German
troops make an attempt on Canadian lines, Ypres August 1916
“The conduct of
the 60th Battalion holding trenches
38-46 was all
that could be desired”
-Lt Colonel Gascoigne, O.C.
60th (Victoria Rifles of
Canada) Battalion[1]
Warm days and
cool nights, common to the Low Countries in mid-August combined to create a
series of misty mornings. Big guns
behind the trench lines barked and growled at irregular intervals, harassing
and probing for weakness; destroying by day the trenches, outposts and wire
obstacles both sides worked nightly to repair.
It was a tiresome cycle of building and demolition which by now had
become routine. The underground war of
mines, countermines and dangerous collapses brought on by unstable, saturated
earth continued, and nightly small groups of men crept forward in attempts to
fulfill the desire for accurate and current intelligence.
Nothing at all
on the morning of the twelfth could, with all of this going on, be considered
unusual, as that term was hardly of use to describe anything in the Ypres
Salient in the depths of summer 1916.
The Canadian
Corps was decamping from the Salient, moving in stages to areas rearward in
preparation for redeploying at the Somme.
It had to be done in such a measured way so that no portion of the line
was weakened, and due to the vast number of men and amount of materiel
involved. With the inclusion of the 4th
Canadian Division, now in the process of shipping to France, the Corps would
soon be complete “with a strength of nearly 100 thousand men.”[2] To avoid any difficulties- logistically or
tactically- each active division would be pulled from the line one brigade at a
time. This was begun by the 1st
Canadian Division shifting the 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Canadian Infantry Brigades in turn to “the Second Army Training Area west of
ST. OMER, where (the Division) will come into Army Reserve.”[3]
The portion of the Salient which had been
held by 1st Division would be taken over by extending the frontage
covered by 3rd Division. By
putting all three of its brigades (7th, 8th and 9th
Canadian Infantry Brigades) forward when two was more usual and having these
brigades organised so each would have “two battalions in line, one in Brigade
Reserve and one in Divisional Reserve,”[4] 3rd
Division could maintain the density of front line occupation. A trade off in doing so, however, was in
having less units available in immediate reserve. This might make reinforcement or
counterattacking any German offensive more difficult. If this was a concern, no note was made of
it. After all, despite all the
background noise, Ypres was still a “quiet” sector, and 3rd Division
would only be this extended for ten days before withdrawing its brigades in
place of a British Division due to arrive on the week of the 25th.
Transfer out of
1st Division was completed when the 60th Battalion (9th
Brigade, 3rd Division) fresh from a rest position took over front
line trenches from the 1th Battalion (2nd Brigade, 1st
Division) overnight, 11-12 August. A
highlight of the recent stay out of the line for the 60th- the
Victoria Rifles of Canada from Montreal- must have been at last having their
turn in the Corps-wide exchange of the Short Magazine Lee Enfield in place of
the notoriously poor-performing Ross Rifle.
They might not have thought they’d get much of a chance to make use of
them this time up the line. Had any man
had thought that; he would have been wrong.
Just as the
morning moved towards nine o’clock, the Germans opened up a terrific artillery
bombardment, concentrating their fire on the front line trenches which the Vic
Rifles had only just taken over, and those adjacent to their right held by 1st
Canadian Mounted Rifles of 9th Brigade. The onslaught was fierce an accurate, plowing
through their wire and blowing portions of the parapet down. The prospect of
getting clipped by a shell splinter was just as fearsome as becoming entombed
in the sliding wreck of the very thing built to protect them from
shelling. Canadian batteries were
alerted and began their own counter-bombardment. Such an intensity of fire could only mean one
thing- that the enemy was planning to come over, in strength.
When, a little
more than an hour after it began the German shelling checked pace, a push by
their infantry was almost certain.
Exactly where they would hit, and in what strength remained to be seen. Ground between opposing lines was uneven,
undulating and shattered; a combination of rolling topography and explosive
cosmetic changes. This tirade of
shelling had whisked the loose, dry surface dirt into a filthy clouded screen. Observing enemy movement would be difficult,
if not impossible, until their troops were directly on top of Canadian lines.
At close to ten
o’clock, the first German probes hit-hard; leading their attempts with showers
of grenades.
The main body of
German infantry, estimated to be between 150-200 strong were pushing forward in
two waves, their apparent objective to gain lodgement at a point of the
Canadian defensive system labelled “Trench 38.”
It was evident the Germans knew exactly what they were doing. They had chosen to attack the place which not
only marked a boundary between battalions- the 60th Bn. and 1st CMR- but Trench 38 also denoted the right and left edges of 9th and
8th Brigades’ area of responsibility. A rapid thrust at this precise
point would send shock waves and quite possibly situational confusion through
several chains of command. The Germans
also seemed to have timed the attack to coincide with units fresh to the front-
1st CMR had only arrived the day before from a reserve position, the
Vic Rifles had been in place less than twelve hours, and both had taken over
trenches in an area they were not immediately familiar with, it had belonged to
1st Division just a few days ago.
When the assault
was made, 1st CMR joined in with the Vic Rifles- “the enemy was seen
to advance….Front parapet was immediately manned and vigorous fire from rifle
and machine guns was brought to bear, checking the advance and causing many
casualties.”[5] Both battalions’ fire forced the greater part
of the German assaulting troops back to their own lines-those that were capable
of doing so. Trenches held by the Vic
Rifles were only breached in two places, by barely a handful of German troops. In both cases, the attempt to gain lodgement
was foiled by quick thinking Sergeants using grenades and one enthusiastic
private who “jumped over the parapet and bayonetted one of the raiders.”[6] This deft act, worthy of note in Colonel
Gascoigne’s report, would in fact cost Pte Cann his life. He’d been overseas less than two months.[7]
Using the dead
ground to their advantage, a small number of Germans were able to get as far as
the outposts the battalion had set up in the craters immediately in front of
the firing line. The Canadians here were
killed to a man, but the enemy couldn’t hold this ground for long, coming under
direct rifle and machine gun fire “with good effect, as only a few of them were
seen to crawl back into German lines.”[8]
Exactly what the
Germans had intended that morning was unclear.
Aside from smaller bombing parties making demonstrations elsewhere, and
believed to be feints, the action was confined to this specific portion of the
Canadian line. If it had been a raid, it
was unusually large, at an unusual time of day and presaged by an hour’s
bombardment which was out of character for these regularly swift and surprising
attacks of opportunity. Observation of
German trenches had generated reports of high concentrations of troops-
possibly reserves- in full packs and equipment.
Later consensus by Canadian intelligence was that the Germans had
mounted a raid in strength with the intention of following through by deploying
their reserves in force should the raiding party gain possession of the Canadian
front line.
It was, all
considered, a fairly minor action, developing and concluding between breakfast
and lunch on the morning of the twelfth.
Both 1st CMR and the Vic Rifles were able to report the
situation as stable before one in the afternoon. Total casualties between the two battalions
were 32 Killed, 93 wounded and 3 missing.[9] What was shown in this brief, intense
skirmish, however, was that the Canadians certainly weren’t the soft target
their critics- both friend and foe- may have thought judging by the worrisome
loss of ground in June. The Corps had
learned from error and lack of preparation, incorporating these lessons in the
ongoing training of both officers and men.
This would be to their credit in the months and years ahead,
particularly in such a war with a constantly increasing learning curve.[i]
It is with extreme
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is now available for sale through Kindle
Direct Publishing:
Moments before the men
of Six Platoon 'B' Company, King's Own Canadian Scots Regiment will go forward
to assault Vimy Ridge, each one of them must reconcile themselves to their
probable fate. Felix Strachan, a teen-aged corporal about to lead his men into
battle, has already seen a lot of this war; its arbitrary cruelty to life. In
the past eight months he's been fighting in France, he's lost friends and a
little of his faith in mankind, though nothing has bothered him more than the
death of a stranger- a transferred officer left on the field after a failed
patrol. Not only can no one seem to remember who the officer was, his death may
not have been at the enemy's hands. Felix, in the seconds before Zero hour
tries to come to terms with a question he has held for as long as he can
remember- "What does it mean to die
well?"
This book uses the
extreme human experience of war to explore ideas of morality within a
historically correct, visceral and realistic narrative. I have, in order
to achieve this, relied upon my strength as an essayist and lecturer on the
history of the First World War, as well as my own service with the Canadian
Army.
[2] Marteinson, John, “We Stand On Guard: An Illustrated
History of the Canadian Army” Ovale Publications 1992 pg. 139
[3] Operations Order 93, 1st Canadian Division
08 August 1916
[4] Summary of Operations, Canadian Corps, 11-17 August
1916
[5] War Diary Entry, 1st Canadian Mounted
Rifles, 12 August 1916
[9] War Diary Entry, 1st Canadian Mounted
Rifles, 12 August 1916 & Gascoigne, F.A., Lt Col. Report, ibid.
[i] All Primary Sources Cited, and Information Used to
Construct this Article is due to the courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
