HOW CANADA SAVED YPRES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2860, 26 August 1916, Page 3

HOW CANADA SAVED YPRES

A BATTLE THAT WENT ALMOST UNRECORDED TERRIFIC ATTACK NOBLY COUNTERED

Of the srcafc stand made by tlie Canadians on the Ypres front in tho first days of June very littlo has beon heard on this Bide of the world, i events on the Somnie overshadowed what was one of the finest efforts of the war. Mr. Beckles Wilson, in' the "Daily Express," gives a,stirring account of this splendid battle. • He writes (British Headquarters, June 8): "Momentous events have been hap- , penirig elsewhere in rapid and tragic succession]. l'ublio attention has largely been diverted from this sector. Even had the official communiques been less' meagre, it would, perhaps, have been hard for tho English reader to keep a healthy senso of proportion. Whatever the cause, there is ample reason to believe that the nature, extent, and significance of the late third battle of Ypres was' not generally recognised. On.Friday, June 2, a crescent-ehaped line, extending from tho little village of Hooge'on the north to Hill' 60 en ihe' south, and passing through Sanctuary Wood, a distance roughly of a couple of miles, was held .by soldiers from the' overseas West. They were ranchers, farmers, and miners, and they were merchants and clerks from Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. Somo'hailed from Toronto,- and others from as far east as Montreal. On their extreme left, where it links up, with a. British division, was a famous regiment, whose deeds have already thrilled, the Empire, which, repeatedly shattered, has returned again and again to take. up a post of danger on the firing line. Others were the Canadian Mounted Rifles and the Royal Canadian Regiment. The two divisions to which these troops belong havo been in the trenches for many months, watching, eagerly, and ardently," every move of the 'enemy's game. What that game was every man knew well. It was to push past them and gain that tragedyhaunted grey heap of crumbling masonry.'which' a brief year, ago was still called the city of Ypres. This each and every mjn of them was pledged to defend to tho last drop of his life's blood. For weeks there had been a comparative lull; brigades, weary with work and tension, came in • and out, as they were relieved or wont to relieve. Yet- -uppermost in every mind was this: 'When will tlie next big push come, and where: Twice the Germans have come on in smashing force to destroy tho Ypres salient; two deadly battles have been fought. Am I fated to take part in the third?'

Comparable to Verdun."

"The question whether this battle in 'Sanctuary Wood was a real battle, an important battle, may bo answered here'once and for all. If you were to take all the actions along the British front, from tho very beginning, there is.nono which illustrates, so vividly, so intensely, the whole character of the lighting in this war. It combines 'tho..essential features of all, with the exception of the poisonous gas. Brief, compact, and murderous, it was by far the greatest ordeal to which the Canadians have yet been subjected.. As an exhibition of British steadiness it is unsurpassed in the war. "Comparable,'only to Verdun" is. the comment to •me of a distinguished commander when the fury of tho'German bombardment "was mentioned... On this brilliant June morning; behind those parapets' 300 yards away, the enemy had been massing his artillery—guns _of every ago, shape, and calibre, but chiefly . the terrible 0.9, even naval guns, the Silent Lizzies, mountains of shclls ( pyramids of ■ bombs. Long rows of German gunners along thosotwo miles of front daily awaited tho signal, and the time for tho signal had come. General Mercer,' ever alert, often astir soon after breakfast, had gono forward to tho front trenches at so early an ■ hour as half-past six. / He was met by General Victor Williams, commanding the brigade then holding the front trenches'. These, in company with the lamented Colonel Shaw, mado the inspection. The soil here is loose and damp and sandy, and only by rigid oarc and incessant exertion can the trenches be maintained in effectiveness. After breakfast the men wore'observed to be everywhere in high spirits, and went about their task's of digging, repairing, rifle-cleaning, and general tidying up with great good humour. General Mercer visited a number of the officers' dug-outs. The day's work had begun well —all were at their appointed posts. Occasionally a sniper's rille rang out or a bullet whizzed harmlessly overhead) A soldier told mo ho was watching a flight of birds imediateiy above'him in the clear blue sky, when the thing happened. He did not see the sky again for hours, and when he did it was on his back being borne on a stretcher to tho rear.

The Storm Bursts. .'"It" was the lull before the storm. At twenty mintues to 9 o'clock, ■without any warning, hell broke loose. The detonation was stunning, absolutely overwhelming. It did not come from one part, but from the whole length of the opposing line opposite the Canadian Division. It not only deafened the ear and paralysed the nerves; but instantly 'the firmament became blackened. For the next few minutes dazed men groped qbout in tho darkness, unable to hoar any word of command from their officers, instinctively clutching their rifles and waiting for what was to happen. Tho two Generals, attempting to reach the communicating TJonch, found their rotrcat cut off. For the first minutes it appears that no shells, or very few, fell into the front trendies, and tho ma-chine-gunners and trench mortar men held to their posts. But behind our front lino a high wall of descending shells, screaming, crashing, exploding, emitting clouds of noxious smoke, •seemed to shut off chance of escape. "Moments passed that seemed hours, and then tho iron and steel missiles began to rain down and explode in the front,lino, scattering death and destruction. Nothing could livo for long in such a tempe6t. Tho sides of the tranches began to crumble and fall in. Yot _ by a miracle our men held on, darting from one devastated section to another in order to gain refuge. A mine exploded, leaving a grim and enormous crater. Tho communication trench was by this timo battered fiat. Orders were conveyed to tho men to withdraw, and somo few hundreds attempted to beat a retreat through tho deadly oarrage. One, two, thrco hours passed; not for a moment—not for a single second —did tho hideous thiuicTcr slacken. On our own sido tho sound of our artillery wa6 indistinguishable, but a great volume of British shells pierced that infernal barrage and crashed eastward into tho German line. Once, it is related, two shells from opposing sides collided in mid-air with a shricK that actually rose above the tempest. Our gunnere worked madly, and it is certain they wrought great liavoc among the. enemy, but they were severely handicapped by the nature of the ground. It was now that there took place in tho intervening ground between the enemy's barrage and our own a thousand struggles between bravo men palpitating with health and life and hundreds of merciless hidden machines belching forth fragments of

insensate metal. For this is modern warfare. Heroes of tho Battle. "Meanwhile, on our side of tho barrage, several battalions of desperate men were watcliing for a chance to cleave their way through, to their comrades in peril. In the intervening territory several gallant men were ministering to tho wounded. Stretcherbearers were moving backwards and forwards as though their nerves were of steel. Officers were collecting their men togother in places of uncertain refuge. .Colonel Shaw, for instance, directed 80 of his men to Cumberland dug-outs—a little shallow square. When it became too hot there, he forced them all out through a gap and told them to get back. He refused to leavo his wounded men, and remained there at his post until a shell struck him and he was killed. Seventy yards from tho spot was the dressing station of his battalion. Here another brave officer toiled unceasingly all through that terrible morning, the wounded coming to him, many crawling on hands, and knees, by scores. Before the war this R.A,M.C. captain was a jovial ship's surgeon in a steamer plying between Vancouver and Honolulu. He was a man of infinite courage—'nothing ever rattled him or upset his temper,' said one survivor to me. When the dressing station was shelled, ho moved with his assistant, deliberately and coolly, to another on more exposed ground, and continued his humane work to the last.

"A certain private hailing from Kamsack, in distant Saskatchewan, was ministering to an officer and three desperately wounded men. He refused to leave them when the lull came, and the Germans were seen advancing, although they urged him to do so. 'I said I'd stand by you, boys,' he said, 'and I will.' That was the last that was seen of him. By this time—it was ten minutes to one o'clock—after four hours' steady bombardment—the storm of shell ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Forthwith from the opposite trenches sprang a swarm of greyooated Huns. Fully accoutred, and with overcoats and full packs, they advanced on the run, yelling wildly. They must have been firmly convinced that amid those rugged, battered, seared, and bloody moundß and ditches, which four hours before had been the British tronches, not one single human soul ■ had escaped. Of those advancing hordes advancing few were in proper fighting trim. They came forward gaily, light-heartedly, as victors after .a victory.' It was .then tho most wonderful thing happened. Out of the earth there sprang up a handful of wild-eyed soldiers, tws officers among them, muddied and reeking with_ sweat, and, running forward with upraised rifles and pistols, they bade definauce to the oncoming foe. On they ran, and, having discharged their weapons, them in the very faces of the Huns. Death was inevitable for these —the only remaining ; occupants of tho British front line —and it was better to die thus, breathing defiance to tho enemy, than be shot in a ditch aud spitted through with a Hun bayonet.

: 'only the j,'ounded or those suffering from shell-shock fell into the hands of the enemy, and amongst these wero General Williams and Colonel, Usher, both of whom wero in a- communication trench. A Toronto officer, himscf in the ve;y thick of the fight, .and who performed wonders of valour, mentions, that, he had last seen General Mercer •sitting dazed aud deafened on the ground just as the shell firo ceased and the Germans were advancing. General Williams was slightly wounded in the face. The cessation of firo was tho signal lor the Canadian supports to hasten forward to meet the enemy, who was now advancing in force and bringing tip his machine gunners and bombers. The battalion holding' Mania Copse planted itself firm, : and r refused budge, .and, having dug.itself in,' still holds.that, position. •■ Its command-; or, Coloncf Baker, was unhappily hit by a shell in the lungs, and died'later in the day. Tho Princess Patricias, holding Hooge, fought With all their accustomed gallantry, led by the brave Colonel Buller, and helped, although at great; cost, to check the further German advance. Colonel Buller mot his death in tho most heroic fashion, and the second in command. Major Hamilton Gault, was wounded in two places, but it is hoped not seriously. "It would be impossible within these limits- to recount even a tithe of the outstanding deeds of heroism of that day's battle, which waged . without cessation until nine at night. I could relate many. One striking story there is of a parson from Medicine Hat, on the Bow Eivcr. At the outbreak of war he flung aside his'surplice and enlisted as a private Ho came to England with his battalion, where ,h,is talent for ministration and good work's could not be concealed, and ho was promptly, when a vacancy occurred, appointed chaplain.

"When the battalion, arrived in France ho felt it his' duty to striko a blow of a sterner sort for his country, and returned to tho combatant" ranks. He, on this day in Sanctuary Wood/ wiolded a rifle- with accuracy and effect as long as his!ammunition lasted, and then wont after tho Germans with, a bayonet'. After one particularly fierce thrust the weapon broke. Whereupon this officer bared his-arms and flew at one brawny Boche with his fists, and the last seen, of hira he was lying prono and overpowered. "The outstanding feature of tho day is, however, not tho numerous traits of individual valour. It is tho marvellous discipline and cohosion of the officers, liourcommisioned officers, and men, which I find evoke most praise from tho survivors. When ono was struck down and unable to give orders, another took his place, automatically, and was obeyed implicitly and instantly."

Melbourne is to see'the first production in. Australia of "The Cinema Star," one of the most successful English musical plays of recent years. It will be staged by tho Royal Comic Opera Company at Her Majesty's, following tho season of the New "English Musical Comedy Company, which is entering on a revival of "Tho Girl in the Train." Tho Royal Comics will open with a revival of the popular and wcllrcinembercd "The Geisha."