VII. 8th Battalion—Battle of Pilckem Ridge

The 8th Battalion after its fight at the Buffs’ Bank enjoyed a good long rest and pleasant change. It was at Escoeuilles in the Lumbres area for over a fortnight, and from there went on to the seaside at Ecault, about four miles south of Boulogne, for two or three days. This was really an enjoyable holiday; passes were granted into Boulogne, and the camp authorities were most kind; but all good things come to an end, and the 16th July found the men on the march again for Mic Mac Camp and the trenches. It took nearly a week to cover this distance, as no forced marches were called for, and so, on the 22nd July, the battalion started on the monotonous old trench work once more. Headquarters, with C Company, were quartered in a tunnel, some of these having been constructed of late by regular tunnelling companies of specially selected troops. This trench tour of the 8th Buffs, which lasted only six days, was a very strenuous one and occasioned no less than 160 casualties.

On the 25th one of our own heavy guns dropped a shell on our left front post and buried it. The post had been held by one N.C.O. and eight men, and four of these were wounded and the remainder badly shaken. Gas alarms were very numerous on this date. The following day was marked by minor enterprises undertaken by units on the Buffs’ left, our artillery opening at 5.5 p.m. The result was satisfactory, but unfortunately the regiment was unable to take part. On the 27th, a little before noon, a large shell pierced a tunnel occupied by our men, killing four, gassing about thirty and causing considerable delay to the carrying parties by blocking the gangway. On the 28th the Buffs were back for a day or two at Mic Mac Camp, and on the 31st the Battle of Pilckem Ridge commenced.

This was a carefully organized attack on our part with a view to gaining the crest of the high ground east of Ypres, and though troops were to be engaged all the way from Deulemont to Steenstraat—a fifteen-mile front—the brunt of the work was apportioned to the 5th Army under Sir Hubert Gough, acting between Boesinghe and the road which runs from Zillebeke to Zandvoorde. Thus it came about that on the 30th July the Buffs moved up to assembly positions in Ecluse Trench, passing Dickebusch en route. Barrage rations were issued and the men awaited the break of day and zero hour, which was fixed for 3.50 a.m. on the 31st. They were not in the front line, and one hour after zero moved up to the position vacated by the 12th Royal Fusiliers in Canada Tunnel, reaching it without casualties, after meeting several wounded men from different units of the division, from whom only garbled accounts of what was going forward could be gleaned. For the whole of this first day our men lay in the stifling tunnels, where the heat was tremendous and the odour most offensive. It was not till 8.30 the next night that the Buffs emerged from their unpleasant surroundings and pushed forward to relieve the 3rd Rifle Brigade in our new front line, which was, however, not as far off as had been planned; for the British advance had been halted by very heavy opposition from shells, machine guns and rifle fire. The Rifle Brigade proved very difficult to discover, owing to the darkness and inefficient guides and, when found, their portion of the new line was far from comfortable, especially on the left, where D Company was. It proved a chain of posts in shell holes which were mostly half full of water; the rain was falling, too, and the hostile shelling was heavy.

However, a welcome relief came on the evening of the following day, and in the dark, over very heavy and unknown ground, the battalion stumbled through the night, suffering a few casualties, including Captain Morrell slightly wounded, until at daylight the men made the camp again and rested at Dickebusch for some two or three days before going up into line once more on the 7th, on which occasion battalion headquarters was established in Canada Tunnel as before.

At 4.35 a.m. on the 10th August, in accordance with orders received, an attempt was made to capture Lower Starpost, 2nd Lieut. Lowles and forty-seven men of B Company being detailed for the job. This little party formed up at 3.45 and was subjected to very heavy shelling while waiting for the zero hour. Then our barrage opened and three minutes later the majority of the guns lifted, but one of the batteries failed to do so for another minute and a half, which mistake cost twelve casualties and greatly disorganized the party. However, the men advanced, only to find that, owing to the delay in the lifting of some of the guns, the enemy was all ready and, having left the dug-outs, was awaiting what was to come. By this time Lowles and all his N.C.O.’s except L.-Corpl. Simson were wounded, but the stout lance-corporal immediately opened fire with his Lewis gun and ordered his men to charge. The gun jammed almost immediately, and the enemy defended himself briskly with stick bombs. The remaining one-third of the party—two-thirds of the original number having dropped—could make no headway against the strong opposition encountered and returned to the lines, having had 5 killed, 23 wounded and 3 missing, and having shown great courage and determination.

From this date until the 21st September life was somewhat monotonous and consisted, as usual, of work in the trenches and rest in camp in alternate periods, Larch Wood tunnels being the scene of the one and Mic Mac Camp and Dickebusch of the other. Clear weather and a bright harvest moon the first week in September caused the enemy to try bombing a good many British camps at night from aeroplanes, and the Buffs experienced this form of annoyance together with other units. On the 11th September, while moving up into the trenches, two men were killed and another wounded, and 2nd Lieut. Cooper and R.S.M. Dare were so badly shaken up that they had to be sent away for a while. The next day the enemy shelled the ration dump, causing some minor casualties. L.-Corpl. Bussell and Pte. Gasking later on got M.M.’s for coolness and bravery on this occasion.

On the 16th September the battalion was put into buses and removed to Oultersteen, which is three miles beyond Bailleul, and five days later it entrained for Bapaume and marched to Ypres. On the 27th it marched to Haut Allaines, on the 29th to Hervilly, and on the 30th took its place in the line with French on their right, the battalion being thus at the extreme right of the British line.

The first week in October, in this portion of the line, was devoted mostly to patrol work, and a few casualties occurred, two men being killed and another wounded on the 3rd, but the work was the same as usual. Bernes and Vadencourt were the resting-places, and Ascencion Wood the chief object of the patrols.

On the 4th November an American officer was attached to the regiment—one swallow does not make a summer, but this was a welcome sign of what was to be expected later on. On the 6th one of our patrols at night, being south of Ascencion Wood, came across a similar party of the enemy, and both immediately opened fire, the Buffs losing two killed and five wounded in the little affair. Life towards the end of the year was uneventful. On the 23rd November a post under Sgt. Smith was attacked by thirty or forty Germans, but they were driven off without casualties to us, and one dead officer and a N.C.O., badly wounded, were found on our wire afterwards. The average company strength during the month of November was only eighty-four.

The 3rd December found the battalion in the line again and expecting a hostile attack, but on the 7th it was back in Hancourt. About Christmas a good deal of movement on the enemy’s part appeared to be going on around Bellicourt. The Buffs being then opposite, at Montigny, Christmas was kept on the 31st of the month at Montigny.

On the 1st January, 1918, the brigade moved back a few miles to Vraignes, but only for a short time. On the 21st, whilst at Hancourt, orders arrived that the 8th Battalion of the Buffs and the 12th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers were to be disbanded, so, on the 30th, all employed men of these units rejoined, and on the 6th February the drafts of men already noted[25] started for the 1st and 6th Battalions. Thus ended the only 8th Battalion the regiment ever had. Ever since the 26th September, 1915, when it suffered so severely near Loos, and when it lost the gallant Romer, this unit had borne a brave share in the great struggle. Very few, if any, of the men raised by the gallant Colonel Romer in 1914 were passed on in February, 1918 (Major J. Vaughan, M.C., being one of the exceptions), but the regimental spirit was still a living thing, and it was a right and happy order that the men should remain Buffs and no new badge should replace the ancient dragon.

CHAPTER XII
THE QUEEN’S OWN RIFLES OF CANADA

As members of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada were fighting from early in 1915 till the end of hostilities, perhaps the centre of the war history between the more or less evenly contested portion of the struggle and the beginning of the end would be a suitable place to insert a short chapter describing who and what this regiment was and is, for no war history of the Buffs would be complete without reference to their allied regiment of Canadian Militia.

This was an existing corps long before August, 1914, and so could hardly be referred to in our third chapter, which dealt chiefly with the raising of new units. On reference to the official Army List it will be seen that, under the headings of certain of our regiments, such for example as the Somerset Light Infantry, the Suffolk Regiment, the Black Watch and our own, are entered the words:—

The idea is a very pretty one, naturally induces the very best of cordial good feeling, and emphasises in a pleasant and soldierly way the idea of blood brotherhood which exists between warrior Englishmen and their soldier cousins over the seas.

The regiment is an old one and belongs to Toronto, Ontario. The foundation of the Canadian Militia was practically laid by the gallant band of loyalists who, in spite of ill-treatment on the part of old England to her colonists, stuck manfully to their King during the American upheaval of the year 1776. This militia turned out again in the war between England and the United States in 1812, in which struggle the Canadians saw some great fighting and succeeded in keeping their country safe and intact in spite of their powerful neighbour.

The actual formation of the Toronto regiment was in 1860, and it first paraded on Queen Victoria’s birthday of that year. More active service was experienced during the Fenian raids of 1864, 65 and 66, and in the Red River rebellion of 1870; but it is not of course possible, nor even desirable in this place, to give the regimental history as a whole, and reference is merely made to these campaigns in order to show the reader that our allied regiment is of no new growth.

As regards recent history, however, it is interesting to note that when a military contingent was sent to represent Canada at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, one of the units was made up of the Rifle Regiments of Canada and commanded by Major H. M. Pellatt, for this is a well-known regimental name. The regiment was also represented in the Boer War.

In 1902 Pellatt, now Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the regiment, headed the Canadian contingent which attended the coronation of King Edward VII, and on the occasion took with him, at his own expense, the regiment’s famous bugle band.

In the summer of 1910 a provisional battalion of six hundred and fifty men, drawn from the regiment, sailed for England to take part in the army manœuvres. This was made possible by the generosity and patriotism of Colonel Sir Henry Pellatt, who bore the entire expense. It is almost superfluous to add that a hearty welcome awaited these soldiers both on landing in England and on arrival at Aldershot.

On September 3rd the Canadians performed a thirteen-mile route march with the Buffs, and in connection with this exercise the following words were written by a distinguished officer of the Corps: “There had been a friendly feeling existing between all ranks of these two regiments since the arrival of the Queen’s Own in England, due to the fact that they both used the same regimental march. Permission for the Queen’s Own to use this march had been given by the Buffs over forty years ago. The friendly feeling between the two units was greatly strengthened that day, and during the whole of the stay in England the Queen’s Own were indebted to the Buffs for many acts of kindness and thoughtfulness.”

Immediately after the return of the battalion to Toronto steps were taken to bring about an affiliation with the Buffs, but it was not until 1914 that this was finally accomplished, when the following appeared in Militia orders: “His Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve of the 2nd Regiment, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, being made an allied regiment of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment).” The annual mess dinner of the Queen’s Own was held on the 23rd April, 1914, at the Military Institute, Toronto, and the 1st Battalion dining at the same time at Fermoy, an all-British cable communication between the two places was arranged to permit an exchange of messages; the first time direct cables were sent between Toronto and Ireland. This was made possible at the request of Sir Henry Pellatt. Cordial interchange of greetings resulted.

As regards the Great War, which, after all, is what the readers of this book are primarily interested in: immediately upon the news of the declaration of war reaching Canada, Lt.-Colonel M. S. Mercer,[26] Commandant of the Queen’s Own Rifles, offered to his government a battalion of his regiment for immediate service abroad. Upon the acceptance by the British Government of one complete division from Canada with reinforcements for the same, Lt.-Colonel Mercer was notified that the battalion offered by the Queen’s Own could not be accepted and that the regiment, with the others, could only be allowed to furnish 250 volunteers per battalion in accordance with instructions already issued to all infantry units of the Canadian Militia. At this time few, if any, in the country foresaw the extent of Canada’s ultimate effort, and many believed that one division, which represented the first contingent, would probably be all that would ever sail for the war. This being the case, and the authorities desiring that all units of the militia, of which there were 110 battalions of infantry, should be represented and have an opportunity of furnishing their quota, it came about that battalions were not raised upon the regimental system, as was done in Great Britain, but composite battalions, as forming part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, were made up from drafts contributed from the various militia corps throughout the whole country.

From this it may be seen that the Queen’s Own Rifles did not serve in the war as a single unit, but as parts of many, and so it may be easily conceived that portions of the regiment fought in each and all of the many great battles in which Canada so gloriously distinguished itself. This fact makes it impossible in this short history to follow their doings in the detailed manner which is attempted in the cases of the English battalions. Nevertheless we are able to trace the Queen’s Own to a certain extent, and we know that about eight hundred of the regiment were formed at once on the declaration of war into a service battalion and that very strong representations were made to the Canadian government to allow this unit to proceed overseas in its entirety, but that permission was refused.

On the 31st August, 1914, orders were issued that the infantry of the first contingent would consist of seventeen battalions numbering from one onward, that twelve of these would be selected for the fighting division and that the remaining five would form a Canadian reserve in England. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions were brigaded together, with Colonel M. S. Mercer as brigadier. The service battalion of the Queen’s Own was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, together with detachments from other corps. The contingent spent five months on Salisbury Plain, was inspected by H.M. The King, accompanied by Lord Kitchener, on the 5th February, 1915, and embarked for France three days later, landing at St. Nazaire.

The 3rd battalion soon afterwards was at Armentieres and in the trenches, to learn the life and duties under the tuition of the Sherwood Foresters. It was this 1st Canadian Division which fought so gallantly at the Second Battle of Ypres in April, 1915, only two months after landing in France, and these were the men that Geddes’ detachment were so intimately associated with and to whose assistance Captain Tomlinson’s ill-fated company was sent on the 24th April. The 3rd Battalion, which included, as we have seen, in its ranks the Queen’s Own, were very much in the thick of this terrible fight, and two of its companies, A and B, were fighting actually alongside Tomlinson’s company, engaged in the same and identical enterprise.

How many of those men who route-marched with the Buffs at Aldershot in 1910 ever dreamed that in less than four years they would be fighting desperately alongside the old regiment (though, of course, a different battalion of it) in one of the greatest battles ever contested?

Sixty-one officers and nearly four thousand N.C.O.’s and men of the Queen’s Own served with this 3rd Battalion during the war, and it was always commanded by one of the regiment’s own officers.

In October, 1914, it was decided that Canada should furnish a second division, and one complete company of the 19th Battalion, serving with this, was furnished by the Buffs’ Allied Corps. This division reached France in September, 1915.

On the 14th November twelve extra mounted rifle battalions were authorized for war, and one of them was raised in Toronto and subsequently fed with drafts from our regiment. These were originally intended for mounted troops, but were transformed into ordinary infantry when it was found that that arm was the one most in request.

The men generally went to France as drafts for existing units, but the 4th and 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles became two battalions of the 3rd Canadian Division which was formed in France in the spring of 1916 and placed under the command of Major-General M. S. Mercer, C.B.

The 35th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised in 1915 and it also contained a company of the Queen’s Own Rifles, and indeed in course of time 17 officers and 650 men of the regiment passed through this particular unit.

Then, again, it was strongly represented in the 58th, 74th, 75th, 83rd, 95th, 166th and 255th Battalions, some of which were draft-finding units, and others served complete in the war.

In fact, officers and men of the Queen’s Own Rifles found their way into all units and services of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which fought in nearly all the considerable battles on the Western front from the Second Battle of Ypres up to the armistice; and wherever it fought it is safe to affirm that some, at any rate, of the Queen’s Own fought too.

It seems, therefore, almost as impossible to give a list of engagements the men were present at as it always has been in the case of the Royal Artillery, which corps, it is well known, is obliged to fall back on the single word “Ubique” instead of a battle-roll.

The following is a summary of the work done by our Canadian Allied Regiment and the honours its members won:—

Total enlistments for service overseas 9,104
Killed or died of wounds or disease 1,324
Wounded 3,198
Prisoners of war 117
Granted commissions in the field 257[27]
Number of officers who served in theatre of war 205[28]
Number of officers killed or died of wounds 47
Decorations
Victoria Cross 1
Commander of the Bath 2
Companion St. Michael and St. George 2
Distinguished Service Order 12
Bar to D.S.O. 5
Military Cross 51
Bar to M.C. 11
Commander British Empire 1
Order British Empire 6
Member British Empire 2
Croix de Guerre (French) 10
Croix de Guerre (Belgium) 5
Legion of Honour 2
Médaille Militaire 1
Distinguished Conduct Medal 29
Bar to D.C.M. 6
Military Medal 175
Bar to M.M. 14
2nd Bar to M.M. 3
Meritorious Service Medal 13
Distinguished Flying Cross 2

Besides the battalions alluded to above there was another in which we are interested, though not connected with the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, except that several of the latter’s officers assisted in the raising and organization of it: the 198th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised in Toronto by men of Kent.

We in England are inclined affectionately to term the Queen’s Own “The Canadian Buffs,” but this is not its name.

The 198th War Battalion was, like our 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th, a war unit only, but during its existence it was called by the name of “Canadian Buffs,” though never formally or officially allied to the old regiment.

It was commanded by Lt.-Colonel J. A. Cooper and had colours presented to it on the 1st November, 1916, by Sir John Hendrie, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario, who in his speech on the occasion laid stress on the honour granted to the battalion by His Majesty The King, in allowing it to be called by the name of such an historic regiment.

The Canadian Buffs lost seven officers and ninety-nine other ranks killed.

CHAPTER XIII
THE END OF THE SALONICA AND MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGNS