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008 - Operations Aug 12-20 · Canadas Hundred Days The Battle of Amiens

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  Speaker 1: Part one, Chapter eight of Canada's Hundred Days with the
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  Speaker 1: Canadian Corps from Amien to Mont August eighth to November eleventh,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Canada's Hundred Days by John
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  Speaker 1: Livesay cart one, Chapter eight, Operations, August twelve to twenty.
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  Speaker 1: The heroic, though fruitless assault of the thirty second British
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  Speaker 1: Division upon the immensely strong enemy positions in front of
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  Speaker 1: Palvillier and Dammery is worth recording in more detail because
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  Speaker 1: it opened the way for a magnificent feet of arms
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  Speaker 1: on part of troops of the third Canadian Division. Two
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  Speaker 1: and a half miles northwest of Roy, right athwart the
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  Speaker 1: Amen Roy Road rises the hundred meter eminence, known from
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  Speaker 1: the singular shape of the wood at its foot as
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  Speaker 1: the Bois in z or zed Wood. It formed an
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  Speaker 1: important feature of ancient defenses in this region, and to
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  Speaker 1: this day the galleries hewn from the living rock still
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  Speaker 1: exist in the base of the hill. The enemy when
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  Speaker 1: on the defensive prior to the battles of the Somme
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen was quick to seize its value and
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  Speaker 1: make of it the pivot of his defense. In front
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  Speaker 1: of Roy, a considerable railway center. Linked up with the
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  Speaker 1: villages to the north, it formed a chief outwork of
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  Speaker 1: its Roy Chalney line. Its importance was so generally recognized that,
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  Speaker 1: in the early stage of the present battle a squadron
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  Speaker 1: of the fort garry horse had made a reckless dash
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  Speaker 1: down the Roy Road in the hope of galloping the position,
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  Speaker 1: a fatal ride described in detail on a subsequent page.
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  Speaker 1: The enemy held in force and as shee a village
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  Speaker 1: a mile southwest of zed Wood, which for a few
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  Speaker 1: hours had been in the hands of our cavalry on
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  Speaker 1: August tenth, Dammery three quarters of a mile to the
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  Speaker 1: northeast of the wood, and Parvier the same distance due
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  Speaker 1: north of Damerie. His right flank, though somewhat compromised by
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  Speaker 1: the capture of focus Court recorded above, a village a
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  Speaker 1: mile and three quarters north and a little east of Parvier,
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  Speaker 1: still rested firmly on the wood immediately north of Parvier,
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  Speaker 1: with the little hamlet of maisson Bleu just beyond, and
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  Speaker 1: received additional support from the fortified village of La Chavette,
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  Speaker 1: a mile and a quarter northeast of Parvier, and therefore
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  Speaker 1: the same distance southeast of focus Court, running for a
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards south of Damerie, and so northeast of zed
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  Speaker 1: Wood is dammery Wood. For military purposes of an earlier age,
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  Speaker 1: this old Roman road had been led right over the
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  Speaker 1: crest of zed Wood and on each side for a
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  Speaker 1: mile or two west. The enemy had lined it with
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  Speaker 1: trenches in wire with machine gun positions, sweeping what was
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  Speaker 1: in effect a natural glass sea. The same defense system,
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  Speaker 1: with a double line of trench had been carried from
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  Speaker 1: the roy Road west of Damriy and thence west of Parva.
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  Speaker 1: As is usual in this part of the country, each
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  Speaker 1: of these villages is perched upon a slight elevation, rising
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  Speaker 1: from ninety meters at Damriy to ninety five at Parvier,
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  Speaker 1: crowned with the dense foliage of the village park immediately
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  Speaker 1: east of this line, the ground rises gently up to
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  Speaker 1: fall away in a little dip, and then rise again
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  Speaker 1: to the villages of Goyencore and frenou Le Roi, the
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  Speaker 1: former being about twelve hundred yards and the latter two
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards northeast of Damriy, and these could not have
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  Speaker 1: been placed better to afford support to both Dammri and Parvier,
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  Speaker 1: either by infantry or artillery. Goyencore is on a slightly
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  Speaker 1: higher level than Dammeriri, but the ridge intervening prevents direct
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  Speaker 1: observation and was to form the key to the battle
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  Speaker 1: tactics of our troops who finally captured it. The weakness
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  Speaker 1: of the position is that immediately in front of it
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  Speaker 1: lies a wide plateau with a uniform elevation of one
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  Speaker 1: hundred meters distant, about one thousand yards from both Dammary
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  Speaker 1: and Parvier, and what is worse, from the point of
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  Speaker 1: view of the defense thrusting in a tongue between them.
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  Speaker 1: On this higher ground is situated the old British front
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  Speaker 1: line of the Somme, but it is bare and open,
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  Speaker 1: affording no natural cover To make a frontal attack necessitated
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  Speaker 1: descending from the plateau and then advancing up the reverse
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  Speaker 1: slope against the villages, everywhere exposed to artillery and machine
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  Speaker 1: gun fire. The only shelter was an old but still
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  Speaker 1: deep support trench running east and west and leading directly
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  Speaker 1: out of our defense system into Dammary Village. It was
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  Speaker 1: against this immensely strong position that the thirty second Division
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  Speaker 1: was sent into attack. This British division had been brought
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  Speaker 1: hastily down from the north, covering part of the distance
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  Speaker 1: by marching, and the troops were tired out when they
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  Speaker 1: took over from our third Division on the night of
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  Speaker 1: August nine to ten. During August ten, elements of the
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  Speaker 1: division improved the line with a view to securing a
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  Speaker 1: better jumping off ground. There was no sleep at night,
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  Speaker 1: for the enemy kept up a deluge of artillery fire,
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  Speaker 1: liberally besprinkled with gas shells. At half past nine in
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  Speaker 1: the morning of Sunday, August eleven, the division launched an
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  Speaker 1: attack extending over its whole front, supported by a not
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  Speaker 1: very successful barrage. The troops attacked with the utmost gallantry,
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  Speaker 1: but were met by a withering and crushing fire, and
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  Speaker 1: at no point made an advance of more than one
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  Speaker 1: hundred yards beyond our trench system. The units engaged included
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  Speaker 1: devon troops and highland light infantry, and our men who
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  Speaker 1: witnessed the slaughter said it was an inspiring sight to
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  Speaker 1: see these attempting to dig in under the hail and
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  Speaker 1: fury of fire. Finally, the division fell back, having suffered
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  Speaker 1: nearly two thousand casualties, and the following night was relieved
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  Speaker 1: by the third Canadian Division. The heavy loss was due
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  Speaker 1: primarily to the divisional artillery putting down their barrage too
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  Speaker 1: far ahead of the troops, with the result that their
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  Speaker 1: men were not following the brage sufficiently closely. No troops
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  Speaker 1: in the world could have shown greater fortitude or pertinacity,
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  Speaker 1: the attack being persisted in long after its hopelessness was revealed.
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  Speaker 1: The Third Canadian Division took over again. Therefore, on Sunday night,
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  Speaker 1: August eleven to twelve, the divisional commander, Major General L. J.
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  Speaker 1: Lipsett at once set about his preparation for the attack.
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  Speaker 1: He decided that our left sector in front of Parvier
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  Speaker 1: offered best prospects for an initial success. Plans were carefully
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  Speaker 1: prepared for amassing of artillery, and for this purpose the
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  Speaker 1: divisional artillery had the support of the fifth Canadian Divisional
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  Speaker 1: Artillery with some heavy batteries. Monday and Tuesday were devoted
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  Speaker 1: to fighting the way step by step through the old
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  Speaker 1: trench system up to the northern and western edge of
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  Speaker 1: Parvier and Dammery. This was done under unremittant and intense
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  Speaker 1: enemy fire both day and night, our troops continually having
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  Speaker 1: to put on their gas masks. Nor was this all
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  Speaker 1: On Monday, the enemy made two determined counter attacks, and
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday night counter attacked three times, but on each
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  Speaker 1: occasion was beaten off. Finally all was ready and it
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  Speaker 1: was decided to open the attack on Parvier on Wednesday night.
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  Speaker 1: The assault was assigned to the seventh Brigade and one battalion,
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  Speaker 1: the forty second Royal Highlanders of Montreal. Lieutenant Colonel R. L.
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  Speaker 1: H Ewing started in by making a detour north of Parvier,
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  Speaker 1: bombing as they went so. Soon as this movement was
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  Speaker 1: well under way, the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel C. J. T. Stewart,
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  Speaker 1: initiated a similar attack south of parvillers, thrusting in along
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  Speaker 1: the high spur alluded to above. By dawn, both battalions
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  Speaker 1: were established on the northern and southern outskirts of the
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  Speaker 1: village respectively. At a quarter past six, our massed artillery
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  Speaker 1: laid down a hurricane barrage for fifteen minutes. The two
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  Speaker 1: battalions then rushed the village, joining hands fifteen minutes later
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  Speaker 1: with combined casualties of but five men since the kickoff
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  Speaker 1: of the previous night, but the heavy fighting was yet
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  Speaker 1: to come, leaving the forty second to mop up the village.
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  Speaker 1: The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry pushed on to the
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  Speaker 1: east and prepared to fight off a determined counter attack
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  Speaker 1: developing from La Chavette to the northeast, but they were
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  Speaker 1: immediately appraised of another attack coming at their rear. From
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  Speaker 1: nothing daunted, they formed front both ways and fought their
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  Speaker 1: way back to Parvier. Though the enemy was coming on
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  Speaker 1: four deep from two directions. The forty second came up
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  Speaker 1: to their support, and soon the other two battalions of
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  Speaker 1: the brigade, the Royal Canadian Regiment and the forty ninth
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  Speaker 1: of Edmonton, were on the ground, helping to consolidate the position.
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  Speaker 1: During the course of the day, the enemy attacked again
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  Speaker 1: and again, but finally desisted, the Princess Patricia's estimating five
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  Speaker 1: hundred dead on their front. The village was honeycombed with
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  Speaker 1: subterranean passages, and in mopping up these three platoons of
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  Speaker 1: the forty second about ninety men, not only killed a
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  Speaker 1: hundred of the enemy as they strove to fight their
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  Speaker 1: way out, but captured and sent to the rear four
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  Speaker 1: hundred two prisoners. These two battalions suffered heavy casualties, but
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  Speaker 1: they were incurred after the village had been stormed. One
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  Speaker 1: officer remarked that there had been no harder infantry fighting
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  Speaker 1: since Mouquet Farm. Many individual feats of valor characterized this
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  Speaker 1: fight for Parvier, such as that of Private Thomas Denison
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  Speaker 1: of the forty second Battalion, a native of Denmark but
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  Speaker 1: who enlisted in Montreal. During ten hours of hand to
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  Speaker 1: hand fighting, which resulted in the capture of over a
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  Speaker 1: mile of strongly garrisoned and stubbornly defended enemy trenches, he
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  Speaker 1: displayed conspicuous and continuous bravery. Five times in succession he
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  Speaker 1: rushed forward alone and single handed put hostile machine guns
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  Speaker 1: out of action, accounting for twelve of the enemy with
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  Speaker 1: bomb and bayonet. His sustained valor and resourcefulness inspired his
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  Speaker 1: comrades at a very critical stage of the battle. At
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  Speaker 1: a critical period of the counter attack, when his platoon
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  Speaker 1: was isolated and almost surrounded, Sergeant Robert Spall of the
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  Speaker 1: Princess Patricia's seized a Lewis gun, and, jumping upon the
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  Speaker 1: parapet of the trench his platoon was holding, poured in
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  Speaker 1: a withering fire on the oncoming enemy ranks, inflicting many casualties.
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  Speaker 1: He then led his men along the trench into a
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  Speaker 1: gap seventy five yards from the enemy, where, picking up
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  Speaker 1: another Lewis gun, this gallant n COO again climbed the
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  Speaker 1: parapet and by his fire at point blank range, checked
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  Speaker 1: the enemy advance. He was here fatally wounded, but his
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  Speaker 1: courage and resourcefulness had saved his platoon. Born in Suffolk, England,
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  Speaker 1: he was brought by his parents to Montreal when a child,
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  Speaker 1: and at the outbreak of the war, was engaged in
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  Speaker 1: business in Winnipeg. In the meantime, another battle had developed,
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  Speaker 1: almost unexpectedly at Dammary on the front of the ninth Brigade.
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  Speaker 1: The fifty second Battalion, for the most part lumbermen and
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  Speaker 1: prospectors recruited at Fort William and Port Arthur, held the
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  Speaker 1: line immediately opposite the village. On Wednesday night, the enemy
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  Speaker 1: made a half hearted attack, and at nine o'clock next morning,
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  Speaker 1: August fifteen, a platoon was sent up the support line
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  Speaker 1: described above bombing as they went to test out the
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  Speaker 1: enemy's resistance. They reported back all clear. The battalion commander,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel W. W. Foster, made a personal reconnaissance with
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  Speaker 1: one runner, and, satisfied that the village could be carried,
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  Speaker 1: ordered an attack at five minutes notice. One company on
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  Speaker 1: the right went forward south of the village, a second
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  Speaker 1: company followed up the support trench, and a third skirted
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  Speaker 1: the village on the north with the remaining company in support.
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  Speaker 1: Very shortly, Dammery was in our hands. A few of
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  Speaker 1: the enemy were found in dugouts, and one of those
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  Speaker 1: lunged his bayonet through the sleeve of Colonel Foster's tunic
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  Speaker 1: before the latter shot him down. Suspecting a trap, he
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  Speaker 1: led his battalion east of the village and formed up
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  Speaker 1: behind the ridge with one company, and he pushed well
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  Speaker 1: out on either flank. In the meantime, the hundred sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: Battalion Center Ontario was pushing forward on his left, and
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  Speaker 1: the forty third Battalion Winnipeg in close support of the
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  Speaker 1: fifty second. The movement was carried out barely in time
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  Speaker 1: for there broke on the doomed village. An intense enemy
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  Speaker 1: cannonade of heavy and light guns, but not a shell
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  Speaker 1: touched our men lying behind the ridge. Gas laid down
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  Speaker 1: in the village floated back on a west wind over
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  Speaker 1: their heads. Then, after the preparation was considered complete, dense
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  Speaker 1: waves of field gray, converging on Dammery from both Goyancourt
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  Speaker 1: and Frenoi, flooded into an easy victory. They came in
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  Speaker 1: full marching equipment with their blankets, evidently expecting to break through.
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  Speaker 1: Not less than four enemy battalions came against our little force.
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  Speaker 1: They came confidently on to one of the most terrible
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  Speaker 1: slaughters of the war for our magnificent Our time 'tillery,
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  Speaker 1: assisted by French batteries on our right, laid down an
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  Speaker 1: intense barrage in the center of their mass advance and
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  Speaker 1: right across its entire length, extending as far back as
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  Speaker 1: the going Court Freynoi Road. The front waves were caught
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  Speaker 1: between the barrage and the village and must either fight
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  Speaker 1: their way through or surrender. They fought with desperate courage.
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  Speaker 1: Our center fell back a little to the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the village, while both our flanks somewhat advanced and wheeling
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  Speaker 1: in poured a murderous rifle and machine gun fire into
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  Speaker 1: the penned enemy mass. He was doomed. A few fought
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  Speaker 1: through to the village and fell beneath our bayonets. Some
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  Speaker 1: two hundred fifties surrendered, the rest died. The dead, conservatively
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  Speaker 1: estimated at over one thousand, were piled up rampart high,
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  Speaker 1: for our range was never more than two hundred yards.
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  Speaker 1: This was at one o'clock in the afternoon. At four
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  Speaker 1: o'clock the enemy again made a massed attack. So vital
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  Speaker 1: was the position to the defense of Roy, But by
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  Speaker 1: this time the Cameron Highlanders of Winnipeg had come up
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  Speaker 1: in support with a company on either flank of the
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  Speaker 1: fifty second, and secured Dammary Wood. The enemy was driven
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  Speaker 1: back with further slaughter. Among our wounded was Lieutenant Colonel Uckerhardt,
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  Speaker 1: who had so gallantly brought up his battalion. The forty
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  Speaker 1: third Assistants too, had been rendered from the direction of
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  Speaker 1: the Roy Road by the International Company, half French and
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  Speaker 1: half Canadian, who formed the liaison between us our gallant
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  Speaker 1: French neighbors. Indeed, fired by our success, pitched in that
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  Speaker 1: evening and stormed zed Wood by a singular chance. The
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  Speaker 1: immediate neighbors of the fifty second Canadian Infantry Battalion were
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  Speaker 1: the fifty second French Chassers, and an interchange of compliment
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  Speaker 1: and congratulation took place on the very fine work of
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  Speaker 1: both sides. The remainder of the Battle of am Yen,
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  Speaker 1: so far as the Canadian Corps is concerned, is thus
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  Speaker 1: described by the Corps commander. On the nights of August
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  Speaker 1: fifteen to sixteen and sixteen to seventeen, the First Canadian
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  Speaker 1: Division relieved the Third Canadian Division, the latter being withdrawn
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  Speaker 1: to Corps Reserve. Progress was made during the night of
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  Speaker 1: August sixteen to seventeen, the enemy being driven out of
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  Speaker 1: Fransart by the fourth Brigade Brigadier General r. Renni and
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  Speaker 1: out of La Chevette by the first Canadian Division, are
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  Speaker 1: line in the right being advanced in cooperation with the French.
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  Speaker 1: The relief of the Second Canadian Division by the fourth
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  Speaker 1: Canadian Division was carried out on the nights of August
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  Speaker 1: fifteen to sixteen and sixteen to seventeen, the former being
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  Speaker 1: withdrawn to Corps Reserve. On August seventeen, The operation which
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  Speaker 1: had been projected for August sixteen had been postponed and
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  Speaker 1: it had been decided to transfer the Canadian Corps back
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  Speaker 1: to the First Army. The move to begin by strategical
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  Speaker 1: trains on August nineteen. August eighteen was quiet along the front,
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  Speaker 1: but on August nineteen, the fourth Canadian Division carried out
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  Speaker 1: a minor operation near Chile, which greatly improved our line
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  Speaker 1: in that neighborhood. Four hostile counter attacks to recover the
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  Speaker 1: newly won ground were beaten off During the night. On
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  Speaker 1: August nineteen, the second and third Canadian Divisions started their
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  Speaker 1: move to First Army, and on the night of August
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  Speaker 1: nineteen to twenty the relief of the First Canadian Division commenced.
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  Speaker 1: This relief was completed on August twenty second, and the
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  Speaker 1: First Canadian Division was placed in Corps Reserve. On August
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  Speaker 1: twenty second, I handed over command of the Canadian Corps
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  Speaker 1: Front to the General Officer commanding Australian Corps, and my
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  Speaker 1: headquarters moved north to Hot Cloak, opening there at ten
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  Speaker 1: a m on the same day. Between August two and
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  Speaker 1: twenty two, the Canadian Corps fought against fifteen German divisions.
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  Speaker 1: Of these, ten were directly engaged and thoroughly defeated, prisoners
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  Speaker 1: being captured from almost every one of their battalions. The
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  Speaker 1: five other divisions fighting astride our flanks were only partially
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  Speaker 1: engaged by US. In the same period, the Canadian Corps
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  Speaker 1: captured nine thousand, one hundred thirty one prisoners, one hundred
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  Speaker 1: ninety guns of all calibers, and more than one thousand
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  Speaker 1: machine guns and trench mortars. The greatest depth penetrated approximated
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  Speaker 1: to fourteen miles and an area of over sixty seven
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  Speaker 1: square miles containing twenty seven towns in villages had been liberated.
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  Speaker 1: The casualties suffered by the Canadian Corps in the fourteen
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  Speaker 1: days heavy fighting amounted to officers killed one hundred twenty six, missing,
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  Speaker 1: nine wounded four hundred forty four total five hundred seventy nine.
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  Speaker 1: Other ranks killed one thousand, six hundred eighty eight, missing,
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  Speaker 1: four hundred thirty six wounded, eight thousand, six hundred fifty
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  Speaker 1: nine total ten thousand, seven hundred eighty three. Considering the
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  Speaker 1: number of German divisions engaged and the results achieved, the
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  Speaker 1: casualties were very light. End the capture of Fransart by
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  Speaker 1: the second Canadian Division was a brilliant piece of work.
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  Speaker 1: On August nineteen, orders were issued to the fourth and
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  Speaker 1: fifth Brigades to push forward and establish a line which
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  Speaker 1: should deny to the enemy the defenses of the railway
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  Speaker 1: east of Fransart and also clear the village, thus enabling
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  Speaker 1: the first Canadian Division, which was attacking on the right
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  Speaker 1: in cooperation with the French, to obtain their objective of
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  Speaker 1: La Chavette. The nineteenth Battalion Central Ontario, Lieutenant Colonel L. H. Millen,
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  Speaker 1: attacked at half past four in the afternoon and successfully
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  Speaker 1: carried out the operation established a line well forward of
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  Speaker 1: the village, capturing many prisoners and machine guns and much material.
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  Speaker 1: By half past seven, the line had been consolidated. This
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  Speaker 1: battalion was assisted by two companies of the eighteenth Battalion
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  Speaker 1: Western Ontario on the right, who after the attack, were
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  Speaker 1: used to protect and hold the extended right flank caused
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  Speaker 1: by the division on the right, not having been able
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  Speaker 1: to advance simultaneously. During these operations since August eighth, casualties
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  Speaker 1: among officers were very heavy. In addition to casualties among
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  Speaker 1: battalion commanders mentioned previously, Lieutenant Colonel C. E. Bent of
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  Speaker 1: the fifteenth Battalion of Toronto was severely wounded, the command
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  Speaker 1: devolving until his return some weeks later on Major J. D. Garvin.
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel W. S. Latta of the twenty ninth Battalion
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  Speaker 1: of Vancouver was also severely wounded. End of Part one,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight,