4th Canadian Division Arrives, August
1916
“August
14- Divisional Headquarters opened at HOOGRAF.”- 4th Canadian
Division War Diary
Just as the first three
divisions of the Canadian Corps were removing, one at a time, and each of these
one brigade at a time from the Ypres Salient, the same process was happening in
reverse with the final division to join the Corps, the 4th Canadian
Division. A single, straightforward sentence
noted in its war diary marked the opening of Major General Watson’s Divisional
Headquarters. The division had already
begun placing its brigades in line, overlapping the outward rotation of the 2nd
Division, giving the new troops a few days to learn while doing, under the supervision
of experienced men and officers. In one
case, the 46th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion, 10th
Canadian Infantry
They had inherited a
nightmare no amount of training could have prepared them for. Assurances that Ypres was a “quiet” section
of the Front would have immediately been given the lie. This was ground fought over for so long that
it had lost any aesthetic which would give reason to why it was being fought
over, with the exception of the existence, mere handfuls of yards away, of men
whose sole purpose was the eradication of their existence.
Artillery had been consistently
active, at intervals. The 10th
Brigade logged in its first daily intelligence summary that, on the 25th,
the Germans shelled their front line positions and communication trenches with
77mm and 5.9” shells for just over an hour in the late morning and again in the
early afternoon. Before the changeover
with 4th Division, snipers of the 2nd Division had been
doing a brisk trade with daily claims of kills and destruction of trench
periscopes. At night, enemy rifle and
machine gun fire was more frequent, the Germans making use of “travelling
searchlights…to assist M. Gun Fire.”[2] Their primary object would be to play light
upon parties working out in No Man’s Land; those attempting, as best they could
manage, to repair wire and other defenses.
Catching a scouting patrol in their bright beam and stitching through
them with a heavy burst was a hoped for target of opportunity. This, among a great many other concerns most
likely occupied the thoughts of Lieutenant Reginald Percy Cattell on the night
of 25th August.
Responsibility had fallen to this young officer, only having turned
twenty-two at the top of the month, to lead the first patrol of the war for the
46th Battalion. He and his fifteen
men, sneaking out into this netherworld of shell-scattered turf were among the
4th Canadian Division’s initial efforts in the conflict they had
only just arrived to. Lt. Cattell had
been serving with the Active Militia in Canada since April the year before,
taking time away from his accounting job in Woodstock, Ontario. Like many of his compatriots, he was not
Canadian born, but rather, of English background. In fact, he had a direct connection to
France- he’d been born in Paris.
This patrol would prove
a valuable experience, if not uneventful.
It is, in reality, most desirable for patrols to lack excitement or
agitation on the part of the enemy. Lt.
Cattell was able to corroborate other reports on the condition of the German
wire; that the enemy had cut and cleared the grass in front of their trenches
to provide clear fields of fire and seemed to be more active in support and
reserve trenches- only keeping a minimum of manpower in the firing line.[3] It may have seemed a curious change, and
other than it being noted in an observational sense was not accorded much
consequence.
What Lt. Cattell’s
patrol, and others like his were witnessing was the beginning of a shift in
German defensive doctrine which would come to be known as “elastic defense.” Lightly manning the forward most defences
with intersecting machine guns was considered adequate to break up the cohesion
of an infantry attack, which would be drawn into a counterattack zone beyond
the protective cover of their offensive artillery and be overwhelmed by fresh
troops deploying from positions well in rear of the forward lines. “The German regulations did not give a
specific name to this defense, but the term ‘elastic defense-in-depth’ is
probably the best brief description. The
echeloning of forces provided the depth, the reliance on counterattack (instead
of fixed positions) provided the elasticity.”[4]
This doctrine was an
idea just beginning its implementation when the 46th Battalion first
took the field in August of 1916; it would be nine months before they would
really see it in action. In the autumn,
they’d be fighting at the Somme, where Lt. Cattell would distinguish himself,
gaining his C.O.’s notice for “fine work…where he participated in the capture
of the East portion of REGINA TRENCH.”[5] He would continue to lead dangerous patrols
and raids, suffering a slight wound on a successful sortie mid-September[6],
and earning the Military Cross in January for a daring job during the work-up
to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. “He
organised and led a most successful raid against the enemy’s trenches,
demolished a mineshaft and inflicted many casualties.”[7]
Early in May of 1917,
he was, with his ‘D’ Company, being held in a reserve position, and prepared to
support ‘B’ Company’s effort to secure a stretch of the German line. Here, now, nine months beyond the first
intimations of elastic defense, the 46th and 47th
Battalions would see it in practice.
Initially, the attack, begun at 9:45 pm 5th May 1917 met
little resistance and gained the objective with a level of ease not familiar to
men who’d been fighting a resilient enemy for the better part of a year. “During the night,” however, “the enemy made
persistent efforts to eject the party from (their) established post.”[8] Continual counterattacks and consistent
shelling placed the attackers in peril.
The fighting became bitter, tough and hand-to-hand. Casualties on both sides mounted. At one point, the Canadians were forced back
from the ground they had won. Rallied by
the officer on the ground, Lieutenant Johnston, these men of the 46th
waded back into the steel and “drove the enemy back.”[9]
Holding as best he
could, Lt. Johnston, at 11:00 sent a request for reinforcements. The reserves, men of ‘D’ Company, a platoon
from 50th Battalion which had been seconded to provide support and
four Lewis gun teams were sent forward to help shore up ‘B’ Company’s tenuous
position. Their help was well received
as the Germans continued to make attempts to reclaim the strip of territory
which had been wrested from them. Attempts
were made to infiltrate the Canadian position by moving from the cove of shell
holes. Trench mortars and SOS artillery fire crashed down on the interlopers,
whose own guns were dropping short on what had belonged to them only hours
ago. “The original German front line has
been blown in in many places and is in no shape for holding,” reads one report.[10]
When morning broke on
the sixth of May, the battle had waned.
Despite ferocious counterattacks, the objective was still in Canadian
hands, at a cost of nineteen men killed, five officers and fifty-one men
wounded; and the loss of a brave and competent officer, Lt. RP Cattell MC; who
had been killed at some point during the night in the rush to support his
embattled comrades.[i]
Lt. Cattell lies buried
at Villiers Station Cemetery, not quite 200 kilometers from where he had been
born. His sister, Marie, had requested
his headstone bear the epitaph, “While Life Lasts, I’ll Remember.”[11]
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Moments before the men
of Six Platoon 'B' Company, King's Own Canadian Scots Regiment will go forward
to assault Vimy Ridge, each one of them must reconcile themselves to their
probable fate. Felix Strachan, a teen-aged corporal about to lead his men into
battle, has already seen a lot of this war; its arbitrary cruelty to life. In
the past eight months he's been fighting in France, he's lost friends and a
little of his faith in mankind, though nothing has bothered him more than the
death of a stranger- a transferred officer left on the field after a failed
patrol. Not only can no one seem to remember who the officer was, his death may
not have been at the enemy's hands. Felix, in the seconds before Zero hour
tries to come to terms with a question he has held for as long as he can
remember- "What does it mean to die
well?"
This book uses the
extreme human experience of war to explore ideas of morality within a
historically correct, visceral and realistic narrative. I have, in order
to achieve this, relied upon my strength as an essayist and lecturer on the
history of the First World War, as well as my own service with the Canadian
Army.
[1] War Diary Entry, 46th (South Saskatchewan)
Battalion, 23 August 1916
[2] Intelligence Summary, 10th Canadian Infantry
Brigade, 25 August 1916
[4] Lupfer, Timothy T., “The Dynamics of Doctrine: The
Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War”, Us Army
Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas 1981 pg. 13
[5] Dawson, HJ, Lt. Col, O.C. 46th Battalion,
letter to O.C. 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 30 January 1917
[6] War Diary, Appendix II, 10th Canadian
Infantry Brigade, September 1916
[7] Supplement to the London Gazette Number 29981, 12 March
1917, pg. 2480
[8] Report on Operations Carried Out by 46/47th
Battalions on the Night 5/6 May 1917
[11] CWGC.org
[i] All Primary Sources Cited, and Information Used to
Construct this Article is due to the courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
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