COL. A. G. BLOIS, D.S.O.
The 25th Battalion played a glorious part in the Battle of Hill 70 on August 15, 1917. The boys went over the top from the shell-holes of No Man’s Land in front of Cité St. Laurent. “A” Company, in the first wave, secured the Hun front line. “B” Company was through them as soon as the creeping barrage permitted and clinched the support line, while “D” Company carried on to the limits of the town. The 24th Battalion then pushed on our positions 600 yards farther to the trench “Nun’s Alley.” Considering the amount of ground gained and the nature of the fighting, in ruined streets and over demolished buildings, the casualties were very light on the 15th. But the Hun artillery promptly laid down a barrage to cover his counter-attacks, which fell behind the front line and completely churned up the debris formerly known as Cité St. Laurent, where the 25th Battalion was endeavoring to establish a defensive position. The counter-attacks of the Bosche gradually weakened, and by the 18th had ceased; but his artillery strafing grew more intense as the days passed, causing many casualties.
On the night of August 19–20, the 25th Battalion moved from their positions in Cité St. Laurent to the comparative peace and quiet of the front line. At daybreak the 6th Brigade on our immediate right were to attack and tighten the pressure already exercised on Lens. The Hun also divulged his reason for the systematic and furious shelling of our positions during the past six days when he launched an attack in force on the 6th Brigade and extending into our right (“D” Company’s front). The O.C. “D” Company, being in an advanced position and close to our own artillery barrage line, was ordered to place his men under cover, which he did, leaving only sentries at the entrances to shelters.
CAPT. OWEN C. DAUPHINEE.
Zero hour for the 6th Brigade’s and the German attack coincided and both were demoralized by the intensity of the artillery fire they encountered before the assembly positions could be cleared. The result was that neither the 6th Brigade nor the Prussians opposite them left their trenches. But the artillery was not so active on the Front of our “D” Company, with the result that the Huns were throwing grenades down on our dugout steps before our men realized that they were trapped. Lieutenant Dauphinee was killed in a gallant attempt to clear the entrance to the dugout in which the whole Company was sheltered. Captain W. A. Livingstone, M.C., O.C. “D” Company, managed to force his way out by another entrance, and with a Lewis Gun spitting .303 bullets from his shoulder, he managed to clear the trench of those who escaped his fusilade. But the trench was literally filled with corpses from the attacking hordes. Nor was the situation normal as yet. A party of Huns had got in on the right of our boundary, and Lieutenant Spurr and Sergeant Jordan, after expelling them, organized the survivors of the Company of a Western Battalion, who had lost all their officers and were in a precarious condition. The boys of “D” Company, reinforced by a platoon from “B” Company, which had been led up through the intense shelling by Lieutenant Bell, were busy all day repelling bombing parties which stubbornly attempted to force their way into our lines at the Battalion boundary-the junction of Nun’s Alley and Commotion Trenches.
Captain Livingstone, whose work on this day merited the Victoria Cross, was severely wounded in the chest and collapsed immediately after he had cleared the Huns from his trenches, and Lieutenant Spurr commanded his company until relieved by a company of the Royal Canadian Regiment at night. Great credit is due Lieutenants Gibbons and Bell for their skill and judgment in rallying our boys and organizing the defences. The coolness of Sergeant Jordan saved the situation on the immediate right, when he rallied the overwrought survivors of the Western Battalion. Corporal Boudreau, Company Sergt.-Major Bragg, Corporal Veniot, and Sergt. “Dan” Fraser also distinguished themselves in inflicting punishment on the Hun and by their heroic conduct throughout the day. Company Sergt.-Major Bragg and Sergeant Jordan were awarded Distinguished Conduct Medals for their services on this occasion. Captain Livingstone, M.C., was awarded a bar, and Lieutenant Spurr, the Military Cross.
At Passchendaele, on November 10, 1917, the 5th Infantry Brigade was given the post of honor as a successful assaulting Brigade. The 1st, 3rd and 4th Divisions and the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division had been engaged in nibbling here and there at the Hun positions and had at length captured most of the Passchendaele Ridge. But the ruined town still remained in German hands. On the morning of the 6th November the 26th Battalion attacked and captured the ruins to the eastern limits of the town and after holding their gains for four days the 5th Brigade was withdrawn from the Passchendaele Sector, and returned to Lens.
The 2nd Canadian Division remained in the Lens-Mericourt Sectors until the latter part of February, 1918. The only notable occurrence, other than the loss of one man to the Huns, as previously noted, was the stealth raid led by Lieut. P. R. Phillips, of Barrington, assisted by a covering party under Lieut. Max MacRae, of Westville. The raiding party of only five crawled over the Lens-Arras Road and made their way among the battered houses of Lens to one of the buildings of Fosse 3 and destroyed a dugout full of “Heinies,” bringing the sentry who was on duty at the entrance into our lines. The prisoner proved to be a very observant chap and a great deal of information was gleaned from him. When questioned as to the great offensive which our Staff expected daily, he said no attack would be made on the Canadians. Fritz had probably had his fill of attacking Canucks when he broke his head on them in the First Battle of Ypres, at St. Eloi and the Barrier.