The Lucknow Sentinel, 1952-11-05, Page 5THE LUT
OW. ;SIE,:hFClNEL, LUCKNOW, ONTARIO
?AGF. AVE;
Alex
1VFacIntyre's
After 10 days in Paris' I travel-
led northeastward toompiegne
which is famous, as CaKin's in's birth
place and as the siteof a palace
which; has 'been inhabited by such
people as Napoleon and Marie,
Antoinette, After lei ving the city
by the bridge over'. the Oise one
soon comes to th a "Armistice.
Crdsaro-ada -Whe +e -AM- th Bth + - .
November, 1913, Marshal , •Foch:
met the . German leaders ",in order
to. initiate ar7n•is±ice proceedings.
Eight rniles' to".the -east lies ,F ibe-
Court which Marks the farthest
German advance * (June • 10, 1918),
-in _this_ area :the destrut ion was
very great and many towns;: of
•' five. & six thousand people were
entirely destroyed: Saint Quentin
was methodically looted ..and
burnt by • the"Gerrnans Who •oc-
cupied, it. from : August 1914 '" to
October. ,191.8 and all of the 'sur-
rounding area was the ,scene of
desperate fighting in March 1917
(German .retreat), in March. 1913
(German offensive) and in Sep-
tember 1918 .(German retreat):
*Alas important Mainly because,
of the Hindenburg Line which, 3
miles , west ` of the city crossed.
the Oise River which here close-
ly approaches the Somme,
From Saint• Quentin my route.
led 'northwards to Casnlbrai :then
,down 'the tree lined/ road from
Can ibrai to . Arras. This. is,' the
scene of seine of the most earn
•ous Canadian victories.'. and. some
Of . the. following .paragraphs Will
help to explain how :.the Canadian
soldiers . have became a • legend
with the French and how they,
have built a reputation that will
last for ' generations. One. often
hears the -Statement • ``They . were
such good soldiers and such'good
friends of_France'.' _and many. -a
Frenchman' on, hearing. that I was
•Canadian delighted in expending
the greatest .efforts todescribe
the area asit was 35 or more
years ago; Most: older "men were
veterans and: some could point to.
places, where they had been. In
this district one gets a good im-
pression 'of :Much of the battle.
areas and it: is easy to :decide that
the cities made famous 'by •events
are in themselves far from at.,
tractive. They are industrial -,and:
dirty and the countryside .is often
flat, empty land° colorless, yet fate
chose this and similar terrain fpr
one of history's ',bitterest strugr.
gles. Sometimes the landscaPe
provides'a .riverlike- the Somme
or ,a• crest ' like Vimy as a - great
advantage for,.. ,defensive Otiop
but at many other points there
are only miles and miles of flat
open ..coui try.,'it was across these
flatlands' and .scattered hills that
lien dup • ;rows upon, :rows, of
trenches which stretched from
the Channel to the Swiss front
ler;: For four years• •the 'routine
included '.mud, lice, ' death, the
clang ef the gars .alarm; raid' by
night and—alarms by day. The two
powerful 'opponents devasted a
country and . filled many cemet
eries along, the• ;Arras=Can,:brai
road' (and others) with dead. This
As not quite 'far enough north to
be in Flanders' Fields but ''here
ss well poppies do grow wild
In the fields . and "between the
Owns row , on rot.",
Perhaps the insertion of a , few
Paragraphs of history 'mould 'serve
to explain inueli of this area's
Janie, After the capture of, Vimy
in 1917, the Canadian' Corps in
order to protect Vimy -and Airas,'
engaged in gruelling months •of
trench warfare' until in July 1918
they were shifted to 'Amiens in
the most .skillfully executed de-
ceptive movement of the war. The
•Germans always interpreted the
ifting of Canadian troops as a'
,Sign for en attack but on this oc-
casion they were deceived by the
intentional display of a few hun-
dred Canadiantroops ori another
front many'miles from Amiens.
Sir Arthu'Cutrie' s regxest that
the trots be used as shock troops'
as they had been at Viirny and
passchendael was granted arid on
Angus, 8th, 1918, the four div-
isions of the Canadian. Corps
ilanked 'by two Australian and
two French divisions, spearhead.-
a ,savagely opposed Offensive
•
SECOND, ,INSTALLMENT
east of Amiens. This was the be-
ginning of Canada's Hundred
Days' fronn August 18th, 1918 un-
til: Naveniber .11th, 1918, The
Army even outshone its own ibrtl-
-li ant . efforts at such places as
Vimy,• ,Marshal .Foch who -had
spoken of them 'as. one of the
finest corps 'i'n Europe now .spoke
f-th i_ gas. the world's' finestand'
the German General Staff' 'en
three occasions (atter, Amiens;
Arras and Cambrai)., explained.
their crushing -defeats' on the
•basis •.of the fact that they 'had
been opposed by the "highly cel-
ebrated 'Canadian -Corps"... The
glorious, Hundred Days were to
see • the Canadian •Army spear-
head the 'attacks from Amiens
then to, Arras, 'through., the •Hip-
' deniburg Line , then to-.Cambrai
.and on to Valenciennes' and fin-
ally to Mons where at 8.00 a.m:
on.. November ' l lth, : 1918,., -"they
fought against the last' snipers
beforeadvancinng eastward Where
at 11 a.m. . they .disbelieved ,ruurn-
our• of the .armistice •• 'became a-0
fact.. On this day , the official •Al-
.lied' carnnuniques .complimented:.
them on the fact that in • two
years .they, h.ad: never_ :,failed' to
take their objective nor•had 'they'
ever been driven from a 'fdot of
ground, that had once been con-
solidated.
• •The battle hof Amiens—carne to
'a .successful conclusion ,on Aug-
'ust 18th, 1918 and . the 'Corps was
replaced' in:' order that •it might
be shifted to the. 'Arras front
where •:it ` was to spearhead : the
.attack; .00 the. "Drocourt-Queant
section,,.of the Iiindenburg' Line.
This ws the Crucial"point in •the.
defence•system and once pierced,
the . whole line, which was the
-fruit: of years of hard. "work . • in
which the lives of..thdusands of:
Russian prisoners ' • had' ...been
: squandered;would be turned and
rendered useless. The 'formidable
task of breaking ..the line'fell to:
.the Canadian Corps and it was
they who had to cope with, ,the
fourteen foot wide by eight foot
deep trench, With the machine.
gunners enconsced 'in .concrete
posts only thirty feet apart and
With the'. barb wire and lines of
trenches which were several
thousand yards ' in 'horizontal
. depth; .
The attack was scheduled for
Sunday, August, 25th, but the.
Corps' had always been' • reluct-
ant.to attack ;on Sunday and for
this and other reasons the of
fensiive was delayed until three,
o'clock , the 'following morning.
Throughout this great battle .arid
the six weeks of savage fighting
which ensued; the'' Canadian Corps
held 'the centre of the field, and
it was they who first broke .the:
Hindenburg Line: On the Arras_.
`Cambrai read a lade'. 'marble,
rnonumient . bear's . tribute :'tp this
achievement. with'the words•'"Tl'ie,
Canadian Army attacked:' the
enemy near Arras ' on . August 26,
.1918 and suceessfuly forced all
of the' Gernian positions. Then 'on
September ; 2nd, 1918 at this spot.
they broke tYe • famous . Hinden-
burg Chic wl cls was -reputed-to
beimpregnable arid they then
advanced right to. the Canal DO
Nord'': Arrows on the base point.
in the direction' of •.victories • won
at Arras, Cherizy, Vimy, Drury'
and Cainbrai:. The fame was great
but the price was ' high. and •as
on previous fields some of the'
battalions ' were nearly annihil-
iated. The Twenty -Second which
had. been six : hundred strong on
the first day, was only able. to
•inuster ' seventy alive and iunin-
j.ured men' ,for the second ' day's
roll call.
Late 'in September.'the Canal
Dix- Nord, was captured: and the
offensive against • Camlbrai was
prepared. The infantry, . were
,strengthened by .'the' arrival of
reserves and 700 rounds of am
munition were made available fair
each artillery piece when the at-
tack was :launched on Septenlberr�
y e. Copps was oppos-.
2'Tth • • 1,918. Th
ed by ten crack Marine and Pries
sial•'' Guards divisions .and .for.'
several days they .la0een light-
t14.eir, pipes with German
paniphlets which. told them, of
•
41.
the certain .defeat they would ,•suf-
fer if they engaged the "terrible
Guards" In the Battle of Cam
brae the Corps was- reputed to
have reached its pinnacle of fame
because it was the most savage,
sustained fighting in which they
had been engaged. •. By October-
2nd the battle.., is Lioeenr.w_on..abut
no one , dreamed. 'that the: skillful
Roche would in ,five weeks°, be
reeling towards coitete col-
lapse. On October 2nd, 1918, thi
troops; were. preparing dor another
'winter in the trenches and they
gave much' more thought_ to the
rumour that a. British' Corps -:was
to' get the good billets 'in .Cam-
brai, the city which they had'just
captured. By • this time the fame
of the Corps rose: to even grater.
heights,' because the four divis-.
ions of the Army Corps had de-
feated 31 divisions 'at"•Caanbrai:
and Arras and in the .two pre-
ceding months the same. four div-
isions had.encountered and : de-
cisively defeated a • total of forty=
seven' German 'divisions :or near-
ly. a quarter of . the. German.
:forces on the Western Front.
As the above .paragraphs deal
with :-the area, south of Arras I
will .continue: with an account 'of
the region each ' and north of this
city. North of Arras arounda
succession of well defined hills'
overlooking the Flemish Plain
lies the Battlefields' of Artois. The
bitterness of the .:fighiting. • in this
district is well attested to by the
numeeoubs graveyards; the.. most
notable of : which are an • 18,000
grave. French cemetery and a
huge 44,000 grave Gerinan cem
etery. The latter' fact will '.stir;
the. hearts . of many but sad to.
relate the Allied graves are; just
as numerous," for the sells . did
not • choose fi between theerxnan;
field . gray 'and the Allied khaki,
Slightly to the, eastward' of this
area lies. Vimy Ridge Which •was
taken and then lost: by Monk -
cans in 1915 and.: which Iwas re
taken and held for the duration
by the •Canadian: Corps in 1017..
I saw this` famous ridge with a
touring . Australian (veteran who
.had been . in the artilleryforce
that .supported the, Canadian in-
fantry • attack. The ' ground. still.
bears. clear evidence `Of the old
trench' -lines. and of thousands of
shell holes. Atone .point the Ass-
tralian pointing, in the distance
said that his gun had: been "some
where' over there" arid I stiippose
many memories went through: his
head •when: he stated that his gun
:crew had probably produced
many of .the shell sears. '
'Vimy Ridge is now a Canadian
shrine .and .on the summit stands
the grandoise',monumentwith its
superb sculpturing andthe'• huge
abase on Which are inscribed the
narnes af eachof:Canada's sixty-'
odd .thousand deal', An atteriipt•
has been made ib preserve some
'Of the region as it w'a's in 1917
and in one' • area the -exact z g-
z•a ire of the trenches has been
m —twined :by .substituting' con-
crete, shaped'in .the form of the •
sand bags that once supported •the
-trench -walls. Concrete -duck=
boards have replaced the original
wooden ones but oneeat. - still
see 'rusty trench rnartars= and
vertical steel: plates which' ;pro
vided snipers with a 'peep -hole
and with some protection: A sign
points' to
the old German lines;
another points td the Canadian
lines and in some areas the two
trenches. are only sixty feet apart.
This was a, somewhat surprising
fact but Frenchmen have ,describ-
ed how • at times, they' were not
allowed to .talk or. to •prove lest
the Germans twenty feet away.
in the next trench ' might hear
them; Under similar circum-
stances' battle -tired sergeants, of=
te
Who. BeCarite A Man"
What hapPened to "Elizabeth
Forbes,Sempill When she found
she wag. Mt longer 4 won -Ian? For
the remarkable story of this
'strange ordeal , and exclusive
phatographi; • pee "The Woman
this Sunday's (Nov. 9)" issue of
The American Weekly, exclusive,
ly with the Detroit Sunday Times,
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