From the News

Dated: December 25, 1918

In unaffected colloquial style Lieut.-Col. Warden told the story of "The Second Battle of Ypres”.

I will try to give you an outline of our mobilization over to the front and what happened there. When war was declared we in Canada were not prepared. Volunteers were called for, and I went. I must not forget to pay a tribute to the Minister of Militia for the way in which he organized the first contingent. He mobilized 35,000 men; he put up one and a half miles of targets and good rifle ranges, laid in water near the camp and put it in first-class sanitary condition, all within thirty days. The fleet which took us across the Atlantic, then the largest in the history of the British Empire-since then it has been exceeded by contingents coming from Australia and India -consisted of about eighty vessels. It was a grand sight to see the fleet-the ships one be- hind the other and right and left from the horizon to the horizon. Our ship was right in the centre. We could only see the smoke of the warship until we came near England. Then we heard that there were German submarines waiting for us. We were going to land at Portsmouth, I think, but we got into Plymouth before anyone was aware of it. After we landed, it took us some few days to disembark; we went to Salisbury Plain, where we underwent three months' training. There we did a little of everything. We not only trained as soldiers but we built railroads and highways. We did almost every kind of work. For the greater part of the time the weather was very bad. There was a rumor that the Canadians were finding fault with their treatment, but I contradict that. After we had trained for a certain period we were taken over to France. We embarked at Avonmouth and went to St. Nazaire in France, and to show you_ how careful the authorities were in transporting us there, I may tell you that the convoying ships followed a zig-zag course all round our ship the entire way across, so that no submarine dare show itself above the surface. These torpedo boats went at thirty-five miles an hour, while we were doing only about sixteen. The safe transport of troops has been a marvel.

After we landed in France we spent two days in the train going to the front. We thought we should be kept behind the lines for a time, but they did us the honor of send- ing us to the trenches direct. When we got there we went into the famous Ploegsteert or 'Plugstreet' We got into the trenches in the evening in small groups in company with the British regulars to give our men an idea of trench fighting, and of the way the trenches were built and how they should be held. We were obliged to stay there until the next night, for they could not, of course, move in the daylight. If you move in the daylight you are considered a suicide. After we had been in the trenches for about two weeks we were given our part of the line to hold. The general commanding told us that we were a surprise to every officer there, as they did not think we would be able to take our places in the line at such an early date. That was a compliment that we much appreciated.

After they had tried us out, came the battle of Neuve Chapelle, where we had the first real taste of heavy action. Captain Tupper, of the Highlanders, was one of those engaged; and it was there that we got into real heavy fighting. The Boer War was nothing compared with this war. I had been in South Africa, but I found that I knew nothing about war at all. But this I must say, that men who went into war the first time proved themselves just as good as the men who had been through the Boer War.

The cannonading at the battle of Neuve Chapelle was so intense that you could not distinguish the report of one gun from another. It was what is called drum-fire, one boom following another so fast that you can- not distinguish between them. After the bombardment we were moved back again to divisional billets and rested. General Smith-Dorrien, a General that the Canadians were proud to serve under, was a magnificent General. I had the honor of serving with his forces in Africa. He told us: "I want to tell you that the British War Office and the Official Staff at the front have every confidence in your ability to hold the most difficult part of the British line." That part of the line was part of the famous Ypres salient. It is a semi- circular line, and a difficult position to hold for the reason that the enemy artillery can shoot in different directions, including behind you - indeed, in almost every direction. The salient was five or six miles long and extended from Ypres. Ypres contained the famous Cloth Hall, where the Kings of Belgium were crowned, and the German historians must have had some idea of this, for it is said that the Kaiser anticipated being crowned King of Belgium there. But the British disappointed him. The British held the place, and then, in disappointment, it is said, he ordered the shelling of Cloth Hall, which is now in ruins. Some of the statuary was still standing when we got there, but since then it has all gone. That was his vengeance on the town because he could not take it. If the Germans had succeeded in breaking through they would have been able to get to Calais. If they could have done so they would soon settle with France, they thought; drive Russia back, increase their fleet and then make an attack on England. If England had not sent troops to the Continent they would have accomplished their purpose. When they made their first advance on Paris they came through Belgium and round Metz and Verdun. A British division. attempted to cut their line of communications. If they had had a few more troops - if they had had the Canadians, for instance-they •would have altered the whole state of things.

After we went into the trenches we took over from the French a position turned over to them by the British. The British had made a salient into the German line and handed over parts of it to the French. The Kaiser had done much to develop Canada. The Germans had done much for Canada - more even than the British. They had put money and capital into Canada. The Kaiser was more incensed against the Canadians than the British. He said, "Indeed we will give them h**1 when they come here." He did.

We were only a few days, in fact the first day - in the trenches when we had many killed amongst the men from Vancouver, including Mr. Frank Bowser's son . We got a rough time. But I must tell you that in all my experience of war I never saw better men than the men who were with me there - even amongst the British troops. They took it so wholeheartedly; they made sport of it. Indeed you have to do that on the battlefield to keep your courage up. In the morning, early, when the men would be ordered to "stand to" you would hear them shouting across to the Germans, "Good morning, Fritz." Lots of the Germans speak English, and they would frequently reply. One of our men, I remember, used to shout, "I say, waiter, bring me a sausage." And the reply used to come, "Go to hell, you sons of guns." One morning I was walking along the trenches and a German shouted over - it was just after they had been sinking our boats-"Well, what do you think of your blooming ships now? 'Quick as a flash one of our men retorted, "Well, what dy yer think of yer bleedin' nivy nah?"

Finally they started in. They said they were going to capture the Canadian division and show them first a little bit of real war, and that it was to be no picnic for them. They launched an attack with gas but they made no impression. The French line at that place was held by raw, new Turcos from the north coast of Africa and they were unable to stand the gas. The Germans drove them out and they retired towards Poperinghe.

I am glad to speak of the Sixteenth battalion. They fought most nobly. This battalion attempted to fill the break in the line. A battalion is supposed to hold only about five hundred yards of line; so when I mention that this battalion had to hold two thousand yards of line you will see how widely separated these men must have been. The Germans worked around our flank and in order to keep from being captured our men had to fight back to back-fighting both ways at the same time. They did this and held the line until supports came. That is what the Sixteenth battalion helped to do.

We were resting when the call came to us to support the French troops. We went in after they retired, and the Sixteenth battalion was then in front of us with the artillery somewhere in the rear. We met the Sixteenth when it was ordered to retire, and we retired with it for a short distance. I can only speak of what was going on on my immediate front as far as the battle is concerned. A man in action really sees little of what happens around him. We stayed there until we were ordered to retire. We then became the firing line, the front line of troops being driven out by the gas. We remained there with both flanks in the air-both our right and left-and we remained there until we retired by order because the line was driven in in many directions.

The Germans had, I was told officially, no less than twelve divisions against us. We were there with only one. They had their picked troops there. We know their divisions are stronger than ours; so that it is quite likely they had 200,000 troops against our twenty thousand. They did not capture us. We held the line intact. To offset what ground we did lose under the attacks of the gas the British troops in charge on the St. Julien woods retook much ground, so that as far as that was concerned we came out about even. We strengthened our line, which made it more comfortable to live in, and we did that in a sense without artillery. The artillery was behind us when the action began, and we fell back, so that they had to gallop off and take up a position further to the rear, but still in front of Ypres. Our troops for that time had no support from their artillery, but they held the ground practically unsupported. After they found us still holding the line they gave us support and then we continued to hold it. From reports of conversations with other officers of the battalion I found that my company was only an example of what others were doing. They stayed in those trenches; they never said a word; they carried out instructions; and trained troops could not have done better.

The fire of the enemy's artillery was something terrific. They brought their artillery so close that they could fire straight at us-they were scoring direct hits as military men describe it; and we could see the flashes of the guns. Aviators were over our heads dropping smoke bombs on the trenches, and by this means the artillery got the range accurately. You would see these smoke bombs and then you knew you were going to get a fusilade from the artillery. They bombarded us with gun after gun. We tried to count them. They were firing about 150 rounds a minute-firing in gusts. When they attacked us there came forward rows of men dressed in British uniforms. I was under the impression that they were British soldiers; but we discovered they were Germans, gave them a volley, and then we were sure of it by the way they ran.

Our casualties were approximately fifty per cent. of our fighting strength. When I tell you that the usual percentage is about five you will understand how hot that action was.

There is one thing I should like to make clear. The men who have been at the front fighting are not likely, when they return home, to fit in easily into ordinary employment. They become entirely disorganized. Their minds do not take readily to the change - except those, perhaps, who may be comfortably off. I am speaking from personal experience. After I came home from the South African war I found that to be the case. I am not a lazy man, but when I really tried to go to work I found it took a year or two to get back into my working gait again. I know, therefore, so well how this war will affect the men who are engaged in it. I shall ask you to be patient with these men when they return to you and seek work again. Until they get back again to their normal state of living you must be patient with them. You will remember my words some day, perhaps. British Columbia has a hard proposition, but it will be solved.