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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1917-12-06, Page 10CAN,'S GENERALS S FT i. 'TF G 'S'=''EN, T `` ""HE FRONT U . E . CA ADI NS AT._. UT TO SUPPRT THE W F A 'aEQU MAJOR -GEN. DAVID WATSON, MAJ.-GEN. SIR R, E. W. TURNER, C.M.G. K,C,M,G. ALL! A? Your toy IS Calling Says " aiphh Fresh From the Trenches Major the Rev. C.W. Gordon Writes a Strong and Monhig Appeal for Support for Union Government By Major, the Rev, C. W. Cordon (Ralph Connor.) The rear always looks ragged. Itis farthest from the band, from the scene of interest, from the place of action. "Also it is the place for stragglers to walls, too weary to keep step. Many armies compose a nation's war strength. Far up at the front is the fighting army, where the guns roar and belch forth death, where the H.E. shells batter flat the lines of trenches, where bombs blow up dugouts, where the bayonets, coldly glitter- ing, strike terror to the shrinking foe, where the gallant knights of the clouds wheel and dart; like, avenging angels over their foes. BACK OF THE FIGHTING ARMY. Back of the fighting army is the army of transportation thronging the lines of communication, a slow winding mud -grey serpent, curiously articulated with transport wagons and ammu- nition carts, motor lorries and G.H.Q. autos, shell -laden . pack mules and ambulances, water carts and laundry machines, repair trucks and medical stores, big buns and marching columns, with now and then a tang'a joyous joint in the writhing serpent, and all under the control of mounted men alert, patient, fierce, now wreathed in smiles, now with a sulphurous aura visible and palp- able about their heads. The army, of direction, where the brass hats exude brain sweat and multitudes of .subs _and: orderlies pound the types till they rattle'like machine guns or roar savage amenities into telephone offices. The army reconstruction, all the way from No Man's Land where the stretcher bearers and battalion 111.O's. and chaplains struggle through mud and fire to save their wounded comrades, all down the line through battalion aid posts, advanced dressing stations, casualty clearing stations, hospital trains and base hos- pitals where through clever brains and quick fingers through ten- der hearts and smiling lips the Christ pity and the Christ love flows in healing streams about sore wounded bodies and weary souls. THE ARMY OF THE REAR, The army of administration of which let only reverend words fie spoken, and other armies, but chiefly and lastly— The arrny of production, or the array of the rear. Here, says General Joffre, echoed by Lloyd George, the war will be lost or won. For from this army all the other armies draw their suste- nance, their very life. Let this army fail and the war stops short, all is lost. The history of this war so far relieves us of all fear as to the other armies. The fighting army will not quit so long as it live. Those armies that reach from the fighting Iine to, the rear will not fail the fighting man, for they catch now and again the sound of the guns, the gleam of bayonet, the flash of wings in the sky, and they see the long line of stricken heroes borne to the rear. But this army of the rear. "Will they quit, think you?" asked a wounded French poilu anxiously of a newspaper man. "The men up there?" "Satre non, those down below." Nis anxiety is the only anxiety in the war. The army of the rear, the ragged army where, with the rear guard, finest in temper of all the fighting tncn, mingle the weak, the weary, the slacker, the fearful, a motley crew and hard to bear. Ah, that gallant rear guard, what glory is theirs, imperish- able! Theirs the sacrificial offering of their hearts' dearest treas- ure, the slow agony of separation and of waiting; theirs the sharp gasping stab of death winged from the battlefield; theirs the stern resolve to endure with faces serene always the ultimate demands, As that young girl in France to whom carne the colonel of herhus- band's regiernirt with the news of his death ---"Toll me," said she 'with White face and staring eyes while she clutched the colonel's arm, "tell .the our trance will be free? I will .weepno tear:" Wonderful France, wonderful soldiers of France. rnost wvotrrleri: 1. i N n k a�, . vamz cy, cutfa /gejt' s;;;:' iia .. }i ,:."4te' J e�kn�a�'�^'z+s'�+a�'N1a .ikYf!.'FY.0/.vJ-.;;;;-• YIJ/)Y//�`M'/.�Y� ,Y,+IA'+MTCV.4�vi�=Vw.-+INr +�JJ�y� Jj%'�'JI� nY=�KY.KA IIRMIAV/IY,•iNlNNA �.wady ocasm�.arae.mesearmaa-,wcvxcrJ.arman^+siya,»yi�.ar,�,cr�rmri rrna•• lin. e+ -w a . =g:-r.°�s+iiiigp."'ir�of Gfi, ���y pS�a j4:ia �J4i6£'i:iii'e,'ji/�',f+f .-mw,✓/•w o0d//J/i iuJ ..�ai/'.r„G "' ,.�ux�+,�..mr��auJ7rirass¢ �laa3i/�i.�u�J�.:.yJOJFumrJJil/�„����if�C. J.�� bq,; Ids/,,,,.7,,,m _ j, MAJOI; CENERAIL CURRIE, . K.C.B., On the eve of an election which will decide whether Canada is to continue her war effort at full pressure or gradually quit, loyal Canadians will give heed to this cry for help from the firing line. From the generals who command our glorious troops these messsages come like a trumpet call to duty. GEN. ° SIR ARTfIUR URRIE, 11.S.10. COMMANDER to - CANADIAN ARMY "I hope that, appreciating what we do in the field through uniting aA our effort, they will do their utmost to remain united in Canada. News from there does not make pleasant reacting to men in the field here. Orangemen and Catholic, Anglo-Saxon and French-Canadian, Whig and Tory, fight side by side, and, dying, are laid -side by side in the same grave, fully satisfied to give their lives for the cause -they know to be just. "They have given their blood freely to maintain: their nation's honor and now confidently expect that the full fruits of 'their sacrifice will not be prejudiced. It is an imperative and urgent necessity that steps be immediately taken to ensure that sufficient drafts of officers and men are sent from Canada to keep the corps at its .full strength. "My personal conviction is that ..the only solution to the, problem of Canadian recruiting is conscription. -My experiences in France have shown me, not as a politician, but as a soldier, the necessity:: of conscription, if we de- sire to maintain at full strength our fighting divisions to the end." LIEUT.-GEN. SIR. RICHARD TURNER., V.C. "I wish as a soldier it was permitted to express .fully my' views on the present Canadian crisis.. Do people in Canada think) .250,000 .of their best blood fighting this world war in _ defence . of their country will tamely submit to any part of Canada saying, .`We will not support you to our fulleSt 6ictent in your efforts to beat the recreant Hun to his knees? Have the Canadian troops since the war started, ever stopped to consider, or been daunted by, any numbers up against them?' The answer is given on many bloody battle- fields in 13elgium and France. Canadians all must play the game and be true to their salt." MAJOR.GENERAL H. BURSTALL. "We can only carry on the war to the basis of a final peaoeby liavin„'ol r battalions maintained to full strength. , For this we entirely rely on Canada. We are convinced that• Canadians will never permit their battalions at the front to become worn out through lack of reinforcements, but will face the situation and take the nec- essary steps to provide them. For, usall our thoughts are of Canada, and after every victory the one idea in allour minds is that Canada ..will ...again have reason to be proud of her sons at the front in upholding her honor and liberty. So we have absolute faith that Canada will respond with the rein- forcements necessary to sustain us." - MAJOR -GENERAL DAVID WATSON'. "I state with positive certainty that a splendid state of deterinination and resolution exists in a greater degree than ever among every unit of theianadi nforce today. This resolve and belief is tne ever growing result of intimate knowledge that this terrible, struggle into which we have entered .has ever been and is now equally as important for the maintenance anddevelopnient our Dominion ags- it is for the vital prosection and safeguarding,of ournter�ists „ i.,ber^ti 7° E4!NJLx^17 DESERT <+ UR RCEME TS MAJ.-GEN. 1-.E. BURSTALL, MAJOR -GEN. L- J. LIPSETT C.M.G. • (Continued tram that two columns of this liege.) nor daily rations that so they -may win for France the right to live free. BLOOD MARKS ON THE SHELLS. - So too with the army, of the rear in. Old. Britain, where mins long past age toil long JJpiirs,.and.where. romenfrom the Castle and the farm, from the manor mansion ..house and the cottage, from the fishing village came forth to work at the making of shells and guns, and all the engineering of war that so their.men might have t •ehariec"for' their Ivies against their foe, trained 'to war and equipped to the last button with all that science could supply. They tell how those first shells were often marked- with blood from the tender fingers of women unused to work, but the work- ers never slackened for that. , The. army of the rear, where are -the invincible souls who shrink from no sacrifice that the fighting line may be kept strong, and in good heart. In Glasgow, a widow with four sons fit for war sent away three with the Borderers. When the three had paid their full toll to freedom's cause, the fourth knew what he must do but feared for his mother. To her he went at last and said, "Mother, I,must" _ _•_ R __- ye "Aye, laddie,"l seid the nratliel,~ quietly: "Weel, I lies must. We ha'e given too much not to gie ,ail," and sent away her last lad to the war. . SO ALSO WITH PAlum. As With', The home lands, so with the, lands overae¢s; eo wiftfd Canada: -Here' also the army of the rear labors that the sons of Canada in the fighting„hne may„ want _neither supplies nor men. But alas, the fighting•iifre is'reany•thonaands'Of miles away. The whine, of. the shell; the rattle of the machine gun, the roar of the high explosives never breaks the quiet by night or by day, and men preoccupied with other things forget the boys in the mud and raid fighting for their. country far away. That is, sonxe forget. But some cannot forget for in their prayers to. God at night .when they seek rest, and by day in the pauses of their work, they bear upon theirheartsthe lad who left three years ago now acid. whpo. they would.fainsee again, and might see if one of tiles eer§hbtirs who lceep'S fbdr. of them still, had gone- to bis relief. .. : . . For it is'true—though 'the lad in the fighting Iine, great gen- erona 'soul that he is, for long refused to give the rumor cred- ence, .It is.true that those four boys in his neighbor's family back home !i' Canada refuse to come to his relief. They cangive many perfectly good reasons why they refuse to go: ' But they have no need to declare the truth. To all the country they are known;to be the craven -heart =,slackers: that they are.. It may be .that some poor-souled fettiales may'beepme' Isiges"'to them and bear them children to cariy.their name and their` -'shame into succeed- ing generations, but when in song and story the great deed, done in Flanders and in. France, thrill men's hearts, their children will sit .silent and ashamed amid the cheering crowds and curse In their hearts the, Craven' slackers' that begat them. Yes, it is sadly, terribly; shaine£ully true that with those heroic souls that com- pose the unsung but glorious' army of the rear mingle those,others that are at once. a, natiory'•s weakness ,anal• a -nation's• shame. TI.I.F, •cAYINC. N-gg SOB. MEN. When joffre at Washington was asked,- "How• can 'America best help France" he" made' answer, like the impact' ofa bullet: Send urs men;.. France.peeds'•nien, send them:quick.. Food, guns, Ships, yes, yes but chiefly and quickly men." And in passionate oratory Viviani echoed tbe word.Arthur Balfourwith quiet but intense iteration pressed home the truth—"France must have men."' So with the whole western front against which Germany has flung her scienced xtiasses 'df war -bred' fnen in vain. There is sore -need of men.therec The. French line grows thin. "The airy of our empire, too, that phenomenon of the war, fighting on five fronts, „grows! thin upon the westerh front. ' " The Canadian line grows.thin As the line xnoves ever forward, the line grows ever thinner and more thin • Russia is out of the war. fray God, no worse may come from her. Italy, reeling front the stroke of the Hun War dub, ceases for some months to,:b'e.capable•;of la great offensive. Hence, with her released millions; the-enemy,prep is a•ring for the western front mn overwhelming,. a smashing blow - Oh, Canada, our boys arc"on that: front. Inevitable as the sunrise, that blow will fall. •What, men can do our menwill do. Grier,, resolute; •but with not nnanxious hearts and with many a Yearning. gldiice: toward, their. Homeland for aid, they wait that stroke... "AN APPEAL TO; MANHOOD, men'of.;�anadawti1' .yon , can'.yon'urimoved, look on whine that thin line of Canadian heroes waits the .approach of .those massed battalions long trained, and fully -equipped for this final attempt to hack through? They need you, these comrades of yours. For three'years'they have fought for you and 3rour cause. They wonder at 'yortr easy' deliberation. The haunting fear gathers about their; Hearts ,that you have forgotten them. Pitiful God, Help them agarose that fear! Your party? 'i'ouri'lea lei God forgive you, 'for Canada never will if for things Ake these you forsake those waiting lads., Refereiadurn? .I2efetencioirn r ow, while with furious., haste our enemy prepares destruction for that waiting line? Surely not referendums now,•e riada; but 'reinforcements and quick to your t'vtraitint. sons, :::A.;thousand) voices cliatter reasons. for delay but across the Se. S.comes oil orcir''cle;..