Approximate Line after Festubert and Givenchy, 1915.
CHAPTER XVII
NORTHWARD AGAIN
After Givenchy the Canadian Division rested for another week around the outskirts of Bethune before starting its long tramp back to the northern end of the line again.
But it was far from being a week of idleness, and hard drilling was the order of the day. Great stress was laid on bomb-throwing, and, in spite of the heavy casualties the bombing sections had suffered, there was no dearth of volunteers for the "Suicide Club," as the bombers termed themselves. The men, as well as the officers, recognised the value of this weapon, old as the use of gunpowder itself, but now reinstated to greater importance than ever before.
So we started northward, a very uneventful and tiring march, our first stop being at Neuf Berquin, where we rested a day.
The march had been very fatiguing; it was the latter end of June, and "sunny France" had been living up to her reputation, and even the nights, in which we marched for the sake of coolness and concealment, were most oppressive. And it was in weather like that that the famous "First Seven Divisions" fought and marched twenty-five or thirty miles, dug in and fought again, only to have again to retire!
And we were only averaging fifteen miles a march!
Our next halt was at Noote-Broome, a mere hamlet, where we held church service and then marched straight into the trenches.