“At about 6.25 p.m. a party of 25
to 30 Germans
were observed at a point about 30
yds. From head
of Sap B.5”- Intelligence
Summary No. 14, 12
Canadian Infantry Brigade,
08 January, 1917
It was the first
full moon of the New Year. Corporal
Worthington and his Lewis gun crew were standing sentry at ‘King Street’; a
portion of front line trench currently the responsibility of ‘D’ Company, 73rd
(Royal Highlanders of Canada) Battalion.
From this point, they had a good view of ‘Surprise Crater”, which lay
halfway between friendly and enemy lines, and Sap ‘B.5’, a shallow ditch
meandering from the Canadian front line trench to the crater. Currently, no one was posted at ‘Surprise Crater’-
which would have been an ideal spot to get eyes on the enemy works. Worthington’s section were then the furthest
forward elements in their Battalion’s patch.
Damp cold and
fatigue were more present adversaries than the Germans. Long, dark winter nights, coupled with the
strain of daily efforts at surviving and nowhere near enough sleep could play
funny with the mind. This was why the
fleeting figures out in No-man’s Land required a second glance to assure their
existence. No mirage, this- it was
indeed a large body of enemy troops making for Canadian lines; not more than
two dozen yards distant- a raid!
Worthington
tapped his gunner, pointed out the grey ghosts.
“Open up!”
The past few
days had been dull, heavy with showery clouds limiting visibility along the
front. This close weather had earlier on
scrubbed the only grand plans for the day along 4th Canadian
Division’s front; which was now the North-west edge of the Canadian Corps
position opposite Vimy Ridge. “It was
proposed,” for January 07, “to have a bombardment of the enemy trench system….subject
to proper weather conditions, but had to be postponed owing to the mist which
prevailed during most of the morning.”[1]
As it was, the
day passed for what could be called “normal”.
Overall, there was the usual exchange of artillery and trench mortar
fire, much more harassing than deliberately destructive as would have been the
cancelled bombardment.
From this quiet
night, the rip of fire from Worthington’s Lewis at King Street put the front
line on high alert. On of ‘D’ Company’s
subalterns, Lieutenant Joseph Griffiths “who was near hurried to the spot and
took charge of the situation.”[3] Griffiths had farmed before the war, not yet
thirty he had settled in Canada from his home in Wales. In this pacific life he’d led, he’d not had
any prior experience in the military.
Griffiths had volunteered as a private soldier in December 1914, within
the war’s first few months. The young
man seemed to gel quite well with the army, accelerating through the ranks and
finally being granted a commission before being sent to join the 73rd
Battalion in the field in September, 1916.
Corporal
Worthington’s quick action had scattered the German raid back to their
lines. Shortly after, though, they had
re-formed and a second attempt “approached nearer and threw bombs in Sap B.5
but was again driven back leaving several wounded or dead.”[4] A third approach was likewise scattered “and
a fourth time a few come out and attempted to gather up their casualties. They were, however, fired upon and had to
retire.”[5]
Determined
though the enemy was, the handful of men under Lt Griffiths and Cpl Worthington
were enough to prevent the German raiders from making their objective. The only casualty was Lt Griffiths, and his
wound was slight enough for him to remain forward.
Their work wasn’t
quite done. Once it became apparent that
the Germans had given up the idea of coming over, Lt Griffiths organised a
small patrol- himself and two privates, Webb and Greenhalgh- to move out from
Sap B.5 into the dead ground in an attempt to secure identification from the
bodies left behind. The patrol moved
cautiously, as the evening shower of flares had begun, being constantly sent
aloft from the German lines. From the
extent that Webb and Greenhalgh managed to reach they spotted at least two
German bodies some 15 yards distant, being watched by a sentry from the cover
of a shell-hole. “They think,” records
the day’s Intelligence Summary, “they recognised the sound of shovels being
used behind sentry.”[6]
Two days later,
the 4th Division Diary relates that the “news was confirmed by the
12th Canadian Infantry Brigade that the enemy had apparently
succeeded in getting his wounded, left out as a result of his attempted raid on
evening January 7th. The
nature of the ground prevented our parties from the 12th seeing
anything of the wounded….it is presumed the enemy were able to sap out and
reach their wounded.”[7]
“The remainder
of the night passed quietly.”[9]
In the hundred
days between New Year’s and the start of the Spring Offensives, the Canadian
Corps did just as the Official History describes. They trained and prepared, each unit becoming
intimately familiar with the ground to their front- as it was destined to be
the same ground they would cover in the coming attack. This work built up to a crescendo on the 1st
of March when the entire 4th Division made a large scale raid of the
German lines.
“Promptly at
5.40,” that morning, “our barrage opened up and our attacking parties got over
the parapet and went forward.”[10]
Overall results were promising. “A large
enemy bomb dump was blown up and part of his F.L.T. was systematically
destroyed. Several Machine Guns were destroyed
and approximately 22 dugouts were bombed….A large number of the enemy were
killed.”[11]
“Officers and
men without exception fought magnificently.”[12] During
the raid, Lt Griffiths, who was leading a patrol consisting of a platoon from ‘D’
Company was taken from the field, dangerously wounded. He was passed back through the lines to
Casualty Clearing Station No. 6 where early the next day he succumbed to his
injuries. “Word was received that Lieut.
Griffiths had died of his wounds, and arrangements were made for
representatives of the Battalion to attend his funeral on the 3rd.”
Coincidentally,
also on the third of March, as Lt Griffiths was being laid down, that day’s
Supplement to the London Gazette contained the following citation:
Which announced
his awarding of the Military Cross for his brave work in January; an award he
didn’t live long enough to receive. His
medals and Memorial Cross were forwarded to his parents, Mr. & Mrs. W’m
Griffiths in Wrexham, North Wales.
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[1] 4th Canadian Division War Diary, 07 January
1917
[2] Nicholson, GW, Col. “Official History of the Canadian
Army in the First World War” Queen’s Printer, Ottawa 1962 pg. 233
[3] 73rd (RHC) Battalion, War Diary 07 January
1917
[6] 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade Intelligence
Summary No. 14, 08 January 1917
[11] 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary 01
March 1917
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