Brave Battalion (40 page)

From the Intermediate Support Line, the Canadian Scottish could see the Support Line—their final objective and the D-Q Line's last strongpoint. It lay down a “bare slope and across a hollow.” To the right, another height of ground dominated the line of advance. It was a little after 0800. The sky was clear and the sun bright. There was not a scrap of protective cover. The moment Peck led the men into the open, the heights to the right erupted with heavy machine-gun fire. Finally, the men could stand this storm no longer and took refuge in a series of shell holes. Peck shouted for them to throw smoke bombs ahead to create a protective screen and was about to order a renewed advance when a tank (probably the one that had worked earlier with Metcalf ) rolled down the slope. The machine gunners immediately shifted their attention to it.

Deciding he could better direct the fight from the relative safety of the Intermediate Line, Peck was readying to make a dash back up the slope when another tank growled directly down toward his position. Thirty yards from the infantry, the tank halted and then turned around.

Peck had just fifteen men close by, mostly from No. 2 Company. Peering out of his hole, Sgt. William Reith later wrote, he watched as Peck left “the shell hole where he was taking cover and, under heavy machine-gun fire, ran back to the tank. He stood directly in front of it. He forced it to turn around. But directly he returned to the shelter, the tank instead of continuing toward the Drucourt Support, turned about and proceeded to move back.… I do not know how the Colonel escaped being riddled by bullets.”

The situation was critical. Escaping up the hill was impossible, but so was going forward. Determined to break the impasse, Peck and Lt. Dunlop dashed up the hill through intense enemy fire. Gaining the Intermediate Line, Peck found the men there thoroughly disorganized. All jumbled together were a remnant of Canadian Scottish, the leading edge of the 48
^th
Highlanders waiting to pass through once the D-Q Line was carried, and, inexplicably, a large number of Royal Munsters seeming to have no idea where they should be. Peck separated the British troops from the rest and sent them away. He then directed the Canadian machine-gun officers from each battalion to concentrate their guns on the high ground to the right and had the artillery forward observation officer target the same area. This quelled much of the enemy fire. Gathering the rest of his battalion, Peck led the men down the slope to rescue the leading wave and carry the attack into the Support Line, where the enemy again promptly surrendered. It was now about 0930 hours and the Canadian Scottish had obtained their final objective. Peck's gallantry would be recognized with the Victoria Cross. This gave 16
^th
Battalion the rare distinction of having two of its own awarded the V.C. in a single day.
²⁴

Soon after, the 48
^th
Highlanders passed through the Canadian Scottish lines. Although now in reserve, the battalion spent the next five hours clearing small pockets of resistance bypassed earlier. The Canadian Scottish paid a heavy price for the ground won this day. Five officers were dead, another ten wounded, thirty-three other ranks had been killed, and 155 suffered wounds. Peck noted ruefully that “this Battalion has lost 27 officers in the last two actions or in less than 27 days.”

He also felt an opportunity had been lost. “I never saw the enemy in a more demoralized condition, and although this was one of the most successful actions in which the Battalion or Brigade have ever been engaged, I certainly think, that, had our flank been kept up, we would have driven the enemy beyond the Canal du Nord in a short time.”

But Peck could find no fault with the performance of the Canadian Scottish. “I again find that I cannot speak too highly of the valour and discipline of the Troops under my command. It is impossible for me to describe in words the numberless acts of personal bravery that came under my observation. The Old Battalion kept up its great reputation, advancing with unfaltering courage and steadiness and sweeping away the powerful and heavily manned defences of the Drocourt-Quéant Line with the greatest ease. I may safely say of all ranks, that they without exception, did their duty.”
²⁵

As had the rest of Canadian Corps, for by day's end the leading battalions were two miles beyond the D-Q Line. Total casualties for the day, however, were 5,622 killed or wounded. The advance continued the following day with the enemy virtually on the run before the advancing 1
^st
British and Canadian 2
^nd
and 3
^rd
Divisions. By nightfall, Canadian Corps controlled all the ground west of Canal du Nord—a total advance in the offensive of five miles.

Currie wondered “whether our victory of yesterday or of August 8 is the greatest, but I am inclined to think yesterday's was.” He singled out 1
^st
Canadian Division's as “one of the finest performances in all the war.”
²⁶
Indeed, such was the level of gallantry that Canadian Corps collected seven Victoria Crosses—the most Canada garnered on any single day in history.

The Canadian achievements were barely recognized at First Army headquarters, some of its staff officers snidely suggesting that better leadership and more determination on the part of the soldiers would have carried Canal du Nord and gained the eastern bank. But a “thorough reconnaissance of our front,” Currie responded, “had shown that the frontal attack of the Canal du Nord line was impossible, the eastern bank of the Canal was strongly wired and was generally much higher than the western bank.

“The whole of our forward area was under direct observation … and any movement by day was quickly engaged by hostile artillery.” Time was needed to bring up supporting artillery. The canal, which was not dug, but created by constructing thick earth and brick walls, itself posed “a serious obstacle. It was under construction at the outbreak of the war and had not been completed.… The average width was about 100 feet and it was flooded as far south as the lock, 800 yards southwest of Sains-lez-Marquion, just north of the Corps southern boundary. South of this and to the right of the Corps front the Canal was dry, and its bottom was at the natural ground level, the sides of the Canal consisting of high earth and brick banks.

“The attack of the Canal du Nord could not, therefore, be undertaken singly by the Canadian Corps, but had to be part of a larger scheme.” Until that scheme was in place, the corps would stay put, regrouping while holding the line, and then it would carry the canal.
²⁷

While Currie began planning this offensive, to the south, the British Third Army slowly fought its way through the Hindenburg Line's outworks. This advance was possible only because, in breaching the D-Q Line, Canadian Corps had outflanked the Germans there and caused a withdrawal to the Hindenburg's main line. North of First Army, the reversal prompted abandonment of the Lys Salient for a line running between Ypres and Lens. “Disagreeable decisions,” the German high command called the surrendering of ground on both fronts and worried that the situation would deteriorate entirely if the Canadians crossed Canal du Nord.

The Germans were determined to hold and, while Currie and his staff worked on their plan, there were constant small clashes on the front lines. The daily Canadian casualty rate averaged one hundred. On September 16, Currie decided to stem the alarming losses by pulling the front line back to where it was out of range of the machine guns stationed on the higher ground on the opposite bank.

The day before, Field Marshal Haig had held a conference of his army commanders and outlined an Allied plan that would involve “four great hammer-strokes delivered at crucial points” between the Meuse and the English Channel. In France, the British would strike at Cambrai and St. Quentin, the French would force the Aisne River, and the newly deployed American Expeditionary Force would eliminate the St. Mihiel Salient and then join the French Fourth Army's advance on Mézières. Meanwhile, in Belgium, a combined force under King Albert would push toward Ghent and Bruges.

Regarding the capture of Cambrai, Haig instructed General Horne to have Canadian Corps seize the Bourlon Wood, so the left flank of Third Army was covered as it moved on the city. Bourlon Wood was a dark, high mound that, on a clear day, the Canadians could see silhouetted against the sky directly east of their position. To reach it, they must cross the canal. Every bridge had been destroyed and the Germans had flooded the surrounding countryside. Intelligence officers in 2
^nd
Canadian Division were so discouraged they told Currie the canal was “practically impassable by any force larger than a platoon without considerable preparation.” Currie agreed this was true for the northern part of the canal that the corps faced, so he sidestepped 2,600 yards southward to cross the canal at a point where it had not been flooded.

Here he would cross with a rapier thrust by 1
^st
Canadian Division on a two-brigade front with the 4
^th
Canadian Division on its right with one brigade forward. In this formation, the two divisions would claim the canal and then capture Bourlon Wood. After that, Currie would widen the front fanwise in a northeasterly direction by as much as 9,700 yards with 11
^th
British Division, placed under his command, coming up on 1
^st
Division's left while 3
^rd
Canadian Division advanced on 4
^th
Division's right flank. The four divisions would advance as one, protecting Third Army's left during its move on Cambrai.

The First and Third armies were scheduled to begin their offensive on September 27 with Fourth Army's drive on St. Quentin following two days later. Days before the offensive began Third Army's commander, General Sir Julian Byng, visited Currie's headquarters. Byng scrutinized Currie's battle plan thoroughly and then turned to him. “Old man, do you think you can do it?” he asked. Currie assured Byng the corps would succeed.
²⁸

By 1918, the Canadian Corps was one of the most professional forces in the Allied army. Its staff officers were masters of the methodical offensive and plans for the Canal du Nord attack evidenced this. The initial assault would be supported by a rolling barrage as normal, but instead of precisely defined lifts set to a repetitive distance, they would range between 500 and 1,500 yards, depending on the estimated speed at which infantry should cross specific stretches of ground. A dense smokescreen projected by firing smoke shells and bombs ahead of the troops and wind-borne smoke issuing from drums filled with burning oil would screen the advance. Teams of engineers equipped to quickly bridge the canal would follow right behind the leading wave of infantry and tanks. By the night of September 26-27, all was in readiness and at 0520 hours, with a miserable, cold rain falling, the barrage signalling the advance began.
²⁹

The Canadian Scottish were in reserve and took no part initially beyond holding a front facing Saint-les-Marquion while the Royal Montreal Regiment forced a crossing to the right and took the village from the rear. All along the line, the Canadian attack was perfectly executed, the engineers installing bridges or ladders across the canal for the infantry crossings and ramps that enabled the tanks and vehicles to negotiate their way over. With 14
^th
Battalion in possession of Saint-les-Marquion, after a fierce fight, the Royal Highlanders of Canada leapfrogged through to continue widening 1
^st
Division's front. On schedule, 3
^rd
Brigade reached its final objective of the outskirts of Sauchy-Lestrée and the 56
^th
British Division came up to widen the front further. Although 4
^th
Canadian Division was exposed to brutal enfilade fire from the right flank, it managed to take Bourlon Wood.

Cambrai lay only two miles away at day's end, seemingly within easy grasp. But September 28 proved a day of frustration. The Germans had poured in reinforcements during the night and the Canadians encountered many delays getting sufficient artillery across the canal and within range of the city. A grim slog ensued with gains being measured in yards and a rapidly rising butcher's bill. On September 29, 2,089 men were killed or wounded for barely any ground won. Among the fallen was 1
^st
Division's much loved senior chaplain, Canon Frederick Scott, who was evacuated with a severe wound. Currie tried again, on the last day of September, to loosen the German front, but was forced to cancel the operation's second phase due to heavy casualties. Canadian Corps was in possession of Tilloy, a village immediately north of Cambrai, but still lacked a toehold in the city. Prisoners reported that their commanders were stressing “the supreme importance” of Cambrai, and that it must “be held at all costs.”