surgical Service, with two rooms
admirably adapted for surgical operations and
preparation for the same. The accommodation
soon became taxed to the utmost ; one of the
cottages was used as a residence for the nursing
sisters, the other two for medical patients under
the charge of Lieutenant-Colonel F. G. Finley.f
In one of them rooms were set aside for the labora-
tory. On the Bulford cricket ground adjoining
tents were erected, their number being augmented
from time to time.

With this rapid enlargement and increase in the
scope of the camp hospital, the personnel of No. I
General was reinforced by a few officers and almost
all the N.C.O.'s and men of No. 2 General. A few
officers, N.C.O.'s and men remained in charge of
a small hospital at Lavington on the western border
of the Plain, but the greater number of the officers
of this unit proceeded to France, there to be distri-
buted amongst the British hospitals until such time

* Now Colonel, C.M.G. Later O.C. No. 2 Canadian General
Hospital ; A.D.M.S. Bramshott Camp. At present O.C.
Military Hospital, St. Anne's, Quebec.

f Now Colonel, C.B. ; one of the two Canadian Medical
Consultants in Great Britain, returning to Canada, October, 1918.

SALISBURY PLAIN

as the unit as a whole should become established
there.

With the appearance of sporadic cases of cerebro-
spinal fever one of the commodious cottages was
taken over by No. i General as an isolation hospital,
and, as the condition demanded every care, the
laboratory was installed in the adjoining cottage,
with Captain A. Rankin* and Captain A. W. M. Ellisf
in charge, working hi co-operation with Dr. Ark-
wright, of the Lister Institute. Next, early in
December, Figheldean House was taken over as an
auxiliary hospital. At Christmas the number of
patients under treatment exceeded one thousand.
But, hi six weeks, what with the flooded condition
of Bulford and the increase in the number of cases,
the accommodation provided proved inadequate,
and the main hospital was moved to the Cavalry
School at Netheravon, leaving the venereal section
at Bulford. By the beginning of February the
hospital had charge of twelve hundred patients.
Altogether while on Salisbury Plain No. i General
Hospital received and treated 3,993 patients, of
whom 1,249 were venereal and 46 cerebro-spinal
fever, with a death-roll of 69, one-third of which
was due to cerebro-spinal fever.t Seven deaths

* Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Rankin, Professor of
Pathology at the University of Alberta, had previously a wide
experience in epidemiology as chief bacteriologist in Siam.
Later attached Canadian Corps H.Q.R., and O.C. No. 7 Canadian
Cavalry Field Ambulance. He is now O.C. Canadian Convales-
cent Hospital for Officers, Matlock Bath.

f Now Majo.- O.C. No. 5 Mobile Laboratory in France.

J On May nth, two days before leaving the Plain for France.
No. i General Hospital paraded to place flowers upon the graves
of the dead Canadian soldiers, who were buried — thirty-one at
Bulford, ten in Netheravon churchyard and one in Durrington
churchyard. Neat wooden crosses, painted white and inscribed

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

had been from a virulent form of broncho-pneu-
monia, of which there had been fifteen cases.

With the Canadian troops scattered across the
Plain from Pond Farm and West Down North on
the west to Tidworth in the east, and the hospital
detachments and auxiliaries similarly scattered
in different villages over an area some nine miles
across, not only were the administrative difficulties
very great, but the admission and evacuation of
patients was a constant source of great trouble.
The number of ambulances was restricted, and of
the three at the disposal of the unit, owing to the
wretched state of the roads brought about by the
heavy motor-lorry traffic and the continued wet
weather, it generally happened that two were under
repair. But for the co-operation of the Divisional
Ammunition Park at Netheravon, and the motor
transport afforded by them, it would not have
been possible to " carry on." Despite all these
difficulties, the unit under Colonel MacLaren worked
with a will and proved itself most effective.

As for the raining — there was a downpour so per-
sistent that the oldest inhabitants remembered
nothing to compare with it. The brooks overflowed
and ran surly down the valley roads, expanding
here and there into lakes ; the tent floors were

with the name and battalion of each soldier, had been placed at
the head of each grave, and a plan of the graves was sent to the
Canadian Record Office in London. Nine days earlier a tablet to
the memory of Captain lngl/s^ Chaplain to No. i General Hospital,
erected by his brother officers of that unit, had been formally
unveiled in the beautiful old parish church of Bulford. Captain
Inglis, a fine example of an army chaplain, manly, open and
devoted to the men under his care, had died of cerebro-spinal
fever, contracted in the discharge of his duties while visiting the
sick.

SALISBURY PLAIN

morasses ; it was impossible to keep dry. The
rainfall for the month of December was the highest
in fifty years, namely, 6.34 inches. The nearest
approach was 6.25 inches in December, 1876.
Colonel Bridges informs me that out of seventy-five
days, there were only five upon which it did not
rain. If our officers found that rubber boots rising
above the knees did not always protect them, the
predicament of our nursing sisters passing over the
quagmire from tent to tent, or from tents to
quarters, was at times piteous. But the extra-
ordinary part was that the troops appeared, despite
the discomfort, to thrive upon it. The whole con-
tingent, one would have thought, ought to have
been down with rheumatic fever : but rheumatic
fever was almost unknown. The open-air life,
good food and abundant exercise kept the men in
excellent health, until, after some six weeks, the
discomfort of tent life and the increasing cold
of winter induced the authorities to replace the
tents by hutments, and then promptly influenza
and throat troubles spread through the contingent.
I cannot in this respect do better than quote from
the report of a Regimental Medical Officer, Captain
H. E. MacDermot,* M.O. ist Reserve Ammunition
Park:

" Our stay here lasted nearly six months, and in
that time we lived under very varying conditions.
But the most marked feature was the extremely
heavy and persistent rain, which lasted from
November to March with practically no intermission.
The consequent discomfort was all that might be
expected, especially during the first six weeks when
we were housed in very poor tents. In November

* Now Major, No. 2 Canadian General Hospital.

65 5

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

our unit was moved into wooden huts and con-
ditions were then a little better, but the encamp-
ment was still in process of building and so was very
incomplete. . . . The food was always good and
plentiful, and canteens for extras were within reach.
There were, however, very few, if any, means of
recreation, and this aggravated the tendency to
excess of one or other order. ... It is a little
remarkable that under the conditions of wet and
exposure there was no serious impairment of the
health of the men. But I believe that the explana-
tion of this lay partly in the exposure itself. It is
noteworthy and beyond question the case that what
illness there was increased at once and rapidly when
the men moved into huts, with the attendant evils
of accumulation of dust and insufficiency of fresh
air. The huts, too, for a good portion of the time
were overcrowded, and the comparative segregation
of illness provided by the tents was largely lost
by the crowding together in one hut of a number
of men previously scattered through five or six
tents.

" As might have been expected, the illnesses of the
men were chiefly in connection with the respiratory
system. A type of influenza developed, the worst
feature being an extremely persistent and trouble-
some cough. There would be fairly high tempera-
ture, pains in the back and limbs and general malaise ;
but this stage usually passed in three or four days,
leaving the cough, which often lasted for weeks. . . .

" The one case of cerebro-spinal meningitis which
occurred in the Park (it terminated fatally) developed
in Tidworth Barracks a couple of months after we
had moved there from the huts at Sling Plantation,
where the epidemic of this disease amongst the

SALISBURY PLAIN

surrounding battalions was at its worst. All pre-
cautions for isolation of the ' contacts ' of this
case were taken, and bacteriological examinations
of their nasal passages were made. Three of the
men so examined proved positive for the germ of
the disease for a time, and were isolated and treated
until their throat passages were found free from
the germ.

" There were no cases of intestinal disease of any
note. But in the latter end of January and the
beginning of February there was a great number of
cases of transient subacute enteritis. These occurred
so frequently in a short space of time that I could
only assume one common cause, such as faulty
food or uncleanliness of cooking utensils. Close
investigation, however, showed nothing of the sort.
In every case the diarrhoea and coh'cky pains were
checked quite easily by means of castor oil ; but
at first the symptoms were always quite sudden and
acute. One could not even say that the weather
conditions at the time were any colder and damper
than usual."

In view of the publicity already given to these
subjects, it is necessary to note in fuller detail
two matters connected with the health of the
Canadian troops at Salisbury Plain — namely, the
outbreak of cerebro-spinal fever and the venereal
situation.

Cerebro-spinal fever (epidemic cerebro-spinal
meningitis, or spotted fever) is a disease which, only
recognized' for the last hundred years or so, has
been characterized by appearing in an epidemic
form at ? irregular intervals. Years may elapse
during which in any given city not a case is reported,
and then the disease may carry off large numbers of

67 5*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

young children, together with occasional adults.
This may continue for one, two or more years,
generally dying down until again no more cases
are reported, or a very occasional sporadic case.
What is remarkable is that the disease has broken
out among the soldiery in every modern war, as
again that local epidemics have frequently been
recorded in barracks in times of peace.

Now cerebro-spinal fever was reported from
several parts of Canada in the autumn of 1914 ;
four cases occurred at Valcartier in September,
and despite all care there in isolating those who had
come into contact with the patients, three cases
showed themselves on the convoy ; two were
soldiers, the other a ship steward's clerk. After
arrival, seven cases were reported up to November
24th, scattered through the different battalions at
Bustard Camp and West Down South, but there
was no spread ; on the contrary, for a period of
three weeks, up to December I3th, not a single
case was reported. Evidently the life in the open
all day and in tents through the night arrested the
disease. With the transfer to huts early in
December it broke out again ; there were fourteen
cases in the second half of December, and ten of
the fourteen were fatal. At this period every detail
of happenings at Salisbury Plain was cabled to
Canada, and when towards Christmas time reports
of death from meningitis appeared in all Canadian
journals day after day, the impression spread abroad
that there was a grave epidemic ; as a matter of
fact, thanks to the precautions taken, the total
number of cases in the thirty-three thousand men
of the First Contingent from the time of its arrival
to its departure Irom the Plain, did not exceed

SALISBURY PLAIN

thirty-nine, though of these twenty-eight were
fatal cases.*

With great willingness the Lister Institute placed
one of its experts, Dr. Arkwright, at the disposal
of the Canadian authorities. In the first week
of January a laboratory fully equipped was estab-
lished in a cottage at Bulford, and here a staff of
well-trained Canadian Medical Officers assisted
Dr. Arkwright in making a thorough bacteriological
study of the cases — and, what is equally important,
of the contacts. It has been proved that when the
disease becomes epidemic, certain individuals,
themselves showing no indication of the disease,
may harbour the meningococcus (the causative agent)
in their throats for a year and more, and may thus
be the innocent instruments of conveyance of the
disease to others, in whom the organisms no longer
multiply passively on the moist surface of the
throat and upper nasal passages, but gain admission
to the tissues and body fluids, take an active growth
and set up the disease. It is necessary, therefore,
to detect these " carriers," for by isolating them as
well as those succumbing to the disease, the spread
can be arrested.

Now here are the interesting points about the
Salisbury Plain cases. In barrack epidemics which
have been studied in Germany, as many as ten
carriers have been found among sixteen soldiers
occupying the same room, and forty-two carriers
among 485 men in the same battalion ; indeed, it
has not been uncommon to find from ten to thirteen

* Other sporadic cases occurred among the remaining
Canadians and at the Training Depot after the ist Division left,
so that, from the weeks ending October 24th to May ist, there
was a total of fifty cases with thirty-six deaths.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

per cent, of " carriers " among soldiers occupying
the same room.*

The cases on the Plain, on the other hand, were
widely scattered. Of the forty, ten are recorded
as occurring at Sling Plantation, ten at Lark Hill,
four at Bustard Camp, two at West Down North,
five at West Down South, and others elsewhere.
Eighteen different units contributed cases, the
highest number contributed by any one unit being
six in the iyth Battalion. In this battalion alone
was there anything that could be said to approach
a regimental epidemic ; but even then these six
cases all occurred during the second fortnight of
December : there were no further cases ; the
resolute precautions taken stopped the spread.
As a matter of fact, all the evidence at our disposal
shows that we had not to deal with the usual room
infection. Dr. Arkwright pointed out in his report
to the D.M.S. that of 349 " contacts " examined
(sisters who had nursed cases, men who had slept
in huts along with a recent case of meningitis, etc.),
345 afforded a negative result, and only four a
positive ; that is to say, afforded growths of menin-

* In the Salisbury epidemic of 1915 — i.e.., among cases in
the city of Salisbury and on the Plain ( exclusive of the Canadian
troops) — Lieutenant Johnston found :

Number of Number of Number of Percentage of

cases. contacts. positives. positives.

February.... 16 246 33 13.4

March 12 318 77 24.2

April 9 304 32 10.4

In married quarters t (same room) of 43 contacts, 8 afforded
positive results — i.e., 20.9 per cent. ; in hutments, 453 contacts
gave 89 positives, or 19.6 per cent. Vide National Health
Insurance " Report of Special Advisory Committee upon
Cerebro-Spinal Fever," London, 1916, p. 37.

SALISBURY PLAIN

gococci from their throats — a percentage of 1.12.
Actually a higher percentage was obtained from
the throats of non-contacts.* " The low propor-
tion of carriers detected at Bulford would suggest
that the cases of meningitis did net, as a lule, result
from infection in the sleeping room, but from
carriers with whom the case of meningitis came into
contact elsewhere." At most, the transfer to huts
with their poorer ventilation predisposed the men
to infection. It is not improbable that the crowded
canteens were implicated, and that the disease was
conveyed through partially rinsed mugs and glasses.
I am informed by Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong,
the Director of Canadian Dental Services, that at
Witley Camp there has been a striking reduction
in the number of cases of another infectious disorder
known as Trench mouth (ulcer ative stomatitis], since
the order was put into force that in public drinking-
places every glass or mug after use has its edge
dipped momentarily into boiling water, and this in
the presence of the customers. This order is
enforced not only in canteens, but in the inns and
bars of the neighbourhood, such drinking-places as
have not installed the simple apparatus necessitated
being placed out of bounds. Food utensils also arc
now well sterilized, and this, too, must exert a good
effect.

What, for Canadian amour propre, is more irri-
tating is that coincidently " spotted fever " was
reported as breaking out in other parts of England.
It was natural that the ordinary public should
jump to the conclusion that the First Canadian

* Later figures confirmed these findings ; thus during January,
out of 571 contacts and 662 non-contacts examined, the former
afforded only 0.35 per cent, of carriers, the latter 4.8 per cent.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Contingent had introduced the disease, and was
responsible ; it is regrettable that the Special Ad-
visory Committee by the unhappy wording of their
report should without adducing adequate evidence,
seem to support this suggestion.*

For what are the facts ? Cerebro-spinal fever
had been setting up minor epidemics for some
years, more particularly in southern and south
central England ; in Ireland, at Belfast (1906-08)
there had been a severe epidemic. In 1910 there
was an outbreak in the Nottingham district ; six
out of eleven cases studied in the city and suburbs
of Nottingham itself were shown to be " spotted

* " Report of the Special Advisory Committee upon Bacterio-
logical Studies of Cerebro-Spinal Fever during the Epidemic
of 1915," London, 1916, p. 50 :

" The reports from the Salisbury Plain area suggest, not,
indeed, that the Canadians imported a new disease into this
country, for we have always had it with us in a sporadic form,
but that they did introduce a virulent strain of the menin-
gococcus, and were in some degree responsible for its spread."

As a matter of fact, there is no evidence that the Canadians
introduced a particular strain of meningococcus, or that the
strains isolated from Canadian cases differed in any particular
from the strains obtained from purely British cases ; the strains
were found to be identical in their properties. Nor was the
mortality among those affected at Salisbury Plain greater than
that in outbreaks in other parts of England, in which the
Canadians were found innocent of responsibility. As to the
degree of Canadian responsibility, this ought not to have been
even hinted at in an official document unless it had been clearly
determined and had been found to be serious. In the course of
the very same paragraph quoted from, the Advisory Committee
admits that Lieutenant Johnston, who studied the one particular
area where it was most likely that the Canadians were implicated
— namely, Salisbury and Salisbury Plain — reported that " the
three first cases of the disease on the plain were in Canadians,
in October and November, 1914 ; but that only in 18 per cent,
of the other 65 cases could even probable association with
Canadians be traced " — i.e., that the degree of responsibility
of the Canadians was as 1 8 is to 82 !

SALISBURY PLAIN

fever " by the recognition of the organisms in the
spinal fluid.*

And the disease was spreading, so that in Sep-
tember, 1912, cerebro-spinal fever was at last
added to the list of compulsorily notifiable diseases
in every sanitary district of the British Isles, f and
from September ist to the end of the year 104 cases
were notified, in 1913, 305, and in 1914, 315.

Coming to 1914, in the autumn cases were being
reported as follows :t

ENGLAND AND WALES

Number of cases notified each week (not including
patients from overseas) :

CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER
1914.

WEEK ENDING MILITARY. CIVIL.

September 26th — i

October 3rd — 3

October loth — 7

October ijth — 2

October 24th i 5

October 3 ist 2 6

November 7th i 2

November I4th i 2

November 2 ist 3 i

November 28th 3 5

December 5th i —

December 1 2th 3 i

December 1 9th 13 9

December 26th 13 8

* Report of the Medical Officer (Local Government Board),
1911-1912, Appendix A., No. 4 : Dr. Recce's Report, p. 100.

f Report of the Local Government Board, 1914 : Supplement
containing the Report of the Medical Officer, p. xviii.

I Ibid., p. ix.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C

There had thus been more than a dozen cases of
cerebro-spinal fever reported in the month before
the contingent set foot on British soil, or could
possibly have communicated the disease ; and
the first case developing at Salisbury Plain (on
October i8th) coincided in point of time with the
first case notified among the Imperial troops.
There is absolutely no evidence that the Canadian
troops are responsible for the spread of the disease
in the Eastern command and elsewhere in England.
The fact is that when the disease is already present
hi a country and the weather is raw and damp,
there is certain to be an outbreak among the troops
unless those precautions be taken which the experi-
ence of the last four years has shown to be effective.

Regarding the venereal situation, old-established
reticence makes it difficult to state in plain terms
the exact state of the case, and that although the
Times at last has escaped from circumlocutions,
and allows the term " syphilis " to appear upon its
pages, and a Royal Commission upon Venereal
Diseases and its conclusions have been extensively
commented upon in the public Press and wherever
thoughtful men and women are congregated.

The writer himself has for years taken the stand
that the proper way to deal with this problem is
by perfect openness.* But he appreciates the
patriotic way in which many of the clergy and
others who hold opinions diametrically opposed to
his, have consented not to make this matter of the

* See his address — " Unto the Third and Fourth Generation
—delivered at the Public Session of the Canadian Medical
Association, at their Edmonton meeting (Lancet, London,
November 2nd, 1912, and Montreal Medical Journal of the
same year).

SALISBURY PLAIN

venereal problem in the Army a live issue during
the course of the war. Were he in an official pub-
lication to give, he would not say his own views, but
those of the heads of the medical corps and of the
Service in general, or were he merely to give detailed
statistics, and that without comment, he would
by either act open the flood-gates of discussion and
invite such criticism as for the good and efficient
working of the Army is best delayed until the con-
clusion of hostilities. Later, this matter of the
methods of control and suppression of venereal
disease in Canada and among Canadians must be
taken up by the Dominion, the military situation
being but one part of the greater problem.

This much, however, may be said : from the
Canadian corps in the field venereal disease has
been almost eliminated. In the Army at large
the incidence of the disease is much less than in
any previous campaign, less even than in civil
life.* Public opinion must be educated in future
to deal with this subject, as it has been educated
to accept vaccination against small-pox and inocu-
lation against typhoid. By such means it is not
too much to hope that the graver malady will
disappear as effectually as these other two diseases.

With reference to the medical units other than
the field ambulances and No. I General Hospital,
and their activities during the period of training ;
to No. 2 Stationary Hospital was granted the dis-

* At the time of correcting this for the press (August, 1918]
only 2 per cent, of the men being returned to Canada from the
Discharge Depot at Buxton afford a positive Wassermann test —
i.e., show evidence of syphilitic infection, as compared with an
average of from 8 to 12 per cent, found in the general hospital
admissions in the large cities of England and her Dominions,
and the United States.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tinction of being the first of all Canadian units to
place foot upon French soil. This unit, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Shillington, after the inspection
by Their Majesties the King and Queen two days
previously, left the Plain on November 6th, 1914.
At Southampton the O.C. was detained by arrange-
ments concerning the nursing sisters, and thus it
devolved upon Major H. C. S. Elliot,* the second
in command, to take the unit across the Channel to
Havre. For a few days it was billeted at Boulogne .
On November 27th it opened up the well-known
Hotel du Golf at Le Touquet, on the dunes near
Paris Plage, as a hospital of three hundred beds —
the first of a series of Canadian base hospitals
along the French coast between Boulogne and
Dieppe.

No. i Stationary Hospital was detained in
England, with the intention that it should open
up as a base hospital in the immediate neighbour-
hood of London. For this purpose a new and
admirably situated hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital,
at Mount Vernon, Hampstead, was allotted to it
by the Imperial authorities ; the unit was trans-
ferred there and immediately set to work to trans-
form this into a military hospital. But, on further
consideration, the authorities found that this would
better subserve other purposes, f And so, on

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel, O.C. No. 13 Canadian General
Hospital.

t In the summer of 1915 it became the Hampstead Heart
Hospital for the special study and treatment of " soldier's
heart," with Sir Clifford Allbutt, Sir William Osier and Sir
James Mackenzie as its consultants, and a staff of experts
which included two Canadian officers specially attached, both
of whom had already won their spurs in the study of heart
disease — Major J. C. Meakins and Captain T. F. Cotton.

SALISBURY PLAIN

February 2nd, 1915, No. i Stationary Hospital
followed No. 2, and was dispatched to Boulogne,
where it opened up at Honeault Camp, Wimereux.
Early in August, at the request of the War Office,
Major Handford McKee took his unit to the island
of Lemnos, off the mouth of the Dardanelles, there
to participate in the Gallipoli campaign.

Of No. i and No. 2 General Hospitals the story
has been given in the preceding pages.

No. i Casualty Clearing Station, after six weeks
cf field training, was sent to Taplow, where Major
Waldorf Astor had generously placed the closed
tennis court in his beautiful grounds at Cliveden
at the disposal of the Canadian authorities, to be
used as a hospital under Canadian control. That
hospital has grown greatly since those early days,
so that the spacious wards in the tennis court form
now but an inconsiderable portion of the great
Duchess of Connaught's Canadian Red Cross Hos-
pital, or, as it is now known officially, No. 15 Canadian
General Hospital. But to Major (now Colonel)
Ford and his staff belongs the credit of establishing
those first wards. At the beginning of February,
1915, a special staff was appointed under the late
Lieutenant-Colonel Gorrell (of Ottawa), and in the
first week in March, after some three weeks spent
in a rest camp at Graville, No. i Canadian C.C.S.
found itself taking possession of the old historical
military prison, Fort Gassion, on the banks of the
Lys, outside the fine old town of Aire, some seven-
teen miles behind the firing line, there to remain for
many months.

It was in February that the main body of the
First Contingent, now the ist Canadian Division,
was transferred to France. The " Princess Pats,"

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

which were not divisional troops, had left the Plain
early in December. His Majesty the King made a
last inspection of the division on February 4th,* and
the following day it marched off the Plain, and by
the middle of the month the last transport reached
St. Nazaire, leaving behind in England five unhappy
battalions to form the base brigade of the division.
These were moved later to Shorncliffe to form the
Canadian Training Depot, the nucleus of the
Canadian Training Division.

No. i General Hospital being responsible for its
patients, could not leave with the division, but
remained on the Plain. Figheldean House was
closed in the middle of February. At the end of
the same month the reinforcements from No. 2
General Hospital were returned to their unit at
Lavington Manor. In the first week in March the
evacuation of patients from Netheravon was com-
pleted. Only upon May 5th was the evacuation
for all patients from the unit accomplished, when
the last batch of venereal patients in the tent
hospital at Bulford was transferred to Shorncliffe,
and on May I3th the unit entrained at Amesbury
for France.

Shorncliffe now replaced the Plain as the reserve
and training camp for Canadian troops, although,
for valid reasons, the Director of Medical Services,
along with the Pay and Record Departments,
established their headquarters in London.

* At their first inspection on November 4th, 1914, Their
Majesties had been accompanied by Lord Roberts and Lord
Kitchener and the C.A.M.C. units had paraded as a body with a
total parade state of 63 1 of all ranks, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray
MacLaren in command.

CHAPTER IV

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

THIS is not the full and final history of the C.A.M.C.,
with all documents provided and every move of
every unit carefully traced and recorded. Rather
it is, to employ Lord Beaverbrook's phrase, a
" contemporary history," the first object of which
is to recall to those interested the good work accom-
plished by the Army Medical Service, before through
the lapse of time their interest has been dulled. It
is not the intention, therefore, to note every detail
connected with each unit of the C.A.M.C. and its
doings. I imagine that to most of us our past lives
are not recalled as a steadily moving procession of
events, but as a series of vignettes, those events
standing out well and sharply which affected us
most acutely, whereas the intermediate days and
months have left upon us little or no impression.
It will serve best hi such a contemporary history
to dwell upon the great moments of the war, and
the participation in them of the Canadian Army
Medical Service, taking care at the same time to
do justice to those units which, not immediately
involved in actual warfare, have done valuable work
upon the Lines of Communication, at the "base"
in France, Mudros and Salonika, in England and

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

in Canada. Doing this, more particularly the
endeavour will be made to follow the progressive
development of the various orders of units and their
modification in response to the novel conditions
which distinguish this from all previous wars.

This may safely be said, that Salisbury Plain,
with all its training and hardships and incon-
veniences, had converted the ist Canadian Divi-
sion, under General Alderson, into well-seasoned
soldiery. When, in February, 1915, it reached
Flanders, it was in so good a condition that rapidly
it fell into place. Winter, it is true, accompanied
it, with snow and sleet and slush ; but this was as
nothing. At last it was at the seat of war and
part of the British forces under the supreme
command of Sir John French.

Those forces held at that time a front of less than
thirty miles, stretching from Ypres on the north
to Givenchy. It was organized into two armies.
Of these, the First, or Southern,* covering the
ground from Nieppe, near Armentieres, to Estaires
and Givenchy, was under General Sir Douglas
Haig ; the northern,! from the Bailleul area to
Ypres, was under General Sir H. Smith-Dorrien.
The Canadian Division consisted of three brigades!

* Composed of the ist, 4th and Indian Army Corps.

t Composed of the 2nd, 3rd and sth British Army Corps.

J The ist Canadian Brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Mercer (later Major-General), was formed of : ist Infantry
Battalion (Western Ontario Regiment), 2nd Infantry Battalion
(Eastern Ontario), $rd Infantry Battalion (Toronto Regiment)
and 4th Infantry Battalion (Central Ontario).

The 2nd Brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Currie (now
Lieutenant-General in command of the Canadian Army Corps,
K.C.B. and K.C.M.G.), was formed of : sth Infantry Battalion

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

(to each of which was attached a Field Ambulance) .
Colonel G. L. Foster (now Major-General, D.G.M.S.,
O.M.F.C.) was in command of the Divisional Medical
Corps as A.D.M.S.

It was at this point that the first grave adminis-
trative difficulty became obvious. There could be
no question of running the medical, or any other
section of the First Contingent as a body indepen-
dent of the British authorities ; the terms of
Canada's offer to Britain precluded that. The
Contingent was to be part and parcel of the British
Regular troops and the British Army. But the
personnel, and to no small extent the medical
supplies, of the Canadian Division came from
Canadian sources, and to this extent the A.D.M.S.
remained dependent upon his Canadian superior,
the D.M.S. With this, at the front he was under
the D.D.M.S. of the corps to which the division
was attached, and of which it formed a part ;
the Canadian Casualty Clearing Station was under
the D.M.S. of the Army, and the Canadian Stationary
and General Hospitals under the D.M.S. Lines of
Communication, but more directly under the
A.D.M.S. or S.M.O. of the district in which they

(Western Canada), ;th Infantry Battalion (ist British Columbia),
8th Infantry Battalion (Winnipeg, poth Rifles or " Little Black
Devils ") and loth Infantry Battalion (Alberta).

The 3rd Brigade (Colonel, now Lieutenant-General, Sir R. E.
W. Turner, V.C., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.) included the I3th
(Royal Highlanders of Canada), i4th (Royal Scots of Montreal),
1 5th (48th Highlanders of Canada, from Toronto) and the i6th
(Canadian Scottish).

The Artillery of the Division was under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel (now Major-General Sir) H. E. Burstall,
K.C.B., and the Divisional Engineers under Lieutenant-Colonel
(now Brigadier-General) C. J. Armstrong.

81 6

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

found themselves. For the D.M.S., Canadians,
General Carleton Jones, to have become attached
to the staff of Sir Arthur Sloggett, D.G.M.S. in
France, would have placed him immediately in an
anomalous position. By British Army procedure
he would have had no right to enter the territories
of other D.M.S.s ; those officials had complete
control over the units in their respective areas ;
nor could divided authority be countenanced, and
yet it was essential that he should keep in close
touch with each Canadian medical unit. The
Imperial Army regulations, indeed, had never
contemplated this state of affairs.

It was equally essential that he should keep
in close touch with Canada, with the Reserve
and Training Division in England, and with the
D.G.A.M.S. in Great Britain, Sir Alfred Keogh, who
was in control of medical arrangements there.
To carry on in these circumstances needed an inti-
mate knowledge of British Army procedure, an
intimate personal acquaintance with the heads of
the British Army Medical Service, and tact. And
the D.M.S. possessed these attributes.

What has proved a " common sensible " com-
promise was rapidly reached, and the good spirit
and friendliness of all parties concerned has caused
it to work without serious friction. It was decided
that the D.M.S. Canadians should have his head-
quarters in London, but that he should be at liberty
to cross to the seat of war whenever necessary,
under and with the authority of the D.G.M.S.
overseas, to visit the Canadian Medical units in the
various areas, and, conferring with the D.M.S.s
of these areas, through them and through the
D.G.M.S. (Sir Arthur Sloggett) to initiate such

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

changes in distribution of the units and personnel
as should mutually be agreed upon.

After a short stay, mustering and training behind
the lines, with the beginning of March, 1915, the
Canadians moved to the front west of Estaires,
Sailly and Laventie, and south of Armentieres, as
part of the first British (Sir Douglas Haig's) Army.
And here within a very few days it participated,
although only as little more than an onlooker, with
but an occasional casualty, in the Battle of Neuve
Chapelle. The Canadian trenches, in fact, ad-
joined those of the British troops to the south
concerned in the action of March loth. Had the
day gone otherwise, our men would have been called
upon to take part in the advance, and they were all
prepared. But Neuve Chapelle taught us that
it is not the first but the second and third lines of
the enemy that count ; that it is not sufficient for
the artillery to prepare the way for entrance into
the first line of trenches ; there must be fire of such
intensity as to render at least the third line and
its communications untenable. And in those days
the British artillery and the amount of ammunition
at its disposal were Inadequate to accomplish
this. But here, at a bound, the Canadians saw
battle.

The only Canadian unit that actually parti-
cipated in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle was the
1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. On
March 8th, two days before the battle, Lieutenant-
Colonel W. D. Ford had brought his unit to Aire,
some seven miles behind the front. Aire, on the
winding Lys, is a delightful little old-world town,
possessing one of the finest churches in French
Flanders, with a tower curiously reminiscent of

83 6*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

English early Perpendicular architecture.* The
town walls, with their bastions and three gates, were
razed as late as 1893.

Like the whole of this countryside, Aire has seen
much war.f It was besieged and taken by Philip IV.
of Spain in 1641, and certain stately old houses in
the town, with their richly decorated fronts, still
bear witness to the years of Spanish occupation.
Philip it was who built Fort St. Francis, now
known as Fort Gassion,J a quarter of a mile outside
the St. Venant Gate, and built it in orthodox
seventeenth century fashion, octagonal, with large
bastions and a surrounding moat and drawbridge
with strong gate and gate-house. Recaptured by
the French in 1676, the fort, nevertheless, in its
day, with its twenty-five guns and outworks, was a
formidable protection to the town and obstacle
to the enemy, as Marlborough found to his cost in
the campaign of 1710. With the able defence of
de Guebriant and Fort St. Francis, and the marshes
and inundations, the town only capitulated in

* The Perpendicular style is claimed to be characteristically
English. It is true that the English still held a considerable
part of France at the end of the fourteenth century, when
this style developed ; but Perpendicular influence is, if I
remember aright, little noticeable in the area of English occu-
pation— at Bordeaux, for example, and in Anjou ; while here
in Flanders, which is outside that area, the towers of St. Bertin
at St. Omer, and of St. Pierre at Aire, in their proportions and
buttresses might be those of some rich English collegiate church
dating from 1400 or thereabouts, and passing a little further
south, the panelling of the outer walls of the transepts of the
noble mother church of St. Wulfran at Abbeville is pure Perpen-
dicular.

t I am indebted to Colonel Ford for many of the historical
data regarding Aire and Fort Gassion.

I Since the Revolution and in memory of Major Gassion, who
put up a brave defence of Aire in 1641.

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

November, after a ten-weeks' siege,* too late in the
season for its capture to be of service, and at too
great a cost ; for the Flanders rain and dysentery
caused the loss of many hundreds of the English
troops. Those were the days when opposing armies
retired to winter quarters.

To-day moat and bastions have followed the
fortifications of Aire and are no more ; but the
thick encircling walls of the fort remain, and the
bridge and old-world gateway and gate-houses with
the barrack-like buildings within. For years it
had been used as a military prison, and here rumour
has it Captain Dreyfus was confined for long months.

It was to Fort Gassion that the ist Casualty
Clearing Station was detailed on the Saturday.
They found a motor ambulance convoy and a motor
transport unit still in occupation. These were given
no time to put matters in order, but received orders
to leave forthwith. The old prison was, in fact,
in a filthy condition, and as warning had been
given to prepare for the forthcoming engagement,
there ensued a period of feverish activity. The
Army Service Corps came to their aid ; equipment
was unpacked ; the bigger rooms cleaned to act as
wards ; and, losing not a minute, on Monday,
March loth, the day the battle opened, the unit
began admitting patients. That first day they had
50 patients, on Tuesday 150, and on Wednesday 350,
the great majority of these being stretcher cases.
And their work was urgent and necessary. In the
spring of 1915 the First Army possessed altogether
six casualty clearing stations ; to-day it has

* It is not a little interesting that Sir Douglas Haig, as head
of the First Army, occupied the same headquarters that had
been Marlborougli's at the siege of Aire.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

sixteen. At the time of the battle there were only
two of these nearer to the front — at Merville. The
prompt readiness and capacity of the unit received
the special commendation of Surgeon-General W. G.
Macpherson, D.M.S. First Army, and led in June to
the award of the C.M.G. to Lieutenant-Colonel Ford.

The stay of the Canadian First Division with the
First Army was of brief duration. Arrangements had
been made with the French to extend the British
line a few miles to the north, and the Canadians
were selected to take over from the nth French
Division — the " Division de Fer " — the trenches
protecting the northern sector of the Ypres salient.
And so it was that on April yth the ist Canadian
Division was transferred to the Second Army under
Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, marching out of the Estaires
region northwards, Colonel Foster, A.D.M.S., moving
his quarters from Estaires to Oxelaere. Ten days
later the 2nd and 3rd Brigades toojk over from the
French the line north-east of Ypres, the 1st remaining
in reserve.

" The French Medical Officers whom we relieved
were very courteous, and explained to us how they
had carried on while they had been stationed
there during the winter months. They explained
that each French regiment of three battalions had
three M.O.'s and three assistants (who were usually
students), and they worked together. The senior
officer in this was a major, and was in charge of the
medical work for the regiment. This system seems
to work out very well and is more congenial for the
M.O.'s. . . . The trenches were in very bad shape,
and working parties, under guidance of the engineers,
were working each night strengthening the parapets,
building traverses, deepening the trenches, erecting

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

parados and putting out wire entanglements.
There were many bodies buried at the bottom of
the trenches, so the work was frequently very
unpleasant and required a good deal of chloride of
lime to keep down the smell of decay. This work,
although not completed when the attack was
launched, helped very greatly in resisting the
assaults of the enemy."*

In order to understand the happenings of the
following days from a medical point of view, let us
at this point describe the disposition of the medical
units, so that the organization for the rapid disposal
of the wounded as carried out in the British forces
at this period may be clearly grasped.

The Regimental Medical Officer accompanies his
men into the trenches, and, as against an attack
upon those trenches, his duty is to select behind
the line some spot well protected from shell fire,
and as far as possible equi-distant from each of
the companies at the front, there to establish his
Regimental Aid Post (R.A.P.). For prompt
evacuation of the wounded this should not be too
far back. The approaches to it, also, should be
screened from shell fire and snipers. He is provided
with sixteen well-trained stretcher-bearers whose
duty, as their name implies, is to convey the wounded
back to the R.A.P. As a matter of fact, and as was
discovered at Ypres, they are of greater service
remaining in the trenches and affording first aid
to the wounded, and as a body they develop into

* From notes afforded by Captain (nowLt.-Col.)G. S.Mothersill,
M.O. of the 8th Canadian Battalion, who, after being seriously
wounded on April 34th, eventually returned to his own battalion,
now AJ.D. Canadian Corps. He was mentioned in Dispatches
June 4th, 1917, and has been awarded the D.S.O.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

extraordinarily capable and expert dressers. In
consequence, it is becoming more and more the
habit during any heavy action to retain these men
for the more urgent work of dressing the wounded,
and to employ other men detailed from the platoons
to act as stretcher-bearers. If the R.A.P. is unduly
distant from the front line, the return of the wounded
is delayed by the length of the carry. The R.A.P.
is, in short, the regimental collecting post to which
all wounded, whether walking or stretcher cases,
make their way. During an action the duty of the
Regimental M.O. is not to be in the trenches, but
at the R.A.P. There, with his N.C.O. and one or
two orderlies, he attends to the wounded as they
walk in or are brought back by the stretcher-bearers,
and sees that each is given a tag, attached to a
button of his tunic, giving his name, number, nature
of wound, etc., prior to departure as a walking case,
or removal by the bearers of the Field Ambulance.

1. In an action the first object is to remove out
of the fire zone all who are no longer of service,
and this as rapidly as possible. Thus the R.A.P.
is not a surgery : it is at most a casualty ward.
First-aid dressings are given, wounds are bandaged
temporarily ; splints, when urgently needed, are
provided for fractured limbs ; bleeding is arrested ;
morphia injected where injuries are painful, or
strychnine where there is collapse.

2. From the R.A.P. those of the wounded who
can walk make their way on foot to the Advanced
Dressing Station (A.D.S.) of a Field Ambulance,
which is situated within the fire zone at some
roadside point up to which, if not always during
the day-time, certainly at night the ambulances
(usually horse ambulances) can be brought. The

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

more seriously wounded are removed on stretchers
from the R.A.P. to the A.D.S. by men of the bearer
section of a Field Ambulance. In the course of a
heavy action this duty also can only be undertaken
in the dark.

3. The next stage of the journey towards the base
is, in general, performed in motor ambulances.*
The greater number of cases are conveyed to the
Main Dressing Station (M.D.S.) of a Field Ambu-
lance. Here they undergo classification. The
gravest cases are operated on immediately, and
are kept at the M.D.S. until they are fit to be
transferred to the Casualty Clearing Station. Mild
cases also are given rest and treatment for a few
days, until fit to return to duty, or if there be a
rest camp in the neighbourhood, they may be sent
there to recuperate. Every man saved from pro-
ceeding further to the base means a saving of
many days' loss to his company. Other cases are
sent to railhead with instructions, some for treat-
ment at the Casualty Clearing Station, others for
transfer to one or other special hospital (infectious

* It deserves note that even in the spring of 1915 the Motor
Ambulance Service had not been completely established. For
motives of economy, when the war broke out, the R.A.M.C.
was still unprovided with motor transport, although this had
been asked for. In the retreat from Mons the horse ambulances
showed themselves to be painfully defective and inadequate for
the heavy work they were called upon to perform. In April,
1915, each Canadian Ambulance unit was provided with three
motor ambulances, and these proved themselves to be of ines-
timable service. They were, however, needed for work between
the A.D.S. and, where possible, Regimental Aid Posts, and
the M.D.S. For this reason it was that the motor ambulance
convoy was at this period in the process of development, this
having to undertake the duty of convoying patients back from
the M.D.S.'s to the Casualty Clearing Stations at railhead.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

cases, eye cases, graver dental cases, etc.). The
majority of those admitted leave the M.D.S. within
twelve hours, the object being to evacuate as
rapidly as possible.

4. In the early part of the war Red Cross ambu-
lances, army transport, motors and motor-omnibuses,
as they could be obtained, were employed for the
conveyance of patients from the Field Ambulances
to the Casualty Clearing Station. These developed
into a well-organized and most efficient motor trans-
port corps, under the Army Service Corps.

5. The Casualty Clearing Hospital or Station is
the next relay point. This is always situated in
the vicinity of railhead, and, as its name implies,
is the great forward clearing depot. Its first
function is to accommodate the wounded for a few
hours until, after their wounds have been cared for
and suitably dressed, they can be placed in an
ambulance train and sent to the base. But it is
well behind the firing line, only within range, that
is, of long distance guns, " Jack Johnsons " and
the like. Cases needing both urgent treatment and
rest in bed for several days following the operation
can be treated here with safety. Thus, gradually
this has developed into what may be termed an
advanced surgical hospital and operating centre ;
wounds such that the only chance of saving the
patient depends upon early treatment, wounds that
would become so gravely infected by the time
they reached the base as to be hopeless — wounds,
for example, of the brain, chest and abdomen —
all these, to an increased extent, are dealt with at
the C.C.S., and thus it happens that the personnel
has been altered. Some of the most brilliant and
experienced surgeons have been placed upon the

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

staffs of these units, and some of the most brilliant
surgical triumphs of the war have here been achieved.
Where, as at Bailleul, a good modern institution can
be taken over for the purpose, this is utilized for
the C.C.S. ; where, as at Remy Siding, near Poper-
inghe, this is wanting, there hutments are employed.
Let me add that nowadays the latter are in more
common use, since the principle has been evolved
of arranging the C.C.S.'s in couples, so that they
can receive patients on alternative days, the staff
of the one hospital working at full pressure on its
receiving day, operating and dressing the patients,
and having a day of comparative rest, at most
discharging patients into the ambulance trains and
preparing for another succession of ambulance
convoys, while the staff of the other hospital is
working to its limit. In the early days of the war
the C.C.S. had no beds proper, only stretchers raised
on trestles off the floor, and hospital orderlies ;
to-day, when settled for long months in an appro-
priate building, it possesses cheerful and well-
equipped wards for the more serious operation
cases. To get into the front area as a C.C.S. Sister
is the highest ambition of our Canadian nurses.

6. The ambulance trains have been so often
described and pictured that there is little need to
do more than mention them with their staff of
medical officers, nurses and orderlies, their emer-
gency operation-room and dispensary, their kitchen,
dining-rooms for sitting-up cases and for the staff,
and berths and other accommodation for the same.
It must be kept in mind that in war the first
thought has to be for the fighting force and the
front line ; for the good of the cause they are of
first and immediate importance : those who have

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

fallen out of the ranks and become useless as com-
batants are a secondary consideration ; they have
to give way to the needs of the active soldiers.
Thus in a country in which the lines of rails are
mainly single, the long procession of trains bringing
up men, guns, ammunition and other provisions to
the front may gravely delay the return of the
ambulance trains to the base. Wherever it is
possible, traffic is so arranged that incoming trains
proceed along one line, outgoing along another ;
but the ambulance train has to be prepared for all
emergencies. It is to-day a marvel of comfort
and efficiency.

7. Arrived at what often and incorrectly is
termed the base — namely, the French sea-coast —
the ambulance train is met by, a line of motor
ambulances. The number of stretcher cases has
been telegraphed on in advance, and all is ready
for transferring the patients, both lying-down and
sitting, to one or other hospital. Each hospital in
the area reports to the A.D.M.S. twice or more
daily the exact number of beds that it has vacant,
and no excess over that number of new cases is
forwarded to it. There is no driving round from
hospital to hospital seeking admittance ; everything
is arranged with precision.

8. To-day the only distinction between a General
and a Stationary " base " Hospital is that the
former began by being double the size of the other,
with double the number of beds and roughly double
the personnel. School buildings, hotels and other
institutions may well be utilized for a hospital of
from three hundred to six hundred beds, and to
such a stationary hospital unit was appointed
To accommodate 1,040 patients, it was rare to find

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

any building large enough ; your general hospital,
therefore, was at first usually tented, the marquees
giving place later and more and more to hutments.
The original distinction between the General and
the Stationary Hospital was that the former might
be anywhere, the latter at some fixed point on the
Lines of Communication, where it remained sta-
tionary ; whereas the General Hospital was prepared
to move according to the needs of the Service.
Originally, in South Africa, for example, the Sta-
tionary Hospital was situated in some small town
well back along the lengthy Lines of Communication.
Nowadays both General and Stationary Hospitals
are alike situated on the French sea-coast, and they
are alike in function, save that the larger body, with
its specialists and its well-appointed pathological
and X-ray departments, is apt to receive the
greater number proportionately of the more serious
cases. The mobility which, it is seen, originally
characterized the General Hospital has become a
function of a third type of unit not developed
during the Boer War — namely, the Casualty Clearing
Station at railhead, which is moved as the troops
advance.

It is difficult for the civilian who has not been
overseas to realize the size and extent of these base
hospitals.* The smaller unit, the Stationary Hos-
pital, accommodates more patients than any hos-
pital in Canada, with the possible exception of
the great new General Hospital in Toronto, more
than the imposing Royal Victoria Hospital at
Montreal, or the Winnipeg General. A General

* This is a civilian expression : there is no such term as
Base Hospital overseas in military nomenclature ; all hospitals,
indeed, overseas are " Lines of Communication units."

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Hospital overseas, with its personnel, orderlies,
nursing sisters and officers, reaching into the
hundreds, and its patients into the thousands, is
a little town in itself. No. 3 Canadian General
Hospital has to-day accommodation for well over
two thousand patients ! And when it is remem-
bered that these are all in tents or huts of a single
floor, that operation and other special departments,
kitchens, stores, officers and nurses' quarters,
mess-rooms for each branch of the personnel,
admission tent or hall, patients' dining-room,
recreation hut and administrative hutment, have
all to be provided, some idea may be gathered as
to the extent of such a hospital, and of the high
quality of the organization demanded if all is to
run smoothly and well, for the greatest benefit of
the sick or wounded soldier.

9. But even with all this complete preparation
and excellent accommodation, this is by no means
the eventual place of treatment and recovery for
the soldier patient, or, at least, for the majority.
The Army maxim is " keep moving casualties back-
wards," and the endeavour is made to evacuate
these hospitals rapidly. Mild and minor cases
likely to recover and be fit for duty may be kept
longer ; some who have been operated upon must
needs be retained until they gather strength and
healing of their wounds ; but the attempt is made
to evacuate as many patients as possible within
three days to " Blighty," in order that should a
great push be made with many casualties there will
be plenty of beds and to spare. Thus, usually
every two or three days, the hospital is called upon
to provide a batch of patients to be dispatched by
next day's boat to England. It is, in truth, the

WITH THE B.E.F., FRANCE

rear Casualty Clearing Station. From a medica
point of view, this is distressful ; the surgeon does
not see the result of his handiwork ; herein lies the
great difference between civil and war-time military
practice ; from an administrative point of view this
is the only possible method.

10. The hospital ships again are admirably
organized. They have been provided with lifts,
so that stretcher cases may be conveyed from the
main to one of the lower decks. Men are classified
into walking, sitting and cot cases, and the cots
are swung so that the motion of the boat has a
minimal effect. Each patient before leaving
hospital has been tagged, so that on arrival on
board there is no inquiry and delay, but immediately
he is directed to his proper section. Each boat has
its medical personnel and nursing sisters. The
voyage thus is made with all care for the patient,
even including attendant destroyers and dirigible
balloon. Whether at the hospital or during the
voyage, according to the nature of the case, arrange-
ments are made to classify and tag the men, whether
according to the nature of their condition (there
being certain special British hospitals for special
orders of cases) or the district to which they belong,
or to which they desire to be sent ; so that again on
landing there is no disorder.

11. Under shelter, within a few yards of the
hospital ship as she is brought to the moorings,
is an ambulance train. A plentiful stream of bearers
carry the stretcher patients down the gangway.
The more serious cases are given first attention ;
after them follow the sitting and walking cases.
Ambulance train after train, each bound for a
particular district, is filled up and leaves quietly and

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

expeditiously. In a few minutes all the sick and
wounded are speeding to different parts of Great
Britain.

The medical officer in charge of a train has been
afforded by the A.D.M.S. of a particular area
information as to the number of beds vacant at
each important town or distributing centre in his
area. When thus the area is reached, ten patients
are discharged here, fifty there, twenty-five at another
place. Motor ambulances are waiting for them,
and they are rushed off to hospital to find them-
selves admitted, given the luxury of a hot bath, a
comfortable suit of pyjamas and at rest between
the sheets — all, it seems, within a few minutes after
leaving the train.

12. And here they remain, it may be only a few
days, it may be many weeks, until they can be
classified as convalescent, when, if they are Canadian
soldiers, they are transferred to a Canadian con-
valescent hospital. Whatever the nature of the
ailment, and wherever they may have passed their
period of active treatment, whether in some special
hospital, or one of the great Canadian General Hos-
pitals, such as Taplow or Orpington, or in an
Imperial Hospital, be it in the north of Scotland or
Ireland, all Canadian soldiers for convalescence are
collected from the outer world into a convalescent
hospital manned by the C.A.M.C. and under
Canadian control. Here, from the beginning, they
are subjected to a graduated and regular course of
physical drill under qualified instructors, until the
time comes for them to face full training with their
reserve battalion, and return to active military life.

THE ONSET I THE POISON GAS

THE deeds of April, 1915, have written the name of
Ypres in letters of blood upon the page of Canadian
history, just as that name was already written
imperishably in the annals of Great Britain. The
first great attack in force of the Germans upon the
Ypres salient hi October, 1914, had been made with
the utmost determination. But for the quality
of the British troops of the " little old Army," the
onslaught of the Prussians should have been over-
whelming ; it was a bloody and desperate combat.
Some 600,000 of the enemy were engaged against
one quarter that number of British troops. So
confident were the Germans of success, that, instead
of concentrating on one action, they attempted to
break through the thin, scarce-established line of
the Allies in Flanders in several places simultaneously
— in the far north at Nieuport, to the north and
south of the Ypres salient, and at the southern
extremity around Arras. While the fierce attack
was being nobly repulsed at Arras by Maud'huy
and his brave French battalions, and the Belgians
protected the northern area by opening the dykes
and drowning the oncoming enemy, it was round

97 7

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Ypres that the British Army held on day after
day with no reserves worth mentioning, with
cavalrymen and camp orderlies and cooks in the
trenches side by side with the infantry, with a
pathetic lack of guns, but with a determination
never more grim.

Throughout the winter the city had been shelled
from time to time. The Cathedral, the Cloth Hall,
one of the finest examples of municipal Gothic
architecture in Europe, and the other public build-
ings, had suffered heavily ; but many of the
ordinary houses were still untouched and the stores
and inns, or estaminets, were not merely open, but
thriving, conducting a busy trade with the soldiers
billeted in and around the old city.

On April igth, 1915, the enemy began the inten-
sive bombardment of the city, and with it the
Second Battle of Ypres, pouring in heavy, large
calibre shells, which . wrought great havoc upon the
buildings, although, considering the size and density
of the population of the city (about twelve thousand
of the inhabitants still remaining), there were that
first day few casualties, some fifteen children being
killed in the streets, but no soldiers — and soldiers
abounded. On the 2oth began the exodus of the
inhabitants. They poured out along the main road
to the west through Vlamertinghe, and past our
Main Dressing Station of the 3rd Field Ambulance,
and along the Furnes road through Brielen, past
;he headquarters of the A.D.M.S. — old men and
women old and young, and little children, with
their household possessions in every form of vehicle,
down to perambulators and wheel-barrows and little
carts drawn by dogs, and with bundles on their
backs and hi their hands — a piteous procession.

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

On the 2 ist the bombardment had reached such an
intensity that it was deemed advisable to evacuate
all the Main Dressing Stations in the city, and that
evening all the British Field Ambulances moved
out. With them went two sections of the 2nd
Canadian Field Ambulance from the M.D.S. at the
north-eastern edge of Ypres, to the billets previously
occupied by the 3rd Field Ambulance at Oosthoek
some ten miles away, one section being left to carry
on an Advanced Dressing Station under Major
Hardy.*

To those accustomed to map reading, the accom-
panying plan of the northern Ypres sector should
indicate, we trust adequately, the position of the
Canadian front and the disposition of the medical
posts and stations at the beginning of the battle ;
nor for them will any further description be
necessary. To those unaccustomed to the transla-

* Afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. and O.C. 2nd Field
Ambulance (now on duty in Canada).

Judged from the Diary of the unit the move was timely.
The O.C., Colonel D. W. McPherson, writes: "Monday, April
igth. — At ii a.m. shells fell in Ypres, close to our dressing
station ; shrapnel and pieces of shell fell at irregular intervals.
April 2 ist. — Heavy shelling all morning ; about a dozen
casualties among the troops near our Dressing Station ; none
in our own unit. Men ordered in unless on duty, and to lie
down flat when shells heard coming ; this undoubtedly saved
some of our men. 4.30 p.m. : By order of A.D.M.S. ' B ' and
' C ' sections were removed from Ypres, it being almost
untenable, and proceeded to Oosthoek and bivouacked there.
' A ' section, under Major E. B. Hardy, with Captains J. J.
Eraser, D. H. Macdougall and E. G. Doe (Chaplain), remained
at the D.S. in Ypres with three motor ambulances and water-
cart. Friday, April 2$rd. — 7.45 a.m. : Major Hardy reports
from D.S. in Ypres that they were under continuous shell fire
all night, and that as soon as he could evacuate all the wounded
he was going to move the D.S."

99 7*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tion of military maps it will be serviceable to
describe these dispositions. Briefly, then, on the
evening of the 2ist the 2nd and 3rd Canadian
Brigades occupied a front of about two and a half
miles, some four and a half miles to the north-east
of Ypres, the 3rd Brigade (under Colonel R. E. W.
Turner) being on the left in touch with a French
Colonial Division, the 2nd Brigade (under Lieu-
tenant-Colonel A. W. Currie) on the right, here
continuing the British line. Or, as Major Mothersill
expresses it : " The trenches ran in front of the
Gravenstafel ridge and the right flank was close to
the tip of the salient." The nature of this front
sloping gently down to the trenches, coupled with
the fact that the enemy being on higher ground
dominated it, rendered the position of the aid
posts a matter of some little difficulty. When
the Canadians took over these were all at some
little distance from the front. Two of those of the
3rd Brigade were in St. Julien village almost two
miles away, entailing very long carries. While
those of the 2nd Brigade were nearer, they were
still in the estimation of the regimental medical
officers at too great a distance ; hence Major
Mothersill brought his forward on to the top of the
Gravenstafel ridge, and Captain Hart his to a point
just on the Ypres side of the slope.* The 's Gravens-
tafel, or Gravenstafel ridge, rises very gently out
of the plain to a height of twenty to twenty-five feet

* It is instructive to note that in this advanced position
Major Mothersill, M.O. of the 8th, was wounded on the second
day of the engagement, and that his successor in the post,
Lieutenant J. A. Stenhouse, R.A.M.C., of the Durhams, was
taken prisoner ; and again that, as will be described more fully
later, Captain Hart, M.O. of the sth, also fell into the hands
of the enemy.

100

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

above the general level from Broodseinde to a point
some three-quarters of a mile east-north-east of
St. Julien. The loth Battalion of the 2nd Brigade
and the i6th Battalion of the 3rd Brigade were
in reserve. The Advanced Dressing Station of
the 2nd Field Ambulance was at the road junction
in the little village of Wieltje, that of the 3rd
in some farm buildings about three-quarters of a
mile to the north-west of the village. The Main
Dressing Station of the 2nd Field Ambulance was,
as just remarked, until this evening in Ypres itself
(at the north-east corner of the city), that of the
3rd Field Ambulance was established in the girls'
school at Vlamertinghe, some two miles to the

of Ypres on the main Poperinghe- Ypres road.
Under normal conditions these would have
evacuated their patients by ambulance convoy to
the Casualty Clearing Stations at Poperinghe ;
but Poperinghe itself was within the zone of shell
fire, and, indeed, soon received attention from the
enemy, so that the Casualty Clearing Stations were
moved further back, and evacuation had to be by
motor ambulance convoys to Hazebrouck and
Bailleul. The First Field Ambulance was not on
the scene ; it was conducting a Divisional Rest
Station at Watou, some eleven miles to the jeist
of Ypres.

Thursday, April 22nd, was like a warm day of
Indian summer in Canada. It had been absolutely
cloudless, with a faint haze and light breeze, which
veered round to the north-east. Throughout the
day there had been no special activity in the
trenches in the matter of shelling, although one
after another the big German shells roared over the
Canadians there with the sound of a passing train.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

The men spoke of them as the " Wypers* Express."
As on the two previous days, there had been abun-
dant traffic along the Poperinghe road, old and
young continuing to pour out with their household
goods, and, as on those two days, there was the dull
roar of explosions as shell after shell fell into the
near-by city. Throughout the Canadian area the
fine weather and the relative inactivity had led to
not a little paying of " afternoon calls " in the
different dug-outs and quarters.

It was towards seven in the evening that the
officers of No. 3 Field Ambulance at Vlamertinghe,
called out from an early dinner to witness the
shelling of a couple of overhead Taubes, which
were dropping star shells, f noticed an unusual
commotion along the road. Refugees were pouring
along wildly, and soon, mixed among them, were
Algerian soldiers. The Germans, they said, had
used some terrible green gas and were following

* I venture to suggest that this is not a modern solecism, but
is the old established English rendering of the name of the city.
And that because otherwise I fail to see how the word " diaper"
came into existence. " Diaper," it may be pointed out, is the
outcome and English version of " Toile d'Ypres," the fine
(linen) cloth with regularly repeated small and simple geometrical
pattern, for which the town was celebrated throughout the Middle
Ages. Readers of " Pickwick " will remember Sam Weller's
recommendation to the Judge to " Spell it with a ' wee,' my
Lord." Now we pronounce the letter " Y," as if it were spelt
with a preliminary " Wee " — i.e., as " wy," and so did our
forebears. " Diaper " cannot have been evolved from " d'eeper "
or even " d'yper," but must have developed out of " de Wypers,"
the " wee," like the Greek lost letter " digamma," fading out,
but leaving evidence of its previous existence, in the continuance
of the two successive vowels sounded separately.

Chaucer, in his " Prologue," and in the " Wife of Bath's Tale,"
so introduces " Ypres " as to show that in his time it was pro-
nounced as of two clear syllables.

t To direct the German artillery fire.
102

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

after it ; they had broken through the line and all
the guns were lost — and, as if to confirm the tale,
teams of artillery horses came along harnessed, but
without guns or wagons. Within an hour Turcos
(Algerian troops) were pouring into Brielen, and
the M.D.S. at Vlamertinghe, " a motley crew, the
greater part not wholly clothed, and all minus
their equipment ; "* not one of them wounded,
but haggard and in agony as the results of having
been " gassed."

They staggered in, weak and semi-stuporose,
with bloodshot eyes and hacking cough. Some
had attacks of vomiting ; all had an intense
dyspnoea, rapid heart-beat, and the severer cases
a ghastly ashy colour of the skin. The acrid odour
given off from their clothes was so powerful that
it affected the officers and orderlies who attempted
to alleviate their distress, bringing tears to the eyes
with smarting.f

* Captain (now Major) G. G. Greer, now D.A.D.M.S., 4th
Division, M.C. M.O. 2nd Battalion.

t Some forty were thus treated at the M.D.S. 3rd Field
Ambulance, two hundred at the A.D.M.S. Office at Brielen, and
large numbers at the Aid Post of the I4th Canadian Battalion,
which was billeted, in reserve, in Vlamertinghe. This Aid Post
was in an old convent between the Mill and the Church, which;
I learn from Lieutenant-Colonel R. Raikes, had originally been
a manor house of the ducal family of de Montmorenci. By
nightfall this was crowded with gassed Turcos from the front
and wounded civilians from Ypres. The and (Eastern Ontario)
Battalion was also in reserve in Vlamertinghe, with a little
dressing station on the main street. This also was busily
employed. On account of the difficulty in obtaining names
and other particulars from the Turcos, they were not entered
in the Admission and Discharge Book. The majority left as
walking cases ; the remainder were sent by ambulance to
Poperinghe, where the French had a station for their walking
wounded.

103

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

It was another three hours or so — hours marked
by the hurried departure of many of the villagers —
before the wounded began to struggle in to Vlamer-
tinghe, they, too, reeking of the gas ; from now
onwards without a break for many days, the per-
sonnel of the ambulance was kept working at the
highest pressure. This was the beginning of a week
of ceaseless activity in the ambulances, night and
day.

The story we know so well was gathered together
piece by piece : how, about five o'clock in the after-
noon,* in front of the French line to the Canadian
left there appeared, rolling along the level ground, a
dark-green cloud, yellow where the light caught it,
broken here and there by the black of exploding
shells, f In a few minutes Turcos, without weapons
or accoutrements, were staggering dazed through
out artillery lines behind St. Julien, and with them
Belgian hares in large numbers, running in front of
the gas and evidently affected by it, as they could
be knocked over with scarce an effort on their part
to escape. J

* Only those who have studied a series of independent con-
temporary reports of a given event, made by absolutely con-
scientious observers — a set of War Diaries, for example — can
realize how difficult it is to reconstruct the exact sequence of
happenings. The hour of the gas attack is given by different
observers as having been from a little after four o'clock to
somewhere between five and five- thirty. A little after five o'clock
best harmonizes with accounts given from behind the front.

t Seen laterally, or obliquely, as by most of the Canadian
troops, this appeared to be unbroken ; seen from in front, as by
some of our artillery, it was in " blocks " with clear intervals
between.

J One cook in the Canadian Artillery knocked down our
in a few minutes.

104

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

Lieutenant-Colonel Nasmith was one of the
first, if not the first, to advise Headquarters as to
the nature of this gas — I quote from the Diary of
No. 5 Canadian Mobile Laboratory — which those
who know this able sanitarian will recognize as
wholly characteristic : " Merville, 22.4.15. Worked
till midday, and then left with Captain Rankin
for Ypres to get a man named Bethune, who had
been transferred to us from No. 2 Field Ambulance.
At Ypres evidence of recent shell fire apparent.
Draper's shop where I had dined the previous
Saturday had been struck with a 17-inch shell and
had disappeared. No troops about the city. Went
to H.Q. at Brielen to find Colonel Foster. . . .
Drove back to Ypres and got samples of water
from the swimming pool — of dirty water now being
used as a source of supply : twenty-five carts
waiting to be filled. Drove out to A.D.S. at
Wieltje, and was delighted to find Captain Scrimger,
M.O. of the loth, there. After a chat, got out of
the car, which could not go any further towards the
trenches, and walked up the road for half a mile
to see what it looked like. As we went along we
saw to the left of the road, about four miles away,*
a long cloud of dense yellowish-green smoke rising
and drifting in our direction. This cloud was
apparently on a front of at least three miles, and
started somewhere in the district where we knew
the Canadians were, and covered the line occupied
by the French towards Bixschoote. We agreed
that it was in all probability the poisonous gas
which we had heard that the Germans talked of
using. It resembled chlorine in general appear-
ance, but occasionally we could see brownish fumes

* More accurately some 6,000 yards. — J. G. A.
105

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

rolling over with it.* The cloud looked at least
thirty or forty feet high. A violent artillery duel
began in the region occupied by the French and
gradually spread along the section occupied by the
Canadians. The gas reached us within half an
hour, and we diagnosed it as largely chlorine, but
with probably some bromine present. Our eyes
became bloodshot and ran water, and my throat
became sore (subsequently my throat cleared up
and a slight bronchitis appeared). There seemed
to be another irritating gas present, but we agreed
it was probably explosive fumes. . . . General
Alderson, G.O.C. Canadians, and Brigadier-General
Burstall came up the road, the former stopping to
shake hands. . . . Somewhere about six o'clock
the Canadian Artillery all around us began very
rapid fire, and we realized the situation was growing
more serious. Red Cross French passed up the
road from St. Julien, and stopped to complain
of the effect of the poison gases on then* lungs.
The first wounded Canadian came up in a cart from
St. Julien, and a Canadian Highlander on foot,
and black with powder and grease, said they had
been left in a corner when the French retreated ;
that they had been surrounded by Germans. . . .
French Algerian soldiers came running across the
fields towards us. ... We decided to move back.
Wieltje was crowded with refugees and wounded.
We picked up three and brought them along to
Ypres.
" All along the road we met Canadians coming

* Major D. A. Clark (now Lieutenant-Colonel and
A/D.D.G.M.S. at Ottawa), who was through Ypres as M.O. of
the 3rd Canadian Artillery Brigade, to whom I am indebted for
not a little insight into the happenings during the battle,
explains these darker " puffs " as due to shells exploding.

106

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

up and saw them advancing across the fields in
skirmishing order,* in one case their captain walking
ahead swinging a bamboo cane. ... At No. 2
Field Dressing Station (Wieltje), already smashed
by shrapnel, they were patching up one of their
men who had been wounded outside in the street.
A bursting shrapnel bent in the metal body of the
car while we were (at Ypres). The shelling of
Ypres was something terrific. (We delivered our
three wounded men at the A.D.S. of the 2nd Field
Ambulance, receiving in exchange a more seriously
wounded man, whom we took on to Vlamertinghe.)
Roads blocked with refugees and transports . . .
transports going up and refugees and French going
down. Canadians drawn up all along the road.
. . . Ypres on fire behind us.

" Stopped at Poperinghe by irate British major,
who complained that Canadians (convoys) insisted
on going up and down the road — and what should
he do ? We told him it was not our business, but
advised him to leave them alone, as there was
a big battle on, and they knew where to find their
units. . . . Reached laboratory at midnight and
plated samples.

"23.4.15. Wrote G.H.Q. direct, to save time,
about chlorine and bromine gas which we had
diagnosed at Ypres. Suggested the use of a pad
soaked in hyposulphite of soda to protect the men,
and suggested that the enemy probably already

* This, Lieutenant-Colonel A. Rankin tells me. was near
Wieltje ; they were reserve companies of the and or 3rd Brigade,
which deployed on either side of the road. Sentences between
brackets indicate modifications in Colonel Nasmith's account,
where that has been amplified by Lieutenant-Colonel Rankin's
report.

IO7

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

had one designed that might be obtained if search
were made on the field.

"24.4.15. . . . Was sent for by Sir Henry
Rawlinson to tell what I knew about the gas used
by the Germans at Ypres on the 22nd. Told him
all I knew. Drew a sketch for him of what I
thought must have happened, and was surprised
to find it was exactly right. 4th Corps Bulletin
at night stated that prisoners said gas was contained
in long cylinders ; that men operating them used
special rubber clothes and masks, and that the gas
was projected forwards through pipes — the gas
was probably chlorine, the Bulletin added. . . .

"26.4.15. Were visited by the A.D.M.S. 4th
Corps and several medical officers in the morning,
all interested in the gas and its effects. In the
afternoon General Sir Henry Rawlinson called with
General Dallas and staff. The General again went
into the question of the poison gas and methods
for prevention, and then asked to have the work
of the laboratory explained. We showed him
everything, and he seemed quite interested. . . .

"28.4.15. . . . Sir William Herringham* came
in to ask about poisonous gases. He said, after
listening to what we had to say, that Professor
Baker had agreed exactly with our findings. . . .

"29.4.15. . . . Have been able to obtain but
very few specimens of mosquitoes and no
anophelinae.

" 30.4.15. Had a lot of samples of water taken
in the canals round to test bacteriologically, and
see how they would be cleared by alum.

"1.5.15. . . . Took a letter of introduction

* Bart., LL.D. ; late Dean of the Medical Faculty of the
University of London ; Consultant in Medicine at the front.

108

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

round to laboratory where Professor Watson and
his assistant, Mr. Jones, were working. . . . They
had concluded that the gas used by the Germans
was probably a mixture of chlorine and bromine,
and had identified chlorine from the buttons of
the coats of gassed soldiers. . . . Interested to
note that my diagnosis of the gas was correct, and
also that the respirator and solution advised was
the one being used."

One more note may be added from the diaries
regarding the effects of the gas. Describing its
employment against the 2nd Brigade on the right
flank on the morning of the 24th, Major Mothersill
notes : " Fortunately the supply was not unlimited,
and after the gas cloud passed over, most of the men
soon recovered from its effects. But there were
others who lay in a condition of collapse. . . . Once
a man falls from the effect of the gas he usually
soon collapses, due to the increased concentration
at this slight difference of level." This is only
what might be expected from the fact that chlorine
is so much heavier than air. Lieutenant-Colonel
Nasmith makes a similar observation (May 3rd,
1915) : "... At Ypres certain wounded men
had been collected into dug-outs and left breathing
easily ; later on they were found dead, presumably
from breathing the residual chlorine left in the
trenches."

Lieutenant-Colonel Rankin tells of a dog that
came loping past them outside Wieltje in evident
distress, with tongue hanging out and a most
expressive look, as though to say : " What fools
you are to remain when you can get out of this."
The heavy nature of the gas, whereby the nearer
the ground the greater was its concentration, made

109

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

it particularly deadly for small animals. Further
experience, indeed, has demonstrated that not
merely does it reduce materially the live stock of
dug-outs, but it has a — for human beings — bene-
ficial influence in destroying the parasites of that
most irritating and most humiliating skin disease —
scabies.

CHAPTER VI

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES (continued)

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
EPITOME OF MILITARY OPERATIONS

Thursday, April 22nd.

5 p.m. Gas attack on French lines to left of Canadian
lines. Canadian left flank also affected. On
extreme left i5th Canadian Battalion gave way
temporarily, but recovered its ground ; i3th
Battalion next to it held its ground. French
Colonial troops gave way. Canadian left " in
the air."

to Colonel R. E. W. Turner, commanding 3rd

Brigade, extends his left at right angles as far
as the wood east of St. Julien. Is attacked
by four German Divisions. Enemy attempts
to work round Canadian left flank ; seizes
St. Julien Wood ; crosses Canal north of
Boesinghe ; digs himself in from Boesinghe
to north of St. Julien.

7th and loth Canadians (and Brigade) come up
Midnight. in support of 3rd Brigade, as do also 2nd and
3rd (ist Brigade) and i6th (3rd Brigade).

Friday, April 2yd.

Midnight ist and 4th Canadians (ist Brigade) come up out
of reserve, advancing across Canal towards
to Pilkem. They are joined to Geddes's Detach-

ment (companies of several British battalions)
a.m. As part of Geddes's Detachment they help to
fill in breach between the French and the loth
and i6th around St. Julien.

Ill

WAR STORY OF THE C.AM.C.

4 a.m. loth and i6th counter-attack and retake St.
Julien Wood. Gas attack against 2nd Brigade
on right flank of 3rd Brigade. Second advance
of loth against German trenches being con-
structed opposite their front. Death of Colonel
Boyle.

6 a.m. Attack by 4th Canadians, with ist in support,
against German shelter trenches to north of
Ypres. Death of Colonel Birchell, of 4th.
German trenches seized and occupied. 8th
Battalion expelled from trenches by gas attack ;
counter-attacked, retaking trenches and
bayonetting enemy.

Afternoon. Colonel Hart McHarg, of jth, mortally wounded
opposite Keerselaere. 3rd Brigade reinforced
by 2nd King's Own Scottish Borderers and ist
Royal West Rents. Retirement of 3rd Brigade
to line on this side of St. Julien, leaving there
detachments of I3th and i4th Canadian Bat-
talions. Major-General Currie extends his
left flank at right angles.

IT is iittle wonder that those French " native "
troops that had not been immediately overcome
broke under so novel and terrifying an experience.
What happened next is part of Canada's history
which for generations to come will be known by
every schoolboy : how, seeing the enemy advancing
through the gap, Colonel (now Lieutenant-General)
Sir R. E. W. Turner, in command of the 3rd Brigade,
finding the Canadian left " in the air," extended his
left wing at right angles so as to flank the advancing
masses of blue-grey Germans ; how the I3th and
I4th Battalions (Royal Highlanders of Canada and
Royal Montreal Regiment) forming Colonel Turner's
left wing, though thinned out by this extension,
held their own, despite the furious onslaught of the
enemy directed specially at the northern angle ;
how, in -falling back, St. Julien Wood had to be
evacuated, leaving four British guns in the posses-

112

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

sion of the Germans ; how the yth (British Columbia)
and the loth Battalions of the 2nd Brigade came
to the assistance of the 3rd Brigade, continuing the
southerly extension of the left wing until at nine at
night reinforcements began to arrive from the ist
Canadian Brigade ;* how, shortly after midnight,
instead of retiring before the enemy, the loth and
i6th Battalions, under Lieutenant-Colonel Boyle (who
fell _some few hours later) and Lieutenant-Colonel
(now Brigadier-General) Leckie, stormed gloriously
and drove the Germans out of St. Julien Wood,
recovering what remained of the guns ; how the
fighting continued all through that night and the
next day — Friday — and days to come, and how
by their fighting qualities the thin line of Canadian
troops so mystified the Germans, with all their
hordes, as to the strength of the troops opposed
to them, that they did not venture to advance in
the gap of more than a mile left between Canadians
and French, although, had they known it, the only
troops which for a day and more intervened between
them and Calais was a single scanty line of Canadian
artillery. What our artillery, under Lieutenant -
Colonel (now Major-General) H. E. Burstall, accom-
plished at this crisis deserves fuller mention and

* If I am not mistaken, the credit of being the first reserves
to arrive belongs to the East Yorkshire Regiment (under
Lieutenant-Colonel Seeley, who before the war had been Staff
Officer at Toronto] ; but this, instead of joining on to the
Canadian left flank, upon crossing the Canal marched north to
drive the Germans out of Pilkem, and preserve the important
Pilkem ridge (which again in the great Third Battle of Ypres,
beginning on July 3ist, 1917, has been the scene of active
fighting). Thanks to the simultaneous and unexpected advance
of the Canadians through St. Julien Wood, they succeeded in
their object, the Prussians withdrawing from the village.

113 8

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

recognition than has come to them. They certainly
held a most deadly breach.

To turn to the medical arrangements.

All through this narrative of the Canadians at
Ypres there must constantly be kept in the fore-
ground the fact that we deal with men and with an
administration previously untried in actual warfare,
with a medical service of whose officers but three
out of the fifty-nine belonging to the ist Canadian
Division overseas* belonged to the Permanent
Medical Force, all the rest having been in civilian
practice before the war, with but three officers
(Major J. McCrae, Major D. Donald and Captain
G. H. R. Gibson) who had been in action before (in
South Africa) ; and, what is more, with men and
an administration exposed to the severest test of
all — a surprise attack in an area with which time
had not been given for them to become familiar.
In later engagements we shall see that the staff have
issued operation orders detailing precisely the move-
ments of the different units and the times for the
same, the roads to be used, the lines of evacuation
of the wounded. Thus for the medical service
Ypres was to determine whether it had been deve-
loped along the right lines ; whether the system
which had been evolved in peace time during the
last ten years would stand the strain ; whether the
separate parts — Regimental Medical Officers and
Aid Posts, Advanced and Main Dressing Stations of
the Field Ambulances, back to the A.D.M.S. and
divisional staff — were so co-ordinated that without

* In this enumeration the officers of the ist Casualty Clearing
Station are included as serving in the district at the time ;
the " Princess Pat's," R.C.D. and the K.G.H. are excluded as
not belonging to the division.

114

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

preparation they would carry on like clockwork?
And, since system is always secondary to man-
power, whether the officers directing the system, the
administrative staff and heads of the different
medical units, were the right men for their respective
places, men who, directing the system, could rise
superior to the difficulties encountered, could stand
this supreme test. To these questions there can be
but one answer : both men and system stood the
test and abundantly proved their quality. If in
the narrative that follows we have perforce to
describe emergencies, it is either to show how these
were forthwith overcome, or how through force
majeure that happened which could not be guarded
against. I do not say that the service is perfect ; no
human system is. I shall, in future chapters, show
how time and again the experience gained at Ypres
was utilized to render the Canadian Medical Service
more supple, more prompt in its operations and
more efficient. But this may confidently be said,
that at Ypres, at a bound, that service showed
itself completely competent ; and, as in matters
military the eventual responsibility for every
action falls upon the Officer Commanding, so
rightly the credit for the success of the Canadian
medical operations at Ypres should before all be
awarded to the officer who controlled those opera-
tions, Colonel G. L. Foster, A.D.M.S.*

* Colonel (now Major-General) Gilbert La Fayette Foster,
C.B., D.G.M.S. Canadian Overseas Forces, is a Nova Scotian, the
son of Mr. George Foster, of Kingston, N.S. He was born
May 29th, 1874, at Kingston ; graduated in Medicine at the
University of New York in May, 1896 ; entered into practice
at Canning, N.S., and Halifax, N.S. ; Visiting Surgeon, Victoria
General Hospital, Halifax, N.S. Joined the Canadian Militia
as Surgeon-Lieutenant of the 68th (King's County) Regiment

H 8*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

How, then, during this time was it faring with
the medical arrangements ? The two Advanced
Dressing Stations at Wieltje were well prepared ;
No. 2, indeed, had all its bearers on the spot,
together with three motor and three horse ambu-
lances and a water cart. Its officers were just
sitting down to an early dinner, when Turcos came
pouring into Wieltje, and from that moment the
dressing station was fully occupied. So flat and
exposed is this region that, once the action began,
it was not possible to push forward to remove
wounded from the Regimental Aid Posts until
nightfall. And at the R.A.P.'s conditions were
strenuous. At the front the regimental stretcher-
bearers were doing valiant work, administering
first aid under heavy fire, and at every opportunity
carrying back to the R.A.P.'s. The enemy was
shelling the roads so as to destroy communications
and prevent reinforcements coming up. But, not-
withstanding the shelling, the aid posts became full ;
if, with nightfall, the R.S.B.'s could bring in the
wounded from the trenches in greater numbers, so,
too, the ambulances could advance up to the
R.A.P.'s and evacuate them. And the ambulances
were kept busy throughout the night. With the
retreat of the French Colonial troops from the
line between Pilkem and St. Julien, the A.D.S.
of the 3rd Field Ambulance, situated some three-

in 1896 (the Hon. Sir Frederick Borden being Surgeon) ; served
two years in Yukon Field Force (during South African Cam-
paign), 1898-1900, and in 1905 joined the Permanent Army
Medical Service, becoming A.M.O. 6th Divisional Area, Nova
Scotia, 1911 ; A.D.M.S. 2nd Divisional Area (Toronto), 1913 ;
Captain, 1901 ; Major, 1902 ; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1907 ;
Colonel B.E.F., 1915 ; D.M.S. and Surgeon-General February,
1917 ; Major-General and D.G.M.S., O.M.F.C. 1918.

THE SECOND BATTLE OFJYPRES

quarters of a mile to the north-west of Wieltje
in farm buildings behind the Brigade Headquarters,
became not only exposed, but also non-effective.
Captain J. D. McQueen* therefore moved without
delay into Wieltje, to be in the direct line of com-
munication and to assist the 2nd Field Ambulance
in the care of the wounded. He reported many
wounded lying in the field, and, employing his
bearers, performed notable service in organizing their
removal. At dusk Major Templetonf proceeded with
motor and horse ambulances and abundant medical
.supplies to his assistance. The motor ambulances
during the night of the 22nd-23rd made four com-
plete trips from Vlamertinghe to Wieltje and back.

But while thus the wounded poured in from the
trenches, the collection of those wounded lying on
the field became increasingly difficult. It was a
pitch-dark night. Captain E. R. Brown,J of the
I3th Battalion, who had with him the stretcher-
bearers whom he, as M.O. of the 5th Royal High-
landers (Montreal) , had trained for five years and
more, of whom he was justly proud, tells of the
difficulties of this night. So dark was it that he
and his sergeant, Bell, at last took between them
the road from their R.A.P. at St. Julien towards
Poelcapelle and the front, the one walking on the
one side, the other on the other, shouting as they
went : " Any wounded here." Nor were they
unrewarded, since arriving at the artillery lines
they found these on the point of being evacuated,

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. O.C. King's Canadian
Convalescent Hospital, Bushey Park.

t Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. Later O.C. No. 3 Field
Ambulance, and now D.A.D.M.S. ist Canadian Division.

$ Now Lieutenant-Colonel and A.I.D. Etaples area.
117

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

and an officer with a shell wound and fracture of
the knee, who, conveyed there upon an extemporized
stretcher of corrugated iron, was so effectively
wedged into a dug-out that his company feared to
extricate him. He succeeded in getting him out
and back, replacing the corrugated iron sheet by
another more portable extemporized stretcher,
namely, a wicker hurdle.

By midnight the shelling of Wieltje had become
so severe that it was necessary for the A.D.S. of
the 3rd Field Ambulance to move back and occupy
an estaminet in St. Jean. We shall, in the course
of the narrative, become accustomed to this story
of Advanced Dressing Stations being shelled out
and forced to find new positions. Of necessity, they
are within the zone of abundant shell fire — often
at the same level as our artillery lines, so that they
are peculiarly liable to be sought out. But they
seem to bear a charmed life.

The first night of the battle the casualties were
very heavy, nor was there any sleep for any of the
Canadian Medical Service. Although well provided
with motor and horse ambulances, these were
insufficient, and Motor Ambulance and Red Cross
convoys helped in evacuating the A.D.S.'s back to
Vlamertinghe, where the M.D.S. of the 3rd Field
Ambulance handled most of the cases until early the
next morning. Describing this time, Lieutenant-
Colonel Watt writes : " One never-ending stream
which lasted day and night for seven days without
cessation : in all some five thousand two hundred
cases passed through our hands. Wounds here,
wounds there, wounds everywhere. Legs, feet,
hands missing ; bleeding stumps controlled by rough
field tourniquets ; large portions of the abdominal

118

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

walls shot away ; faces horribly mutilated ; bones
shattered to pieces ; holes that you could put your
clenched fist into, filled with dirt, mud, bits of
equipment and clothing, until it all became like a
hideous nightmare, as if we were living in the seventh
hell of the damned."

But with all this apparent chaos there was under-
lying order. The Main Dressing Station of the 3rd
Field Ambulance at Vlamertinghe was admirably
adapted for its work. Provided with a spacious
courtyard, ambulances poured in at one of its gates
in rapid succession. " Stretcher-bearers detailed
for the work rushed up and emptied them, laying
the patients carefully in the courtyard, and without
confusion the emptied ambulances passed out
through the other gate, back to be refilled at the
A.D.S. Other stretcher-bearers carried the patients
into the operating-room, where four stretcher and
eight sitting cases were attended to at the same
time by the surgeons in charge. And, after being
dressed, they passed into the next ward, where
every patient, unless his wounds contra-indicated,
received a hot meal and, when able to smoke, a
cigarette ; thence into the adjoining wards to rest
until summoned to begin the next stage of the
journey back to the base." ..." And so the work
went on, and when the accommodation would be
taxed to the utmost — when the courtyard would
be full of those waiting for admission ; when
adjoining houses were used up ; when even the
billets of the men of the unit were requisitioned
and it seemed impossible to take another patient,
the welcome Red Cross convoy would appear.
Ambulance after ambulance would be filled, every
man checked as he was evacuated, and as soon as

119

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

full, off it would purr to the Clearing Station
away in the rear. Thus the work went on hour by
hour and day by day, until finally at the end of
the seventh day this huge total of wounded had
passed through our hands."

The clearing of the wounded was at times so
urgent that, as on the 23rd, everything was used
for transport — horse-drawn vehicles, motor lorries,
London omnibuses, village carts and gun limbers.
Regarding the critical times on the 23rd, Colonel
Foster, the A.D.M.S., writes : " I cannot speak
too highly of the assistance rendered to the Field
Ambulances by the Motor Ambulance convoy and
Red Cross people. When a large number of sitting
cases or slightly wounded are brought in, a motor
omnibus can handle these satisfactorily, and is a
great saving upon the motor ambulances proper."*

The little Ford car belonging to the 3rd Field
Ambulance was pressed into service, and in con-
nection with it occurred a ghastly episode which
has burnt itself into the memory of all beholders.
Early on the morning of the 23rd it was returning
from Wieltje with two slightly wounded officers,
when outside Ypres a shell fell immediately behind
it. The body of the car was riddled by fragments,
and the driver, Sergeant J. G. Kinsell, was badly
wounded in the head. He was brought into the
M.D.S. suffering from shock. A driver was later
sent to retrieve the car, and finding that it could
still be run, he brought it on to Vlamertinghe and
into the courtyard of the M.D.S., bringing the

* Lieutenant-Colonel F. C. Bell tells me that on one occasion,
when the M.D.S. was packed to overflowing, some 440 " sitting
cases " were evacuated at one time by the opportune arrival of
motor 'buses, which had been used to bring up fresh troops to the
front, were returning empty, and were promptly commandeered !

I2O

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

battered car to a standstill at the hospital door.
Apparently the force of the explosion had exerted
itself just over the top of the car. There sat the
two officers, rigid, each in a perfectly natural posi-
tion, but headless, or, what was yet more awful,
the one completely headless, the other with face
blown off, the back of the head flapping to and
fro with each jolt of the car. There is scarce a
campaign but has afforded similar instances of the
immediate onset of cadaveric rigidity in those who
have undergone hours of intense effort. No one
who has seen such a case can ever forget it.

But to continue the orderly chronicle of events.
The severity of the attack, once it was developed, and
the number of casualties indicated the need of more
Main Dressing Stations, and this at the most
advanced points possible behind Ypres, namely, at
Vlamertinghe and Brielen.

Early upon the morning of Friday, the 23rd,
the ist Field Ambulance, under Lieutenant-Colonel
A. E. Ross, was brought into Vlamertinghe, estab-
lishing an M.D.S. in a large and roomy house
adjoining the girls' school occupied as M.D.S. by
the 3rd, as few of the officers and men as could be
spared being left behind at Watou to continue
running the Rest Station at the convent.*

It will be recalled that the M.D.S. of the 2nd
Field Ambulance at Ypres had been disbanded,
leaving but one section there under Major Hardy.
That one section stood it out bravely throughout

* Throughout the days immediately preceding that, the
greater part of this unit had been marching and counter-
marching. Thus the unit reached Watou on the i/th ; on the
2Oth two of the three sections were ordered to Oosthoek, near
Elver tinghe and on the 2ist were recalled only to have the
Bearers return to Oosthoek on the 22nd,

121

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the night of the 22nd-23rd, when shells were raining
upon the doomed city. Big shells fell constantly
around the D.S. Nevertheless, although seven of
the personnel received wounds, some three hundred
patients were dressed and evacuated. The shelling
at this northern end of the city appeared to be
directed especially upon the road and bridge over
the Yser Canal, which formed, as it were, the spout
of the funnel draining the northern part of the
salient forming the field of battle. Our ambulance
men ran the gauntlet each time they passed along
this portion of the road and round " The Devil's
Corner." By ten o'clock the next morning the
Dressing Station in Ypres was no longer tenable.
Leaving it, Major Hardy established his section for
a few hours at the cross-roads outside Ypres, and
in the afternoon was ordered to take it to the School-
house in the east end of the straggling village of
Brielen, there to join Major D. B. Bentley,* in charge
of B Section, who, during the forenoon of this day,
had opened up a Dressing Station here to serve the
East Yorkshire Regiment and other British troops
across the Canal. Later this same afternoon Major
A. E. Snell,f with C Section of the ambulance, was
directed to establish another Dressing Station at
the Red Chateau to the south-east of Brielen, to
serve the Reserve troops in the neighbourhood of
the Canal, north of Ypres, and receive the wounded
who were being collected by the bearers of the ist
Field Ambulance, under Captain Stone.
To understand what was happening at this period

* Later O.C. Canadian Convalescent Camp, Monks Horton,
Kent, and O.C. Base Depot Medical Stores, Southampton.
Died April 5th, 1917.

f Now Colonel, C.M.G., D.S.O. ; A.D.M.S. 3rd Division.
He has been mentioned in Dispatches five times.

122

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

on the Canadian left, it is necessary to enter into
some little detail. With the hurried retreat of the
French Colonial troops a big gap was left upon our
left — how big, it would seem that the enemy did
not realize. If the Germans could advance through
this gap they could turn the Ypres position. To
arrest them the Ypres- Yser Canal occupied poten-
tially a very important defensive position. It
was all-essential that this should be defended.*
The yth (British Columbia) Battalion, belonging to
the 2nd Brigade and in reserve, had first come up
to the aid of the 3rd Brigade. Next the loth and
1 6th Battalions of the 3rd Brigade, also in reserve
to the north-east of Ypres, coming up extended the
Canadian left still further. At 9 p.m. that Thursday
night the ist Brigade was put in motion, the 2nd
Battalion moving out of Vlamertinghe through
Brielen, so over a pontoon bridge across the Canal
through St. Jean and Wieltje to a position in
support of the loth and i6th. They were followed
by the 3rd Battalion, and these by a force made
up out of several regiments and known as Geddes's
Detachment, to which was joined the ist and 4th
Canadian Battalions, coming up hurriedly out of
reserve, f And early on Friday morning these
Canadian troops, under General Mercer, in associa-
tion with the rest of Geddes's Detachment, under

* As a matter of fact, further to the north in the French
lines from this side of Boesinghe to the other side of Lizerne,
the enemy succeeded in crossing it on Friday, bringing up
reinforcements ; our Allies eventually forced them back during
the course of the next seven days.

t As already noted, the 4th (Central Ontario) Battalion had
been billeted in Vlamertinghe. They moved out at 1.30 a.m.,
and, marching through Brielen, crossed the Canal there, and
at 4 a.m. were in action over against Pilkem.

123

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the cover of the guns of the ist Canadian Artillery
Brigade, began a counter-attack upon the trenches
into which the enemy had hastily dug himself to the
north of Ypres. The Aid Posts of the ist and 4th
Canadian Battalions were installed in a farmhouse
to the west of the Pilkem road, and at 4.30 a.m. the
first wounded came in. That attack was made
against terrible odds. It will be remembered how
the death of their beloved O.C. (Lieutenant-Colonel
Birchell) while leading them, led the 4th (Central
Ontario) Battalion to avenge that death bloodily,
bayoneting the last German who resisted, capturing
the trenches and holding them through Saturday
and Sunday. But the success was against enormous
odds and the casualties were correspondingly great.
They came out one quarter the number that went
forward from Vlamertinghe in the dark hours of
Friday morning.

Here it will be well to note some of the doings of
the ist Field Ambulance, and follow the movements
of Captain E. L. Stone.* On the Thursday its bearer
section had been marched by the O.C., Lieutenant-
Colonel Ross, to Oosthoek, near Elverdinghe, there
joining the two sections of the 2nd Field Ambulance
that had been brought back from Ypres. Early
upon Friday the 23rd, Major Duval and Captain
McGibbon left with the ambulances to clear from
the A.D.S. of the 2nd Field Ambulance at St.
Jean. A little later Captain Stone and Captain C.
R. Grahamf left Oosthoek with all the bearer sub-
division and wagons, in all some one hundred men,

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel and O.C. Canadian Special Hospital,
Witley, after having been O.C. i$th Field Ambulance.

•f Now Major on the staff of the Granville Canadian Special
Hospital.

124

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

being directed to clear from the region of the Canal,
and more particularly to collect the wounded of the
ist and 4th Canadian Battalions, resulting irom the
furious engagement then at its height. Marching
through Brielen, they found a good road leading to
the Canal, and close to the latter they established a
Collecting Post, with Captain Graham in charge.
Thanks to the pontoon bridges, wounded to the left
of our lines could be brought, if necessary, from the
A.D.S.'s at St. Jean by a fairly direct route to
Brielen. Even if the Germans were shelling all
along the line of the Canal and searching out the
pontoons, the crossing was better than running the
gauntlet at the accurately registered " Devil's
Corner." Captain Stone crossed the Canal, taking
his bearers with him, and about 10 a.m. established
a Collecting Post in the farm, already mentioned,
near the Pilkem road, where the R.A.P.'s of the ist
and 4th Battalions had been established since early
morning. This was already under shell-fire, and
just before his arrival a " tear shell " had entered
one end of the house. At midday another lachry-
matory shell rendered evacuation of the Collecting
Post both imperative and hurried.* For a time he

* Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Raikes, who was M.O.
of the 4th Battalion, tells me that he managed to maintain his
R.A.P. in these farm buildings until the middle of the after-
noon, when the liveliness of the shelling forced him to evacuate.
By that time the farm was as full of wounded as it could hold.
No ambulance was able to reach him to evacuate his wounded,
and he re-established his Aid Post in a shed on the west side of
the Canal, adjoining an estaminet, the Headquarters of the ist
Battalion. This meant a long cany for his bearers. Here
through the night he received splendid help from two chaplains,
Major Beattie (now Head of the Chaplain Service in Canada)
and Captain Gordon (son of the late Principal Gordon, of Queen's
University, Kingston],

125

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

made his centre at the Collecting Post on the other
side of the Canal, his men working up to the farm.
By dusk the wounded ceased to come in, and now
he heard of a large farm half a mile beyond the earlier
farm, and on the other side of the Pilkem road.
Advancing to take possession, he found it full of
wounded, with no Medical Officer. It was, in fact,
in charge of a corporal of an Imperial regiment of
Geddes's Detachment, who had under him four or
five men from different units. The wounded who
filled the farm buildings were equally heterogeneous,
men from Imperial troops preponderating. Captain
Stone made this farm his Collecting Post. It would
be improper to call this an Advanced Dressing
Station : they were all too busy to do any dressings.
There was no time to take notes and make records,
they were fully occupied in looking after the creature
comforts of the wounded — tagging them and send-
ing them on. Between noon on the 23rd and 5 a.m.
on the 24th, fifty-seven ambulance loads had been
evacuated under his direction. At Brielen that
night, apart from the Red Chateau, the M.D.S.
in the School-house, three estaminets and the near-
by church were full of wounded.

Over against the 3rd Brigade, with its extension
leftwards, the fighting throughout all Thursday
night was very bitter. It was about midnight, for
example, that the 2nd Battalion came into position,
and casualties came in all the time. It was too dark
to reconnoitre for a suitable Aid Post, and at first
the casualties were dressed in the Field and sent to
the R.A.P. at 3rd Brigade Headquarters in what
later became known as Shell Trap Farm. Event-
ually the O.C., Lieutenant-Colonel (now Major-
General Sir David) Watson, found Headquarters

126

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

in a small farm of the usual Flemish type, and here
the R.A.P. was established. No sooner was it
established than men of the loth and i6th came
pouring in, this being the Aid Post nearest to their
front.*

St. Julien was heavily shelled ; how brave a
resistance was put up by Major McCuaig and the
i3th is remembered by all Canadians. During the
afternoon of Friday the increased intensity of the
artillery fire of the enemy forced the devoted 3rd
Brigade further back, yard by yard, upon and then
through St. Julien, leaving there (when the order
came for the Brigade to retire) companies of those
two brave regiments the I3th (Royal Highlanders
of Montreal) and the I4th (Royal Montreal Regi-
ment) to fight to the last, cut off hopelessly.

Through all the shelling of this area conditions
at the Advanced Dressing Stations at Wieltje
became more and more difficult. At noon on
Friday, Major C. P. Templeton,f of the 3rd Field
Ambulance, sent back the message : " Simply
unable to collect wounded until dark, as it is hell
here. Have been shelled out of A.D.S. Will
establish one further back this evening. Require
stretchers and bearers." Now, stretchers for the
moment were not too numerous, as many had been
sent conveying French wounded from Brielen and
Vlamertinghe to the French Field Ambulances at
Elverdinghe and Poperinghe on the evening of the
22nd, and these were already so crowded that

* Some 150 of the i6th and 125 of the loth passed through
Captain Greer's hands at this post.

t Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O., D.A.D.M.S. ist Canadian
Division, after having been O.C. No. 3 Canadian Field Ambu-
lance. Twice mentioned in Dispatches.

127

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

rather than place the wounded on the bare floor
stretchers had to be left, nor could the French
pattern stretchers be exchanged, as they were all
in use. The lack was, however, remedied in a few
hours : that evening there was no lack.

The A.D.S. of the 2nd Field Ambulance main-
tained itself at Wieltje for some hours longer, until,
with the loss of St. Julien and nearer approach of
the enemy and his guns, it became folly to run
further chances. At five in the afternoon
Captain W. A. Burgess* reported thence that he
was moving back to St. Jean with two of the unit
wounded. The bearers of the 2nd, one and all,
manifested splendid skill and personal bravery.
As the O.C. (Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. McPherson)
writes with pardonable pride, theirs " was the worst
section of them all to clear from, when the poisonous
gases were first encountered. The men frequently
placed the wounded in ditches, lying flat to avoid
shells ; where there was little protection, the
wounded got the first choice. No wounded man
received a second wound while in our charge. The
three officers of this section, Captains Burgess,
P. G. Brownf and McKillip, deserve the greatest
of praise for their untiring devotion to duty." In
this connection the services of Captain (now Major)
McKillipJ were so outstanding, with so complete a

* Later Major 8th Field Ambulance ; now on duty in Canada.
| Now Lieutenant-Colonel and O.C. No. 2 Canadian C.C.S.

J Major G. G. Greet (then Captain and M.O. of the 2nd
Battalion), in his notes on the battle, writes : " The 2nd Canadian
Field Ambulance was clearing me, and I must say that their
work under Captain McKillip and Captain Brown was most
excellent. Captain McKillip established himself with his
bearers near my post and worked unceasingly till Saturday

128

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

disregard for his own safety and so great a care for
the relief of the wounded, that he was later awarded
the D.S.O. There will be occasion to refer to the
good work of the other two officers later. What
Colonel McPherson testified regarding his bearers
might well have been said regarding the whole
body.

Turning now to the fortunes of the 2nd Brigade,
forming the Canadian right flank, this throughout
Thursday evening and night and the early part of
Friday had been relatively neglected by the
enemy. There was, it is true, a discharge of
poison gas at dawn on Friday morning against
the whole Canadian front, but from the lie of their
trenches and the direction of the wind, this affected
more particularly the Highlander regiments of
the 3rd Brigade. Major Mothersill, M.O. of the
8th (Winnipeg) Battalion, on the extreme right,
describes Friday forenoon as having been strangely
quiet, with only an occasional shell dropped into
the trenches, and but few casualties. On Friday
afternoon, when the increased intensity of the
artillery fire of the enemy forced the 3rd Brigade
backwards in the St. Julieri area, fighting every
inch, with its withdrawal Colonel Currie had in his
turn to repeat Colonel Turner's manoeuvre of the

morning." (Major T. H. McKillip, D.S.O., after much service
at the front with the 4th Division, is now on the Staff of No. 7
General Hospital.) '• The casualties poured in all Thursday
night, Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. At one
time on Friday I had over two hundred cases collected in the
farmyard " (at his R.A.P.] ; " but thanks to the admirable
work of the Field Ambulances and the Motor Ambulance Convoy,
they were all cleared safely* They did not shell me much until
after this convoy came, but shelled it all along the road on the
way up and going back. Then they commenced to shell my
Aid Post with gas and shrapnel/'

129 9

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

previous day, and extend his left flank at an angle
in order to keep in touch with the retiring Brigade.
It was at this period that the yth Battalion (British
Columbia) suffered heavily, losing their gallant
leader, Colonel Hart McHarg, despite the care of
Captain George Gibson, the M.O. of the regiment,*
the battalion fighting on until it had been reduced to
one hundred men capable of bearing arms.
Regarding Captain Gibson, Brigadier-General (now
Lieut enant-General Sir) A. W. Currie, in a letter of
August i5th, 1915, states : " I could write pages
of incidents in which he most gallantly participated.
At Ypres, before the battle, when it was impossible
to visit front trenches in the daytime without the
greatest danger, Gibson always went if he heard of
a case in urgent need of medical attention. No
one ever thought of making the trip except Gibson.
Then, during the battle itself he was splendid."
Hearing that his Colonel was wounded, Captain
Gibson, under heavy fire, went to his assistance in
the " No Man's Land " between the two forces on
this side of Keerselaere, within two hundred yards
of the enemy, accompanied by Sergeant J. Dryden.
Regardless of personal danger, the two moved him
out of a shell-hole to the shelter of a ditch, dressed
his wound and, exposed to shell and heavy rifle
fire, remained with him from 4.30 p.m. until dark,
when stretcher-bearers came up and carried him
back to the Battalion Headquarters. He died at
Poperinghe the next day.

* Of Vancouver ; later A.D.C. to Major-General (now Lieu-
tenant-General Sir) A. W. Currie, Major and Croix de Guerre ;
now D.A.D.M.S. Canadian Army Corps. Good blood tells :
Captain Gibson is the son of a most distinguished and versatile
Edinburgh physician, the late Dr. G. A. Gibson.

130

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

On the evening of the 23rd the Germans continued
to turn their attention to the right half of the front,
subjecting the trenches of the 2nd Brigade to heavy
shelling. Here, as giving a vivid account of con-
ditions at the front, I cannot do better than quote
the description of Captain W. M. Hart,*M.O.of the
5th Battalion.

" During the next two days — the 2Oth and 2ist
— we succeeded in getting the Aid Post pretty well
cleaned out, and the worst of the shell holes filled
in with sand bags. The central room, which had a
large fireplace, I took as a dressing-room. By means
of empty sand bags we closely covered the windows
and doors, and so were able by means of candles to
have the room well lighted up without disclosing
our position to the enemy, except for aeroplanes
and observation balloons. We were also able to
have a fire in the fireplace during the night, when
smoke could not be seen, which proved very com-
forting, not only to the wounded while being dressed
and waiting for the ambulance, but also to ourselves,
as the nights were still quite cold. . . .

" On the night of the 23rd the enemy commenced
to shell our part of the line very heavily with
shrapnel and high explosives, in addition to rifle
and machine-gun fire, which shelling was destined
to continue almost without intermission, and at
times reaching a terrific volume, until the 27th.
During the night of the 23rd I had some of the worst
cases of shell wounds with which I had to deal, one
man being wounded in eleven places. From his

* Now Major (acting Lieutenant-Colonel), M.C. ; late Officer
in Charge of Chatham House Annexe, Ramsgate ; at present
O.C. Canadian Special Hospital, Lenham. Mentioned in
Dispatches, January i8th, 1916.

131 9*

WAR STORY OF THE JCJLMJC,

foot I removed a large piece of high explosive casing,
which pierced it, projecting both sides, and this was
perhaps the least grave of all his wounds, some
being of huge extent, and rendering the dressing of
them under the difficulties existing no easy matter.
" As the stream of wounded began to increase and
stretcher-bearers became in great and greater
demand, we took the only remaining door of the
house off its hinges, and, as it was thick and heavy,
it did excellent duty as a dressing-table, supported
on four boxes. During the next two days and
nights, the 24th and 25th, the floor of the room,
as well as those of the five smaller rooms around it, a
small cellar, the loft above it, and a dug-out outside
the building, were almost continuously covered with
wounded men and officers from my own and half a
dozen other Canadian and English units, in spite of
the fact that all the wounded able to walk at all,
after being dressed, were continually being sent back
along the road to Wieltje, as after the night of the
23rd no ambulance succeeded in reaching my
dressing-post." From the evening of the 23rd to
the morning of the 26th, approximately sixty hours,
Captain Hart was scarce ever off his feet, eventually
losing track of time, as night and day " brought no
change in or respite from the stream of wounded,
limping, crawling, or being carried to the Aid Post."

132

CHAPTER VII

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES (continued}
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

FROM such an account of one of the Regimental
Aid Posts as that given at the end of the last chapter
the condition at the Main Dressing Stations can be
imagined. During the course of Saturday, the 24th,
at No. 3 Field Ambulance, not only the men's
billets, but now the Mairie opposite, were also filled
with wounded. There was " tremendous con-
gestion." Like conditions prevailed at both the
other M.D.S.'s, and the Red Chateau at Brielen.

A glance at the map will show how close to
Brielen were the German lines at this juncture.
On Saturday forenoon, bringing up their guns,
they shelled the little village with increasing
intensity until the 2nd Field Ambulance in the
School-house had to make a hurried departure, the
ambulances of the 3rd coming to their assistance,
helping to remove patients and equipment to
Vlamertinghe. It looked as though the Canadian
lines might at any time be driven in, and as though
Captain Stone, with the bearers of the ist Field
Ambulance, operating on the other side of the
canal, would be cut off. Under the heavy shell
fire it did not appear possible to get the wounded

133

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

over the Canal to the Brielen Dressing Stations.
Nevertheless, a messenger came through from the
Captain with the cheery report that he was all
right and would hang on till dark, when he hoped
to get the wounded out, at which time he asked
that transports should be rushed to the Canal.*

Fortunately the advance of the Germans in the
northern area was arrested, and, as a matter of
fact, when the M.D.S. evacuated the School-house
at Brielen, Captain Stone marched some of his
bearers over the Canal and took possession, placing
a corporal in charge to direct the walking wounded,
and a cook to prepare food for his bearer section.
Having done this, he returned to the Collecting Post
at the farm beyond the Pilkem road. In the even-
ing after dark he evacuated this, carrying back some
twenty wounded to the School-house ; one of the
wounded, he recalls, was conveyed in a wheel-
barrow. Next he reopened the Collecting Post on
this side of the Canal, and the night of Saturday-
Sunday was spent clearing to this from the farm
beyond the Pilkem road. Despite the fact that the
Canal and the roads were being heavily shelled, he
did not lose a single one of his bearers : indeed, only
one of the hundred or so under him was wounded.

Lieutenant-Colonel Raikes, then M.O. of the 4th,
affords a confirmatory account. When the German
artillery attack was at its highest this Saturday
morning, he was shelled out of his shed by the
estaminet on the Canal Road, and retreated over
the railway, where he came across a French Aid
Post outside Brielen. He was still under shell
fire, but, finding a fairly solid brick house to the

* From the private diary of Lieutenant-Colonel (now Colonel)
Chisholm, D.S.O., then D.A.D.M.S. Canadian Division.

134

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

south of this, he converted it into a R.A.P., collect-
ing the wounded here throughout the day. At
dusk he returned and occupied the estaminet
which had been vacated by the ist Battalion
Headquarters Staff. And here he stayed through-
out a very busy night. There was no one to
evacuate for him, so that the building became
" chock full " with some 120 cases, laid in rows
upon the floors of the different rooms. He and
all his bearers were by now dead tired. A bearer
had but to sit down to fall straightway into a
heavy sleep. Happily, wounded men helped each
other along to the Aid Post, and so helped to lessen
the strain upon his staff of bearers.

By now the very stress of work had taught them
all methods of organized labour-saving and economy
of effort. Thus, to guard against the back-aching
labour of bending over each stretcher case, his
bearers devised for him high trestles, upon which
the stretcher was placed as each wounded patient
hi turn had the first aid dressing removed. Several
bearers were detailed to form an operating room
staff, certain to move the patients, one to remove
the dressings, another to superintend the stock of
dressings and deliver those needed for each parti-
cular case, he himself superintended the treatment
of each wound and gave injections of morphine.*

* This, by a very simple and expeditious method : Two
bottles, containing the one absolute alcohol, the other a solution
of morphine, were each closed by a rubber membrane fastened
securely round the neck. The hypodermic needle was sterilized
by plunging it through the membrane into the alcohol. For
use it was withdrawn, attached to the syringe, and now the
required dose obtained by plunging through the rubber into the
morphia solution. When the injection had been given, the
needle was forthwith plunged through the rubber into the
alcohol.

135

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

What he will never forget was the quiet that
reigned through the crowded estaminet all through
that night. No sooner had the wounded man
been given his injection, and dressed, and given a
cup of hot beef tea, than he went to sleep, and slept
like a child. There was no sound save of regular
breathing. Among them were a few Turcos who
had been out on the field wounded for two days,
i.e., since Thursday evening. Their wounds were
already putrid and foul-smelling.

Early on Sunday morning some horse ambulances
came along and began the removal of his wounded.
At ten o'clock he went into Vlamertinghe with one
of these, and secured from Colonel Ross, of No. i
Field Ambulance, some motor ambulances. He
describes the Colonel as working away like a
Trojan, with no tunic and no belt, but attired in an
old green sweater — and getting things done.

For a description of conditions at the front that
Saturday, further to the right between Wieltje
and St. Julien, I am indebted to Captain (now
Major) Greer, of the 2nd Battalion. It will be
remembered that his R.A.P. was well forward, and
that he was busy all Friday and Saturday morning
(p. 129). At about three o'clock on Saturday
afternoon, orders came for this unit to fall back
to what was known as the G.H.Q. line, about
3rd Brigade Headquarters, which from now onwards
came to be in the immediate neighbourhood of,
if not actually in, the front line. At the time of the
retirement (which necessitated the evacuation of his
R.A.P.), he writes : " I had fourteen stretchers
(cases) and twenty-two walking cases which had to
be cleared. Luckily I had sufficient stretchers and
used batmen, etc., to complete the stretcher squads.

136

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

The route back was well sprayed with machine-gun
bullets and shells, but these cases were successfully
cleared by my bearers. One of the walking wounded
was hit on the thigh and became a stretcher case, and
one bearer was hit on the leg on this trip. These
cases had to be carried to the Asylum at Ypres,
a distance of four miles, approximately, and that
by men who had worked continuously for over
forty-eight hours, a remarkable feat in my opinion.
I went part of the way back with them, dressing
the two cases, and my sergeant conducted them
the rest of the way. His work and that of all my
stretcher-bearers throughout the whole engagement
was beyond praise. Later, Sergeant Russell was
awarded the Military Medal.

" I retired to the 3rd Canadian Brigade Head-
quarters Dressing Station, where Captains Hay-
wood, Glidden and Scrimger were working, and we
worked there till about midnight, when I found
the remnants of my battalion, who were then in
support in front of St. Jean."

By 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, the M.D.S. of
the 2nd Field Ambulance was at work in a school-
house at Vlamertinghe near to the station. When,
next morning, C Section, under Major Snell from
the Red Chateau, joined it, the complete establish-
ment of all three sections was under one roof. The
Red Chateau had by this become an Advanced
Dressing Station of the 2nd. On Saturday evening
shelling rendered the estaminet at St. Jean un-
tenable, wherefore Captain Burgess moved his
men to this point.

From this time onward, as indicated by the map,
Vlamertinghe became the one medical centre of
the Canadian area. Yet other units were brought

137

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

in, and, indeed, came as a great relief, for by now
the heavy strain upon the Canadian Field Am-
bulances was beginning to tell. From O.C. down
to ambulance driver, every member of each unit
had been working desperately and doggedly with-
out intermission. " Not a soul," says Colonel
Chisholm in his notes for this afternoon, " has had
any sleep since the action began." The stretcher-
bearers, in particular, both Regimental and Field
Ambulance, with the long and strenuous carries,
were becoming worn out. During the course of
the 24th, the Bearer division of No. 10 R.A.M.C.
Field Ambulance (O.C. Major F. B. Wingate,
R.A.M.C.), belonging to the 4th Imperial Division,
came to their aid : its Tent subdivision opened up
an A.D.S. at St. Jean, and early on the forenoon
of Sunday, the 25th, it opened its M.D.S. in Vlamer-
tinghe church hall and church. So, too, on the
24th, the Bearer division of the I2th British Field
Ambulance, under Captain H. Steward, R.A.M.C.,
Lieutenant A. C. Jebb, S.R., and Lieutenant Paine,
were placed under the A.D.M.S. Canadians, and
they likewise established an A.D.S. at St. Jean.
This unit, it may be added, lost two of its motor
ambulances by shell fire.*

Later, when on the 26th the Indian Division came
into action on what had been our right, the 8th
Indian Field Ambulance came from Ouderdom
and opened its M.D.S. in a school near the Vlamer-
tinghe church, sending its bearer division to St.
Jean.

* I am indebted for these details regarding Imperial units
to Major F. S. Brereton, of the War Office, in charge of the
medical records of the British Army, who most kindly placed
his material regarding the Second Battle of Ypres at my disposal.

138

All through Saturday heavy fighting continued :
the wounded poured into Vlamertinghe in every
sort of vehicle, and all divisions of the Field Am-
bulances worked smoothly and effectively. With
nightfall, the Dressing Stations began to receive
the wounded who had accumulated during the day
between the Canal and St. Jean, as again from
north of St. Jean, where the loth Indian Division
had been in action.

Close upon midnight came a message to Head-
quarters that a Battalion passing through the main
square of Ypres (in front of the Cloth Hall) had
been heavily shelled, with many casualties.
Although he had but just come in from the front
after forty-eight hours' hard work without rest,
Major J. L. Duval, of the ist Field Ambulance,
volunteered to take cars and bearers into the city,
which could be seen from Vlamertinghe to be aflame
everywhere and burning vigorously. For the good
work he accomplished upon this and the following
night, this officer received mention in Dispatches.

The shelling at St. Jean, which had been severe
enough during the evening to cause the evacuation
of the A.D.S of the 2nd, continued all through
this night, so much so that early on Sunday morning
the A.D.S of the 3rd Field Ambulance had been
destroyed, Major Templeton and the personnel
only leaving it when it was burning to the ground.
One motor ambulance had been " knocked out." It
was impossible to collect wounded during the day-
time, so they returned to Vlamertinghe. But at
seven in the evening of Sunday, they were back
establishing their fourth A.D.S., this time again at
Wieltje, where all through the night they worked
under heavy shell fire.

139

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

The A.D.M.S., Colonel Foster, spent the night
of Saturday and Sunday at the front superintending
the evacuation of the wounded. At midnight he
telephoned that all was proceeding smoothly, the
convoys to St. Jean working steadily and without
a break. Despite the difficulty of getting ambu-
lances up, the front had been evacuated by 3.30
a.m., all save some hundred cases beyond Fortuin,
where several great elms, which had formed a grove
on this side of the village, had been brought down
by shell fire and completely blocked the road.
A little distance beyond this point Captain Hart,
of the 5th Canadian Battalion, had collected some
forty-five severely wounded and placed them in
the cellar of a farmhouse. Some three-quarters of
a mile further on was Captain Hart's R.A.P.,
and here he had fifty cases which could not walk.
It was now exposed, as is indicated by the map.
Already that night ambulances had endeavoured
to reach him, but had encountered the fallen
trees. In the early hours of the morning two
cars were sent specially from Vlamertinghe with
intent that they should pick up engineers at Brigade
Headquarters, and take them to remove the ob-
struction. Unfortunately, a misdirection or mis-
understanding led to a painful double disaster,
namely, the cars and their occupants fell into the
hands of the enemy, as did, later, the occupants
of the R.A.P. which they should have relieved.
I cannot do better than quote the account given
to me by Private (now Sergeant) A. W. Walsh, of
the 3rd Field Ambulance. " At about 2 a.m.,
April 25th, 1915, two motor ambulances left our
Hospital at Vlamertinghe with orders to proceed
to 3rd Brigade Headquarters, located in a farm-

140

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

house about one mile south-west of St. Julien.
Upon reporting at Headquarters, we were told by
an officer, whom I did not know personally, to go
on to the I3th Battalion Aid Post at St. Julien
and bring out as many wounded as possible. I
have since learned that this Aid Post was moved
the previous evening. A tree had been reported
as having fallen across the road. Two infantry
men were sent from Headquarters with us to help
remove the obstruction, which our car ran into
about a quarter of a mile from St. Julien.

" When the ambulance stopped, two or three of
us jumped off. Over on our left two star shells
shot up, and immediately a fusillade of bullets
riddled our cars. Driver Fox, standing in front
of the foremost, was instantly killed. Driver
Stevens was shot dead sitting in his seat. Private
Nelson received a bullet wound in the head. Pri-
vate Can was shot in the thigh. One of the in-
fantry men fell apparently very badly wounded.
The second infantry man I did not see after the
cars stopped.

"Driver Pickles and I were uninjured, and at-
tempted to turn one of the cars round. A German
patrol party appeared out of the darkness and
took Private Carr, Driver Pickles and myself
prisoners." Only one of the seven men with
the two cars — Private Nelson — escaped, and he,
when hit, falling off the car as though dead, managed
to creep into the roadside ditch and, escaping
detection, worked his way back to our lines.*

* Walsh, Carr and Pickles were sent to the prison camp at
Giessen. The two former, instead of being freed immediately,
remained there eight months, until December 24th, 1915, and
then, after detention on the Dutch border for a fortnight,
reached England on January 7th, 1916. Unfortunately, while

141

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

The explanation of this most regrettable mis-
direction that seems most probable is either that the
leading car-driver went by mistake to the Head-
quarters of the 3rd instead of the 2nd Brigade, or
that both roads, that to St. Julien and that beyond
Fortuin, happened to be blocked by fallen trees,
and understanding that men had to be supplied
to remove an obstruction, the Staff Officer of the
3rd Brigade, being more familiar with conditions
in his own area, immediately jumped to the con-
clusion that the St. Julien obstruction had to be
removed, and so directed the cars to proceed to
the St. Julien Aid Post without a thought that
this had been evacuated twenty-four hours before.
This explanation, however, does not absolve the
officer for sending the cars into the German lines.

Colonel Foster himself endeavoured to reach the
R.A.P. of the 5th, having visited all the other Aid
Posts during the course of the night. He reached
the farmhouse just beyond the obstruction, and
records in his diary : " I inspected one group of
these men, forty-five cases in the farmhouse, and
found that their wounds had all been dressed and
they were fairly comfortable in a cellar. I detailed
Captain Musson, C.A.M.S. (2nd Field Ambulance),
with extra dressings and two orderlies, to remain with
the wounded until they could be moved the following
night under cover of darkness to the Dressing Sta-
tion. It was reported that fifty cases three-
Driver Pickles had been attached to the 3rd Field Ambulance
since February, and had been definitely transferred from the
Motor Transport (Imperial A.S.C.) to the C.A.M.C. a few days
before his capture, the change had not been noted in his pay-
book, nor had he been given a new identity disc. Although
representations to this effect have been made to Germany, he
still remains a prisoner.

142

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

quarters of a mile further on, in charge of Captain
Hart, C.A.M.C., were similarly situated. As time
would not permit of my proceeding to this latter
place before daylight, at which time the road was
under fire of the enemy, I gave full instructions to
Captain Musson to communicate with Captain Hart
that I would arrange for the clearing of the
road, and would send sufficient cars to remove
all cases that night so soon as darkness would
permit."

The condition of these officers and their wounded
was parlous. Two or three times during the course
of the morning and early evening of Sunday the
25th messages were sent urging the evacuation of
every case that could possibly be moved, as retire-
ment of the battalion might be necessary at any
moment. As a matter of fact, Captain Musson
and all his wounded were retrieved on Sunday
night by ambulance cars under direction of Major
Chisholm, D.A.D.M.S. Captain Hart and his party
were not so fortunate. We shall have to follow
their fate later.

But they were not the only Aid Posts that at
this period of the engagement were in difficulties.
That for the 3rd and I4th Battalions, with Captains
Haywood* and Scrimger as Medical Officers, had
been established in one of the moated farmhouses
which are a feature of this part of Flanders, the farm
being at the same time the Headquarters of the 3rd
Brigade, under Colonel R. E. W. Turner. We
possess Captain Scrimger's record of the doings at
this point, and it gives a vivid picture of the
happenings at this part of the line. Captain

* Captain (now Major) A. K. Haywood, M.C., returned to
Canada in 1916.

143

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

F. A. C. Scrimger* is one of the noteworthy figures
of the Second Battle of Ypres. The son of a dis-
tinguished minister who for long years had been
Principal of the Presbyterian College in affiliation
with McGill University, Montreal, he himself
before the war had done good work as assistant
surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital, and was
demonstrator in surgery in the McGill Medical
School. He came over with the First Contingent
as Medical Officer with the I4th Battalion (the
Royal Scots of Montreal, or Royal Montreal Regi-
ment). To his great distress an attack of broncho-
pneumonia prevented him from crossing overseas
to France with his regiment, another being appointed
in his place. By quiet persistence he managed
— as late as April i5th — to cross to France and
become attached to the 2nd Field Ambulance, and
the beginning of the fight saw him in charge of
the A.D.S. of the 2nd Field Ambulance at Wieltje.
It was only the day after the action had begun
— at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 23rd —
that the welcome instructions reached him to report
to the 3rd Brigade for duty with his old regiment,
the I4th Battalion. He had been trying to get
back for weeks, and had been with it little more
than a day when he did that which brought him the
V.C. I cannot do better than give his own words :f
" April 24th. We have only six stretchers, two
having been lost or broken. It is impossible to
get the wounded in. A good deal of ground has
been lost, and for the wounded in this area nothing
can be done. Am now forty-eight hours without
sleep. I don't feel it. There is a pretty vigorous

* Captain Scrimger, V.C., is now Chief Sturgeon of No. 3 C.G.H.
t From a " letter diary " written for transmission to his
family.

144

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

shell and rifle fire through the gaps. They got
five men through one gap. Our supplies are none
too abundant. Very few wounded can get in, the
fire is too hot. I spent the afternoon and up to
the present at night in the G.H.Q. lines. It is
safe enough except when I have to go along the
trench, dressing. I got rapped on the heel by a
shrapnel this afternoon, and thought my time
had come several times ; but was able to dress a
number of cases — too many. One a wound through
the brachial plexus ; during the dressing, shrapnel
landed three times in the lee parapet.

"April 25th. This has been a big day. I write
in a sort of dug-out while we wait for orders. I
got an hour's sleep this afternoon, the first for
three days and nights. The fire slackened in the
trenches so that men could get out. I returned to
the old dressing station at Brigade Headquarters.
There was a heavy shelling all morning. We
decided that it was no longer tenable. Since my
battalion was holding that line and there were
thirty or forty of my men and others wounded, I
offered to stay. The others moved out. The shell
fire grew more and more severe. I decided to send
out walking all cases that could walk. Previous to
this a stretcher-bearer party had been sent towards
St. Jean. It was promptly followed by shrapnel,
and, we fear, lost. All wounded who could not
walk were collected in what appeared to be the
strongest and safest room. About this time, lack
of sleep and food, anxiety and the excitement of
a vigorous cannonade, had worked me up to such
an extent that I did not care what happened. I
caught myself once out in the open cursing the
Germans and all their works. I first now felt a

145 10

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

personal hatred towards them. I was afraid, too,
to speak for fear of breaking down."

But it was at this stage that Captain Scrimger
did what won for him the most coveted of all
military if not of all worldly honours, and rather
than give his own modest account of the occurrence
it will be well to combine his own description with
the official record attached to the announcement
of the award of the Victoria Cross,* and the account
given by the officer whom he saved, f

About 5 p.m. there was a sudden fierce outburst
of shelling, evidently directed upon the Staff
quarters at the other end of the farm. Captain
E. F. McDonald, Staff Captain of the 3rd Infantry
Brigade, was standing in front of the building
when he was hit in the face, neck and shoulder.
He was promptly dragged into the farm building,
where Captain Scrimger dressed his wound. His
condition was so grave that he was regarded as
" done for."

Up to this point the stable which served as an
A.D.S. had not been seriously hit, but now the
farm building proper took fire, and as there was a
fair store of ammunition in it, Colonel Turner
ordered its immediate evacuation. The entrance
across the moat was on the exposed side, wherefore
all had to jump into the water and swim to safety. J
Captain Scrimger carried Captain McDonald out,
and when he reached the moat used its bank as
a trench. Laying him in this shelter, he coiled

* See the Times, June 24th, 1915.

t The Canadian Gazette, July 22nd, 1915.

J Apparently it is this uncomfortable arrangement which
has caused this farm to figure in later history as f< Shell Trap
Farm " and " Mouse Trap Farm."

146

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

his body around the wounded officer's head and
shoulder to protect him. They were half buried
in mud and more than half wallowing in water,
and there the two lay while " whizz bangs " —
high explosive shells — poured into the farm. Over
and above this some 200,000 rounds of rifle am-
munition caught fire and added their noise to that
of the shelling. Five shells fell within a radius of
fifteen feet of them. By good luck neither was
hit ; fortunately, also, the stable, the R.A.P., had
not been set on fire ; in it were some twenty seri-
ously wounded who could not be moved in the
precipitate evacuation of the other buildings.
At length, when the fire slackened, Captain Scrimger
gathered a volunteer stretcher squad, which carried
Captain McDonald and the score or so other patients
to an ambulance which was collecting wounded
in the centre of Wieltje, itself no very healthy
resort since, as Captain Scrimger reports, here too
a fresh shell dropped every five minutes and the
place stank with lyddite fumes. It is proper to
add the final sentence of the official Victoria Cross
record : " During the very heavy fighting between
April 22nd and 25th Captain Scrimger displayed
continuously day and night the greatest devotion
to his duty among the wounded at the front."

To the rest of the C.A.M.C. no award could have
given greater pleasure than this to Captain Scrimger
— of whom it may truly be said in Canadian phrase-
ology that in matters concerning himself he had
ever shown himself wholly devoid of either " push "
or "pull," concerned only in doing his duty as
an officer and a medical man, and that quietly
and conscientiously. While others, it may be,
have accomplished deeds of equal bravery and

147 10*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

devotion which have been passed by without recog-
nition, none can grudge, but on the contrary all
must rejoice, that recognition came to him. Bene
meruit !

For his fine work in the evacuation of the wounded
from the burning farm Captain A. K. Haywood,
M.O. of the 3rd Battalion, was awarded the Military
Cross. The Headquarters of the 3rd Brigade and
the R.A.P. of the 3rd Battalion, with H.Q. of the
same were moved back to some old French gun
emplacements some half-mile further back, between
Mouse Trap Farm and Wieltje.

There was at this stage, in fact, nothing for the
Canadians but to retire. As Captain Hart ex-
presses it : " The enemy's aeroplanes were continually
circling over us and flying low up and down the
line of our trenches, while at one time I counted
four German observation balloons anchored at the
corners of a large square, of which we apparently
formed the centre. It was noticeable to all of us
that in spite of the terrific shelling we were receiving
at the hands of the Germans from all sides of the
salient, either our artillery were failing to make
any effective reply, or had been withdrawn." We
now know that at this stage of the campaign we
were woefully deficient both in ammunition and
in aeroplanes.* It is only thanks to the stout

* One Medical Officer of the 2nd Brigade, writing of this
period, says : " An S.O.S. call was sent to the battery support-
ing us, and we hoped to see the ' curtain of fire,' as it was at
that tune called. Only a single round every minute or two was
the result. It was one of the most disappointing and depressing
sounds that we had ever heard. Our one feeble minute field
gun, while the enemy batteries were in salvos with everything
up to 5.95 in. 1 If the contrast had not been so serious, it would
have been extremely humorous, so great was the contrast. It
sounded like a pea-shooter in a foundry."

148

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

hearts of our men and the superb rifle fire of our
infantry that Ypres was not taken and the Canadian
First Division wholly annihilated.

The complete obliteration of the trenches under
the German shell fire, and the danger of being
left in a dangerous salient, brought it about that
fighting doggedly along the whole of the front,
the 2nd Brigade also, with the Durhams and Hamp-
shires in support, fell back to a line stretching
from Fortuin towards Passchendaele.

Again on the night of that Sunday the Main
Dressing Stations under the control of the A.D.M.S.
First Canadian Division were filled to overflowing.
In the twenty-four hours ending at six on the morn-
ing of the 26th, thirty-five officers and 1,694 °'
other ranks had passed through the Main Dressing
Stations under the control of the A.D.M.S. First
Canadian Division. The increasing support being
given by the Imperial troops is shown by the fact
that of these casualties 1,351 were Imperial, 361
Canadian. On Saturday afternoon two British
Brigades, the loth and the Northumberland, passing
through the Canadian troops, had undertaken the
offensive, and despite heavy losses arrested the
further progress of the Germans. With this the
3rd Brigade fell back to the reserve trenches.
That same evening the Durhams and Hampshires
had come up to the support of the 2nd Brigade.

With the retirement of the 2nd Brigade on the
Sunday occurred the last of the heavy Canadian
casualties in the battle. The Brigade had broken
the German onrush through sheer force of man-
power : it had held its line unbroken for three whole
days, save when on the 23rd the 8th Battalion
(goth Winnipeg Rules) had been gassed and momen-

149

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

tarily lost its trenches, to retake them under the
gallant leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Lipsett.

That evening, after the retirement, both Canadian
Brigades were relieved and sent into reserve trenches,
although, when on Monday the 26th the Germans
again pressed forward, our men of the 2nd Brigade,
worn out and reduced to one quarter the original
strength, marched with stout hearts once again
into the fray.

150

CHAPTER VIII

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES (concluded)

BUT, if war-worn and weary the two Canadian
Brigades were brought back to reserve, the medical
units for several days to come, until the 3oth —
nay, more, were busied to their full limit. Work-
ing heroically, it was now that they suffered their
heaviest.

In our description of Sunday's fighting we had
left Captain Hart with his fifty seriously wounded
cases in the R.A.P. of the 5th Battalion. Each
message that came from the adjutant during the
course of Sunday was followed by the evacuation
of every man able to move, who, one supporting
the other, made their way under shell fire towards
Ypres. But several wounded officers of the 5th
were left — Major Sandeman, who was hopelessly
mutilated by shrapnel, Captain Allen, with an
abdominal wound and paralysis of the right leg,
Lieut. Fitzpatrick, with bad shell wound of the
head, and later on in the day the adjutant of the
5th,* hit over the heart, and Major Dyer shot
through the lungs. When news was received of
the actual retirement of the battalion to take
up a position near the bombarded cross-roads, it

* Then Major, now Brigadier-General F. Hilliam of the British
Army, to which he was subsequently seconded.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

was clear that the Aid Post would be well beyond
our lines, between our fire and that of the enemy.
Major Edgar, of the 5th, afforded what men he
could spare, and these, with Captain Hart's stretcher-
bearers, reduced the number left to about eighteen.
Captain Hart gave his horse to a wounded officer
of the 8th, Major Dyer was removed on the stretcher
on which he had arrived, Captain Allen on another,
Lieut. Llewellyn, of the Monmouths, badly wounded
in the leg, gallantly gave up his stretcher to the
adjutant of the 5th, offering to get away with
the assistance of his batman and one of our
men.

The night was passed waiting for ambulances
which never came. Although by now the R.A.P.
was situated in " No Man's Land," there was
still hope, both on the part of the medical head-
quarters staff and of the M.O. in charge that the
occupants would be retrieved. Lieutenant-Colonel
Chisholm, D.A.D.M.S. Canadians, proceeded at seven
on Sunday evening, with no less than twenty-one
ambulance cars, to take charge of all stretcher
cases at Wieltje. At St. Jean on the way up
they were badly shelled, losing two cars. Taking
ten cars with him he succeeded in clearing the
Aid Post in the farmhouse near the cross-roads,
where it will be remembered the A.D.M.S. on the
previous night had left Captain Mussen in charge.
The forty stretcher cases here were safely removed.
But the obstruction still remained, and he could
not on this journey reach Captain Hart's Aid
Post further on.

But the above was far from being the only
disaster to the Ambulance Service that Sunday
night. When the D.A.D.M.S. returned to 2nd

152

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

Brigade Headquarters at Wieltje at two o'clock
he found that the wounded in that immediate
neighbourhood had all been collected ; he returned,
therefore, to St. Jean to supervise the evacuation
of wounded there. Not only the Canadian and
attached loth British Field Ambulance cars, but
those of the 27th (Indian) Division, were converging
upon the village, which, with the falling back of
the original line, had by now become the Dressing
Station for the whole northern half of the salient,
not to say its Regimental Aid Post. He found
no less than ten Regimental Medical Officers es-
tablished in the village. Forthwith he proceeded
to straighten out the situation, sending several
R.M.O.'s to establish Aid Posts a mile nearer to
Ypres, and with them sending all the walking
cases. The motor ambulances he got under way
with about one hundred stretcher cases collected out
of the cellars in the village, and finally he arranged
that until sunrise six Canadian cars, under Captain
P. G. Brown (2nd Field Ambulance) , should continue
clearing back from Wieltje to St. Jean, the road
after dawn being reached by rifle fire ; Captain A. S.
Donaldson* (3rd Field Ambulance) was placed in
charge of the ambulances evacuating back to
Vlamertinghe, and Captain Greer, M.O. 2nd Cana-
dian Battalion, left in charge of the Dressing Station
at St. Jean.

Just as the situation seemed clear, there occurred
a heavy casualty. A motor ambulance convoy
was standing on the main road opposite the A.D.S.
when a heavy calibre shell fell upon the centre of
the road close to a car filled with wounded. It

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. ; O.C. No. 3 Canadian
Field Ambulance. Twice mentioned in Dispatches.

153

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

wrecked the car, killing sixteen men and wounding
twenty. Among these, both seriously wounded,
were Major J. L. Duval and Captain R. H. McGibbon,
of No. i Canadian Field Ambulance.* A second
shell tore away the end of the dressing station,
wounding Captain Barrie, R.A.M.C., completing
the wreck of the ambulance car and setting it on
fire.

Nor did that end Lieutenant-Colonel Chisholm's
experiences. Returning to Vlamertinghe just
before dawn, his motor-car, which had been hit at
St. Jean, " stalled " and came to a standstill at
the greatest danger spot on the whole road, namely,
at " The Devil's Corner " in Ypres — a spot that
since the beginning of the battle had been sub-
jected to continuous shell fire. By great good
fortune just then a Red Cross car, bearing the
device, " From Friends in Boston," appeared round
the corner, and the wounded were transferred to
this godsend without mishap. As the D.A.D.M.S.
remarks : " That car was the most welcome sight
I ever saw. The spot was, indeed, a bit of
hell."

Yet one more escape came to him. Arrived at
Vlamertinghe, although he had not been in bed
since the 22nd, and might well, after his severe
night's work, have given himself a thorough rest
for some few hours, he did not seek his billet in a
cottage, but, instead, slept for two hours upon
the office floor at medical headquarters. He had
been there about an hour when a large calibre shell
dropped into the billet allotted to him, wrecking
the house clean through to the cellar ! No wonder

* Major Duval died of his wounds three months later. He
had received his majority the week preceding the battle.

154

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

that later, on Monday, he records : " All nerves
on edge to-day like one huge toothache."*

Let us return now to the fate of Captain Hart
and the wounded at the 5th Battalion R.A.P.

The night, to repeat, was passed waiting for
ambulances which never came. Towards dawn, at
about three-thirty, as there was nothing to be
done for the wounded, and no Germans could
be heard or seen in the immediate neighbourhood,
Captain Hart started off with the one orderly he
had allowed to stay with him — in private life a
close personal friend — to report at Brigade Head-
quarters, taking with them a bomb-thrower of
the 5th, shot through the abdomen, and two other
badly wounded men who could just drag themselves
along. These they placed in a bomb-proof cellar
at the bombarded cross-roads, and then went
through what had been the village of Wieltje, now
nothing but a heap of ruins with no roofs and but
few walls still standing. Dead men and horses
were in evidence all along the road. At St. Jean
Captain J. M. Glidden, C.A.M.C.,f took them to a
cellar, to get something to eat and to sleep while
he carried the message to headquarters. Captain
Hart records how he " fell on sleep " and off his chair
three times while eating breakfast, and then, without
removing eyeglasses or spurs, slept heavily on a
mattress until the late afternoon. At night he went
forward with the ambulances. But again fallen
trees made it impossible to reach the Aid Post.

* I quote the happenings of this night from Colonel Chisholm's
private diary.

t Wounded a few days later by a bomb dropped from an
aeroplane, when standing by a dug-out Aid Post near the Canal
bank. He died in a hospital at the base.

155

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

What with making arrangements to have the obstacle
removed and the ambulances sent early the follow-
ing night, it was broad daylight on Tuesday morning
before he found himself on the way to the Aid Post,
taking advantage of every ditch and scrap of avail-
able cover. The road was too open and near the
cross-roads, he was captured by a squad of Germans
who rose up on either side. His experiences as a
prisoner form another story.

Throughout Monday and Tuesday the field
ambulances were as busy as if not busier than
ever. Yet another came under the control of the
A.D.M.S. Canadian Division, when on Monday
the Lahore Division came into this area and into
action, and the 8th British Field Ambulance,
under Major R. E. Powell, R.A.M.C., attached to
it, established a Main Dressing Station in 'a school
on the Ypres road near the railway station. The
A.D.M.S. by now had six field ambulance units in
the area under his charge.

Reading the various independent accounts
afforded in the war diaries, it is not a little interest-
ing to observe how, despite the long continuance
of the strain, each day saw the medical organization
settling more completely into place, such defects
as there were being rapidly remedied. This is well
exemplified by the admission records of the Main
Dressing Stations. Admissions reached their highest
(1,864) m the twenty-four hours up to 6 a.m. on
Tuesday, the 27th, only beginning to fall seriously
(to 838) in the returns of the morning of Thursday,
the 29th. But whereas on the 23rd, after the gas
attack and sudden opening of the battle, we
read of wounded still uncollected, from the 24th

156

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

onwards the front is reported cleared by dawn,
and whereas at first the evacuation from the Main
Dressing Stations could not keep up with the admis-
sion, the condition steadily improves, until on the
26th all the M.D.S.'s are reported cleared (of cases
that can be moved) by 10 a.m., and on the 28th
at 8 a.m.

It must be admitted, however, that there was
urgent cause for this rapid evacuation on the 28th.
As the Germans, in their advance, brought their
heavy guns forward, Vlamertinghe came within
easy range, and at five in the evening of the ayth
the village began to be shelled hotly with shrapnel
and sixty-pounders. There were several deaths
among the civilians, while a few soldiers were also
killed ; but none of the patients and none of the
C.A.M.C. personnel were wounded. No. i M.D.S.
was hit by H.E., and the 2nd Field Ambulance lost
three of its horses in the garden immediately
behind the hospital. Otherwise the dressing
stations were untouched. Motor ambulance con-
voys were soon brought up, and every vehicle
possible was pressed into service to assist in the
removal of some 350 lying-down wounded from
the dressing stations. For rapid evacuation these
were taken to a farm outside the fire zone, which
for the next two days was employed as a useful
annexe. The office of the A.D.M.S. in the main
street was shelled, and it was necessary to remove
to a better protected house. His billet also was
hit. Arrangements were made with the D.D.M.S.
for evacuation by motor ambulance convoys as
rapidly as the patients could be brought from
the Advanced Dressing Stations. A few shells
arrived at 4.30 on the morning of the 2Qth, and

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

again at 9, when the billet of the A.D.M.S., at the
cures house, hit yesterday, was now completely
wrecked. At 10.30 a.m. the shelling became more
severe, so that Colonel Foster removed his office
and staff to the basement of the Maine, across the
road, from the M.D.S.'s of the ist and 3rd Field
Ambulances. Now the shells came nearer to the
dressing stations. While a party of engineers
were constructing a shell-proof dug-out in the
courtyard of No. 3 M.D.S., one of the party was
severely wounded by an exploding shell, and both
Lieutenant-Colonel Watt, the O.C., and Captain
F. Bell* received slight wounds. Finally, at i a.m.
the following night both Nos. i and 3 Main Dress-
ing Stations were shelled out. The house occupied
by the ist Field Ambulance was hit many times ;
by great good fortune the patients had just been
removed, when a big shell burst in what had been
the main ward, completely demolishing it. So,
too, hardly had the No. 3 M.D.S. at the girls'
school been emptied, when a shell came through
the roof. The bomb-proof shelter proved of service,
as a few orderlies and some of the more severely
wounded patients were left there to await convoys
and direct other cases that might arrive to the
farm to which the unit had retired.

After five days of intense and unremitting fight-
ing, the war-worn Canadian Brigades had been
withdrawn from the firing line on Monday, the 26th,
and, while they remained in reserve, for certain
infantry units this day represented the close of
active participation in the battle. Not until the
4th and 5th of May was the division withdrawn out

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel and A.D.M.S in charge of Hos-
pitalization at Medical Headquarters, London.

158

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

of the area, and attached to the First Army, under
Sir Douglas Haig, with General Alderson's Head-
quarters at Nieppe. During the intervening eight
days other units of the division were busily occupied
as occasion required. Thus, on this very Monday,
the 26th, to repeat, the sadly shaken 2nd Brigade,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Currie, responded to
the call, and manned their old trenches between
St. Julien and Passchendaele, and again on Wednes-
day, the 28th, the 2nd Battalion, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Watson, did yeoman service in digging a
line of trenches to the left of the British position
under heavy fire. Again, on the afternoon of
May 2nd, a gas attack upon the greater part of the
British front, so serious that it threatened to cause
a repetition of the events with which the battle
began, led to the ist Brigade being moved up in
support of the loth and I2th British Brigades now
in the trenches.*

The 2nd Canadian Brigade was still in the
trenches when, on the night of the 3rd and 4th of
May, Lieutenant-General Alderson, to shorten his
line, withdrew his troops to a prepared line running
from Westhoek through Frezenburg, to a point
some two thousand yards south-east of Pilkem,
where it joined the trenches occupied by the
French.

The preceding chapters will by their narrative
have indicated what must have been the strain
upon the administration during all these critical
days from Thursday afternoon onwards, days so
critical that at most but an hour or two's sleep

* Colonel Foster notes that some two hundred cases suffering
from the effects of gas were brought into Nos. 10 and 12
Field Ambulances, none of them very severe*

159

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

could be snatched here and there. The staff of the
A.D.M.S. included but one other officer, the
D.A.D.M.S., Major Chisholm ; in other words,
night and day one of the two, the A.D.M.S. or the
D. A.D.M.S., had to be in attendance at the office
to receive and act upon messages received from

22i>p Armi
Lint v AT»MAV

The shortening of the line : position on 22nd April and 4th May.

Headquarters or arriving from one or other section
of the front, while the other was in consultation at
Headquarters, was supervising arrangements here
and there, visiting the Main Dressing Station, or
controlling ambulance work nearer to the front. If
for the last four days of this period the Canadian
troops had been largely withdrawn from the front,
and the Canadian ambulance units were no longer

160

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

active, on the other hand there was the heavy
responsibility thrown upon the A.D.M.S. of ad-
ministering British medical units in an area now
largely occupied by British troops, of directing
arid " making good with " units to which he was
a stranger. Now after ten days of dogged work
came the greatest strain of all. That the with-
drawal should not be converted into a disastrous
rout, it was absolutely essential that it should
proceed with clockwork precision and in complete
silence during the night hours. The enemy must
not know of the movement. With their trenches,
as at Broodseinde and Gravenstafel, within ten
yards of our line, the difficulties of the situation
may be imagined. To quote John Buchan :*
" This withdrawal in perfect order, in a very short
time and with no losses, was one of the most credit-
able pieces of Staff work in the war," and (the
greater body must here be understood to include
the less) " The Royal Army Medical Corps have
never done more brilliant work in all their brilliant
history." Now the medical arrangements for the
larger moiety of the area of withdrawal were
carried out by the A.D.M.S. Canadians, acting under
the D.M.S. of the Second Army. Upon the A.D.M.S.
lay the responsibility of seeing that in this
retirement no wounded were left behind in his
section to fall into the hands of the enemy. It
was the supreme test of his efficiency.

The withdrawal was timed to begin at 8.30 on
the evening of Monday, May 3rd. In his full and
precise operation orders distributed the previous
day, General Alderson had laid down explicitly
that east of the canal no movement along the roads

* Nelson's " History of the War," Vol. VII., p. 35.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

in an easterly direction would be permitted between
6 p.m. and 2 a.m. It was essential that the move-
ment of the troops towards Ypres should not be
impeded. This, in itself, was a warning to all
concerned to see that their wounded were carried
back and out of the zone before the evening set in.
But there was much else to be undertaken, and too
often, and at times unavoidably, the removal of
the wounded was put off until the last moment,
with the result that through that night the tele-
phone brought frantic appeals to the A.D.M.S. in
his office to send forward ambulances, or officers
personally besought him to afford help to their
units.

It was a trying position. There were the wounded
at the front, and at any moment the enemy might
discover the movement. It seemed scarce possible
that five and a half hours could elapse without
their discovering our action. Should they break
through, and should the wounded fall into their
hands, such is human nature, that he — Colonel
Foster — and through him the Canadian Medical
Corps, would be held responsible for the loss. This
beginning of active service at the front would be
the end of his career. And the decision had to be
made by a man worn out.

It is to his and to our credit that the soldier was
there, and the soldier prevailed. The operation
orders were carefully worked out, and to those he
must adhere, despite every appeal. No ambulance
should proceed eastwards over the canal until the
time allotted. But he placed his whole motor and
horse ambulance force as close to the line as possible ;
instructed them to take a good rest, so as to be
thoroughly fit when the time came ; went himself

162

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

before two in the morning to wake them and see
that all was in workmanlike order, and told them
to rush as though for their lives ; to continue
carrying, even though with every tyre bust — aye,
even if they had to run the cars on their axles.*

Once again the Field Ambulance rose to the
occasion : every case was successfully evacuated ;
not one wounded man was left behind. It was
dawn next morning before the enemy discovered
what had happened.

At ten o'clock Colonel Foster gave over the area
to the D.M.S. of the 5th Army Corps, with, we
can imagine, a heartfelt Nunc Dimittis. That
afternoon he established his office in the sleepy
little country town of Nieppe, some ten miles, as
the crow flies, to the south of Ypres. On the- night
of the 3rd and 4th, the ist Canadian Brigade
marched to billets at Bailleul ; the 3rd Brigade
was withdrawn on the night of the 4th, the 2nd
on May 5th.

The Canadian medical units, it will be recalled,
had continued to serve until the 3oth, until the
shelling out of their Main Dressing Stations gave
the signal for withdrawal. That morning and
afternoon, still under heavy fire, the stores and
equipment were removed from Vlamertinghe, and
the units retired to billets and much-needed rest,
No. i Field Ambulance returning to Watou, No. 2
being parked at Ouderdom, and No. 3 at Hillhoek,
to the south of Poperinghe, with A.D.S. near
Busseboom. Nos. 10 and 12 R.A.M.C. Field Ambu-
lances remained to collect wounded from the loth
British and Northumberland Infantry Brigades,

* I owe some inkling of what happened this night to the
D.A.D.M.S., Major (now Colonel) Chisholm, D.S.O.

163 II*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

and No. 12 was transferred to work with the I3th
Infantry Brigade.

It is doubtful whether any one unit of the British
Expeditionary Force had during the first three
years of the war tended, in the course of a week, a
greater number of wounded (5,200) than passed
through the hands of No. 3 Canadian Field Ambu-
lance during the course of the Second Battle of
Ypres.* In all the units under the control of
Colonel Foster, according to his report : " During
the fighting from April 22nd to May 4th, on which
date we were withdrawn from the 5th Corps, the
number of wounded handled by the three Canadian
Field Ambulances, and the loth and I2th Field
Ambulances of the 4th Division, was 304 officers
and 9,739 other ranks. Of these, 79 officers and
1,983 other ranks were Canadians."!

In Canada we are apt to regard the battle as essen-
tially Canadian. This, as indicated by the above
figures, is very far from being the case. The Second
Battle of Ypres was truly an Imperial undertaking,
and should be so regarded. The undying glory of
the ist Canadian Division rests upon the noble
defence and offence which they, untried troops, with
no previous experience of war, put up forthwith on
the afternoon of Thursday the 22nd, and throughout
the terrible hours of the night of the 22nd and 23rd.
From the late evening of the 22nd onwards,

* Later we shall have to point out how No. 3 Canadian
Stationary Hospital in 1918 exceeded this record.

| This refers to the admissions to the Field Ambulances of
the Canadian Division alone, and not to cases at the Advanced
Dressing Stations, which passed back to British Dressing Stations
and Casualty Clearing Stations.

164

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

Lieutenant-General Alderson poured in continually
increasing support until, not to detail the artillery
and engineer brigades called into the fight, he
directed some thirty-eight British infantry batta-
lions and two cavalry brigades, in addition to the
twelve infantry battalions and other units of the
ist Canadian Division. The following figures taken
from the returns of the A.D.M.S. ist Canadian
Division (Colonel Foster) are not a little illu-
minating :

24 hours up
to 6 a.m.

Total Casu-
alties treated
in Field
Ambulances
of Division.

Canadians.

Imperials.

Indian
Troops.

French.

Prisoners.

Officers. O.R.

O. O.R.

0. O.R.

O. O.R.

0. O.R.

O.R.

24th.

52 1372

41 673

II 479

- -

— 216

27th.

60 1804

6 260

54 1476

— 33

• 34

At Ypres, officers and men, we showed ourselves
worthy of our citizenship and our comradeship, and
from Ypres onwards the brotherhood in arms and
mutual help has persisted and been intensified.

What lessons, it must next be asked, from the
point of view of the Army Medical Service, are to
be gained from a study of the battle ?

In the first place, regarded broadly, the organiza-
tion built up so carefully in times of peace showed
itself efficient in the heaviest stress of war, both as
regards its personnel and its methods. As to the
personnel, both officers and men proved themselves
wholly devoted and thoroughly capable, rising to
each occasion, and working with splendid spirit
night and day — and this was well recognized in
official dispatches.

165

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

The following Honours and Awards were published
in the London Gazette of June i8th, 1915. I cannot
find that the specific causes which it is usual to
publish in connection with the award of the Distin-
guished Service Order and other honours have
so far been announced. By permission of General
G. L. Foster, who received the C.B. upon this
occasion for his notable service, I therefore publish
the recommendations which he, when A.D.M.S.,
forwarded to the authorities :

C.M.G. : Colonel F. S. L. Ford, O.C. No. i Canadian C.C.S. (i).

V.C. : Captain F. A. C. Scrimger, M.O. I4th Canadian Bat-
talion (i).

D.S.O. : Major H. A. Chisholm, D.A.D.M.S. Canadian
Division (2).

D.S.O. : Captain T. H. McKillip, No. 2 Field Ambulance (3).

M.C. : Captain A. K. Haywood, O.C. 3rd Canadian Infantry
Battalion (recommended by his O.C.) (4).

D.C.M. : Sergeant-Major (W.O.) A. E. Clifton, H.Q. Sub-
Staff (5).

(1) Already noted in text.

(2) For gallant conduct and conspicuous bravery during the
night of April 25th-26th at Wieltje and St. Jean, in taking
charge of the clearing of the Advanced Dressing Stations at the
above places at a time when they were being heavily shelled,
wounding two medical officers and three orderlies and wrecking
motor ambulance car.

(3) For gallant conduct and conspicuous bravery under heavy
shell and rifle fire in the face of the enemy ; with his bearers he
removed and attended successfully at St. Julien; Wieltje and
St. Jean, from April 22nd to 27th, 1915, until forced to retire
from successive dressing stations becoming untenable. He
removed all wounded without losing a case, nor having wounded
men again wounded.

(4) Here should be added : Croix de Guerre, Major G. H. R.
Gibson, M.O. 7th Battalion.

(5) For bravery and cool devotion to duty under heavy shell
fire in assisting in moving wounded to a place of safety from
the church at Vlamertinghe on April 27th. Subsequently
granted a commission.

166

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES

Colonel G. L. Foster, A.D.M.S.

Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. Ross, O.C. No. i Field Ambulance (i).
Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. McPherson, O.C. No. 2 Field
Ambulance (2).

Lieutenant-Colonel W. L. Watt, O.C. No. 3 Field Ambulance

(3).

Major J. L. Duval, No. i Field Ambulance (4).
Major E. B. Hardy, No. 2 Field Ambulance (5).
Captain E. L. Stone, No. i Field Ambulance (6).

(1) For his unceasing toil throughout the action from
April 22nd to April 3Oth in caring for the wounded in the Field
Ambulance Main Dressing Station, and coolness in removing all
wounded on two occasions from his dressing station, which was
shelled, to a place of safety.

(2) For his devotion to duty during action from April 22nd to
April 28th. On the latter date the Main Dressing Station being
shelled, all wounded were removed to a place of safety under
the personal supervision of this officer.

(3) For great coolness and splendid ability in caring for large
numbers of wounded from April 22nd to May 3rd. On three
occasions the dressing station of this unit was shelled, wounding
Lieutenant-Colonel Watt and Captain F. C. Bell on the last
occasion, when it became necessary to remove all patients and
close the dressing station.

(4) For gallant conduct and conspicuous bravery under heavy
shell and rifle fire in the face of the enemy. With his bearers,
removed and attended successfully at St. Julien, Wieltje and
St. Jean, from April 22nd to 27th, 1915, until forced to retire
from successive dressing stations becoming untenable. He
removed all wounded without losing a case, nor having wounded
men again wounded.

(5) For gallant conduct and conspicuous bravery at great
personal danger while in charge of dressing station in Ypres.
During the night of April 22nd-23rd, while his dressing station
was repeatedly struck, he successfully collected, dressed and
removed to a place of safety three hundred soldiers and several
civilians. During the night he had seven N.C.O.'s and men of
his section wounded.

(6) Showed great coolness and devotion to duty in clearing
Advanced Dressing Stations of his area during the action of
April 22nd to May 3rd.

I67

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Captain R. H. McGibbon, No. i Field Ambulance (7).
Captain J. J. Eraser, No. 2 Field Ambulance (8).
Captain G. P. Brown, No. 2 Field Ambulance (9).
Captain F. C. Bell, No. 3 Field Ambulance (10).
Captain J. D. McQueen, No. 3 Field Ambulance (n).
Captain H. H. Burnham, M.O. 2nd Brigade, C.F.A. (12).
Captain A. L. Donaldson, No. 3 Field Ambulance (13).
1825 Staff-Sergeant H. Butt, H.Q. Sub-Stafi (14].
33259 Staff-Sergeant A. J. B. Milborne, No. 3 Field Ambu-
lance (15)*

33442 Staff-Sergeant A. E. Rotsey.No. 3 Field Ambulance(i6J.

(7) Showed great devotion to the wounded in removing them
from the aid posts during April 22nd to April 25th, on which
later date he was wounded at St. Jean while bringing in a load
of wounded.

(8) For bravery and coolness while in a position of danger,
assisting Major Hardy at dressing station in Ypres during
night of April 22nd-23rd.

(9) For gallant conduct and great bravery in collecting
wounded on the Wieltje-Zonnebeke Road, April 24th to April
26th.

(10) For devotion to duty and bravery in assisting patients
to a place of safety on night of April 3Oth-May ist, on which
occasion the dressing station was shelled, Captain Bell receiving
a slight wound from a bursting shell.

(n) For devotion to duty and coolness in caring for patients
at Advanced Dressing Station during April 22nd to 25th, during
which time he was shelled out of three successive positions, and
succeeded in moving all cases to a place of safety.

(12) Regimental recommendation.

(13) For devotion to duty and bravery in clearing Advanced
Dressing Station at Wieltje during the night of April 24th-25th.

(14) For bravery in compiling returns throughout the action
April 22nd to May 4th, during which time it became necessary
to change the office five times on account of shell fire, to a place
of greater safety.

(15) For unceasing and untiring work day and night in com-
piling records and returns of wounded for the 3rd Field Am-
bulance from April 22nd to May 3rd, during which time this unit
handled and evacuated some five thousand cases, and on three
occasions the dressing station was shelled.

(1 6) For coolness and devotion to duty in operating room of
Main Dressing Station of No. 3 Field Ambulance, April 22nd to
May 3rd.

168

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

32713 Sergeant T. Brown, No. i Field Ambulance (17).

32756 Sergeant W. B. Smith, No. i Field Ambulance (18).

32979 Sergt. J. W. Mackay, No. 2 Field Ambulance (19).

032773 Sergt. J. G. Kinsell, A.S.C., attached to No. 3 Field
Ambulance (20).

1822 Quartermaster-Sergeant G.- S. Cook, H.Q. Sub-Staff (21 j.

33394 Lance-Corporal W. McDonald, H.Q. Sub-Staff (22).

032744 Lance-Corporal A. Littler, A.S.C., attached to No. i
Field Ambulance (23).

33461 Private H. G. Stewart, No. 3 Field Ambulance (24).

33280 Private A. Bartley, No. 3 Field Ambulance (25).

(17) For bravery and devotion to wounded on night of April
23rd-24th, on being cut off from collecting station by shell fire ;
remained with wounded near trenches all day, and brought all
in safely to collecting station on night of April 24th.

(18) For bravery and devotion to duty in assisting Sergeant
T. Brown in caring for wounded when cut off from collecting
station by shell fire on night of April 23rd-24th.

(19) For bravery and devotion to duty on night of April 22nd-
23rd on duty in dressing station at Ypres, during constant
shelling for hours, when three hundred cases were collected and
dressed, and removed to a place of safety, receiving wounds
from which he died two days later.

(20) For bravery and devotion to duty in charge of motor
ambulance wagons of unit. He voluntarily drove an old
motor-car three times into Ypres during an extremely heavy
bombardment on April 23rd. He brought back three loads of
wounded safely, but on the fourth trip the car was riddled by
shrapnel and he was severely wounded.

(21 ) For unceasing and untiring work day and night in com-
piling returns of wounded, never quitting even under the heaviest
shell fire, April 23rd to May 4th.

(22) For bravery and devotion to duty in conveying dispatches
under shell fire from April 22nd to 28th, when he was seriously
injured.

(23) He was unceasing in his devotion to duty day and night
from April 22nd to 3Oth, driving his motor ambulance wagon in
answer to every call ; volunteering to go into Ypres while the
city was burning and under heavy shell fire.

(24) For bravery in collecting wounded April 23rd to 25th,
and removing them to Advanced Dressing Station at St. Jean.

(25) For bravery in driving horsed ambulance wagon under
shell fire, bringing wounded from Aid Posts to Advanced
Dressing Station at Wieltje.

169

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

33470 Private C. B. Tompkins, No. 3 Field Ambulance (26).
33358 Private R. L. Head, No. 3 Field Ambulance (27).
33408 Private A. Millen, No. 3 Field Ambulance (28).
3336S Private W. J. Holloway, No. 3 Field Ambulance (29).
33214 Private J. G. Youldon, No. 2 Field Ambulance (30).
33099 Private W. M. Leishman, No. 2 Field Ambulance (31).
33047 Private J. Dalton, No. 2 Field Ambulance (32).
28722 Private R. W. Chester, No. 2 Field Ambulance (33).
33060 Private C. J. Fair, No. 2 Field Ambulance (34).
32922 Private E. Trotter, No. i Field Ambulance (35).
36210 Private J. D. Sharman, A.S.C., attached to No. I
Field Ambulance (36).

What is yet more to the credit of the organization
is the fact, apt to pass unnoticed by the civilian,
that the Second Battle of Ypres, unlike the engage-

(26) For bravery and devotion to duty at Advanced Dressing
Station at St. Jean on April 22nd and 23rd. He was severely
wounded while carrying a wounded man into the dressing station.

(27) For bravery in collecting wounded and bringing them
into Advanced Dressing Station under heavy shell fire at St.
Jean on April 22nd, 23rd and 24th.

(28) Fearless, and frequently volunteered at critical times
for any duty in collection of wounded at Advanced Dressing
Station at Wieltje, April 22nd, 23rd and 24th.

(29) A brave and willing worker at Advanced Dressing Station ;
wounded while bringing in a patient at St. Jean on April 23rd.

(30) For bravery and devotion to duty as an orderly in
dressing station at Ypres on night of April 22nd-23rd.

(31) For bravery and devotion to duty as an orderly in
dressing station at Ypres on night of April 22nd-23rd, when he
was wounded.

(32) For bravery and devotion to duty as an orderly in
dressing station at Ypres on night of April 22nd-23rd, when he
was wounded.

(33) F°r bravery and devotion to duty as an orderly in
dressing station at Ypres on night of April 22nd-23rd, when he
was wounded.

(34) For bravery and devotion to duty in dressing station at
Ypres on night of April 22nd-23rd.

(35) For bravery in rescuing wounded from burning motor am-
bulance which had been struck by a shell in St. Jean, April 24th.

(36) In bringing cases in from St. Julien he was absolutely
fearless, and is a most valuable motor ambulance driver.

170

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

ments which we shall have to chronicle later, was
unforeseen and unprepared for. We shall, in
future, have to quote operation orders — orders
published by the staff well in advance of an engage-
ment— in which the procedure of each branch
of the Service is minutely detailed down to the
roads and paths to be employed by the bearer
parties of each division in removing the wounded.
There were no operation orders for the events of
April 22nd. There was, it is true, knowledge on
our part that the enemy was about to use some
poisonous gas, but no one knew what would be
the effects of that gas, nor how he would follow
it up. Add to this the Canadians had but just
taken over the line and were barely settled in their
trenches when the attack came. All this notwith-
standing, stretcher-bearers and regimental aid posts,
ambulances and advanced and main dressing
stations — one and all fell into line, and by the first
night the evacuation of the wounded was pro-
ceeding with a rapidity and precision that would
have done credit to old Service men.

As for the system, it proved itself elastic and
adaptable, and, as already pointed out, such
defects as showed themselves under the sudden
and intense strain could be remedied, and were,
in general, within a few hours. As an indication
of the foresight that had been displayed, it deserves
note that at all the ambulances the reserve medical
and surgical boxes of dressings and drugs did not
become exhausted, save in the one instance of the
supply of iodine, which at this period of the cam-
paign had not become so widely used, and supplied,
as subsequently became the case. In this con-
nection, it is as proper as it is pleasant to quote

171

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

from the Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Chisholm,
D.A.D.M.S., under the date April 24th: "One
hundred stretchers and five thousand shell dressings
arrived from stores. The large supply of Canadian
Red Cross dressings on hand saved the situation."

It was by mere chance that the ist Field Ambu-
lance was with the ist Brigade, the 2nd with the
2nd, and the 3rd with the 3rd. Very rapidly the
ambulances' services showed themselves to be not
merely divisional, but Army Corps units, collecting
and receiving the wounded from the area of opera-
tion, rather than from the division, while at the
same time, as operating a particular area, the
A.D.M.S. had placed under him three additional
British ambulance units.

The outstanding weakness revealed lay in the
supply of stretchers and stretcher-bearers. By
the British system each battalion has sixteen
stretcher-bearers, whose duties, as already defined,
in addition to affording first aid to the wounded
of the companies to which they belong is to convey
the seriously wounded to the Regimental Aid Post.
Before the end of the first twenty-four hours, it
became evident that this number was inadequate.
Four men are requisite for each stretcher. With a
large number of seriously wounded and a long
carry between the trenches and the R.A.P., not only
are all the stretcher-bearers engaged in stretcher-
bearer work proper, to the exclusion of useful
first-aid work, but they become thoroughly worn
out by the heavy trudging to and fro. The Service
stretcher, while soundly built and serviceable, is
for this very reason a somewhat cumbrous load
even when empty. It will be seen, by reference to
map, that at the beginning of the action several

172

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

R.A.P.'s were a mile distant from the trenches,
the furthest two miles.

How were these difficulties to be met and
obviated ?

i. In later engagements we will see that there
has been a steady tendency to shorten the distance
of the hand-carry by bringing the R.A.P. nearer
and nearer to the firing line. At Ypres, it will be
remembered, not a few of the R.A.P/s were attached
to battalion headquarters. Now, where the enemy
aeroplanes are flying overhead, there is more
likelihood of the R.A.P. situated in this locality
being shelled than in any position between it and
the front line. There is, in fact, greater safety
further forward. Nor is the regimental M.O.
exposed to a more vital danger in this advanced
position. His duty, while an action is in progress,
is not to leave the Post ;* he is the sole medical
man in his zone, and must remain to treat the
wounded as they pour in. The one admitted
danger is that, as at Ypres, where a battalion has
to retire, the seriously wounded and the R.M.O.
may fall into the hands of the enemy. This
admittedly is a grave disadvantage. It would be
minimal were the Hague Convention respected,
were wearers of the Geneva Cross, as non-com-
batants, promptly returned ; were prisoners
promptly exchanged who, on convalescence, were
found of no further use, and were other prisoners
afforded decent treatment. The agreement between
British and German delegates meeting on Dutch soil
recently, if ratified, should materially ameliorate
conditions. In passing, it deserves note that

* This duty, however, was not emphasized in orders until
some months after the Second Battle of Ypres.

173

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Captain W. M. Hart, of the 5th Canadian Battalion,
was released after eight weeks' detention.*

It is evident that the advantages of shorter
carry, more rapid treatment and lessened strain on
the bearers, all make for the good of the wounded,
and outweigh the one disadvantage of placing the
R.A.P.'s well forward; so that even when we do not
deal with an advance, this should still be adopted.

2. As above noted, the squad for each stretcher
is four men, and for a long carry this number is
absolutely essential. Nay, more ; in addition, there
should be two for relief. For a short carry two
suffice. Our French Allies employ a light wheeled
stretcher, with a pair of relatively high bicycle
wheels, which is ingeniously underhung, so that a
single man, after placing the wounded and his
belongings on the stretcher while on the ground,
can bring the pair of wheels over him, and by raising
one end of the stretcher, hitch it on to the wheels
and trundle him away. On a shell-pitted ground
it is advisable to have a pair of bearers. But
even then the number of stretcher-bearers is halved
and the strain upon them very considerably
reduced. In his report of operations, Colonel
Foster offered as one of his suggestions, " that
wheeled stretchers be kept at the Advanced Dress-
ing Stations of Field Ambulances, ready to push

* In his account of his detention Captain Hart reports that
the General in command at Passchendaele assured him that he
regretted that as a Medical Officer he had been made a prisoner ;
but that as he had been brought through his trenches and had
seen behind the German lines, it became necessary to send him
back to Germany, whence he would be returned to England.
But what respect the enemy paid to the Hague Convention
underwent rapid deterioration. Thus Captain F. Jv Park,
C.A.M.C., taken prisoner in June, 1916, was only released at the
end of February, 1918.

174

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

forward to Regimental Aid Posts, and, if necessary,
to hand them over to R.A.P.'s, as they may be
required, for their use."

3. But this does not wholly solve the difficulty.
In wet weather — and in Flanders mud — with shell
holes everywhere, the wheeled stretcher is useless.
Yet another expedient has to be employed — that,
namely, of increasing the number of stretcher-
bearers in each battalion, by training sixteen or
thirty-two men selected by the O.C. as reserve
stretcher-bearers, who, in emergency, may be
called upon by the M.O.,in sets of four as needed,
to convey the seriously wounded back to the R.A.P.
This demands that when proceeding into the
trenches these sets of reserve stretcher-bearers
carry with them additional stretchers. We will
discuss this development further on.

4. It was suggested by the A.D.M.S., in his
report, that each regimental stretcher-bearer be
provided with a haversack containing first field dress-
ings, a tourniquet (to control bleeding) and scissors.

5. Another valuable suggestion by Colonel Foster,
which also has to a large extent been acted upon,
was that each field ambulance be provided with
a field kitchen. During the battle he had been
afforded a very real proof of its great value. In
the words of Major G. Garnet Greer, C.A.M.C.,
now of the 4th Canadian Divisional Headquarters,
late R.M.O. of the 2nd Battalion : " Though not
in the medical arrangements, there was a motor
soup kitchen, operated by the Honourable Mrs.
Massey, assisted by Miss Shillington and Miss Perry,
all English ladies (unofficially attached to the 2nd
Canadian Battalion), which did admirable work.
These three ladies worked steadily day and night

175

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

during the battle, and, I am told, in one day fed
with hot soup and cocoa over two thousand weary
soldiers returning to their billets. Their kitchen
was damaged by shell fire at this time, while it was
situated in the northern outskirts of Vlamertinghe.
This kitchen was the first I remember to do this
very necessary work." Thanks to the generosity
of Major Leonard, of St. Catherines, Ontario, three
field kitchens were shortly after this supplied to the
First Division. Placed at the A.D.S., and operating
day and night, these supply to each man, wounded
or sick, as he comes from the front a most welcome
cup of hot broth, tea or cocoa, together with a
biscuit. It is difficult to estimate what help and
comfort these have brought to our men.

As I complete this chapter it is the end of October,
1917, two years and a half after the events here
recorded. Again the Canadians find themselves
at Ypres ; the old familiar names appear in the
reports. Once again there are R.A.P.'s on Gravens-
tafel Ridge, collecting posts at St. Jean, and
Main Dressing Stations at Vlamertinghe. But
though by now the Canadians are war hardened,
that Ypres country-side is for them no less sinister.
On the contrary. " Never was it fair to look upon,
this land of dykes and ditches, of mud and water,
of miserable farms and miserable people, of flat
acres bordered by straight trees, of dreary villages
and squalid towns. To-day it is as if the curse of
God had fallen there. To desolation is added the
stench of death."* If this held true in 1915, in

* A quotation from an article by " Sub " in the English
Review, which I abstract from the private diary of Captain (now
Lieutenant-Colonel) P. G. Bell for June 5th, 1915.

176

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

1917 the Ypres salient is more appalling, more
hideously naked than ever. Under the incessant
shelling of all these months no scrap of cover is
left ; everything is churned up until the roads are
indistinguishable from the surrounding fields.
Autumn days, perfect in themselves, yet of
treacherous if presaging clearness, have alternated
with spells of chill and heavy driving rain. The
sodden ground has not been given time to dry, nor
the floods to drain from the low-lying ground.
There is mud unutterable everywhere — mud in
which a man may sink, not merely to his knees,
but to his shoulders ; mud in which the badly
wounded sink helplessly and add to the roll of
" Missing " ; mud that makes movement so slow
and difficult as — with six men to each stretcher
carrying one wounded man — to demand six hours
for the one journey from the front to the nearest
collecting post and back, and shell holes filled with
water so abundant as to preclude movement in
the dark. But, notwithstanding, the Canadians
are forging forward day by day, so that on the
eve of this the anniversary of the critical day of
the First Battle of Ypres they have grasped and
hold the highest and culminating point of the ridge
dominating Passchendaele — and the C.A.M.C. has
shared in the credit, evacuating with a precision
and expedition never before equalled. The name
of Ypres is being hammered into the history of
Canada.

Such are the difficulties surrounding publication
in these war days that it is August, 1918, when
these pages reach me in proof for correction.
And since last October for strategic reasons the

177 12

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

ground so hardly won by us at Passchendaele
has been yielded again to the enemy. But Ypres
and its more immediate neighbourhood we still
hold and, what is more, now at the beginning of
this fifth year of the war, hold with renewed spirit
and determination. With the repulse of the enemy
from the Marne to the Vesle and our advance in
front of and below Amiens almost we hear the
marching of our men forwards over those Flanders
fields where lie so many whose blood makes the
country around Ypres for all time a part of Canada.
Listen ! dear dead who lie in Flanders fields,
around St. Julien Wood, hi Gravenstafel Ridge,
at Wieltje and at Fortuin. Your brothers have
not forgotten. We have not broken faith.* All
Canada carries on the torch. And, comforted, give
yourselves to sleep.

* " If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."

It was an officer of the C.A.M.C. who wrote these well-known
lines, now, alas, dead, one who went through the Second Battle
of Ypres as Medical Officer of the ist Canadian Artillery Brigade.
As an old friend of Colonel John McCrae, as one to whom
had been given the great good fortune of possessing him as
colleague and fellow-worker for the past eighteen years, I may
be partial. But for me, in all the outpouring of verse which
has characterized these years of war, there has appeared no
more perfect poem, no more flawless piece of artistry, than
the fifteen brief lines of his Rondeau first published in Punch
of December 8th, 1915.

178

CHAPTER IX

FESTUBERT

ENGAGEMENTS so notable and so historic as the
Second Battle of Ypres do not, as a rule, occur in
rapid succession. Nor again, after men have
received their baptism of fire, do subsequent
experiences leave the same vivid impression. It
is not unnatural, therefore, both that following the
Second Battle of Ypres there was a period charac-
terized by events which, in comparison, appear to
be of minor interest, and that the documents in
the case, the War Diaries, both official and private,
become more commonplace, detailing routine move-
ments and little beyond. Matters bearing upon
the fortunes of the different units, in themselves of
high interest, fail to be recorded, because, in the
opinion of the writer of the diary, compared with
the events at Ypres, they are not out of the ordinary,
or, again, they have become everyday experiences
and so pass without note. It is not, therefore, the
fault of the historian if his narrative fails from
time to time to maintain the same level of interest.
Unlike the novelist, he cannot manufacture inci-
dents out of his head : his record depends upon the
material provided.

As already noted, on May 4th the 5th Army
Corps took over the medical administration of the

179 12*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Ypres area, and now a bare fortnight elapsed before
the Canadian Division was again in action, strength-
ened by much needed drafts from the reserves left
behind in Shorncliffe. This fortnight of mitigated
rest was intensely appreciated by all in the medical
service. The ist Field Ambulance moved back to
Watou, where throughout the battle one section,
or a portion of the same, had carried on a Divi-
sional Rest Station in the admirably appointed
convent. Now for a week the whole unit ran the
Rest Station, and though the work was easy,
yet the position was not a sinecure. On May ist
there were 212 patients being treated. But on the
8th the whole unit moved to Bailleul.* The 2nd
bivouacked at Hillhoek, south of Poperinghe, for
five days, but, doing this, it ran a Dressing Station
for sick Canadians, and on May 2nd " C " Section
established an A.D.S. a few hundred yards to the
west of Vlamertinghe. The whole unit moved
southward by night march on the 6th. The 3rd
likewise moved to bivouac to the west of Poper-
inghe, but next day, May 7th, " C " Section moved
to Bailleul, to join the ist Canadian Infantry
Battalion there, and opened hospital in the school
building. But four days later all sections of this
unit marched by night to Steenwercke, there taking
over the hospital from the i2th British Field
Ambulance.

But if thus their rest was mitigated, and a fair
number of cases needed attention in the different
hospitals, work in general was " pretty well over
by noon." There was perfect May weather, and

* We shall have more to say regarding the Bailleul and Nieppe
district at a later period ; hence description will be deferred
until then.

180

FESTUBERT

the countryside was " becoming very beautiful —
fruit trees in blossom, lilacs and peonies. With the
grain coming up and the whole countryside green,
it is a vastly different scene from what it was in the
winter."* And the roads about Bailleul and
Steenwercke were good, winding and picturesque,
with church spires rising here and there above the
trees and forming a notable feature in the land-
scape.

Nor was the time without its events. On the
afternoon of the I2th, General Porter, D.M.S. of
the 2nd Army, inspected each Field Ambulance,
and at each, addressing all ranks, conveyed to
them the message of appreciation of their services,
which he had been charged to give by the Field
Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. And his cordial
words were as balm.

" He said that the work by the field units of
the medical services during the Second Battle of
Ypres was the finest ever done yet in any war.
Twenty-seven thousand wounded were evacuated,
and there were very few instances of the wounded
being left out for many hours. "f This acknow-
ledgment of the work of the field units was over and

* I quote from the private diary of Captain (now Lieutenant-
Colonel) P. G. Bell, which at this juncture is redolent of the
spirit of Major Sir Andrew MacphaiFs delightful essay upon
" An Ambulance at Rest," which appeared in the British Medical
Journal of September ist, 1917. He writes of flowers and trees,
warm days and winding roads, of the lovely garden at his billet
and rides on " Ginger," of lying lazily in the sun, the deep
unharried sleep of nights, a game of tennis at the Chateau and
tea there, and evenings " strong on competitive solitaire. This
evening we had the girls, our three old ladies and Madame
from the Chateau to tea, and had an exceedingly merry time.
Played solitaire until quite late." The blessed relief of it all !

f From the private diary of^Lieutenant-Colonel P. G. Bell.

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

above a message received from Medical General
Headquarters on the night of April 24-25th, com-
plimenting the A.D.M.S. on the excellent manner
in which the medical situation was being handled.*
Then there was preparation against gas attacks
of the future. The immediate need for protection
against the German gas was fully realized at Head-
quarters and by the War Office, and once the
nature of the gas was determined, and the means
of neutralizing its effects, an immediate effort was
made to supply adequate masks. As early as
Sunday, May 2nd, the men in the front-line trenches
around Ypres were provided with masks, which,
if not yet of the best type, nevertheless sufficed
to save our men during the gas attack on that
day against the 4th British Division in the neigh-
bourhood of Fortuin. It was close upon a fort-
night after April 22nd, however, before these were
ready for distribution in this area, and then only
in quantities sufficient to supply those actually in
the trenches along the British front, instructions
being given that troops at rest should prepare their
own masks. The A.D.M.S. records that in taking
up this question with the Mayor of Nieppe, his
wife very kindly offered to place her house at our
disposal, she engaging some fifty sewing women
and installing twenty-five sewing machines, we
supplying the material. Needless to say, her offer
was most gratefully accepted. Four days later,
thanks to her whole-hearted co-operation, three
thousand masks had been completed, and were
delivered to the ist Field Ambulance for distribu-
tion to the ist Infantry and 2nd Artillery Brigades.

* With soldierly modesty, Colonel Foster does not report
this in his official War Diary. I gather the fact from the private
War Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Chisholm, D.S.O., D.A.D.M.S.

182

FESTUBERT

Following upon this respite, the Canadian Divi-
sion took part in the series of engagements which
are generally known as the Battle of Festubert.
From a military point of view, it has to be con-
fessed that the succession of actions extending
from the gth to the 3Oth of May, while valuable,
were not all that had been planned, even if, as
Sir John French pointed out in his official report,
we drove the enemy from a strongly entrenched
position, and won ground on a front of four miles
to an average depth of six hundred yards, capturing
the entire first-line system of trenches on a front
of 3,200 yards, and both first and second lines over
the remainder. As compared with the Battle of
Ypres of the preceding month, this was a turn of
the tide from the defensive to the offensive. But,
admittedly, we were out to win more, if possible
to convert the previous failure in the same neigh-
bourhood (at Neuve Chapelle) into a success, and
secure the ridge which dominates Lille. Tactically,
our offensive was undertaken in order to divert
the Germans, and thereby aid our Allies in their
advance upon Lens and other important actions in
Artois, while the activity on the Western Front
as a whole had the yet larger object of preventing
further German troops being sent to the Eastern
Front, where Von Mackensen was driving the
Russians under Dmitrieff to the San.

As shown by the map, when the Canadians came
on the scene, the British forces* had in the pre-
ceding nine days succeeded in reducing the pro-
jecting German salient, and in pushing back the
enemy along a front of some four thousand yards,
stretching from below Richebourg 1'Avoue* to

* Consisting of the 1st and the Indian Corps.
I83

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

above Givenchy-lez-La Bassee. When the 3rd
Brigade was called upon to take part in the attack
of May 1 8th, it ended the day by occupying the
trenches in the central region, where the enemy
had been pushed back furthest, occupying a narrow
front which extended a bare half-mile between
the Wiltshires on the right and the Coldstream
Guards on the left — trenches which were from
four hundred to six hundred yards in front of what
had been our line at the beginning of the attack.
To this attack we shall again refer. When upon the
following day the Canadian Division formally took
over the area, this front, as shown upon the map,
was more than doubled. That map shows the dis-
position at midday on the igth. In this more
advanced position the ground in front of them was
not as thoroughly known as this and other hard
experiences during this first year of the war taught
us was essential for complete success.

With regard to the medical dispositions, the
point of foremost interest is the arrangement of
the Main Dressing Stations. It will be recalled
that eventually in the Second Battle of Ypres the
A.D.M.S. had congregated all the M.D.S.'s at one
centre, namely, in Vlamertinghe. We now find
a test made of increased unity in action along the
same lines, the first of many which we shall sub-
sequently see culminating in the dispositions at
Arras and the operations on the Somme. Namely,
it was arranged that the tent sections and Main
Dressing Stations of the three Field Ambulances
should operate as a single unit. As the number of
troops increases, with it increases the need for
simplification of orders. From an administrative
point of view, it is better, wherever possible, to

184

FESTUBERT

issue one order applicable to three brigades, than
to make out diverse orders for each. It is better,
for example, wherever this can be done, to direct
all the wounded from the three brigades of a divi-
sion to converge eventually upon one spot ; it
is both simpler and more effective to direct the
motor ambulance convoy to work from one rather
than from three localities back to the Casualty
Clearing Stations, or, if they are needed to augment
the work of the cars of the Field Ambulances, to
have one rather than three M.D.S.'s to which
they deliver the wounded. Even up to 1910 this
could scarce have been contemplated ; it would
have entailed an undue length of haul by the horse
ambulances. Now with the motor ambulance
come into its own, this had become from every
point of view the proper policy. It was these
considerations that led the A.D.M.S. Canadians to
initiate this change in the operations from May
i8th to 2gth inclusive : " Arrangements were made
with the D.M.S. First Army to open the Tent
Divisions of Nos. i, 2 and 3 Field Ambulances in
the Chateau grounds at Hinges, our tentage being
supplemented by tents taken over from the 7th
Division. This arrangement was very satisfac-
tory." On the 22nd, the A.D.M.S. notes : " The
Field Ambulances are handling their wounded
easily in the tents and grounds, which lend them-
selves to the work most admirably. D.M.S. First
Army* called this afternoon and seemed very well
pleased with our arrangements."

* General Sir W. G. Macpherson, A.M.S., familiarly — and
respectfully — known to the First Army as " Tiger Mac." There
was no keener officer on the medical staff overseas than General
Macpherson, and commendation from him was praise indeed.

185

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

It may be asked, did not difficulties arise in
regard to this new disposition ? With three Com-
manding Officers, none of them before or after the
other, who would assume supreme command ?
This difficulty was overcome with ease by so
arranging that no one man had supreme command.
The tents borrowed from the 7th Division permitted
the tent hospital in the Chateau grounds to be
arranged on a threefold plan, so that the Field
Ambulance units worked side by side, with an
operating tent for serious cases in common, and
another for walking cases. The motor ambulances
delivered the wounded to each in sequence. There
was thus no confusion and no question of relative
authority. Another move in the same direc-
tion was made by placing the R.A.P.'s of the bat-
talions of the 3rd Brigade (which with the 2nd was
in the trenches) all together at " The Brewery."
But this was dictated, in the main, not by con-
siderations of policy so much as by the excellent
accommodation afforded in the cellars of the old
brewery. Nevertheless, the same idea was at work
here also, as is shown by the fact that two of the
three R.A.P.'s of the 2nd Brigade also occupied a
site in common.

As regards the medical dispositions immediately
behind the front, the three Field Ambulances took
over the Advanced Dressing Stations from the
8th Division. These were situated at Le Touret,
a little hamlet along the Rue du Bois, and by the
side of Rue de 1'Epinette, and served R.A.P.'s in
the farm known as Indian Village, and others to the
west of Festubert.

One further innovation is to be noted, namely,
the introduction of hospital barges for the con-

186

FESTUBERT

veyance of seriously wounded cases. It will be
seen from the map that the Main Dressing Station
at Hinges was within a mile of the Aire-La Bass6e
Canal. From the 24th onwards excellently ap-
pointed barges replaced motor ambulance cars for
the conveyance of bad head, chest and abdominal
cases. These did not, as might on first thought be
expected, convey the cases back to the Casualty
Clearing Stations at Aire, but took them the whole
way down to the coast at Dunkirk or Calais, a
three-days' journey. This voyage was made in the
greatest comfort. Each barge had thirty beds,
with a medical officer, four nurses and ward
orderlies. It was further well equipped with electric
lights and fans. At first all these cases were
taken to the M.D.S. ; later, by making the mooring-
place close to the drawbridge, patients were taken
by ambulance from the front direct to the canal,
and so were saved the extra two miles of motor
carriage, their wounds being treated on the barge.
Some 250 yards in front of what became the
centre of the Canadian right flank was an orchard,
surrounded by a thick hedge, held by the Germans
in considerable force. This from the first deter-
mined the activities of our men. As already noted,
the British troops attacked this on the afternoon
of May 1 8th, and the 3rd Canadian Brigade, which
was still in reserve trenches, was asked to afford
support. To this end the i6th Battalion (Canadian
Scottish) and the I4th (Royal Montreals) were
directed to make simultaneously a flanking move-
ment, advancing upon La Quinque Rue to the north
of the orchard. Under a severe shell fire the frontal
attack upon the orchard failed to materialize, but
the Canadians gained some five hundred }7ards, and

187

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

proceeded to dig themselves in, in touch with the
Coldstream Guards on their left flank,* whom they
had joined in the advance. Upon the following
day, the iQth, the Canadian Division took over the
area from the 2nd Division, occupying front-line
trenches that had been captured by the 2ist Brigade,
along with a section of trenches previously in pos-
session of the 47th Division. The map shows the
extent of the Canadian front line on the evening
of the i gth, with the 3rd Brigade to the north, the
2nd to the south.

These two days were miserable with rain and
cold. The resultant mud rendered the work of the
stretcher-bearers very heavy. Each badly wounded
man had to be carried back through the thick mud
for more than a mile. But, as at Ypres, the regi-
mental stretcher-bearers worked valiantly, well
seconded by the Field Ambulance stretcher-bearers
from the Advanced Dressing Stations. The Officers
in charge, Captains J. G. Boyce (ist Field Ambu-
lance), McKillip and H. B. Jeffs (2nd Field Ambu-
lance) and P. G. Bell (3rd Field Ambulance), who
were largely responsible for keeping the Aid Posts
clear, made frequent trips through the shell-swept
zone, and by their coolness kept up the courage of
the bearers, overcoming all difficulties during these
first two days of the engagement. One and all
were subsequently mentioned in dispatches. At
night horse ambulances could be driven between

* The Coldstream Guards had fought over this country more
than two centuries ago. La Bassee had been the Headquarters
of Marshal Villars in his campaign against Marlborough in 1709,
when his lines stretched from the Douai Canal at Annay, near
Habourdain, by La Bassee, to the west of Bethune, and the
Coldstreams were with Marlborough when he captured Bethune
in 1710.

188

FESTUBERT

Festubert and the R.A.P.'s at Indian Village, but,
on account of the mud, only at a slow pace. From
Festubert motor ambulances could be employed.
Happily the weather improved on the 2oth and the
roads dried rapidly ; that night motor ambulances
could be brought right up to the R.A.P.'s, save
to that at Indian Village, which still could not be
reached on account of the condition of the roads,
and as the combined Main Dressing Stations in the
Chateau grounds at Hinges were now in full working
order, from this time onwards the evacuation and
treatment of the wounded proceeded with the
greatest smoothness. The wounded were evacuated
by motor ambulance direct from the Aid Posts
back to Hinges, those requiring re-dressing or ad-
justment of dressings being very few. This facili-
tated the work of clearing the front. The Advanced
Dressing Stations received thus only the walking
wounded, and were at no time crowded.

Late upon the 2oth, as the evening was closing
in, after a lively bombardment by our artillery,
which had continued all through the afternoon, a
second and this time a successful attack was made
upon the Orchard. To the i6th Battalion (Canadian
Scottish) , who had already distinguished themselves
at Kitchener Wood, belongs the credit for the direct
frontal attack, the i$th Battalion (48th High-
landers) being also engaged, and simultaneously
assaulting a position some hundreds of yards to the
south, while at the same time the loth Battalion
(Manitoba) made an attack upon " Bexhill " at
the southern extremity of our line. But the
Bexhill redoubt was too powerful for us, and our
troops there received terrible punishment from the
German machine guns. The capture of the

189

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Orchard, indeed, was by no means an easy matter.
The rush forward of the Canadian Scottish was
halted by the discovery of a wide ditch or small
canal not noted on the maps, which disclosed itself
unexpectedly, running between the attacking force
and its objective.* The attacking companies had
to plunge through this and scramble through a
thick hedge, all the time under the fire of machine
guns planted in the Orchard itself. But the
impetuous rush of the i6th soon caused the guns to
cease firing, and the whole position became and
remained ours, despite a vigorous counter-attack
by the enemy.

Following upon the attack on the Orchard the
large number of casualties led to an appeal from the
staff to the A.D.S. of the 3rd Field Ambulance
for assistance in collecting wounded. Captain S.
Alwyn Smith f (of Winnipeg), along with eight
bearers, volunteered for this duty. Arriving, they
found the Orchard still under heavy fire, so heavy
that while removing the wounded four of the eight
stretcher-bearers were wounded, two of them
(Privates Ellis and Little) subsequently dying of
their wounds. Captain Smith had done good, con-
sistent work at Ypres ; now, although only just
behind our first line, and well in advance of the
R.A.P.'s, he dressed each case personally and re-
mained until all the cases had been collected by
his own and other regimental stretcher-bearers.

* The country was of the Sedgmoor type, absolutely flat,
with abundant watercourses. On the I7th inst. the 4th Cameron
Highlanders, on their advance, had similarly found themselves
faced by a deep ditch which they had to swim.

t Later Major and Chief Surgeon at the Granville Canadian
Special Hospital ; now seconded to the R.A.M.C. as Surgeon
in Charge at the Military (Orthopaedic) Hospital at Cardiff.

190

FESTUBERT

For these services Captain Smith was subsequently
awarded the D.S.O., while Acting Corporal H. T.
Cameron, the Post Office orderly of the 3rd Field
Ambulance, who was the first of the eight to
volunteer their services on this occasion, received
the D.C.M.

From a medical point of view there is little need
to record in detail the succeeding ten days of the
struggle at Festubert, and beyond the fact that the
Orchard was retained in our possession, and that
the Bexhill position, after intense resistance, was
taken on the 24th, there was little of importance to
note from a military point of view. Casualties
there continued to be, but as compared with Ypres,
on a moderate scale. The enemy made several
counter-attacks, but these were all failures.
Gradually the firing quieted down, and on the 26th
Sir John French regarded the battle as closed.
The Canadian Division was withdrawn and moved
further south on the 3ist.

As giving the impressions of a new arrival, of a
regimental Medical Officer who had not previously
been in action, there is a certain freshness in the
following abstracts from the private diary of Captain
G. M. Davis,* who was attached to the 5th Battalion,
to replace Captain Hart, taken prisoner.

* This cheery diary, indeed, with its paradoxical, yet not
uncommon mixture of stoicism and epicureanism, of loyal
performance of duty under all odds, coupled with a yearning
for creature comforts and the good things of this life, has an
added pathos. For its writer was one of the staff of the Hospital
Ship Llandovery Castle, and as such a victim of Hunnish infamy
in the last week of July, 1918. Born in 1874, he graduated

M.B. Toronto, 1901.
had volunteered in the
commission in the be

Practising at Welland, Ontario, he
first weeks of the war, being granted a
inning of September, 1914, and after

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

" May aoth (night of, after reporting to the
A.D.M.S. at Vendin-lez-Bethune, and being con-
signed to the 5th). Went up six or seven miles
in an ambulance. . . . We passed over some high
ground, and in front of us in an immense arc could
see the shells bursting and the star shells like
immense Roman candles being sent up from the
trenches. . . . Reported to General Currie, and on
to Headquarters 5th Battalion. Found there was
an attack being carried on. Helped at the Field
Dressing Station (A.D.S. and Field Ambulance) and
then Captain Jeffs* and I went over to another
Field Dressing Station, and found they were very
busy. A regular stream of wounded coming in ;
saw that they got the dressing they required and
were sent back to the rear in ambulances. It was
some night for my first experience. Got back about
3 a.m. . . . Jeffs did not get back until 5 a.m.
I relieve Jeffs and was very glad to see him again.

service on Salisbury Plain and elsewhere he went overseas
to France in May, 1915. There he remained until invalided
to England on sick leave in June, 1916. Here, after being
attached to the office of the D.M.S. Canadians and of the A.D.M.S.
London area in connection with the Standing Medical Board,
he obtained his majority in January, 1917, and in March the
same year was appointed to the Hospital Ship Service. He
and Captain H. B. Jeffs were again associated on the H.M.H.S.
Letitia, and both rendered distinguished service in the care
and rescue of patients when that ship was wrecked on the coast
of Nova Scotia in August, 1917. In the absence of any military
decoration which could be applied in recognition of their conduct
on this occasion, the Secretary of War directed that they be
informed that he and the General Officer Commanding were fully
sensible of the excellence of their service.

* Captain (now Major) H. B. Jeffs, of the 2nd Field Ambu-
lance, mentioned in Dispatches June isth, 1915 ; was wounded
in the trenches of Pozieres September 7th, 1916 ; awarded the
Military Cross November i4th, 1916.

192

FESTUBERT

Many men had very bad wounds. Had no blankets,
so went to bed in my British warm on some straw
in a stable.

"21.5.15. Behind the trenches about half a
mile to a mile. . . . All day the artillery have been
firing both shrapnel and high explosives. Last
night two stretcher-bearers were killed and six or
eight injured. It is a weird thing to see the shells
bursting at night.

"22.5.15. Time, 6.45 a.m. In a bomb-proof
shelter and glad to be there. Five C.A.M.C. men
and one other wounded in both arms by shrapnel.
We have been smartly shelled since 6 a.m. Captain
Jeffs and I worked all through last night. Had
over eighty casualties. Have not had my clothes
off since I came to the 5th Battalion. At 5.15
last night Jeffs and I went out behind our D.S.
and watched the fierce artillery bombardment of the
German trenches, and it was a sight I'll never
forget. The artillery had been bombarding steadily
from noon till 8.30. Then they stopped and the
infantry attack began. And then stray bullets
began to whine by us and we went to our D.S.
About 9 p.m. .the wounded began to arrive, and we
were busy till daylight. Had about an hour's
sleep — then breakfast — and then they began to
shell us and we were quite uncomfortable. It
seems so odd, during the lulls of shell fire, to hear
the birds singing just the same as usual.

" Well, I have had my bellyful of war all right.
This morning's story runs like this : About 7 a.m.
the Germans commenced to shell us with increased
intensity up till noon— now and then a short lull,
and our artillery for some reason was absolutely
mum. Made us sore. In a short time we began to

193 13

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

get men wounded by shell fire with shrapnel and
H.E. No ambulance would be allowed to come
down the road during such a shelling ; Jeffs had
to go away and I only had my Medical Sergeant to
help, and patients kept coming in. All told, between
last night and this noon we treated ninety-five.
Many were killed this morning. Amputated a leg,
very nearly self-amputated, and I thought our house
would collapse due to the H.E. shells. They are
devilish. You hear the whine or shriek growing
louder and louder, till at last it bursts with an ear-
splitting explosion, digs a hole three feet deep in the
ground and about ten feet in diameter, and throws
dirt, stones, etc. about one hundred feet into the
air. This kind of stuff got closer and closer. Went
up the road about four hundred yards to see Crozier*
and his bunch, and found them in almost as bad a
case as ours. Fortunately no shells hit near the
road as I went up. But I lost no time getting over
the ground, and I ducked for cover numbers of
times. Came back and decided to stay where I was
till forced to move. And this happened between
twelve and one o'clock, when three H.E. shells
exploded less than fifty yards away. Then we
lit out quick — could take no equipment. We had
to go about half a mile, and the first four hundred
yards were pretty dangerous. Splinters of shell
were flying around. We had to lie down a couple
of times, but fortunately not one round of shrapnel
was fired, and our fourteen cases, including six
stretchers and attendants, got away and not one was
touched. Went up to the 7th, 8th and loth First

* Captain J. A. Crozier, M.O. 8th Canadian Battalion.
Resigned commission April, 1916. Mentioned in Dispatche
June. 1916*

194

FESTUBERT

Aid Dressing Stations, and some stayed there, but
the rest went west for about five hundred yards, and
I started up another First Aid Post, but didn't get
many cases during the afternoon, as the stretcher-
bearers can't get at the wounded during the day,
unless under exceptional conditions. Five lots of
wounded were sent up by the F.A. Post run by
Crozier, Gibson and Geggie,* 7th, 8th and loth, and
mine, 5th. At one time during the p.m. I must
have had forty stretcher cases and twenty-five
or thirty sitting cases. The 6th London Ambulance
took them to Bethune for us, and by 7.30 p.m. we
had every case cleared out. No cases came in
during this night. Slept hi the cellar of what once
was a fine brick house, now completely gutted;
but all its walls nearly intact. Had a heavy
thunderstorm during the night — rained very hard.
The thunder plus the cannons made some combina-
tion. Rain leaked through the brick roof of
cellar and I thought we were in for a soaking,
but it only leaked in one place.

"23.5.15. A fine bright morning. Got up at
4 a.m. and moved back to close to Headquarters of
2nd Brigade about two miles away. My orderly
got my horse on the way and I rode him the rest
of the way. I did not like the way he acted. Had
a sleep, breakfast, and a shave under difficulties.
Went over and saw the battery near us. Had sick
parade at 2 p.m. — about forty. Asked Colonel
Luxford to let me have another horse, ' Pills.'
He used to be Dr. Hart's, M.O. 5th Battalion, who
was captured. The C.O. was quite agreeable, and
so Foyle, my orderly, brought him up after sick

* Captain R. C. G. Geggie, M.O. loth Battalion. Invalided
to England, August, 1915.

195 13*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

parade, and I went for a ride of about six miles.
Was pretty awkward, I guess. Entered at 12 p.m.
in a dug-out covered with wheat straw. Got word
that we are to attack at 2 a.m., and I got to the
first line of trenches to establish a First Aid Post.
Took the medical cart and the water cart. Dis-
tance is about three miles. Rode down. Was
guided by Ptolemy, as I had to go into the trenches
and look up Colonel Macdonell, L.S.H. Left the
carts about half a mile from trenches. It was a
beautiful, still, semi-moonlight night. As we went
along we passed a great bunch of troops drawn up
and standing alongside the road, waiting orders to
march. It was quite a new sensation going along
with an attacking party in real earnest. We were
not fired on as we entered our trenches, though one
shell broke near us. Was to report to Colonel
Macdonell, but though I chased around the trenches
for nearly an hour (and it is some job) I could not
find him — so sent word to Major Edgar that our
station was about seventy-five yards to the left
of the Wieltje Road. Was awfully hot chasing
through the trenches, dodging the obstacles, etc.
I don't see that we can do effective work here, but
will know for sure very soon.

"24.5.15. Written in the second line of
trenches. Attack started around 3 a.m. and was
very quiet. I mean it was not preceded by the
usual heavy cannonade, but the rifle fire and maxim
guns were there right enough. Foyle and Hosie
put the horses in as safe a place as possible, and
then they hunt cover and await our return — in
this case twenty hours or thereabouts. Was not
very busy, but did quite a bit all the same. After
the attack was over the cannonade started and it

196

FESTUBERT

was pretty hot. The H.E. shells are terrific.
The parapet of this trench, made of sand bags, was
hit four or five times by H.E. shells. About
10 a.m. we shifted our position about 150 yards,
as our quarter was being shelled severely. It
was a beautiful day, but not enjoyable. Gets
quite cool as soon as the sun sets. You are red-
hot one minute, and glad of a heavy coat a little
while after. It is fascinating to watch the H.E.
shells burst, and a little of the thrill is in the fact
that the next one might hit you.

"25.5.15. A beautiful morning and a typical
summer's day. Not a cloud in the sky. An
aeroplane was sailing overhead at an immense
height, and was being shelled by shrapnel. It
was quite a sight. At least a hundred shells were
fired, but as far as I could see it was not touched.
The smoke made by these shells often makes rings
and the smoke looks like fleecy white clouds, and
stays visible for half an hour or more. The 5th
Battalion is very badly cut up. At present, I don't
know what is the result of yesterday's attack. Had
a quiet day. Wrote home. Had dinner about
7.30 p.m. Went to see a battery of howitzers
near by, and had a talk and a cigar with their
Major. It is a perfect night.

" 26 . 5 . 15 . Another beautiful day. Had a wash
in a tin biscuit-box and had breakfast about 9.30.
The Germans are shelling heavily a place about
two hundred to three hundred yards directly back of
us with high explosive ; and as I write this, about
every half minute you hear the whistle of the shell
overhead and the explosion about two seconds
later. We go into billets to-day, and our billeting
party has gone out to locate them for us. . . .

.197

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

We waited round till 9.35 p.m. before our Brigade
pulled out. It was then fine and cool : rode my
horse behind the 5th, but never got off a walk.
Got a room for sick parade, and after getting some-
thing to eat about 11.30, slept on a tiled floor :
was very hard, but slept well. It was a very warm
afternoon, and I'd have felt sorry for any troops
that had to march during this heat.

"27.5.15. Quite a change in the weather, and
is now so cool that a raincoat feels comfortable.
Not much doing this a.m. as all the men are going
to the baths. In the p.m. I inspected the billets
and found them so-so. Decided to try and locate a
better sleeping-place, and found a dandy right
across the road. Colonel Rogers, 2nd Battalion,
had it, but is away. Got a feather bed ! Hope I
can manage to keep it. Have not been able to get
into Bethune to get a bath. I don't need a bath so
badly as I need a change of clothes."

The total number of wounded handled in the
combined Field Ambulances was 996 Canadians
of all ranks, and in British. Some of the wounds
were very severe — were, in fact, the worst seen by
our Medical Officers up to this point. The extensive
laceration and the huge size of the wound of exit
indicated that the enemy in certain of his battalions
employed illicit projectiles ; and this suspicion was
verified by the discovery in the captured trenches
of clips in which all the bullets had been reversed
in their cases.

Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. MacPherson, O.C.
2nd Canadian Field Ambulance, reports in his
War Diary :

FESTUBERT

" 22 . 5 . 15 . 6.30 p.m. . . . Germans usingTgas
again in this section, and rumours that dum-dum
bullets are being used. ..."

"24.5.15. . . . Attacking the Germans, who
are using gas and dum-dum bullets, or bullets
reversed in cartridge. A clip was brought into our
Dressing Station to-day and I examined it, and

1. Nickel-pointed bullet with high velocity penetrates bone ; small wound of
entrance ; very little destruction of tissue ; wound of exit almost as small as
wound of entrance.

2. Nickel-pointed bullet with less velocity fractures bone, and forcing frag-
ments forwards causes destruction of tissue; wound of exit in consequence
considerably larger than wound of entrance.

3. Reversed bullet ; fair-sized wound of entrance ; the soft metal of body of
bullet mushrooms against the bone (as shown at x), causes great shattering of
bone, and as the metal spreads it brings about great laceration and destruction
of the soft parts, with gaping wound of exit.

confirmed it. ... Wounded coming in have very
nasty wounds, the worst I have seen yet."

The effect of this reversal is obvious. The
normal conical nickel-coated bullet penetrates and
pierces the tissues in a wedge-like manner.
If fired at close range it may not even fracture,
but merely perforate, a large bone, and the fracture
where it occurs tends to be simple, while the wound

199

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

of exit is relatively small. The reversed bullet, on
the contrary, mushrooms out immediately it
encounters resistance, and as a result there is
terrible laceration of the tissues, with the production
of a gaping, gruesome wound of exit.

Through the direct transport by motor ambulance
from the R.A.P.'s to the M.D.S. the Advanced
Dressing Stations received few serious cases; they
became naturally what in later engagements were
known as Collecting Posts for walking wounded.
At first well forward, experience during this
action showed that it would be well to have one or
more of them further back. Thus the A.D.S. of
No. 2 Field Ambulance, close upon a mile to the
north of Indian Village, was so exposed that by
the orders of the A.D.M.S. it was evacuated on the
22nd. And none too soon, for scarce had it been
left when a shell completely demolished it. It
was moved back some four miles to a point half-
way between the front and Hinges, to a point
easily reached from both the main roads leading
from the Canadian front (consult the map). Here
in addition it served as an advanced motor am-
bulance station, from which the ambulances could
expeditiously move forward to clear the R.A.P.'s.

One other innovation deserves note. The en-
deavour to hasten up the evacuation of the wounded
from the front, which led to the direct transport of
the seriously wounded just noted from R.A.P.'s
to M.D.S. without intervention of the A.D.S., was
hampered by the distance at which the A.D.M.S.
found himself from the front in his office at Hinges.
It was important to have the office at the point
upon which all the wounded converged, important
also to be within easy reach of Divisional Head-
zoo

; FESTUBERT

quarters at Bethune, but it was equally important
that the A.D.M.S. or his second in command,
the D.A.D.M.S., should be sufficiently far for-
ward to supervise the movement of the ambulance
cars, and removal of the wounded to and from
the front. This difficulty was overcome by es-
tablishing an advanced A.D.M.S. office at Essars,
close to the junction of the two main routes of
evacuation. In his report upon the operations
at Ypres, Colonel Foster had called attention to
the need that there should for effective work be a
third officer on the staff of the A.D.M.S., and in
response to his request, on 3rd May, just before
leaving Vlamertinghe, Major Snell, P.A.M.C., of
the Second Field Ambulance, had been attached to
his staff. It was this addition that made it possible
to establish the advanced office, placing it in charge
either of the D.A.D.M.S. or of Major Snell.

In his report on the operations at Festubert,
Colonel Foster called attention to another adminis-
trative advance based upon the Ypres experience,
namely, to the great assistance rendered by the
Regimental Medical Officers in reporting to the
Advanced Dressing Stations the conditions as to
the number of wounded in their respective areas,
and to the fact that by placing a senior officer at
each A.D.S. to direct the ambulance service proper,
the removal of the wounded had been greatly
facilitated.

At the same time he again called attention to
the need for wheeled stretchers. The long carry
over the marshy ground was unduly hard upon
the regimental stretcher-bearers : wheeled stretchers
could have been used in this area with great ad-
vantage ; throughout the action there had been

201

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

only three at his disposal. He recommended that
the number authorized as at the disposal of each
Field Ambulance be increased from three to five,
these to be sent forward to the A.D.S. as considered
necessary ; as also that each regiment at the front
be provided with one more wheeled stretcher.

These may to the ordinary reader appear to be
matters of minor importance : they deserve record
as indicating the constant attempt to secure increased
efficiency on the part of the medical service, that
is to say, the increased well-being of the men at
the front.

As evidence of a rapidly vanishing state of affairs,
one small contretemps may be given a passing
notice. By the old pre-war system each Field
Ambulance was associated with and was supposed
to care for the wounded of its Brigade ; it was, as
a matter of fact, under the control of the Brigade
Commander. It has already been pointed out
that from the start this could not be the case with
the Canadians overseas : we have seen how from
the beginning of the action at Ypres the Canadian
ambulance units received casualties of all orders,
Zouave, Canadian and Imperial, until the Canadian
admissions to the Main Dressing Stations of the
Canadian Field Ambulances were, as it were,
swamped by the admissions of British wounded.
Now, at Festubert, with extension of the Canadian
front southwards, it advanced across the front of
the adjoining Imperial Division and the area
occupied by the Field Ambulances of that Division,
and this to such an extent that the Imperial troops
to get into their trenches had to pass through the
trench lines of the Canadian right flank (vide map).
Thus, as the A.D.M.S. Canadians had not been

202

FESTUBERT

permitted to move his Advanced Dressing Stations
correspondingly southwards into the area of the
adjoining Division, it was but natural that the
walking wounded of the Canadian right flank
made their way along the nearest road (Willow
Road, which led away from the Canadian area)
to the nearest A.D.S., which inevitably was that
of the Imperials, and so to an Imperial Field Am-
bulance. This was the subject of a complaint
to the D.M.S., the objection being made that the
Canadian wounded were not being handled by
the Field Ambulances of their Division. The case,
it is true, differs from that at Ypres, inasmuch as
technically all the casualties handled by the Canadian
Field Ambulances occurred within what was still
the Canadian Divisional area. It complicates
Divisional returns if casualties from other Divisions
have to be reported separately and accounted for.
Nevertheless, wherever two Divisions come into
touch with each other this interchange is bound to
happen. As already noted, the Canadian Field
Ambulances treated more than a hundred Imperial
casualties during the Festubert engagement. The
solution, as Colonel Foster pointed out, was simple,
namely, to extend the Canadian ambulance area
further southwards. But arrangements were already
being made at this date to withdraw the Canadian
Division in the course of a day or two, and the
D.M.S., therefore, advised no change hi dispositions.
This is the solitary case on record of such a complaint.

203

CHAPTER X

GIVENCHY

ON the evening of Tuesday, the I5th of June, 1915,
the ist Canadian Brigade found itself involved in
one of the bloodiest engagements of the whole war.
Over against its left flank was a German " fortin,"
known to us as Stony Mountain, bristling with
machine guns, guns which later did terrible execu-
tion. Before it, some 250 yards more to the south,
was another strongly entrenched post known as
" Dorchester." The operation orders directed that
the 7th British Division on the Canadian left (with
the East Yorks next to us) should make a frontal
attack on Stony Mountain. The ist Canadian
Battalion (Ontario Regiment), under General Mercer,
was to attack in support and secure the two lines
of enemy trenches between Stony Mountain and
Dorchester. Working parties of the 2nd and 3rd
Canadian Battalions were to secure and connect
the trenches taken by the ist, or, if necessary, assume
the defensive.

The outstanding features of this engagement,
namely, General BurstaU's introduction of two
eighteen-pounder guns into the infantry trenches as
a surprise to the enemy ; our too impartial mine
in No Man's Land which injured friend and foe
alike ; the deeds of individual heroism which over-

204

GIVENCHY

lapped each other in the three crowded hours of
strenuous fight : these, unfortunately for the
reader, form no part of a medical history. They
are mentioned to recall what a proud fight it was,
even if it accomplished little, and even if it brought
mourning to many. Suffice it to say that, with
inadequate artillery preparation, Stony Mountain
proved too strong a position for the 7th Division :
that the Ontario Regiment with the preliminary
most effective work of the eighteen-pounders was
not to be gainsaid, and swept irresistibly into
possession of Dorchester and the German front
trench. But the failure to reduce Stony Mount ain
rendered the Canadian position impossible. Ex-
posed on the left, and with the captured trenches
enfiladed by deadly machine gun fire from the Ger-
man fortin, the Ontario men held on with con-
stantly diminished numbers until, with scarce an
officer left*, the survivors were forced to evacuate.
The original trenches were now held for several
days under heavy fire, until at the end of the
month the Division was moved north.

From the point of view of the Army Medical
Service, Givenchy is of interest mainly on account
of the curiously narrow front served by the Canadian
Division, and the changes that this entailed in the
disposition of medical posts and medical units.

As indicated by the map (page 184), the area is
but a few miles to the south of Festubert, and
when at the end of May the Canadians were with-
drawn from the latter district, they were given a
front stretch of little more than one thousand yards

* Lord Beaverbrook points out that out of twenty-three
combatant officers who went into this action, only three missed
death or wounding.

205

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

north of the Aire-La Bass6e Canal, a front so narrow
that but one Brigade was needed to fill the trenches.
That Brigade needed but one Field Ambulance to
deal with its sick and wounded,' and just as there
was rotation in battalions manning the trenches, so
now arrangements were made whereby each Field
Ambulance in turn undertook work towards the
front, week by week. Meantime the other two
ambulance units undertook in turn the running of
a Divisional Rest Depot and care of the sick of one
Infantry Brigade at Busnettes, some four miles
west of Hinges as the crow flies, or went into some-
what incommodious billets at Gonnehem, some two
and a half miles behind Hinges, tending the sick
in that area.

The A.D.M.S. opened his office in an intermediate
position, at Vendin on the outskirts of Bethune.
Here at Vendin was subsequently established a
Dressing Station for troops in that vicinity, served
by the same Field Ambulance as was at Gonnehem.

With regard to the disposition of the Field Am-
bulance Stations, it is to be observed that the M.D.S.
was considerably nearer to the front than was the
case during the Festubert action. Its tents and
marquees were pitched in a sand-pit at Le Quesnoy,
south of the canal, two miles east of Bethune, in a
country studded with hillocks rising out of the
plain, with here and there small copses. It was, in
consequence, completely screened from hostile ob-
servation, save from the air. Too well sheltered
some thought, since in those June days the sand-pit
took on the character of a Dutch oven, becoming
painfully hot. But one cannot have everything.
It evacuated to a British Casualty Clearing Station
at Chocques, three miles to the west of Bethune. ,

206

GIVENCHY

On the morning of the i5th the A.D.M.S. inspected
the M.D.S. of the ist Field Ambulance at Le
Quesnoy, and completed arrangements for handling
the wounded at the front. Briefly these arrange-
ments were the following :

The two Regimental Aid Posts were in houses on
what, from their presence there, had come to be
known as Harley Street, at a point some five hun-
dred yards on this side of what had been the flourish-
ing little town of Givenchy. This afforded a shorter
carry for the regimental stretcher-bearers than at
Festubert, and, with but one Brigade in action,
abundant regimental stretcher-bearers were obtained
by calling upon the different battalions in reserve
and support to detail parties for the work. On
the other hand, ambulance cars could not reach
Harley Street : the canal bank at Vauxhall Bridge
was the furthest point to which they could safely
venture in the daytime. Sixty men of the Bearer
Section of the ist Field Ambulance, with wheeled
stretchers, were therefore detailed to carry down
the Queen's Road between the R.A.P.'s and the
Bridge. Here an officer and party were posted to
supervise the movements of the wounded, who,
according to the nature of their wounds, either as
walking wounded or hi horsed ambulances, were
directed to the A.D.S. at Annequin, where Major
C. P. Wright* was stationed, charged with control
of the wheeled stretchers and horsed ambulances,
not of his own unit only, but also of the 2nd Field

* Major Wright, later O.C. ist Field Ambulance and D.S.O..
now Colonel, A.D.M.S. ist Canadian Division, had only joined
the ist Field Ambulance at Festubert. He had a record of
several years' good work in Canada, where he had been O.C<.
the /th Field Ambulance at Qaebec.3

[207

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Ambulance, from which additional transport had
been detailed. More seriously wounded cases were
taken by motor ambulance direct to the M.D.S.
at Le Quesnoy. (After the first day of the engage-
ment most of the ambulance cases were taken
direct from Vauxhall Bridge by the Cambrin-
Beuvry road to Le Quesnoy, and the A.D.S. again,
as at Festubert, served mainly as a Collecting
(and Dressing) Station for the walking wounded.)

With this, as a further means of controlling the
situation, on the morning of the engagement an
Advanced Medical Report centre (Advance A.D.M.S.
Office) was established at Le Quesnoy under the
D. A.D.M.S., and Colonel Foster himself came here
in the afternoon.

These arrangements worked out excellently : at
no time was there any delay in removing the
wounded, once they had been collected by the
R.S.B.'s, and the bearers worked up to within a
few yards of the German trenches. The evacuation
was most speedy and without a hitch. Indeed, from
a medical point of view the arrangements made
by the A.D.M.S. worked so smoothly that there is
little to record save the nature of the same. From
6 p.m. on the i5th, when the action began, to
midday on the i6th, n officers and 350 other ranks
had been treated at Le Quesnoy. At 10 a.m. on
the i6th the R.A.P.'s were reported all clear.

Throughout the i6th there was considerable
artillery and other activity, and the wounded con-
tinued to come in steadily. Three officers and
145 Canadians of other ranks, and seventy British
O.R.'s passed through the M.D.S. Although the
firing was heavy, the casualties were moderate
during the following fortnight.

208

GIVENCHY

For good services in this action Colonel Foster
specially recommended the following : Lieutenant-
. Colonel A. E. Ross,* ist Canadian Field Ambu-
lance ; Major R. P. Wright, f ist Canadian Field
Ambulance ; Captain J. C. Fyshe,*1 ist Canadian
Field Ambulance ; Major R. Raikes,f M.O. 4th
Canadian Battalion ; Captain D. E. Robertson,3
M.O. ist Canadian Battalion ; Captain R. J.
Gardiner, 3 M.O. 2nd Canadian Battalion ; Captain
J. H. Wood,4 M.O. 3rd Canadian Battalion ;
Captain C. E. Fortin,*s M.O. Lord Strathcona's
Horse ; Captain J. H. Todd,* M.O. Royal Canadian
Dragoons ; Lieutenant A. P. Reynolds,* R.A.M.C.,
M.O. 2nd King Edward's Horse.

In addition to those above noted, the following
Officers and N.C.O.'s obtained recognition for their
services : Captain P. G. Brown,* 2nd Canadian Field
Ambulance ; Captain P. Poisson,* M.O. Divisional
Engineers, and Sergeant O. Stenstrud, No. i
Canadian Field Ambulance.

From the nature of the engagement the Regi-
mental Medical Officers and those near the front
bore the brunt of the fray, and this is reflected in

1 Now Major on the Staff of No. 14 Canadian General Hospital,
Eastbourne.

3 Later Major, and in Canada. Mentioned in Dispatches,
January, 1917.

3 Now Major on the Staff of No. i Field Ambulance.
Awarded Military Cross, January, 1918.

4 Now Major, and Acting Lieutenant-Colonel on the Staff of
No. 2 Canadian Field Ambulance. 1914 Star and Croix de
Guerre [Belgian).

3 After returning for duty to Canada he served with No.
ii Field Ambulance in 1916, and in 1917 was recalled to Canada
for duty.

* Mentioned in Dispatches. f Awarded the D.S.O.
209 14

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

these lists. Here, as at Ypres and Festubert,
the O.C. the ist Field Ambulance showed himself
absolutely devoid of fear and devoted to his duty.
To co-ordinate the work of his unit with that of the
Regimental Medical Services, Colonel Ross " made
frequent visits to the A.D.S. and even to the R.A.P.'s,
and materially aided the prompt evacuation of
the wounded." And Major R. P. Wright well
seconded him. Not satisfied with remaining at the
A.D.S. at Annequin, he superintended the removal
of the wounded across the canal at Vauxhall
Bridge, " working unceasingly for forty-eight hours
in a position which was under the enemy's fire,
besides making frequent visits to Regimental Aid
Posts " — keeping these cleared. His work at the
A.D.S. at Annequin, also under fire, was taken over
by Captain J. Fyshe. Captain P. G. Brown, of the
2nd Field Ambulance, was of notable assistance in
" removing his wounded from Harley Street to
ambulance wagons at Vauxhall Bridge." Once
before, at Ypres, his good work caused him to be
mentioned in Dispatches. As at Ypres, Captain
Poisson* of the Divisional Engineers, " was at all
times ready and frequently volunteered to assist
at Aid Posts which were under fire." Now he was
mentioned in Dispatches. In this connection the
A.D.M.S. gives high praise to Sergeant Stenstrud,f
who was in charge of the stretcher-bearers of his
ambulance unit. " He showed clear judgment in
removing the wounded from the R.A.P.'s to Vaux-
hall Bridge, and over the canal to the ambulance

* Awarded Military Cross, January, 1918.

f Now Quartermaster and Hon. Lieutenant, having been
given a commission in November, 1917, and awarded the Military
Cross, January, 1918.

210

GIVENCHY

wagons, a very exposed and at times dangerous,
area. The prevention of congestion and further
wounding of the wounded was largely due to his
vigilance and courage. He had displayed the same
courage in his work at Festubert and Ypres."

The others mentioned are Regimental Medical
Officers. Among these Major Raikes* stands pre-
eminent, receiving the D.S.O. along with Major
Wright. Before the war, Colonel Raikes had been a
practitioner, known the whole countryside around,
at Midland, on Georgian Bay, Ontario. When the
war opened he was already a man of fifty-four years
of age, but keen, alert, with clear eye and powerful
constitution, a lover of open air, who could give the
"go by " to men fifteen years his junior — a man
who knew men.f For long years he had been
M.O. of the local militia regiment, the 35th, obtain-
ing his majority in 1908, and in 1914 he promptly
volunteered for active service. Cheery and tire-
less, he exercised a remarkable influence over his
brother officers and men. At Ypres, at Festubert,
and at Givenchy, the greater the shelling the
higher appeared to be his spirits, the further forward
he found himself, so that he kept all around him full
of courage and goodwill. This is the account that
I, as historian, have received from all who came in
contact with him, though from him personally I

* Now Lieutenant-Colonel, seconded for duty with Board
of Pension Commissioners for Canada (British Branch) without
pay and allowances.

t At Festubert, for example, one morning there appeared on
sick parade no less than sixty-seven men of the 4th Battalion,
This would never do. He therefore instructed his batman,
himself a character, to give out the rumour that they were to
go into rest billets for a month. The sick parade next morning
consisted of two men.

211 14*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

have been able to obtain no information regarding
the doings which brought him the D.S.O., save that
the trenches at Givenchy were excellent and deep,
so good that they were the show trenches round
which to conduct Members of Parliament and such-
like. That, he pointed out, explains why he so
frequently accompanied his O.C. through them !

212

CHAPTER XI

" PLUGSTREET "

PICTURE to yourself a district some ten miles
across from north to south, in its southern half
almost flat, and, if I may so express it, Flanderish,
in its northern half more undulating, with a
succession of knolls overlooking the flattish
land held by the enemy.* Those knolls may,
some of them, be justly dignified with the name
of hills, although in Flanders elevations of inferior
virtue are granted this name. Any elevation thirty
feet or more above the surrounding country
may be of high military value. An elevation
of three hundred feet and more above the
general level, like Kemmel mountain, or even
of some two hundred feet, like that of La Hutte
(Hill 63), over against Messines, is a great asset.
These overlook the enemy ; they dominate for
several miles the plain which stretches to the
south, and so render that reasonably secure from
invasion. Our possession of this higher land
explains why for long months nothing particular
happened in this district. Near and tempting as
Messinesf looked, with its roofs and church spire,

* Consult map at end of this volume, under the cover.

•(• Was it not for Uncle Toby's siege of Messines that Corporal
Trim appropriated the ancestral Shandean jack-boots to convert
them into mortars ? Sterne, it is true, writes it " Messina,"
but the siege of Messina was largely a naval affair, and had
nothing to do with Uncle Toby's Flanders experiences.

213

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

when seen from Hill 63, or even from the Plug-
street trenches, we were not prepared to take the
offensive and break through along the front ; we
knew that Messines, upon its rise of ground, was
strongly defended. The Germans, on their part,
were not prepared to make an attack uphill on our
strong points. Thus it was that after Givenchy,
when at the end of June the Canadian Division was
transferred from the 4th Corps of the ist Army to
the 3rd Corps of the 2nd Army, and took over
what for convenience we may term the Plugstreet
area, there ensued a protracted period of trench
warfare, a period of close upon nine months charac-
terized by no serious engagement, by sniping, by
surprise raids (and it was the ist Canadian Division
that carried out the first of these), by each infantry
battalion in succession coming up at night through
the communication trenches in Indian file to relieve
another battalion, remaining in the trenches for
several days (the time varying according to the
season), to be relieved in its turn one welcome
night by a fresh battalion, and to plod its way
back to billets, there not so much to rest as to be
bathed, and given a change of underclothing, and
steady daily exercise, not to mention fatigues of
various orders. This until in March the division
was replaced and sent north. It was a period
characterized further by the expansion of the
original single Canadian Division into three divi-
sions, and the development of a Canadian Army
Corps, with all that this necessitated in the matter
of altered and extended administration. But of
this more anon in another volume.

NThe centre of the new Canadian area was Bailleul,
a thriving little old-world country town of some

[214

" PLUGSTREET "

ten thousand inhabitants, just over the border in
French Flanders, with its streets radiating irregu-
larly from a large roughly-paved central square,
or, more accurately, long oblong, the scene of the
weekly open-air market for all the country round ;
with the Hotel de Ville on one side, uninteresting
save for its campanile dating from the time of the
Spanish possession, the old-fashioned and not
particularly interesting hotel on the other, and
the chief notarial and other offices and shops all
around. Just behind the Hotel de Ville is — or
was — the Church of St. Vaast, with the triple
nave characteristic of church architecture in
Southern Flanders. The front was some seven
and a half miles distant.*

* Bailleul, according to M. de Coussemaker, was sacked by
the Normans in 882, and by the English in 1434. Sir Anthony
Bowlby, I learn, has suggested that we of British blood are very
directly interested in Bailleul, in that from it came the founder
of Balliol College, Oxford (the said founder's father, in expia-
tion for his misdeeds, had been publicly whipped by the
Bishop of Durham before the cathedral door, and therewith
promised moneys for the support of certain poor scholars at
Oxford), not to mention John and Edward Balliol, the successful
competitors, as against Robert and David Bruce respectively,
for the crown of Scotland.

Without doubt, the Balliols were descended from Guy de
Bailleul, who came over with the Conqueror, but unfortunately
there are some thirteen towns and villages of the name of
Bailleul, and the ancestral lands of the Balliols in France, to
which King John of Scotland was permitted to retire after the
Hammer of the Scots, Edward I., had imprisoned him in the
Tower, were at Bailleul en-Vimeu in lower Picardy, six miles
south of Abbeville.

Nevertheless, it is just possible that the Balliol family came
originally from our Bailleul in the Pas de Calais, and gave that
name to the Picardy estate. Bailleul (Nord) has been an
important place since the ninth century, and was the seat of a
powerful family. In 1064 Regnault de Bailleul of this family

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

In order to be nearer to that front, both General
Alderson, in command of the Division, and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Foster, the A.D.M.S., were estab-
lished at Nieppe, another and smaller country town
or large village on the road to Armentieres, the one
feature of which is a moated late eighteenth-century
Chateau, which was converted into the Headquarters
of the Division.* Other places of some importance
in the area were Steenwerck, behind Bailleul, and
Neuve Eglise, a good-sized village, with a fine church
with triple aisle like that at Nieppe, but finer,
which, while not so important, occupied on the
Canadian side somewhat the position that Messines
occupied on the German. It was so near to the
trenches that the enemy could see and shell anyone
venturing along the middle of the main street.
Locre, Dranoutre and Westoutre were villages

married Emerie, niece of Roger de Montgomery, one of the
foremost of the Norman nobility, who led the centre at the
Battle of Hastings ; thus the family had Norman affiliations.

Later, Baldwyn de Bailleul was Marischal of Flanders under
Count Guy. It is at least suggestive that a coat-of-arms, which
is that of the Balliols, was during our occupation of the town
still to be seen on the front of the Hotel de Ville at Bailleul.
Certain families of Bayley also claim origin from Bailleul. —
B. J. Scot, " The Norman Balliols in England."

* Canadian Headquarters were established at Nieppe only
by courtesy, this town being outside the Canadian military area.
Nieppe had been in possession of the Prussians for a few hours
in September, 1914, this being the limit of their westerly
advance. The Uhlans had collected all the cattle from the
surrounding country into the town square, and then, had
broached the cellar at the Chateau, and there indulged, as all
the evidence showed, in a hideous drunken orgy. They were
not so drunken, however, as to be unable to mount horse and
ride away hurriedly when the immediate presence of the British
was announced. But they left the cattle behind, and had no time
to do any damage to the town, save to the Chateau wine cellar.

" PLUGSTREET "

further back. To the north was Kemmel, with its
mountain (four hundred feet) and the range of
hills passing in a westerly direction, with Mont
Rouge (over three hundred feet), Mont des Cats
(close upon five hundred feet), etc.

The trenches took their name from Ploegstaert,
a country village, whose church, with a fine spire,
some 2,500 yards back from the trenches, was a
notable object for miles around. This village
inevitably became " Plugstreet." Stretching to
the north as far as the outskirts of Messines was
the Plugstreet Wood. Previous divisions which
had held the area had christened and placarded
the various roads and communication trenches
with familiar names : Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly,
and so on, down to Mud Lane.

When they first took over, the Canadians
occupied the trenches between the Wulverghem-
Messines road and the most easterly extremity
of Plugstreet Wood, a distance of some three miles.
Later, towards the end of September, when the
2nd Division joined, the line was extended north
to a point half-way on the road between Wytschaete
and Vierstraat, and south for another half-mile
or so down to the road running from Ploegstaert
to Warneton. [Consult the map at the end of
this volume.] The original trenches were over-
looked somewhat by the high ground at Messines,
and were reached from the wood by deep com-
munication trenches. Back of the main trench
each battalion had a dug-out for surgical repairs,
and, in addition and further back, an Aid
Post.

The medical care of the area was at first distri-
buted between thej;three Field Ambulances of the

217

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Division in rotation, one being given charge of
the front area, another of the Divisional Rest
Station, while the third ran a Corps Convalescent
Depot in a commodious old house and tents at
Bailleul.

In the front area the A.D.S. was situated off
the road one hundred yards or so from Hyde Park
Corner, and just within the wood clothing the side
of "Hill 63." Of all medical posts at the
front, this most recalled Canada. There, sheltered
by the hill and beneath fine upstanding trees, was
a long, low log hut of three rooms. Curiously
enough, it had been built, not by Canadians, but
by a British north-country unit. Although well
forward, indeed within fifteen hundred yards of
the first-line trenches, it was well sheltered by the
hill, and while shells repeatedly fell into the meadow
in front of it, killing occasional horses, only once
during all the months it was occupied did a shell
fall into it, and then into the central room when
this was unoccupied, injuring no one.

The Main Dressing Station occupied a farm, at
Romarin, using tents as well as an estaminet at
the cross-roads. In the garden behind the estaminet
there grew slowly but surely a carefully-tended
Canadian cemetery.

The Divisional Rest Station was opened up in
tents at a farm two miles south of Bailleul, but soon
was removed to near Steenwerck. It accom-
modated 150 patients — patients with ailments not
sufficiently serious or long-continued to necessitate
transportation to the base and consequent loss
to their battalions.

At the Corps Convalescent Dep6t in Bailleul were
treated conditions of a somewhat similar order but

318

" PLUGSTREET "

milder, not only Canadians, but men belonging to
the ist Army Corps suffering from P.U.O. (slight
fever of undetermined origin), trench feet, etc.,
needing but a few days' care and supervision. Here
was accommodation for 250 patients in what must
in its time have harboured one of the first families
of Bailleul, one of those well-built, comfortable
and roomy eighteenth or early nineteenth century
houses, such as one meets with in French country
towns, with courtyard and out-houses. The
patients here, as being mild cases, were given not
beds, but stretchers on trestles with army blankets.

When in the middle of July the Canadians were
transferred to the 2nd Army Corps, the Divisional
Rest Station was given up, and now two Field
Ambulances participated in the work at the front ;
the 2nd Field Ambulance moving up from Steen-
werck to establish a Main Dressing Station in tents
off the main road between Bailleul and Messines,
to the south of Neuve Eglise, in what came to be
known as Aldershot Camp, establishing an A.D.S.
about half-way between the A.D.S. at Hyde Park
Corner and Neuve Eglise. With this the other
Field Ambulance unit in Bailleul ran a combined
Divisional Rest Station and Corps Convalescent
Depot.

These summer months in the Plugstreet area
were a time of comparative rest. Although in the
rains of the winter months the soil melts, and the
mud in the trenches is unutterable, in summer
the soil is easily worked, and our men lived in
clean, deep trenches fairly safe from snipers. In-
deed, up to the end, until Messines was blown up
and the Germans withdrew further westwards,
such was its configuration that this had always been

219

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

a relatively quiet area. When in our possession
the front line and communication trenches were
deepened and greatly improved, board walks were
put down, drainage pits dug, and stringent regula-
tions enforced regarding the use and cleanliness of
the latrines and removal of waste.

There is a strong temptation when down in a
trench to throw empty meat and fruit cans and
remains of food over the parapet in front or parados
behind, where " out of sight is out of mind," and to
provide thus abundant food and breeding-ground
for flies. Acts of this nature were strenuously
prohibited. Garbage was carefully and regularly
collected, and, as a result, the plague of flies was
kept down to a remarkable degree.

To get rid of rats was a more difficult matter.
From the deserted farms and all the countryside
rats were attracted to the trenches in extra-
ordinary numbers, and their calm boldness was
beyond belief. The better the removal of the
garbage the greater their depredations in the dug-
outs. No foodstuffs were safe from them unless
firmly covered over.* Traps were of little use :
the rats rapidly educated themselves to understand
their meaning. The introduction of dogs and
cats was without avail ; these became sleek, sur-
feited and lazy, and the number of rats showed no
serious diminution. Indeed, so far as we can
learn, the problem how to exterminate these pests
still awaits a satisfactory solution, and there have
developed trench philosophers who hold that as
scavengers they are a positive advantage ! The

* One humorist was so impressed by their pertinacity as to
declare that they soon learnt to know the better brands of
canned goods, and eventually carried off the unopened tins.

220

" PLUGSTREET '

pathologists accuse them with not a little
force of being through their parasites the
carriers to man of trench fever and infectious
jaundice.

The water-supply came in for unremitting atten-
tion. We have by now come to treat as a common-
place the marvellous fact that in a country of
stagnant water and shallow wells, a country that
should be the ideal home of enteric fever, one in
which, as a matter of fact, the civil inhabitants at
the time became victims to enteric fever by the
thousand, this disease was curiously infrequent
among the Canadian forces. The total number of
cases of typhoid during the year 1915 among the
Canadian troops in France was ninety-nine, with
three deaths ; of Paratyphoid A, thirty-nine, with
one death ; of Paratyphoid B, one with recovery ;
and it is worthy of note that the unit which supplied
the greater number of typhoid cases was that which
had been the first to leave Canada, and this before
inoculation had been made compulsory, namely,
the gallant " Princess Pat's."

It might be urged that these results were due
entirely to the antityphoid inoculation ; that the
inoculations which the majority had undergone,
against enteric alone, protected them against para-
typhoid conditions also. Now there is a certain
amount of evidence that inoculation against one of
this group of diseases protects against, or mitigates
the severity of the attacks due to the other
members of the group. But simultaneously summer
diarrhoea was extraordinarily rare. These latter
facts can only be ascribed to one cause which must
have been an adjuvant factor in the suppression of
the typhoidal conditions, and that one cause

221

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

is the chlorination of the water-supply of all
troops.

In Canada, in the years immediately preceding
the war, we had learnt the value of the process.
So excellent is the sanitation in Great Britain, so
great the care taken of the water-supplies, that
there typhoid or enteric fever has during our
generation been almost exterminated. It is rare
to encounter cases in the wards of a civilian British
hospital. In Canada, as a young and still develop-
ing country, this cannot be said. The disease had
been always with us. Regularly each autumn the
disease showed itself, and since 1900 there had been
a succession of grave epidemics affecting thousands
in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal (to
mention only the larger cities), always traceable
to defects in the water-supply. By the process of
chlorination these, since 1910, have been controlled
in a most striking way. With the treatment of
the water-supply, epidemics had been suddenly
cut short, and for the first time in their history
hospitals in cities like Montreal had only cases that
came from outside, or that had exposed themselves
to infection outside the city limits. And we had
learnt that the process needs the strictest care ;
that anything like rule-of-thumb addition of the
hypochlorite is followed by disaster ; that the
amount of organic matter in a water-supply may
vary from day to day — indeed within the course of
a few hours, thus necessitating periodic tests by
experts, both chemical and bacteriological, and
demanding variation in the amount of hypo-
chlorite to be added.

This experience prepared our sanitary officers
to put into operation a most rigorous control of all

222

" PLUGSTREET "

possible water-supplies. The first duty of the
sanitary section attached to the division came to
be to obtain samples from all wells, pumps, streams
and other sources of water ; the main work of the
mobile laboratories established at the front to
examine and report upon these samples, both
chemically and bacteriologically. According to
the results of these examinations, certain sources
are declared unfit for drinking purposes, and are
so labelled, sentries being placed over them to
prevent their use. Others are declared fit for use,
and then daily samples are taken, by a rapid and
simple method the amount of organic matter is
estimated upon the spot, and hypochlorite added
to the water in the water-carts in accordance with
the findings.

But apart from the quality, the quantity of the
water was a matter at times of grave concern.
To-day the engineers think as little of running a
line of water-pipes up to near the front as the
Army Signal Corps thinks of running electric wires,
and if a chance shell breaks the line and interrupts
the supply, the pipes are relaid and the supply
re-established with almost the same expedition as
the surface telegraph wires are mended. We had
not reached this perfection hi 1915, and as the
summer advanced, the shortage of serviceable
water on the Plugstreet front was a source of grave
anxiety. The War Diary of the A.D.M.S. con-
tains repeated reference to this matter. The supply
at Bulford and Aldershot camps in particular was
perilously low. The only wells in the neighbour-
hood were at Neuve Eglise. Here, at first, hand
pumps were installed and the water piped along
the roadside. But as Neuve Eglise was being

'223

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

steadily shelled, the supply, when at length the
pumps were installed, was what might be termed
spasmodic.

In July the situation was serious ; in September
it had become acute. Major Amyot,* O.C. Sanitary
Section, reported then to the A.D.M.S. ist Canadian
Division that many of the wells were dry or drying
up, and of those still effective few were in good
condition. " Chlorination," he remarks, " may
make a drinkable water safe, but it cannot make
a drinking water out of sewage, and many of the
wells about here have more sewage in them than
can be made safe." Thus the water-carts had to
go miles afield for their supplies, to Pont de Nieppe,
Steenwerck, Nieppe, Bailleul, and into the area
of the i2th Division, to get even a modicum of
what was needed. The men were suffering from
want of water for washing, and the horses equally
from the sewage-contaminated ditch and swamp-
hole water they were forced to drink.

The pity was that all this was unnecessary.
There was, as the O.C. Sanitary Section pointed
out, abundant water to be had by sinking wells,
but the division did not possess an American drill-
ing outfit. And now, when the situation was most
acute, abundant good water was found running to
waste within a few yards of Bulford Camp. A
week after writing the report above quoted Major
Amyot records in his official diary that a plentiful
supply of good water had been found. It had

* A leading Canadian sanitarian, in civil life Professor of
Hygiene in the University of Toronto, and for long years con-
nected with the Board of Health of the Province of Ontario ;
now Sanitary Adviser to the D.M.S. at London Headquarters,
Lieutenant-Colonel and C.M.G.

224

' PLUGSTREET "

been noticed that all through the summer, when
other ditches and ponds were drying up, the
brook which ran round the base of a hill on the
other side of the road from the camp, while little
more than a meagre trickle above the camp, re-
mained a considerable stream below. And it was
discovered that the lower strata of this hill formed
the natural collecting pit of the countryside, and
that clear good water was constantly escaping
from them and supplying the stream. All that had
to be done was to dig a collecting trench along the
base of the hill, between this and the brook, puddle
the further side, fill in with gravel, etc., and with
a tile drain lead off to a reservoir, install a
pump leading to a distributing tank, and from
now on the water difficulty was at an end.
But while it lasted it was a source of constant
anxiety.

This matter of drinking water leads naturally to
the consideration of water for ablution purposes
and personal cleanliness, and that inevitably,
when dealing with troops in the trenches, to the big
but most unpleasant problem of body lice and their
extermination. Lice, to employ the expression of
the present Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge Uni-
versity, have been foremost among the " minor
horrors " of all campaigns ; given conditions in
which removal of underclothing can only take
place at long intervals, and a succession of men to
occupy the same dug-outs and sleeping berths
after the manner of Box and Cox, and these
wretched parasites pass from one to the other until
whole battalions are involved and made irritably
self-conscious.

An important problem of the first years of the

225 15

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

war was, therefore, how to circumvent these miseries.
Now, though we speak of body-lice, doing so we
employ a misnomer. Unlike the itch parasite
(of scabies), the habitat and breeding-ground of
these lice is not the body but the clothing. It is
to the clothes they cling, even when they take
their two meals a day of their host's blood, and
in the clothes and particularly along the seams
that they lay their eggs. Strip off the clothing
and forthwith the man is free from the pests.
These facts in natural history were rapidly acquired
by our troops, and of a warm summer morning those
first two years of the war numerous Murillo-like
figures were to be observed behind the lines making
a practical application of their knowledge. From
an administrative point of view, it became essential
to install divisional bath-houses, in which bat-
talions could be given hot baths by fifties and
hundreds, and to combine with these distributing
centres for complete changes of underclothing.
Thus all along the British front disused breweries
and other industrial establishments were converted
into bath-houses, filled from morning till night
with successive squads from battalion after bat-
talion. Rapidly all along the British front the
divisional bath-house developed a common ritual :
the squad of fifty or so men are ushered into Room I,
where they strip, place their underclothing in one
pile, their boots, trousers and tunic in the other.
From here they pass to Room 2, where are the
baths, whether individual tubs, or metal baths
large enough to hold two at a time, or mash tubs
that will hold a dozen, all provided with abundant
hot water, and after the joyous luxury of soap and
water, they make their way to Room 3, where

226

" PLUGSTREET "

they dry themselves and receive a complete change
of underclothing. The discarded underclothing is
first steeped in a solution of creolin, or other coal-
tar disinfectant, for some hours, and then passes
through the hands of a staff of women of the
country, who wash and laundry it, passing it on
to another staff of darners and menders.

This periodic change of underclothing does much
to keep the plague of body-lice within moderate
limits. It does not, however, eradicate it. Various
schemes of spraying and fumigating the dug-outs
have been tried, in addition, and this with varying
success. A grave source of continued infection
has been discovered in the overclothing, the lice
haunting the seams of tunic and trousers. Methods
have been employed of spreading vermigel and
other disinfecting preparations along the seams,
but these are messy and dirt-collecting. On general
principles, the cleanest and most direct method for
the destruction of both the parasites and their
eggs should be by heat ; but it is remarkable how
long it has taken for the proper application of
that heat to be generally recognized. What may
be termed the official method at the beginning of
the war was by that, in most respects, excellent
instrument, the Thresh disinfector, a sterilizing
chamber mounted on a truck, with an engine that,
according to need, supplies steam for propulsion
or for superheating the chamber. But for prac-
tical purposes the chamber is too small ; it cannot
deal with the clothing with sufficient rapidity.
If packed full of clothing, the heat pene-
trates but slowly, necessitating hours for sure
destruction of the vermin. This is out of the
question.

227 i§*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Some years ago (1902-3) the Sanitary Adviser to
the D.M.S. Canadians and Colonel Hodgetts had
to deal with an epidemic of small-pox at Sudbury,
Ontario, and had to disinfect clothing and bedding
on a large scale, with apparatus developed upon the
spot. It was then that Dr. Amyot, expanding
the suggestion of Dr. Hodgetts and employing two
neighbouring wooden sheds and a portable steam
engine, produced what it is right to speak of as the
Amyot disinfector. The principle is very simple :
a chamber is built or selected sufficiently large to
permit the outer clothing of from fifty to one
hundred men to be hung in it. Round the walls
circulate steam pipes, whereby the temperature of
the air and clothing is brought up to seventy or
eighty degrees ; when this has been accomplished,
steam under pressure is sprayed from pipes running
along the ceiling, and the clothes are subjected to its
action for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then it is
turned off, and in five minutes the door is opened
and the clothes removed in a perfectly dry con-
dition ready for use. Experimental tests have
shown that by this means the lice and their eggs
are completely destroyed. The essential features
of the process, it will be seen, are (i) free access of
the steam to each individual article of clothing ;
(2) the preliminary heating of the clothes so that
the steam does not deposit as moisture ; and (3)
rapidity of action. By this means men can be
given their baths in batches of fifty or one hundred,
give up their overclothes on entrance and receive
the same prior to their departure. The disinfecting
chamber is in duplicate, so that one can be filled
while the other is working, thus saving delay. The
engine of a portable Thresh disinfector, or a loco-

228

" PLUGSTREET '

motive engine, may be employed to generate the
steam.*

These Amyot disinfecting chambers proved so
useful in the ist Division that each succeeding
Canadian Division had adopted them, and they came
into extensive use also along the British front, f

Prior to the arrival of that 2nd Division, there
had been a considerable amount of trouble regarding
the quality of the drafts sent over from England
to reinforce the depleted ranks of the battalions of

* The Australian Division has still further simplified the
process by taking a box car — the regulation Continental freight
car, with its familiar label, " For eight horses or forty men,"
with its door in the middle on either side, partitioning off the
two ends, leaving a passage from door to door, furnishing each
chamber with the two orders of steam pipes after the Amyot
method, and employing the locomotive to afford the steam.

f As I may have no special occasion to revert to this subject
in a later volume, I may here note that a fuller study of pedicu-
losis demonstrates that both the louse and nit are destroyed by
a temperature of 51° C., and, what is more, that dry heat affects
them more rapidly at this temperature than does moist (Nuttall).
Major H. Orr, O.C. Sanitary Section of the 5th Canadian Division,
has applied this knowledge for the production of a still simpler
and more economical " Disinfestor," in which a brazier filled with
live coke, sunk in the floor of a fair-sized chamber, raises the
temperature of that chamber to 65° C., and a simple fan of the
Punkha type circulates the air so that the temperature becomes
uniform throughout the chamber, two small windows being
inserted at high and low level respectively, through which the
thermometer can be read. The clothes are hung on rails in this
room, and ten minutes after the temperature has risen to 65°
they can be removed completely free from living parasites or
living eggs. As with Colonel Amyot's device, the chamber can
be duplicated for rapid use, and, as Major Orr points out, in
emergency a closed tent will afford all that is needed. This is
an expansion of the old-established country method of placing
infested clothing in an oven from which the fire has been with-
drawn. It has the advantage that boots and leather articles
are unharmed. " Orr's huts " are now used throughout the
B.E.F.

229

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the ist Division. It is, let me say, only natural
that the " old guard " should look down upon the
newcomers, with their lamentable ignorance of the
finer points of trench warfare and discipline, their
obvious softness as compared with themselves,
hardened by months of life in the open and of
marching and counter-marching, and that those in
command, when they see the newcomers falling
behind and straggling raggedly at the tail of the
battalion, should, in very pride for the good name
of their regiment, complain bitterly of the trash
which the authorities overseas have seen fit to send
them. The newcomers have to undergo travail and
heavy labour before they reach the standard of
those who have borne the burden for months at the
front. Then, too, under the system adopted, it may
be of necessity, by the late Minister of Militia, men
were not enlisted in Canada or transferred to Eng-
land into Reserve Battalions of those already at
the front, but were drafted out of another set of
battalions which had been left behind in England
when the ist Division was sent over the Channel.
Not merely were the men composing these drafts
lacking largely in esprit de corps and unfamiliar
with the traditions already established of the
battalions into which they were drafted, but from
the very fact that their original battalions had been
left behind when the others went forward, they had
been for some months in surroundings which did
not make for high martial spirit. For many
reasons, therefore, the authorities at the base had
to be prepared for unfavourable criticism of the
reinforcements they sent over. Apparently, how-
ever, there was more than this. Judging from the
considerable number of men who, upon medical

230

;' PLUGSTREET "

examination at the front, were found unfit and
returned to the base, it seems evident that not a few
who should not have been passed into the Service
had managed to become enlisted in Canada. In
our next volume we shall have to enter more fully
into this matter.

231

CHAPTER XII

HOSPITAL UNITS AND THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN
FRANCE : THE GENERAL HOSPITALS

THUS far we have accompanied the Divisions, and
doing this, save for a reference to No. i Casualty
Clearing Station, just behind the front, have made
no reference to the Hospitals on the Lines of Com-
munication, to the Canadian Stationary and
General Hospitals on the French seaboard, nor
again to the Base Hospitals proper in England.
This silence has not been due to any lack of recog-
nition of the importance of these units, but to the
fact that their history forms a separate story.
Undoubtedly, from a soldiering point of view, the
officer who goes to the Front, whether as a Regi-
mental Medical Officer or attached to a Field Ambu-
lance or Sanitary Section, is apt to receive greater
recognition ; nay, let us admit that, taking his life
in his hand, he deserves greater recognition than he
who, miles behind the line, works away, however
busily, in the security of a well-appointed hospital.
Nevertheless, if the spirit animating men of the two
groups — those at the front and those behind — be
taken into account, most often it will be found that
there is no difference, that the good soldier works
with as stout a heart in hospital as in the field.
Pure chance, it may be, determined whether the

232

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

practitioner became enrolled in a Hospital unit or a
Field Ambulance. In one city the former was
raised, and the medical man volunteered to join it,
thus becoming stamped as being a Hospital man ;
in another city a Field Ambulance, and joining this
he went to the Front. Or, again, from the very
first, from his recognized position as a practising
surgeon, or physician, or specialist, a man has
realized that his first duty lay in taking up the work
in which his training would render him of greatest
service. Such men, whether in Hospital, or chained
month after month and year after year in London
offices, at Shorncliffe or at Witley, may be, nay,
many of them are, eating out their hearts with
longing to be at the Front and in the thick of it.
England and the French shore abound with Canadian
officers of this type. Their part in this war is not
with them a matter of valour, but of sheer duty and
loyal service. There is for them no greater bitter-
ness than to be grouped, whether explicitly or im-
plicitly, with those who out of precaution choose
the hinder post. Thank God ! in the Canadian
Medical Service the latter are few and far between.
Hence, if in this volume the Hospital units are
relegated to the end, and if the administrative
staff in England is left over for a later volume, it
is not that they are held, or are to be held, in less
esteem or less worthy of consideration.

General and Stationary Hospitals and Casualty
Clearing Stations are no part of an Army Division ;
they constitute Lines of Communication units, and
as such might have proceeded overseas to France
so soon as their equipment was complete. It will
be remembered, however, that the First Contin-
gent reached England at a very critical period, just

233

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

after the First Battle of Ypres. Hospitals were, it
is true, needed overseas, more Hospitals to serve
the Flanders front, where the casualties had been,
and continued to be, very heavy. But how long
would the British be able to retain that Flanders
front ? Another push like the last, and the Ger-
mans might burst through, seize Calais and Bou-
logne, and overcome the whole north of France.
Already, before the Contingent's arrival at Ply-
mouth, the British base, as a precautionary measure,
had been transferred from Havre to the Bay of
Biscay. Some British Hospitals had been estab-
lished at the mouth of the Loire, at Orleans and
other points in France well to the south of our line.
But this meant a painfully long and tedious cross-
country run for the Ambulance trains and their
wounded. It was this uncertainty about the future,
this difficulty in deciding as to locations, that
explains why the Hospital units in general did not
go to France before March.

The British authorities contented themselves
with asking for one Canadian Stationary Hospital
to be placed at the disposal of the Royal Army
Medical Service. No. i Stationary at the time had
been transferred to London, to take charge of and
inaugurate the St. Vincent's Hospital at Hamp-
stead. This explains why its mate, No. 2, was
selected, and this unit therefore proceeded to France
within three weeks of its landing in England.
Alone of the C.A.M.C., the personnel of this one
unit and the Nursing Sisters who accompanied it
are, as a consequence, included in the " original
British Expeditionary Force " and are qualified to
receive the " 1914 Star."

I say " the Nursing Sisters who accompanied

234

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

it," not the Nursing Sisters "of." When the
Contingent left Canada no Nursing Sisters were
included upon the establishment of a Stationary
Hospital. All the Nursing Sisters who came over
with the First Contingent were attached to the two
General Hospitals. During October, 1914, it was
realized that nurses were as necessary in the smaller
as in the larger Hospital units, just as in lesser
numbers they were for Casualty Clearing Stations.
The forty-five Nursing Sisters who accompanied
No. 2 Stationary Hospital to France were thus drawn
from the personnel of No. I and No. 2 Canadian
General Hospitals.

The unit had responded so promptly that when it
arrived in France the authorities there were not
ready to locate it. Thus some three weeks were
spent, partly at Havre, partly in Boulogne, before
the unit found itself established in the Golf Hotel
at Le Touquet. It was three months before the
next unit, No. 2 General Hospital, crossed to France.
But towards the end of November, 1914, Colonel
Bridges, O.C., and a party of officers belonging to
No. 2 Canadian General Hospital, accompanied
the D.M.S. Canadians to France. General Wode-
house was then in charge of the Medical Services
of the Expeditionary Forces, although very soon
Sir Arthur Sloggett, D.G.M.S., arrived and opened
up quarters at G.H.Q. The D.M.S. proceeded to
G.H.Q. and was courteously shown the work of
the Casualty Clearing Stations, Field Ambulances
and Regimental Medical Services in the Field.
For some weeks Colonel Bridges studied the Hospi-
tals at Havre and Boulogne, where he proceeded
with the other officers, who now became attached
for duty to several British Hospitals in the Bou-

235

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

logne area, remaining there until their own unit
arrived in France and was fairly well established
further down the coast.

Until the departure from Salisbury Plain, the
Hospital units, as being of the ist Canadian Con-
tingent, had been under the one administration. So
soon as they crossed overseas they parted company
with the ist Division. That went to the Front,
under the medical control of the A.D.M.S. ist
Canadian Division ; they became Lines of Com-
munication units, and as such under the D.M.S.
Lines of Communication, and more immediately
under the (Imperial) A.D.M.S. of the area in which
they found themselves. All medical formations
overseas are, it is true, under the Imperial authori-
ties, under the Commander-in-Chief, but by this
procedure the Hospital units came thus more
directly under the British authorities than did,
for example, the Field Ambulances and Sanitary
Sections.

As we are describing the happenings of three years
ago, and as with scarce an exception the units
have since then been moved to other areas, it is
permissible to indicate the localities of the Canadian
Hospital units in 1915.

For orderly treatment it will be better to trace
in regular sequence the fortunes of the General and
Stationary Hospitals, the Mobile Laboratory and
Depots of Medical Stores. A little difficulty arises
with regard to the presentation of these Hospital
matters, in that certain units, like Nos. 3 and 4
General Hospitals, which may be regarded as part
of the Second Contingent, were sent overseas within
a few days of their arrival in England, and thus set
to work within a very short time after the^General

236

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

and Stationary Hospitals of the First Contingent
had become established in France. These later
Hospitals presented many novel points, and after
full consideration it is thought better to detail their
history in the next volume. For convenience the
story of each of these units will be carried to the
end of the year 1915.

No. i CANADIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL

This unit, with its thirty Officers, seventy Nursing
Sisters and two hundred odd of other ranks, reached
the site set apart for it a little distance outside
Staples on May i/th, 1915, and on the I9th had
tents up and beds ready for one hundred patients.

Staples, the Portus of the Romans, the Quentawic
or plain " Wic " of the Franks, the " Eatables "
of the British Tommy, was before the war a very
fishy fishing village, as sluggish as the little Canche
which, wandering through the marshes, formed its
harbour and gave it its raison d'etre. But with the
old church of St. Michael, old water front, its fishing
boats, the marshes and grazing cattle, it was
beloved of artists.

It has a notable history associating it with Julius
Caesar, St. Boniface, Charlemagne, Louis XL,
Francis I., in fact with all the more select figures in
French history up to and including the great
Napoleon. Its position is such that it was the great
and flourishing port for trade with England in the
early medieval period ; its rise and decline are
curiously parallel with those of the Cinque Ports
over against it on the Kentish coast, with which the
men of the C.E.F. have become so well acquainted.
As might be expected, it was duly looted by the

337

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Normans and English ; by the last just after the
Battle of Cre"cy.

The Hospital was given ground which the patriotic
Frenchman holds as almost sacred. Here it was
that Julius Caesar collected his troops for the
invasion of Britain in B.C. 55. Indeed, according
to the learned Pere Le Sueur, cure of the neighbour-
ing village of Camiers, the Hospital occupied the
site of the old burial ground t>f Caesar's Tenth Legion.
Here, too, it was that in 1804 Napoleon collected
and reviewed the troops destined for the invasion of
England, the flotilla of four hundred flat-bottomed
boats to convey them being collected, secure against
observation from the high seas, in the estuary of
the Canche.

Thus it was that France gave over to Canadian
use ground of her most historic, and here in the
plain between the dunes and the sea a village of
tents sprang up, ready, if need be, to receive patients
within three days, although a week elapsed before
the nursing sisters were all assembled, and a fort-
night before the D.M.S. Lines of Communication,
Colonel Wodehouse, inspected it, and the first convoy
of fifty-one patients was admitted. On its staff
was a collection of well-known Canadian medical
men. The Commandant, Colonel Murray Mac-
Laren,* a leading physician in New Brunswick, was
at the opening of the war President of. the Canadian
Medical Association. The annual meeting of that
Association at St. John had concluded scarce three
weeks when war was declared. The head of the
medical section, Lieutenant-Colonel F. G. Finley.j

* C.M.G. ; later D.D.M.S. at Canadian Medical Headquarters
in London ; now O.C. Granville Canadian Special Hospital.

t Now Colonel and C.B. ; on the Canadian Consultant Staff in
London until recalled to Canada, October, 1918.

238

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

was a leading physician of Montreal, a Professor oi
Medicine and Clinical Medicine in McGill University,
just as the head of the surgical section, Lieutenant-
Colonel Kenneth Cameron,* Surgeon to the Montreal
General Hospital, was on the surgical staff of that
University. The officers and personnel were, in fact,
mainly from Montreal and Eastern Canada, the
nucleus of the unit being the 5th (Montreal) Field
Ambulance brought to Valcartier by Major R. P.
Campbell, f

It began as a tent Hospital, provided with Indian
pattern hospital tents, spacious and comfortable
in the summer weather. By placing these end to
end in series of eleven, five on either side of a
central service tent, spacious and roomy wards
resulted, the beds being ranged half along one side,
half along the other, each lateral ward holding
thirty- two beds. In comfort and spaciousness these
were a great improvement upon the official Canadian
Hubert tent with which the unit was originally
supplied. These only housed six beds, and that
uncomfortably, four on one side, reaching almost
to the tent poles, and two on the other lengthwise,
affording but a narrow passage-way. Substantial
and well-built as were the Hubert tents, it was soon
discovered that they were designed for Canadian
conditions and not European : the side walls of
the outer tenting did not reach the ground by many
inches. This is a convenience in summer as helping
to keep the tents cool, but a decided inconvenience
in the winter when warmth is a first consideration.

* C.M.G. ; later O.C. No. 2 Canadian General Hospital,
and A.D.M.S. Bramshott.

t Later Lieut.-Colonel, O.C. No. 6 Field Ambulance; this
distinguished surgeon and brilliant soldier was killed in action,

239

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

In Canada snow can be piled up around the tent,
and the outer tenting tucked into this. Flanders
mud, or French sand, are not precisely ideal sub-
stitutes during the winter rains.

Nevertheless, the Indian Hospital tents had also
their disadvantages. The first to make itself
evident was the difficulty in creating a water-tight
junction between the tents in series. Heavy rain
storms were not infrequent, and the rain naturally
poured down the sloping ends of the tents and used
the junction as a gutter. No perfect method was
elaborated to counteract the leakage. Then, too,
the cotton ropes with which the tents were provided
did not take kindly to wet weather, swelling and
shortening, dragging out their pegs, and needing
constant supervision. And as the months progressed
and winter approached the canvas made for the
Tropics showed itself not stout enough for the gusty
weather of the French coast. It became obvious
that, healthy and admirable as are tents for hospital
purposes in summer, they are, if not impossible, at
least unadapted for winter conditions in northern
France. One after another at the British Hospitals
the tents were replaced by hutments.

Thanks to the energy of the O.C. and the generosity
of his friends in St. John, N.B., what was the finest
and most attractive of these hutments along the
French coast was provided at No. i, in the spacious
" New Brunswick " hut, completed on November
30th, 1915.

" 7.15 p.m. The Company paraded in front of
the hut with the Nursing Sisters grouped in the
anteroom, to receive General Alderson and Colonel
Graham Thompson, C.B. There were also present
Colonel Carr, A.D.M.S. Staples area, Colonel Foster,

240

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

D.D.M.S. Canadian Corps, Colonel Sir James Clark,
Lieutenant-Colonel W. T. Christie, A.A. and Q.M.G.,
E.A.D., Lieutenant-Colonel A. MacDonnell, Lieuten-
ant-Colonel R. P. .Campbell, Major Cooper, R.E.,
Captain Towse, Captain Stuart Gordon, and other
officers. On behalf of the patriotic citizens of New
Brunswick who had supplied the funds for the
building of the hut, authority having been given
by the I.Q.C., General Alderson stated that the
building was now ready for the reception of the
sick and wounded, and asked Colonel Thompson
(O.C. Staples area) to take the hut over and declare
it open. In doing so he spoke very highly of the
work done by the C.A.M.C. in France. Colonel
Thompson accepted the building, declared it open,
and expressed his approval of the facilities afforded
in the wards. The building was then inspected
by the company present."

We quote this in its entirety, since ceremonies of
this nature are as infrequent overseas as are official
banquets. Colonel Murray MacLaren, as a loyal
Scot, had chosen St. Andrew's Day for the ceremony,
and the glories of the St. Andrew's Day dinner
which followed, at which all the above visitors were
present as guests, with yet others, are still remem-
bered and talked about by the beati participantes*

* The cost of this first New Brunswick hut was ^994 93. gd..,
and was provided by a free-will offering, unsolicited, from the
friends of the O.C. That offering was in the neighbourhood of
$10,000, and the surplus permitted the subsequent erection of
an Admission and Discharge hut in August, 1916, at a cost of
^478 6s. 8d., and in June, 1917, of a second New Brunswick hut
(" N Ward"), largely used for fracture cases, at a cost of
£704 193. This last is 160 feet long by 20 feet broad, with
Sisters' room, scullery, lavatory and room for special cases. —
See Sern Weekly Telegraph, St. John, N.B., November 3rd,
1917-

241 16

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Two days earlier the fine Durbar tent erected for
Church services was used for the first time. It
contained a memorial to the late Captain Ingles,
the manly chaplain to the unit, who, in the course of
his duties at Salisbury Plain, had contracted and had
succumbed to cerebro-spinal fever. This was in the
form of a portable oak altar, with Bible, vases and
frontal for the lectern, presented by his father,
the Very Reverend Archdeacon Ingles, of Toronto.

But this first winter in France the " New Bruns-
wick " and the administrative block were the only
hutments. Save for these, through gales and frost,
No. i somehow pulled through the autumn and
winter of 1915-16 in tents, the officers and nursing
sisters having Alwyn huts, i.e., small detached
cubical apartments of light wooden framework,
each some twelve by ten feet, over which canvas
is stretched, with wooden floors and windows of
celluloid-^-and a stove. These are more com-
fortable than the description implies : in fact they
were retained after the patients were transferred
to hutments.

And so, from May 3ist, when the first patient, a
B.C. man of the 4th Canadian Battalion, was
admitted, the Hospital was in full working order,
and busy.

From May 3ist to December 3ist, 1915, there were
10,621 admissions, a daily average of close upon
fifty, although, as can be readily understood, the
number varied greatly from day to day. Thus the
War Diary notes that July gth was a very busy day,
with 135 admissions and 117 evacuations. Another
very busy season was at the time of the September
offensive, when, subsidiary to the great French
effort in Champagne, there was great activity along

242

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

the British front, culminating in the battle and
capture of Hooge. As the O.C. says in his War
Diary : " The good news of our successes on the
Western Front has so cheered everyone that no one
seems to mind how hard he works." For that good
work and " for the prompt and thorough manner
displayed by them in the reception and evacuation
of wounded," the A.D.M.S. Staples area expressed
his appreciation to the Staff of No. i Canadian
General in Orders (27.9.15). In that week, or
more exactly from September 26th to the 2Qth
inclusive, 156 operations were performed under
anaesthesia. On the 27th alone there were 73.

At such periods the strain on all the personnel is
very heavy. An establishment of 235 officers,
N.C.O.'s and men may seem large, even for a Hospital
of over one thousand beds. As a matter of fact there
is in it very little margin. It is sufficient for routine
work, but when there is a succession of large evacua-
tions and large admissions, and when bearer parties
have to be found at all hours, a very different con-
dition exists. During a " push " Ambulance trains
arrive at any hour day and night ; not infrequently
they arrive late, an hour or more after their arrival
has been advised, and if any considerable proportion
of the personnel — a dozen or more — be laid up, it is
only the good spirit of the remainder that keeps the
ball rolling.

One is apt to regard a General Hospital as a very
stable unit, yet reading over the records of this first
year in France, it is impossible not to be impressed
with the constant flux.

At Salisbury Plain, Lieutenant-Colonel Vaux left
the unit to become A.D.M.S. at Tidworth, returning
in May, and in January Major R. P. Campbell was

243 16*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

called to Canada to assume command of No. 6
Canadian Field Ambulance, while the two patholo-
gists of the unit, Major Rankin and Captain Ellis,
were detached in March, along with four assistants
and two batmen, to form No. 5 Canadian Mobile
Laboratory, which, with Lieutenant-Colonel Nas-
mith, did excellent work behind the front. The
unit was scarce established in France when Colonel
C. Wylde and Major Doherty were recalled to
London to be appointed A.D.M.S.'s on the staff of
Surgeon-General Jones, D.M.S., being given charge
of personnel and stores respectively. In August,
Major E. A. Le Bel, who had been seriously ill,
left on sick leave and did not return. After con-
valescence he became attached to the French
Canadian Medical Unit as second in command
(becoming later O.C.) . This eventually became No. 8
General Hospital on the outskirts of Paris. In
October, Major E. R. Brown and Captain J, F.
Creighton left for work with the ist and 2nd Canadian
Divisions respectively. In December, Captain W.
J. Herringer was transferred to the 2nd Canadian
Reserve Park, Captain A. B. Chapman to the
ist Division, Captain W. H. Eager to England
for duty, and Captain T. L. Butters to the 2nd
Division, while Major Mackenzie Forbes, having
received orders to proceed to Canada, was struck
off the strength.

To replace these there were at various periods
corresponding attachments to the unit : Captain
G. C. Draeseke, Major L. R. Brown, Captains W.
A. Burgess, W. P. Walker, F. C. BeU, C. P. How-
lett, G. Musson, W. H. Eager, W. H. Scott, J. J.
Ower, W. L. Maclean, L. G. Hodder, C. L. Cock,
and F. A. C. Scrimger, V.C., along with Honorary

244

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

Lieutenant and Quartermaster W. McLeod Moore.
These lists give some idea of the fluctuating con-
dition of a General Hospital Staff.

No. 2 CANADIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL

In Chapter III. has been described how, by a wholly
innocent error committed in the dead of night, No.
2 was deprived of its right of berth on Salisbury
Plain. As a result there ensued a period of dis-
memberment. While a small nucleus under the
O.C., Lieutenant-Colonel Bridges, P.A.M.C., as it
were to preserve its face, was given charge of a
Hospital of some thirty beds at Lavington Manor,
the majority of the personnel were temporarily
attached to one or other of the hospital sections
conducted by No. i General Hospital, while officers
were temporarily transferred here and there, some
becoming attached to No. i, while in November a
baker's dozen accompanied the O.C. to France
just too late to receive the 1914 Star, Lieutenant-
Colonel Bridges to study for a short time the work-
ings of General Hospitals already established there,
the rest to be attached to British Hospitals in the
Boulogne area, until in March the unit was re-
assembled and established at Le Treport.

Like Staples, Le Treport has a history, and one
associated with England, for it was in the old
church of the town that William the Conqueror
was married. It is a cheerful little seaport town,
situated in a cleft of the chalk rampart which here
forms the coast, a cleft through which the river
Bresle has eaten its way to the sea. Prior to the
war, it had been a popular French watering-place,
beloved of the Parisian, and the fashionable, or

245

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

hotel, boarding house, and casino area was crushed
in narrow streets between the chalk cliffs and
the sea, the old town stretching inland along either
side of the harbour basin. So popular was it,
and in consequence so crushed, that shortly before
the war plans had been made for the establishment
of a new town on the plateau on the top of the
cliffs to the south of the harbour, some hundreds of
feet above the town proper. A funicular or inclined
railway, such as Canadians are familiar with at
Quebec and on Mount Royal at Montreal, had
been in operation for some little time, and a large
up-to-date hotel, built, rumour said, by German
capital, dominated the town at the edge of the
plateau. It had just been completed, and made
an excellent hospital for British officers. It was
close to this that No. 2 was located, on land already
marked out into avenues, round points, and
radiating and curving roadways, according to
approved city planning and prospective town site
devices, so that to Western Canadians more
especially the ground had quite a homely aspect.
The unit shared the camp ground with No. 16
British General Hospital.

It was on the I4th March early in the morning
that the unit arrived at Havre, and, getting the
right tide, docked at 9 a.m. and began unloading.
Within thirty-six hours the equipment had been
loaded on fifty-seven cars, a most creditable per-
formance that received commendation. The Com-
mandant and A.D.M.S. Havre, offered to supply
any deficiencies of kit, but found the unit complete.
At 3 a.m. on the i6th, one train left Havre, another
five hours later. Two days were spent unloading
and moving the equipment up the hill to the camp

246

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

ground, and then followed a busy week of tent
pitching. On the iQth, the matron and fifty-seven
nursing sisters reported ; on the 27th, the thirteen
officers who had been working in British hospitals
in France rejoined the unit. On the 3ist, the
hospital furnishing was complete and the unit
ready to receive five hundred patients. On the
8th April the first admission of twenty wounded
took place.

The Indian tents were joined together in threes
to make wards for twenty patients, and in the
frequent rains the junctions were found to leak
badly.

By the middle of the month there were two
hundred patients in hospital. On the 20th a new
operating-room was opened up. On the 24th,
rumours reached the hospital of heavy fighting
at Ypres, and all arrangements were made to
receive large convoys. The first of these, 164
cases, arrived at n p.m. on the 25th, followed by
eighty-five at eight the next morning, and ninety-nine
more wounded at six in the evening ; altogether
348 in nineteen hours. Everything worked
smoothly, but at midnight on the 26th many
departments were still busy, there being a number
of urgent operations.

The unit was brought up to full strength at the
end of April by the arrival of nine officers and
eighty men. But scarcely had it been completed
when it was deprived of two of its leading officers.
On the morning of the 4th May Major W. P. Dillon,
a leading member of the surgical staff, slipped and
fell when attempting a short cut down the steep
incline leading from the plateau to the lower town.
Falling some twenty feet, he was picked up un-

247

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

conscious, with symptoms of fracture of the base,
and despite operation he died in the course of a few
hours.* Another'senior member of the staff, Major
R. L. Gardner, was thrown from his horse, and on the
nth May was transferred to England with synovitis
of the knee. This incapacitated him for so long a
period that he did not rejoin, but was eventually
invalided to Canada, there undertaking work in
Ottawa.

A second rush of patients came upon the i8th May
(the Festubert engagement), when 537 patients
were admitted before breakfast, making over a
thousand in hospital — 125 were evacuated. While
the convoys for admission detrained at Le Tre"port,
men for discharge to " Blighty " were taken by the
motor ambulances to Dieppe, some ten miles
distant. Here was no case of patients being
brought by the train directly into the hospital
grounds as at No. i. It necessitated the existence
of a motor ambulance unit of some twenty cars.

On the 22nd was another convoy of no, including
forty-eight Canadians, many very badly wounded,
but all cheerful, together with three German
prisoners who were segregated in order to be
watched for typhus, which was said to be present
among the German troops. Two days later 160
were admitted, mostly Canadians, who told of
continual successes in spite of the terrible hammer-
ing by the German artillery.

On the 29th May there was a convoy of 201
patients admitted at n p.m. All were admitted
smoothly and without confusion. By now the
procedure in the admission tent had been developed

* Major Dillon had been a member of the staff of No 2
C.G.H. from its first days at Valcartier.

248

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

whereby admissions were conducted with the
greatest promptness. As this method was first
adopted at No. 2 and was subsequently adopted
at all Canadian General Hospitals, it deserves
description.

The British Army Regulations demand that on
admission the name and other necessary particulars
regarding the patient be entered into the Admission
and Discharge Book. This " A. and D. Book "
is the old-established basis of all British military
hospital records. It is, or was, the one official
record of the patient's stay in hospital, the basis
of all military hospital statistics, the official
evidence of the length of stay of the individual
patient in hospital, of the diagnosis of the case, of
the disposal of the patient. According to Regula-
tions, the admissions for the day should be entered
in sequence in one book. It can be pictured what
delay would occur when a convoy of fifty to a
hundred patients reaches the hospital in the middle
of the night, were each in his turn to wait for the
particulars to be written down in the one book
before passing to the wards, or, again, what a task
would be thrown upon the Registrar were he to
admit the patients haphazard, without entry, and
then proceed round the various wards to enter the
particulars regarding each newcomer in the A and
D. book which he carried with him.

With the approval of his O.C., Major T. J. Clarke,*
P.A.M.C., the Registrar, had printed locally an
index card, six by four inches, giving the data

* Now Colonel. Later O.C. No. i Canadian Stationary
Hospital and O.C. Granville Canadian Special Hospital ; lately
appointed A.D.M.S. to the Canadian Expeditionary Force to
Siberia.

249

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

demanded in the A. and D book, and with space
on the back for an epitome of the clinical history
and other remarks.

As the stretchers with patients, or the walking
wounded, enter the admission tent, they are directed
in order to one of four tables. At each is stationed
a Sergeant with two orderlies. The Sergeant
obtains the necessary particulars from the man
when he can speak, or, if too ill to speak, from
the card with which he had been tagged at the
Dressing Station or Casualty Clearing Station —

o o

o*r.A ?
o o o o

0*1.0.

OA7.0.

A. and D. Tent arranged for the admission of a convoy.

A. A. Tables for entry of personal details.
B. Diagnosis table. C. Registrar's and allotment table.

regimental number, name, age, unit, religion, and
so on — and as each answer is obtained, he dictates
it to the two orderlies. One inserts the particulars
on the Hospital card, destined for the Registrar's
Office, the other upon the Diet Sheet which accom-
panies the patient to the ward. These two docu-
ments accompany the patient to the diagnosis
table, B, where are two or more Medical Officers,
who make the provisional diagnosis which deter-
mines whether the patient is to be treated as a
medical, surgical or special case. So soon as this

250

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

has been made and entered on the documents, the
patient passes to the final table, C, that of the
Registrar, who has before him a plan or list of
beds vacant in the different wards, and promptly
assigns him to his particular bed in a particular
ward. The Hospital card is left here, the Diet
Sheet accompanies the man to the ward. Without
delay the man is carried or led to the ward. There
he finds waiting in a bundle pyjamas, dressing-
gown, and all necessary belongings. Whenever
possible, the next phase is that these are carried
by him to the bath. There the Service clothes are
left, and, clean and in hospital attire, the man is
ready to enjoy his rest between sheets. Stretcher
cases are without delay undressed by orderlies and
put to bed.

The Registrar collects the Hospital cards, and
first enters them in alphabetical order in the A.
and D. book, then distributes them into a series
of pigeon-holes, one for each ward. When men
are listed for discharge, their cards are removed
from the pigeon-holes and sorted in alphabetical
order in the " Discharged " case.

By this simple system at any given moment the
number of patients in any given ward can be deter-
mined, and the number of beds vacant, the location
of patients in hospital, and all the essential parti-
culars regarding any discharged man. Inquiries
reach the Registrar's Office by the score every day
regarding present and past patients. Under the
old system this demanded an interminable search
through the A. and D. books, with their haphazard
entries. Now all the necessary particulars are at
hand in a minute. By this system men can be
admitted with a business-like expedition that is

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

a delight to see. The O.C. records, under date
18.6.15, "Took in convoy of 236 in record time
of fifty-five minutes." And again on ist August,
" Took in a convoy of 263 just after midnight,
registering the whole lot, giving them all soup, and
getting them all in bed in one hour and ten minutes."

We have given this detail, since the Hospital
card, although unofficial, was rapidly adopted in
all Canadian hospitals in France, being found
indispensable. It showed itself of such proved
utility that after a year it was adopted and made
official by the British authorities there, although
mistakenly, if we may venture to criticize, the in-
struction was given that it was to accompany the
man to the wards, thereby depriving it of its
greatest utility, that, namely, of aiding the Registrar
in the compilation of his abundant returns re
patients, admissions and evacuations. As used in
the wards it becomes a Medical History Sheet in
brief.

On August 5th occurs the record : " Began to
move our tents preparatory to the erection of
winter huts. It is a difficult undertaking as we
are very busy in Hospital." Yet at Le Tr6port
the move was very necessary. Situated on a
plateau at the top of the sea cliff, it would be difficult
to imagine a more windy site than is that of No. 2
during the winter months. Already in July there
had been heavy winds and rain storms, and twice
during the month tents had been blown down. But
despite these preparations, a fortnight later no
hutments had been started, the contractors being
very tardy. By night on September 3rd, the
wind had become so strong that a great many tents
went down in spite of the men working all night

252

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

to try to keep them up. " The ropes have become
rotten and kept breaking in all directions." On
the following day there is the same story : " Wind
and rain all day. All ranks worked to save canvas,
but while some were being replaced with great
difficulty, other rows would break loose and go down.
We are in a great mess, but rapidly getting straight-
ened out." From now on, the building of hutments
proceeded with more dispatch, so that on September
25th Lieutenant-Colonel Bridges reports with some
confidence : " Orders received to increase accommo-
dation by fifty per cent. This was easily arranged,
as we had already drawn the extra bedding, and
sufficient huts are far enough advanced to furnish
good shelter. All our original tent accommodation
is still standing, though much of it has been removed
to new sites to permit the building of huts."

27.9.15. " Sixty-eight more cases sent to
England. News arrives of very substantial British
advances at Loos and Hulluch, with the usual
large number of casualties. Took in another
convoy of 338, nearly all serious cases." 29.9.15.
" Weather turned to gales with rain, and our
canvas is under very heavy strain. A few tents
have gone down. One ward had to be evacuated.
Another convoy of 306 stretcher cases landed in
on us at ii a.m. Some of these we had to put
on mattresses on the floors of the new huts. The
weather is too bad for Hospital ship to cross, so
we cannot get rid of any. Our accommodation
will soon be all gone. We have now 1,306, and
hardly a slight case in the lot. It was a hard day's
work for all ranks in the wind and rain and mud,
but all dressings had been done by about 10 p.m.
Besides dressings, we did thirty-six major operations

253

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

in the operating-rooms. Three tables were running
most of the day. The weather moderated at end
of September."

The storms, however, began again in November.
The War Diary of the O.C. on November i3th
records : " Gales all last night, and about five o'clock
in the morning they developed into a regular
hurricane which tore large numbers of tents into
ribbons, the rain soaking the equipment. The
patients were crowded into the few available
huts. The fine weather of last month was wasted
by the contractor in doing practically nothing with
our huts, and now the weather is so bad he cannot
get his men to work, and our patients and personnel
have to suffer. We are compelled to reduce our
accommodation to 560 beds — temporarily we hope.
The wind is so strong that it carries huge pieces
of galvanized iron roofing through the sky like
sparrows. Wind moderated toward evening, but
it rained practically all night."

Routine Order 298 of Lieutenant-General Sir F.
T. Clayton, K.C.M.G., C.B., I.G.C., of November
3rd, ran as follows : " Act of courage. The
Inspector-General of Communications wishes to
express his appreciation of the prompt and
courageous conduct of No. 50973 Private D.
McEwen, C.A.M.C., at Le Treport, on August
agth, 1915. A French soldier had been bathing,
and owing to the rough state of the sea was at the
point of being drowned when Pte. McEwen dashed
into the sea, fully dressed, and succeeded in bringing
the unconscious man safely to land."

Otherwise to the end of the year matters pro-
gressed uneventfully. By November 20th the
number of admissions since opening up in France

254

THE HOSPITAL UNITS

seven months previously had reached ten thousand,
with 1,077 operations performed under anaesthesia,
2,360 X-ray plates taken, 1,510 dental cases, and
a percentage of deaths of 0.6, or so low as thiee-
fifths of one per cent., a very remarkable demon-
stration of the quality of the treatment afforded.

255

CHAPTER XIII

HOSPITAL UNITS I THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

No. i CANADIAN STATIONARY HOSPITAL

FORMED at Valcartier on September i3th, 1914,
by details from various military units, No. i
Canadian Stationary Hospital drew its officers and
men from all parts of Canada. Its first Com-
manding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Lome Drum,*
P.A.M.C., had been stationed for some years at
Headquarters in Ottawa, where he had been
D.D.G.M.S. ; the second in command, Major Han-
ford McKee, was a well known ophthalmologist
from Montreal. The other officers hailed from
Saskatoon, Sask., Windsor, N.S., Quebec, Hah" fax,
Calgary, Alta., and Pictou County, N.S. There was a
similar wide selection exercised in the case of the
men, although a fair proportion had belonged either
to the ist or the 4th Field Ambulance, both Nova
Scotia units.

But a short stay of little over three weeks was
made at Salisbury Plain, and then the unit was
ordered to London to take over what had been the
Mount Vernon Hospital for Chest Diseases, ad-

* Now Colonel. Later D.D.M.S. at Headquarters in London
and A.D.M.S. sth Canadian Division; now O.C. No. 3 (McGill)
Canadian General Hospital.

256

mirably situated on the high ground at Hampstead,
close to the Heath. There was no idea that any
of the base Hospital units should become per-
manently established in Great Britain, but the
taking over and training in the organization and
interior economy of a Military Hospital was re-
garded as a valuable experience. Well built and
well appointed, Mount Vernon Hospital had already
had a somewhat chequered career. The Medical
Research Committee had practically taken it over
just before the opening of the war to serve as a
Hospital for special cases under observation. Then
the War Office stepped in and claimed it for con-
version into a Military Hospital, giving it over to
the Canadians. To fit it for the new purpose it
required extensive equipment, with overhauling
of the plumbing and certain structural alterations,
provision of an operating-room, etc. These kept
the unit fully employed for the next two months,
until upon January 28th the Hospital was declared
fully equipped and ready for patients. Upon the
very next day the unit received orders to proceed
overseas ; on the last day of January it embarked
for overseas at Southampton, along with No. i
Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. Following
upon this evacuation by the Canadians there were
again, we are informed, negotiations on the part
of the Medical Research Committee to utilize the
building. Eventually it became famous as the
Hampstead Heath Hospital for the study of what
is known as " Soldier's Heart," under a group of
distinguished consultants, namely Sir William Osier,
Bart., Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford,
Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., Regius Professor
of Medicine at Cambridge, and Sir James Mackenzie,

257 *7

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

the renowned specialist upon heart disease. As such
it still retained Canadian affiliations, since two of
the leading members of the active staff were Major
J. C. Meakins,* C.A.M.C., and Captain T. F. Cotton,
C.A.M.C., both of whom had already distinguished
themselves by their studies upon cardiac affections.
The Hospital buildings eventually proved too small
for the number of patients presenting themselves,
and now the staff has been transferred to a larger
Military Hospital at Colchester, the Mount Vernon
building being transformed into an Officers' Hospital
for the Royal Flying Corps.

Arrived in France, the unit was encamped for
twenty days on the outskirts of Le Havre. At the
end of the first fortnight there the O.C., Lieutenant-
Colonel Lome Drum, was called back to London
to assume the duties of D.D.M.S., leaving Major
S. H. McKee as Acting O.C. Later this appointment
was confirmed with promotion of the Major to the
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Another seventeen
days was spent in billets at Boulogne. Only on
March I3th, 1915, were definite orders received
to erect a three-hundred bed tent hospital at
Wimereux, on the outskirts of Boulogne. In eleven
days this was erected, equipped and ready to
receive patients, the first convoy arriving on
April 3rd. From now on the unit was fully engaged.
In the month of May 2,450 patients were admitted
with an average of eight operations per diem
requiring general anaesthesia. On June 6th came
the order to increase the capacity to four hundred

* Previously on the Staff of No. 3 (McGill) Canadian General
Hospital, later Lieutenant-Colonel and head of the medical
section of No. 15 Canadian General (Duchess of Connaught's
Canadian Red Cross) Hospital at Taplow ; now recalled to Canada..

258

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

beds, with authority to add four more officers,
three sergeants, two corporals, and five men to
the personnel.

During the month of June the work became
lighter, the cases admitted (635) being of a less
serious nature, and towards the end of the month
preparations were made to reduce admissions and
prepare to move elsewhere. These preparations
were suspended on July ist, when a new German
offensive was threatened ; on the 22nd came orders
to pack up equipment preparatory to moving to
Abbeville ; on the 28th, however, a cable was
received from the War Office ordering the unit to
store its equipment in Bolougne and embark without
delay for the Mediterranean. Two days later the
personnel embarked for Dover ; in four days from
receiving the order the unit found itself on the
Hospital Ship Asturias, in the company of two
other Canadian Stationary Hospitals, Nos. 3 and 5,
which had come overseas from Canada as part of
the Second Contingent. The history of these
other two will be dealt with in a later volume.
They arrived off Malta at dawn on August 8th,
to find that no instructions had been received there
concerning their future movements. A cable to
the War Office, however, received a prompt answer,
and before midday orders came to proceed to
Alexandria. Their arrival there had also not been
advised, but after a day of contradictory orders
instructions came to proceed to Lemnos. This
necessitated transhipment of the officers, men, and
equipment to a transport, the Nursing Sisters being
transferred to the Hospital Ship Delta. The change
from the well-appointed Asturias to a ship which
had been used as a horse transport and had not

259 17*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

since been cleaned, was an introduction to the
hardships of the Gallipoli campaign. They sailed
from Alexandria at dawn of the day (August I4th)
upon which the Royal George — a boat well known
to Canadians — was torpedoed, and that in the very
seas they were about to cross.

For those who still remembered their Greek drama-
tists, the glamour that enhaloed the isle of Lemnos,
that halting-place in the journey to Troy, was
rapidly dissipated. Everything associated with the
brave but ill-fated Gallipoli expedition had in it an
element of unpreparedness, and was as the untimely
fruit of the womb. And this is as true of the medical
as of the military arrangements. It is impossible
to write an honest history without reference to those
six first weeks of the work of the Canadian medical
units upon the island, during which the adminis-
tration was unable to cope with the urgent needs
of those units. We freely admit that the situa-
tion was most difficult. Conditions which on the
Flanders front could be remedied from the base
or Great Britain in two or three days, needed in the
Levant four to six weeks, and that through seas
infested with German and Austrian submarines".
Admittedly, also, it was desirable to have Hospital
units as near as possible to the war zone, and
Lemnos was the nearest island that could be utilized.
But even if in Greek fable the island was famous
for its race of Amazons and their Lemnean deeds,
it proved itself scarcely a fit place to which to send
Nursing Sisters charged with healing and not with
extirpating their men-folk. The greater part of the
island is mountainous, with fertile valleys, but tree-
less ; but this healthier part, in the absence of roads
and means of transportation, was too far removed

360

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

from the one available port, Mudros, to be chosen
for Hospital sites. A mile from West Mudros was a
wide sandy plain, and this was selected as the
place whereon the Hospital units should pitch their
tents. Whoever was responsible for the choice,
no heed seems to have been taken of the fact that
this had been only recently vacated by a camp of
some thousands of Egyptian labourers, not pos-
sessed of the most elementary ideas of camp sanita-
tion. Nor when No. i arrived at the selected site
had any sanitary provisions been taken. This bore

Seal, 100 fut toll.

N9I CANADIAN STATIONARY HOSPITAL

with peculiar hardness upon the Nursing Sisters,
when, in the course of a few days, they rejoined the
unit, on the 23rd. Their quarters also were small,
translucent bell tents, two nurses to a tent.

There was no deep water and no wharf at West
Mudros, wherefore the equipment had to be taken
ashore in lighters. On August igth the personnel,
except the sisters, were at the camp ; on the 20th
the erection of the Hospital was begun, the tents,

261

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Indian pattern hospital marquees, 35 by 17 feet,
being joined in sets of six to form wards, each
line affording capacity for one hundred beds.
Three days later the Nursing Sisters rejoined the
unit, and almost simultaneously arrived the first
convoy of 125 patients, mostly medical and
dysenteric. Five days later there were over five
hundred patients in hospital.

Scarcely had the Hospital opened before the
members of the personnel began to be brought down
with that Egyptian plague, amoebic dysentery.*
From the classical period up to the present time a
particular earth from Lemnos, the terra sigillataj
has been renowned for its curative properties ;
such were not possessed by the contaminated sand
of Mudros plain !

From the first there was difficulty in obtaining
supplies ; no latrine pails were available ; the water
supply was inadequate, and, what is more, there
was no water-cart in the equipment. This defect,
we learn, was remedied at the expense of a British
camp in the neighbourhood, none being obtainable
by requisition from ordnance ; the food was scanty
and of poor quality, and what was particularly
serious in a hospital filled with dysenteric patients,
there were no supplies at ordnance for sanitary
purposes. The main Ordnance Depot was rendered

* This disease is extraordinarily common in Egypt, and it
was Kartulis of Alexandria who first recognized this particular
form of dysentery and discovered the causative parasite.

| So called because it is sold in blocks or cakes, each of which
is stamped. It was considered a cure for festering wounds.
There is nothing new under the sun 1 The antiphlogistin of
to-day is an adaptation of the terra sigillata in use since the dawn
of history.

262

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

largely inaccessible by being upon a ship in the
roadway with no regular means of communication.
The flies and the dust caused intense discomfort.

When the D.M.S. of the Mediterranean Forces
visited the Hospital on September ist, dysentery
was already prevalent among the Officers, Nursing
Sisters and personnel. By now six hundred cots
were equipped and filled, and the strain on those
members of the personnel who were still unaffected
was very heavy. There was still but one water-
cart, and the well was running dry. On September
8th the O.C. records in his War Diary : " Sickness
among Officers, Nursing Sisters and men becoming
prevalent. Admission to Hospital of dysentery
cases increasing daily. The fly menace is very
great, also the dust, and poor food supply very
trying."

From now on, conditions as regards supplies
improved materially, but still only the bare neces-
sities of existence could in general be obtained.
The Hospital had reached Mudros with equipment
for four hundred patients ; the outbreak of dysentery
at Gallipoli was so serious that it was ordered to
expand to six hundred beds, and this with the
staff itself largely laid up, not with a transient
summer diarrhoea but a gravely disabling illness,
which should have incapacitated the individual for
two or three weeks where it did not permanently
invalid him. But the staff fought on, even when
they were so weakened that they could scarce drag
themselves along. The Nursing Sisters worked
like heroes ; they were indeed the backbone of the
unit at this crisis. At one time — I have this on the
authority of their late O.C., Lieutenant-Colonel
Williams — no less than seventeen out of the twenty-

26?

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

eight were suffering from the disease. In fact, while
at Mudros, ninety-five per cent, of the personnel—
nineteen out of every twenty — developed acute
enteritis, mostly of the amoebic variety. When
things were at their worst, and there seemed no
hope of obtaining invalid supplies and aid for the
sick nurses, when the A.D.M.S. could afford no aid,
the Navy gallantly came to the rescue, and Captain
Pitts, R.N., in charge of the mother ship for the
Torpedo section, which was stationed in Mudros
harbour, with great kindliness kept the nurses
supplied with good food, and what by now had
become delicacies, oatmeal, good flour and the like.
His help will never be forgotten by the unit. The
Nursing Sisters, it need scarce be said, employed
much of it for feeding their patients, and rapidly the
condition of the more serious cases was ameliorated.

In her report for October, Matron Charleson
writes : " The food question is still a difficult one ;
these gastro-intestinal cases need farinaceous food,
and this is evidently most difficult to procure.
Consequently their convalescence is slow, but, like
all the Tommies, they never complain, and
thoroughly appreciate the Sisters, whose every
effort is on their behalf, even to the extent of buying
' Rolled Oats ' at exorbitant prices from local
dealers, so that Tommy may have porridge for
breakfast. The Australians are wonderful fellows,
such physique and so unconquerable. . . . The
last breath of one of these brave lads was a loud
order : ' Fall in ! ' — and then followed the awful
silence of death."

With the beginning of autumn there were occa-
sional serious storms. Thus, on September I5th,
the plain, or shallow valley, became suddenly a

264

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

watercourse, a flood some ten inches in depth
pouring through many of the tents, to the serious
damage of the light and low bamboo Egyptian cots
with which they were equipped. On October 8th,
during the night, another severe storm brought about
the collapse of four of the Sisters' tents. Certain
huts of the Alwyn type were in the course of
erection by the engineers near by ; these were com-
mandeered, and for the rest of their stay in Mudros
— and, in fact, during the remainder of their stay
in the East — the Nursing Sisters of this unit were
comfortably and properly housed.

With the beginning of October there was an
increase in the number of cases of dysentery admitted
from Gallipoli, and this of a more resistant type,
eighty per cent, being of the amoebic variety ;
as the month wore on, the bacillary form of the
disease became more prominent.

Lieutenant-Colonel McKee* had carried on to
the last moment, and when he took to bed his con-
dition was so grave that his life was despaired of.
On October i8th he was invalided to England on
board the Aquitania. It was the better part of a
year before he recovered sound health. Major
E. J. Williams assumed command in his place. Yet
other officers were invalided to England : Major
H. S. Munroe, Captains G. M. Foster and Creighton.

By now the sanitary condition of the camp was
greatly improved. Impressed by the strain upon
the staff caused by the carriage of each bedpan
to the latrines at the outer boundary of the Hospital,
Major Williams had devised a practical method of

* For his services Lieutenant-Colonel McKee was awarded
the C.M.G. He is now O.C. the Canadian Special Hospital for
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat cases at Westcliffe, Folkestone.

265

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

dealing with this matter in the form of a " sanitary
box latrine," with cover to keep away the flies.
These boxes were placed at the end of each row of
tents or wards, and were so arranged that both the
dejecta and the bedpans were thoroughly disin-
fected.* This proved itself so useful that it came
subsequently into general employment in the
hospitals at Salonika.

In November, with the absence of vegetables
and continued employment of canned and pre-
served foods, scurvy began to show itself among
the troops at Gallipoli, and so to be admitted into
Hospital, and with this there appeared occasional
cases of the closely allied condition, beriberi.
At the end of this month there was a period of
intense cold, with snow and rain. As a result, in
one week some four hundred cases of frost-bite were
admitted from the peninsula, twelve cases so severe
as to demand amputation of the foot, while about
three hundred toes needed amputation.

Orders were received to expand to one thousand
beds, pending the evacuation of Suvla Bay.
Happily that evacuation was so thoroughly organ-
ized that no casualties occurred. The same
satisfactory note is recorded in connection with the
evacuation of the peninsula some four weeks later.
The unit itself evacuated Lemnos on January 3ist,
1916. To sum up its activities during the stay at
Mudros, it may be said that in addition to a very
large out-patient clinic, some 6,300 cases were
treated in the Hospital wards between August 23rd
and January 3ist. Save for the frost-bite cases
the work of the unit had been almost wholly medical.
It speaks volumes for the efficiency of the unit

* See Journal of the R.A.M.C., 29: 1917: 117.
266

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

that, despite the fact that most of the patients
arrived as physical wrecks, and, as Matron Charleson
expresses it, " very, very ill," the death-rate was
singularly low. During the month of October it
is reported as being 0.07 per cent. !

2ND CANADIAN STATIONARY HOSPITAL

When Major D. Bentley brought the I5th Field
Ambulance from Sarnia, Ontario, to Valcartier, it
there was utilized in the first place to staff No. 2
Camp Hospital, collecting the sick of the Camp and
evacuating them to hospitals in Quebec city. When
next the order came to attach General and Stationary
Hospitals to the First Contingent, the other ranks
of this Camp Hospital became the other ranks of
No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital, under officers
also drawn from Ontario, but in the main from the
Ottawa district. The O.C., Lieutenant-Colonel A. T.
Shillington, and Major F. McK. Bell had both
of them been on the staff of St. Luke's Hospital in
that city ; the Adjutant, Captain C. A. Young, on
the staff of the Ottawa General Hospital. Two of
the nine officers came from Toronto, one, Major
H. C. S. Elliott, from Coburg. The only officer
not an Ontario man was the Quartermaster, Captain
T. S. Walker, from Prince Edward Island.

It was this unit that was given the honour of
being the first unit of the First Contingent to reach
French soil, and that eventually found itself becom-
ing established at Le Touquet, the O.C. having been
given the choice of this and three other sites by the
Boulogne Base.

Le Touquet, some few miles beyond Staples and
on the outskirts of the small but very fashionable

267

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

watering-place, Paris Plage, had before the war been
well known to golf enthusiasts as possessing on its
sand dunes the finest and best laid out golf course
on the Continent of Europe, with a spacious Golf
Club House, and in its immediate neighbourhood a
small and cheerful Hotel du Golf and several
villas occupied season after season by enthusiasts of
the game. The owner of the hotel, Mr. Stoneham,
gave it over with great goodwill, and, what is more,
donated an operating table for the purposes of the
unit. The Royal Engineers made the necessary
structural alterations to the hotel ; the Officers
were installed in " Robinson Villa," the Nursing
Sisters billeted in a most luxurious villa belonging
to a Roumanian noble, the orderlies in the Golf Club.
By this means accommodation was secured for four
hundred patients. The unit arrived on 27th Novem-
ber, 1914. The furniture had been removed
and stored by the proprietor, but bedding, sheets
and kitchen utensils were left in the building for
the use of the Hospital, which in a few days was
ready to take in patients, receiving a first
convoy of 115 on 4th December, the majority
suffering from " trench feet," the others with
slight wounds. Other convoys followed in rapid
succession, and in three weeks the Hospital was
operating at full capacity, under the administra-
tion of the A.D.M.S. Boulogne. Later, in 1915,
when the Staples district was made into a district
Hospital area, it came under Colonel Carr, A.D.M.S.
fitaples.

Friends of the Hospital had provided money and
gifts of various orders. Red Cross supplies came
from friends in the United States ; the New Bruns-
wick Daughters of the Empire afforded a fund

268

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

through which additional technical equipment was
secured ; other gifts of money permitted the O.C.
to build an operating-room and rooms for the
X-ray Department, and to obtain operating-room
furniture and electric heaters for the wards, whereby
the food might be served warm.

For the admission and evacuation of patients
fourteen motor ambulances from the British Red
Cross Society were attached to the unit, the patients
detraining at Etaples, some four miles away.

Besides receiving convoys, the Hospital also
received sick from the local area. In this connection
special note must be made of the Dental Depart-
ment, under Captain (now Major) W. I^Bentley.

Whether the teeth of those in the old country
are stronger and need less attention, or, what
from their appearance seems more probable,
whether even when badly decayed they give less
pain, the nervous organization of their possessors
being less highly strung ; or whether, again, the freer,
more democratic life in America has endowed the
dentist with a better social position, and so, in
general, a more capable set of men take up den-
tistry for their life work — whatever the cause this
is very obvious, both that the Canadian Hospital
units arrived overseas far better equipped both in
dental officers and apparatus than did the British
units, and also that wherever they were stationed,
whether like Captain Neely with a Casualty Clear-
ing Station, like Captain Bentley with a Stationary
Hospital, or Captain Stevenson and Lieutenant-
Colonel Gow with a General Hospital, whether in
France, Egypt or Salonika the Canadian dental
officers immediately obtained an enormous vogue.
Patients flocked to them from surrounding units.

269

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

The Canadian dentists were the only ones in the
Salonika area, and to them came all ranks, from
Generals on the Staff downwards. The King of
Serbia placed himself in the hands of Lieutenant-
Colonel G. Gow, of the 4th General Hospital,
decorated him with the Order of the " White
Eagle," gave the anaesthetist, Captain H. J. Shields,
C.A.M.C., the Order of St. Sava, and the hospital
orderlies, T. O. and A. W. Jones, C.A.D.C., and
Corporal A. W. Smith, C.A.M.C., medals of the
Crown Prince's Household.

Thus it was that Captain Bentley, of No. 2
Stationary Hospital, rapidly developed a large out-
door clinic, patients coming to him from regimental
and other units stationed at Staples, four miles
away.

From the military point of view, the deficiency
of the Dental Service in the British Army is closely
associated with the painfully imperfect organiza-
tion of the dental profession in Great Britain. In
Canada, with a population of a little over 7,000,000,
at the 1911 census there were over 2,000 dentists
registered, or one dentist to 3,300 of the popula-
tion. This, it is true, is behind the United States,
which at the 1912 census had one dentist to every
2,365 of the population.* Great Britain possesses
only 5,600 registered dentists. Admitting that

* For these figures I am indebted to a paper by Wallace
Seccombe, D.D.S. in Oral Health, Toronto, 7 : 1917 : 402, to which
Colonel J. A. Armstrong, Director of Dental Service, Canadian
Overseas Forces, was so good as to direct my attention. In
this paper Dr. Seccombe gives the results of a census of dentists
and dental students of the Dominion, which he was directed
to make by the National Service Board of Canada. Ontario in
1912, with a population of 2,000,000, had one dentist to each
2,238 ; Quebec, with a population of 2,000,000, only one dentist
to every 6,126.

270

THE STATIONARY HOSPITALS

there are many thousand unregistered members of
the profession, the British Army cannot call upon
these unlicensed members and give them official
recognition and promotion. As a result, there is
not a sufficiency of qualified dentists in Great
Britain for civil and military needs. The British
soldier suffers from the lack of proper organization
of the profession.

271

CHAPTER XIV

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS ON THE LINES OF COMMUNI-
CATION

No. i CASUALTY CLEARING STATION

IN Chapter IV. we described the establishment of
No. i Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in Fort
Gassion on the outskirts of Aire. Here this unit
remained from March, 1915, until January, 1916.

To quote Lieutenant-Colonel S. L. Ford, C.M.G.,
its Commanding Officer : " Before the present war
the most advanced medical unit in the evacuation
zone was called a Clearing Hospital, but it was
soon seen that the name was hardly appropriate.
The immense number of sick and wounded which
it was called upon to handle in a very limited
time seemed to take away from it the character
of a hospital, and the name ' Casualty Clearing
Station ' came into use ; and although the sta-
tionary phase of operations . . . has (from time
to time) somewhat developed the hospital idea
in the Clearing Station, still its chief function
remains the rapid evacuation of cases." It was
originally a Line of Communications unit, under
the I.G.C. ; but, as the war progressed, it was
seen to occupy a more advanced position than
had been anticipated, and was, for convenience of
administration, placed under the direct control of
the D.M.S. of the Army as Army Troops.

272

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

At the beginning of the war the C.C.S. had no
transport attached to it, if we except one riding
horse per officer. Later, these were withdrawn,
and three three-ton motor lorries were detailed for
duty with six Army Service Corps drivers. The
establishment was further strengthened, first, by
the allotment of from seven to nine nursing sisters,
whose advent added greatly to the efficiency of
the unit ; next, by the attachment of an inter-
preter, three chaplains and a dental surgeon with
assistant. Throughout 1915 the dental officer
at No. i Canadian C.C.S. was the most sought after
of all its officers, serving all the British units
around Aire.

It has to be admitted that the unit found itself
at Aire further removed from the Front than it
would have liked ; nor did its historic housing in
Fort Gassion compensate for this relative remote-
ness. The result was that the Clearing Stations
further forward obtained the greater number of
cases, and that, save at periods of stress, few of the
graver conditions of wounds were admitted to No. I.

After Neuve Chapelle and the Second Battle of
Ypres there ensued a quiet period, devoted to
placing the old fortress prison in apple-pie order.
Rooms and passages that had been dingy glowed
under whitewash, paint and active scrubbing, and
the unit made a reputation for itself for thorough-
ness and efficiency.

All associated with No. i Canadian C.C.S. took
it as a personal honour when suddenly one after-
noon, at the end of October, Surgeon-General
W. G. Macpherson, D.D.G.M.S., appeared at the
Clearing Station and selected one of the brightest
of its nursing sisters, Sister V. A. Tremaine, for

273 18

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

immediate personal attendance upon His Majesty.
In the course of a detailed inspection of' the
Imperial troops along the Flanders Front, His
Majesty was conducting a review of the battalions
and other units of one of the armies in the neigh-
bourhood of Bethune, when, his horse slipping
upon the soil rendered greasy by autumnal rains,
fell, and, falling, rolled over heavily upon His
Majesty. But for the softness of the ground the
results would have been fatal. As it was, His
Majesty was seriously crushed. He was without
delay conveyed by motor to a chateau a little
distance out of Aire, where His Majesty had already
been staying during his tour, there being no ade-
quate accommodation in the region where he had
been injured. A second nursing sister was also
selected by Surgeon-General W. G. Macpherson,
Sister E. K. Ward, Q.A.I.M.N.S. Territorials, who
at the time was doing transport duty on a hospital
barge which was passing through Aire at the time
of the King's accident. At the chateau the King
was given all the care that the foremost members
of the profession overseas, medical and surgical,
could afford, with the result that in four days His
Majesty was so far recovered as to be able to stand
the journey to London.

The two nurses were in attendance upon His
Majesty through the journey, and remained in
nursing charge of the Royal patient at Bucking-
ham Palace until his convalescence was so far
advanced that their services were no longer neces-
sary. Of those quiet days of His Majesty's recovery,
this may without indiscretion be said : that Sister
Tremaine's most vivid memories are those of the
simple happy life of Their Majesties and their

274

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

children. She found herself in a pleasant English
home.

On the day upon which Sister Tremaine relin-
quished her charge, His Majesty personally pre-
sented her with the M.V.O. Badge, together with
a further personal gift of an exquisite brooch in
gold and enamel, set with diamonds, while Her
Majesty the Queen gave her autograph copies of
the Royal photographs. In the New Year's
Honours List in 1916 Sister Tremaine received the
Royal Red Cross.*

No. 5 (CANADIAN) MOBILE LABORATORY

The primary idea of the Mobile Laboratory was,
as its name implies, that it should be so equipped
that its apparatus could without difficulty be packed
up and transported, following the advance of the
Army, the laboratory to serve the bacteriological
and sanitary needs of an Army Corps at the Front.
Events, however, were stronger than plans laid in
advance. During the earlier years of the war our
troops were on the defensive. It is true that the
different Army Corps changed their places along
the line not infrequently, and that the mobile
laboratories might have remained attached to their
respective corps and have moved with them. But
this was not to the advantage of the Service.
Rapidly these laboratories became of first import-
ance with respect to the bacteriological and chemical

* Nursing Sister Tremaine comes from an English family
settled for long years in Quebec City, at least two members of
which are officers in the C.E.F. She joined the Army Nursing
Service in the spring of 1914; in 1916 she was appointed matron
of the I.O.D.E. Hospital for Officers in London, and in 1917
matron of Granville Canadian Special Hospital, Buxton.

275 18*

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

study of the water-supply of the areas in which
they found themselves, and the epidemiology and
general sanitation of those areas. It made for
efficiency to maintain in the different districts a
nucleus of trained men, experts familiar with the
special conditions there, rather than to move such
officers to other districts and introduce another set
of experts, who would take months to attain the
same intimate knowledge of local conditions. This
argument might not have appealed to everyone,
but when, to crown all, the travelling motor
laboratories which had been most ingeniously
devised to carry out the idea of mobility, proved
themselves incapable of withstanding the stresses
and strains of the pave roads of Flanders, and the
mud of those roads which were not paves, their
springs giving way and their axles breaking on
account of the excessive overlay, then all recog-
nized the virtue of making the mobile labora-
tories as stationary as possible. It was thus
that No. 5 (Canadian) Mobile Laboratory was sta-
tioned for long months, first at Merville and then
at Bailleul, largely irrespective of the movements
of the Canadian ist Division or Army Corps.

The need for sanitary and bacteriological experts
at the Front is very great. Not merely has the
health of the troops in the trenches to be controlled,
and some centre has to be established where rapid
bacteriological diagnoses can be made of suspect
cases and suspect carriers of epidemic disease, but —
and this is of even greater importance — the health
conditions of the broad belt of country imme-
diately behind the lines have to be controlled.
A greater number of men are in this belt than are
in the trenches : they are billeted in the towns,

276

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

villages, isolated farmhouses and hutments scat-
tered through the belt. The civic life of the belt
is largely disorganized : most of the inhabitants
have left, particularly the wealthier leaders of the
community ; the usual civic activities are arrested.
The Army has to take upon itself civic duties, and
becomes responsible for the sanitation of the dis-
trict, assuming control of such matters as road-
mending, water-supply, sewage disposal, even down
to notification and quarantine of cases of infectious
disease in the civil population that remains. It
cannot depend upon municipal laboratories to
make analyses and reports : all this work has to
be taken over by its mobile laboratories. To run
these laboratories it needs expert hygienists,
analysts and bacteriologists. Now experts posses-
sing the proper qualifications are at all times few
and far between. The Imperial authorities, there-
fore, gladly seized the opportunity to ask the
Canadians to afford such a unit out of the personnel
of the ist Division, and realizing fully the duties
before them, the D.M.S. chose for this unit three
thoroughly competent officers.

At the very beginning of the war the Minister
of Militia determined to avail himself at Valcartier
of the services of one who, while not a medical
graduate, had made a name for himself as a
sanitarian at Toronto, more particularly in con-
nection with the purification of the water-supply
of that city. Not being a medical man, there were
difficulties in attaching Mr. G. G. Nasmith to the
Army Medical Service. The Minister surmounted
these by creating a new service, the " Canadian
Army Hydrological Corps and Advisers on Sanita-
tion " (September joth, 1914), and in this Mr,

277

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

Nasmith was enrolled as Lieutenant-Colonel and
Dr. R. E. Wodehouse,* of Port Arthur, as Major.
In the later months of 1914 Captains F. B. Bow-
man, f A. M. Cleghorn and F. A. Wallyn were added
to the corps. When, therefore, the British
authorities asked for the establishment of this new
unit at the Front, indicating that the laboratory
would have to deal with matters of hygiene and
water-supply, as well as with matters epidemio-
logical and bacteriological, this appeared to be the
position in which Lieutenant-Colonel Nasmith' s
special knowledge could be utilized to the best
advantage. He, therefore, was placed in command
of No. 5 (Canadian) Mobile Laboratory, and to his
staff were appointed Captain A. Rankin, Professor
of Pathology in .the University of Alberta, a trained
epidemiologist, who had spent some years as
adviser in hygiene and epidemiology at Bangkok,
Siam, and Captain A. W. M. Ellis, one of the most
brilliant of the younger graduates of Toronto
University, and at the beginning of the war a
member of the staff of the Hospital of the Rocke-
feller Institute, New York. Both were on the staff
of No. i General Hospital, and had been actively
engaged upon the study of the outbreak of cerebro-
spinal fever at Salisbury Plain.

It was an interesting and thoroughly expert
combination, and rapidly it made its influence felt
at the Front. These officers, with three N.C.O.'s

* Who became O.C. Sanitary Section, ist Canadian Division.
Now Lieutenant-Colonel, O.C. Canadian Convalescent Hospital
at Bear Wood Park, Wokingham.

t Now Major, late O.C. Canadian General Laboratory,
Folkestone ; later attached to the Italian Expeditionary Force as
O.C. a Mobile Laboratory, now Pathologist attached to^D.M.S.,
L. of C., France.

278

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

and seven men, left Southampton for France on
March 2ist, 1915, and on the 26th found themselves
located outside the Canadian area at Merville, a
bright little country town lying between Aire and
St. Estaire, some eight and a half miles to the
south-west of Bailleul. Here they were given
excellent quarters in the Hotel de Ville, a spacious
room, twenty-seven by forty-seven feet, well
lighted, with seven large windows, provided with
gas and water — a spacious eighteenth-century room
which might have been built for laboratory pur-
poses. From the D.M.S. ist Army (General
Macpherson) downwards, everybody helped them.
The O.C. records in his War Diary : " Could not
say too much for the courteous and kind way in
which all the British officers have treated us."
On the 3oth their equipment arrived ; on the 3ist
they were ready for work, and cerebro-spinal con-
tacts were being attended to bacteriologically, and
suspected diphtheria throats were swabbed. At
first they served the 4th Army Corps and the Cana-
dian Division ; soon they were given the hygienic
and bacteriological work of the ist Army, and
before the end of June that of the area north of
the Aire-La Bass£e Canal was turned over to them,*
together with the general bacteriological work of
the Indian Corps.f

Then- work had a wide scope. Besides the routine
work of a clinical laboratory — analyses and reports
upon blood, sputa, and other body fluids, and
dejecta, and examinations for the detection of
causative agents of various infectious diseases —

* Circular Memorandum No. 4, D.M.S. ist Army, of June
23rd, 1915.
f Circular Memorandum No. i, D.M.S. ist Army, of June /th,

1915-

279

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

and of a pathological laboratory, with the per-
formance of autopsies when needed for neighbour-
ing Casualty Clearing Stations and reports upon
surgical material, they were responsible for reports
upon the identification and strength of chemicals
supplied to the troops in the area, on materials
in connection with cases of suspected poisoning,
on the efficacy of gas masks and helmets, on
poison gases, on the chemical and bacteriological
analysis of milk and water. They became, in fact,
a general utility laboratory.

We have already, in Chapter IV., referred to the
part played by Lieutenant-Colonel Nasmith in the
detection of the first poison gas. A more constant
study was that of the water-supply of the area.
That supply was almost all from wells, and in this
low-lying Flanders country almost all the wells
are contaminated. Of forty-four sources examined
during June, 1915, ninety- three per cent, showed
the presence of B. coli in one cc. of water. Now
Bacillus coli inhabits the internal tract of cattle as
well as of man, but when in a farmyard the privy
is as near to the shallow well as is the dung heap,
it is not exactly safe to suppose that these and
other contaminating microbes are derived only
from harmless cattle. Such water had to be
sterilized. There had been an extensive outbreak
of typhoid among the civilian population in Flanders
in the autumn of 1914. Lieutenant-Colonel Amyot
tells me that there were some eight thousand cases,
with two thousand deaths. With widespread
inoculation the epidemic had come to an end, and
in the spring and summer of 1915 the disease had
become relatively uncommon. But that the water
might be responsible for summer diarrhoea is shown

280

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

by the following :* "In the Division the unit

was supplied with boiling water, which was allowed
to cool in biscuit tins. On the return of the men
from the trenches one day recently the water was
found to be still hot, and more water was therefore
drawn from the well used as a source of supply, and
added to the hot water to cool it. Twenty-five
men used this water, and next day thirteen
developed diarrhoea. This is a concrete case of
what must be happening daily." The method of
chlorination employedf was found, as already
noted (p. 222), to be quite efficacious — when em-
ployed. The diary of the laboratory during 1915
notes repeatedly that not a few of the watei -carts
in that area, judging from the bacteriological
results, escaped chlorination.

When the Indian Corps came into the area
Captain Rankin was given charge of an investiga-
tion of the malarial cases. By far the larger
number of positive cases were found to be of the
ordinary tertian variety, less than four per cent,
were of the more severe aestivo-autumnal form.
A century ago malaria was rife in Flanders. It is
generally held that the main cause of the failure of
the ill-fated Walcheren Expedition in 1809 was
the wholesale infection of our troops with ague.
The question arose as to whether the same con-
ditions prevailed as, for example, in the Fen dis-
tricts of Cambridgeshire. This' was another region,
once intensely malarial, from which the disease

* Report of O.C. No. 5 Canadian Mobile Laboratory to D.M.S.
Canadians for June, 1915.

t In the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps for 1910
Nasmith and Graham had described a method of chlorination
of water for army purposes which was the basis of that in use.

28l

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

had vanished, and this, as Professor Nuttall had
pointed out, notwithstanding the fact that the
mosquito, Anopheles maculipennis, which is the
most frequent cause of conveyance of the disease
from one individual to another, is still present in
fair abundance. As a matter of fact. Captain Rankin,
aided by Lieutenant-Colonel Swale Evans, I. M.S.,
and other Indian Medical Officers, determined the
continued presence in Flanders of at least two
anopheline mosquitoes and potential malaria carriers,
A. maculipennis and A. bifurcatus. And in July
the first case of malaria was reported occurring in
a private of a Scottish regiment who had not
been out of Scotland before the war. Malaria is
unknown in Scotland. By the end of the year
Captain Rankin had collected thirteen similar
cases. Malaria in the Tropics occupies the same
position as does tuberculosis in the temperate
zones. The question, therefore, arose as to whether
the presence of the Indian troops, having among
them numerous men actively infected with the
malarial organism, in an anopheles infested region
would lead to a wholesale spread of the disease
among the British and Dominion troops, and so,
later, to Great Britain, Canada and Australia.
Captain Rankin answered this in the negative,
and the experience of the last two years has shown
that he was fully justified.*

Another special research conducted by this
officerf was in combination with Captain G. H.
Hunt, of the Imperial Service, upon the new disease
which has come to be known as Trench fever.

* See Lancet, 1916 : I. : 1079.

t Intermittent fever of obscure origin occurring among
British soldiers in France. — Lancet, November aoth, 1915.

282

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

Save as recognizing that here was a very definite
disease entity, like the many other observers who
have spent long months studing the condition by
bacteriological methods, these officers " drew blank."
After three years of careful study and the employ-
ment of every known method of research, we
are still in the dark as to the cause of Trench
fever, save that it is clearly a louse-borne disease.

Simultaneously Captain Ellis carried forward
the investigation begun at Salisbury Plain upon
the micro-organism of cerebro-spinal fever. Cases
of this most dangerous disease occurred from time
to time among the troops in the area ; but by
immediate removal of the cases and rigorous isola-
tion of contacts, the disease was prevented from
spreading, and was kept under thorough control,
so that despite the many thousands of men living
in close contact in the area from April to January
ist, only seventeen cases were diagnosed, in four-
teen of which the meningococcus was isolated and
grown, while of 131 contacts examined, all save
four were found negative. As a matter of fact,
it was found that so open and healthy was their
life, that men in the trenches did not develop the
disease. The few cases occurred in billets behind
the lines, and there, as at Salisbury Plain, it was
evidently a matter not of house or hutment infec-
tion, but of conveyance through the intermediation
of drinking vessels in refreshment booths and
estaminets.

The failure of Flexner's and other anti-meningo-
coccus serum to arrest the disease at Salisbury
and elsewhere in England since the beginning of
the war, had been very striking. In previous
epidemics the use of this serum had materially

283

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

reduced the death-rate. There w«re the alterna-
tives either that the cultures of meningococci used
to produce the serum had in the course of years
lost their virulence and other properties, so that
when inoculated into animals they set up no
adequate reaction, and no adequate discharge of
protective substances into the blood, so that the
blood serum gained from the inoculated animals
was no longer capable of destroying the menin-
gococci when injected into the patient suffering
from the disease; or, on the other hand, it might
be that in the Army cases we dealt with another
order or strain of meningococcus, which was not
influenced by the serum produced by inoculating
animals with the original New York or other
meningococci of previous epidemics. Recent ob-
servations at the Rockefeller Institute had con-
clusively shown that there exist at least four
strains of the organism (pneumococcus) associated
with acute lobar pneumonia. Did the same con-
dition of affairs obtain in association with cerebro-
spinal fever ? It was this problem that Captain
Ellis set himself to answer. The work required
the exact study of as many cultures from different
cases and laboratories in England and France as
he could obtain, and a long series of delicate observa-
tions upon guinea-pigs and animals of the laboratory.
To carry on such work just behind the Front within
the radius of heavy gun activity, with bombs
dropping from time to time from overhead and
disturbing the laboratory, with laboratory supplies
uncertain, and routine work a first consideration,
all this increased the difficulty of the task. It is
to the credit of Captain Ellis that notwithstanding
all these hindrances, he was able, in December,

284

OTHER MEDICAL UNITS

1915, to publish an important paper,* establishing
the existence of two main types or strains of menin-
gococci. All of the sixty-four organisms isolated
from as many different cases of the disease occurring
among the troops in England and France fell into
one or the other of his two classes. Almost simul-
taneously appeared a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel
Gordon, R.A.M.C., in which from a similar study
of thirty-two growths from the cerebro-spinal
fluid of those affected with the disease he was able
to differentiate four types. Of these, eighty-four
per cent, belong to Types I. and II., corresponding
with Captain Ellis's two types. It has been found
that by recognizing the particular type or strain of
meningococcus present in a case, and then using
the serum gained from animals inoculated with
that particular strain, or, more practically, by
using a polyvalent serum — i.e., a serum obtained
from an animal inoculated with all four strains —
the number of recoveries has been materially
increased.

I have dealt with these matters in some little
detail in order to demonstrate that the C.A.M.C.
has not merely been content to accomplish
thoroughly the routine care and treatment of the
sick and wounded, but has realized its duty in
contributing to medical advance. There are, I
know, those inclined to the idea that the only duty
of Medical Officers in a great war like the present
is to care for the immediate needs of the invalid
soldier. There is no time, say they, for the refine-
ments of research, of research which (as in the

* A classification of meningococci based on group agglutination
with monovalent immune serum. — British Medical Journal,
1915, ii., 881, December I5th, and Journal of the R.A.M.C.,
26 : 1916 : 64.

285

WAR STORY OF THE C.A.M.C.

case of Trench fever here quoted) may, as well as
not, lead nowhere. Where, it may be answered,
would the Imperial Army have been but for the
laboratory workers of the last quarter of a century ?
The research upon enteric fever and the typhoid
bacillus alone has saved to Britain and Canada
thousands and tens of thousands of soldiers.
Each one of the investigations here described has
been accomplished by men engaged in routine
work, has been over and above their regulation
duties, has dealt with the actual problems of the
.war and war medicine, has been designed in. order
to afford greater knowledge of, and greater mastery
over, the diseases affecting the troops, for the
greater well-being of the soldier. Research is
essential for the successful conduct of the war
against disease.

THE SANITARY SECTION

Here, properly, the good work of the Sanitary
Section of the ist Canadian Division should be
recorded ; but, upon second thoughts, it is seen
more appropriate to deal with it in the next volume,
for 1916, and that because the advances made,
while begun in 1915, did not bear their full fruit
until the following year. As a matter of fact, some
of the more important accomplishments of the
section have already been referred to in Chapter XI.

286

[To /ace p. 288.

PRINTED AT

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KINGSTON, SURREY.

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

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