Canada in Flanders, Volume I

by Baron Max Aitken Beaverbrook

On the morning of the 20th orders were issued for an attack on the Orchard that night. A reconnaissance of the position was made by Major Leckie, brother of Lieut.-Colonel Leckie, when patrols were sent out, one of which very neatly managed to escape being cut off by the enemy, and another suffered a few casualties. This showed the Germans were in force, and that an attack on the Orchard would be no light work. That night the Canadian Scottish occupied a deserted house close to the German lines, and succeeded in establishing there two machine guns and a garrison of thirty men. The enemy were evidently not aware that we were in possession of this house, for although they bombarded all the British trenches with great severity throughout the whole of the next day, this little garrison was left untouched. The attacking detachment under Major Rae consisted of two companies of the Canadian Scottish, one commanded by Captain Morison, the other by Major Peck. The attack was to take place at 7.45 p.m., and at the same time the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) were directed to make an assault on a position several hundred yards to the right. During that afternoon the Orchard was very heavily bombarded by our artillery, the bombardment increasing in severity up to the delivery of the attack. Promptly to the minute, the guns ceased, and the two companies of the 16th Canadians climbed out of their trenches to advance. At the same instant the two machine guns situated in the advanced post opened on the enemy. As the advance was carried out in broad daylight, the movements were at once seen by the Germans, and immediately a torrent of machine gun, rifle fire, and shrapnel was directed upon our troops. Their steadiness and discipline were remarkable, and were greatly praised by the officers of the Coldstream Guards who were on our left.

Map—The Orchard and surroundings

When they reached the edge of the Orchard an unexpected obstacle presented itself in the form of a deep ditch, and on the further side a wired hedge. Without hesitation, however, the men plunged through the ditch, in some places up to their necks in water, and made for previously reconnoitred gaps in the hedge. Not many Germans had stayed in the Orchard during the bombardment. The bulk of the garrison, according to the usual German method under artillery fire, had evidently retired to the support trenches in the rear. A few had been left behind to man a machine gun redoubt near to the centre of the Orchard with the idea of holding up our advancing infantry till the enemy, withdrawn during the bombardment, could return in full strength; but these machine guns retreated when the Canadians came. On the far side of the Orchard, however, the Germans, following their system indicated above, came up to contest the position, but the onset of the Canadians forced them to beat a hasty retreat. Although double our numbers, they could not be induced to face a hand-to-hand fight. Three platoons cleared the Orchard, while a fourth platoon, advancing towards the north side, were hampered by a very awkward ditch, which forced them to make a wide detour, so that they did not reach the Orchard until its occupation was complete.

One company did not enter the Orchard, but pushed forward and occupied an abandoned German trench running in a south-westerly direction, to prevent any flank counter-attack being made by the enemy. They then found themselves in a very exposed position, and consequently suffered heavily. The casualties, in proportion to the number of men employed in the attack, were heavy for all engaged, but the position was a very important one, and had twice repulsed assault by other regiments.

Had our advance been less rapid the enemy would no doubt have got back into this position, and our task might have been impossible. They argued, as have said, that any attack might be held up by the machine guns in the redoubt and in the fortified positions on the flank for long enough to enable them to return to the Orchard after our bombardment had ceased, and then throw us back. The speed with which our assault was carried out altogether checkmated this plan.

The 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) included detachments from the 72nd Seaforths of Vancouver, the 79th Camerons of Winnipeg, the 50th Gordons of Victoria, and the 91st Highlanders of Hamilton; so all Canada, from Lake Ontario to the Pacific Ocean, was represented in the Orchard that night.

It was in the course of the struggle in the Orchard that Sapper Harmon, of the 1st Field Company, C.E., performed one of those exploits which have made Canadian arms shine in this war. He was attached to a party of twelve sappers and fifty infantrymen of the 3rd Canadian Battalion which constructed a barricade of sandbags across the road leading to the Orchard, in the face of heavy fire. Later, this barricade was partially demolished by a shell, and Harmon actually repaired it while under fire from a machine gun only sixty yards away! Of the party, in whose company Harmon first went out, six of the twelve sappers were wounded, and of the fifty infantrymen six were killed and twenty-four wounded. Later, he remained in the Orchard alone for thirty-six hours constructing tunnels under a hedge, with a view to further operations. Sapper B. W. Harmon is a native of Woodstock, New Brunswick, and a graduate of the University of New Brunswick.

The drawback to drill-book tactics is that if one side does not keep the rules the other suffers. And a citizen army will not keep to the rules. For example, not long after the affair of the Orchard, a Canadian battalion put up a little arrangement with the ever-adaptable Canadian artillery in its rear. The artillery opened heavy fire on a section of German trenches while the battalion made ostentatious parade of fixing bayonets, rigging trench ladders and whistling orders, as a prelude to attack the instant the bombardment should cease. The Germans, who are experts in these matters, promptly retired to their supporting trenches and left the storm to rage in front, ready to rush forward the instant it stopped, to meet the Canadian attack. So far all went perfectly. Our guns were lifted from the front trenches and shelled the supporting trench, in the manner laid down by the best authorities, to prevent the Germans coming up. The Germans none the less came, and crowded into the front trenches. But there was no infantry attack whatever. That deceitful Canadian battalion had not moved. Only the guns shortened range once more, and the full blast of their fire fell on the German front trench, now satisfactorily crowded with men. Next day's German wireless announced that "a desperate attack had been heavily repulsed," but the general sense of the enemy was more accurately represented by a "hyphenated" voice that cried out peevishly next evening: "Say, Sam Slick, no dirty tricks to-night." But to resume.