successful as our attack had been, we were not allowed to leave this area until after a further demonstration of our usefulness, and on the 11th instant we took over the line from remnants of the royal scots, dorsets and manchesters, who had run into stiff opposition in the neighborhood of parvillers, and in consequence had suffered very heavy casualties. the situation was what is called obscure, and on the following day six of our platoons, in conjunction with the p.p.c.l.i. on the left, were rushed forward to capture middle wood and square wood. a number of machine guns fell into our hands, and identification was secured.
on the 13th the germans counter-attacked and forced our outposts to retire slightly, and on the 16th we were relieved by the 19th battalion and withdrew to beaucourt wood, having lost one officer, lt. i. j. j. mccorkell, and thirteen other ranks killed; three officers, including lt. a. h. goodman, who died of wounds, and sixty-four other ranks wounded.
after a march by easy stages from the amiens sector we finally reached “y” huts on the 25th of august; old familiar rest homes of the nissen variety on the arras-st. pol road. the reports from all parts of the[73] line were most satisfactory, but we had not been allowed to while away the summer in training for nothing, and on the morning of the 26th we were again on the march in “battle order.”
it was soon realized that something serious was on in front, our hearts being gladdened by the sight of six hundred or more bosch prisoners, who were passed en route for the rear.
about midday, after marching through the picturesque old city of arras, we halted on the outskirts of the city and made ourselves comfortable in cellars and ruined houses.
along the line of march we had been busy among ourselves with conjectures as to what our next job was to be, and from information secured from walking wounded and others, we learned that the 8th brigade c.m.r., after several days of fighting, had attacked and captured the village of monchy le preu, a particularly fine piece of work, for monchy was a hard nut to crack owing to its geographical situation on the high ground, situated about three miles east of arras and just north of the arras-cambrai road.
at 7 p.m. we moved forward again and at 11.30 p.m. reached and occupied shell holes just west of monchy, very fortunately shown on the map as orange hill. on our arrival here orders were received from the 9th brigade to co-operate with other units of the brigade and attack at 4.55 a.m. a conference of company commanders was hastily called when the plan of attack[74] was discussed and instructions quickly detailed, and at 12.10 midnight, companies had moved off by platoons to take up assembly positions in the jumping-off trench held by the royal canadian regiment. it was a pitch dark night with no opportunity for looking over the ground, and very little time to explain to the men the objective and plan of attack. it was here that the results of summer training and night manoeuvres justified the many hours spent, all companies being in position by 4 a.m., thus giving all hands a breathing spell and an opportunity to explain details of the attack.
the brigade objectives were boiry-notre-dame, artillery hill, and the two woods known as bois du sart and bois du vert. the 58th battalion objective was the bois du sart, and the 52nd battalion the bois du vert. the 116th battalion was to pass through these units and capture boiry and artillery hill, the 43rd battalion to follow in reserve. “a” company (capt. preston) was to follow in close support to the 52nd battalion, and on their clearing the wood was to follow through and make a turning movement north on boiry village. “d” company (capt. wilson), followed by “c” company (capt. sutton), were to work along the sunken road between the two woods and on their being cleared were to push on and capture boiry and artillery hill, “b” company (major pratt) to follow in close support of “c” and “d” companies.
with an almost uncanny exactness our artillery barrage opened at 4.55 a.m., and being closely followed[75] by our front waves, the whole battalion was soon in the thick of the bosch artillery and machine gun barrage.
after moving forward about a hundred yards our objectives were soon seen. the two woods situated on rising ground stood out in bold relief with the village of boiry perched on the top of another and higher hill about 800 yards beyond the woods.
it was soon realized that the bosch had a lot of kick left in him yet, “a” company being forced to swing to the right of the bois du vert to clean up some machine gun nests which were inflicting heavy casualties on our forward platoons by enfilade fire. the enemy was in great strength here and it was not long before we were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. during the day this line of trenches was captured, lost and recaptured by counter-attacks no less than three times.
during one of these attacks sergt. mcmillan of “a” company was captured and forced by the bosch to carry back wounded, but on his second trip he was recaptured in a counter-attack led by capt. preston.
in the meantime the 58th and 52nd battalions, after hard fighting, had captured their objectives and “d” and “c” companies of our own battalion had cleaned up the ground between the woods, but on emerging to the open ground in advance of these they were literally mown down by intense machine gun fire from artillery hill and boiry village. it was here, whilst gallantly trying to lead forward the advance, that major j. sutherland, acting in command of the battalion, was[76] killed, the command then falling on major pratt, next senior officer.
owing to the intense machine gun fire it was found impossible to make any great advance without further support, but during the day individual and small parties made further gains and a line was finally established well in advance of the woods, communication being established with the 58th and 52nd battalions on our left and right.
on night falling every effort was made to reorganize the companies and platoons. the evacuation of the wounded was rendered most difficult, as were the ration and ammunition carrying parties, owing to the continuous machine gun fire and the fact that we were occupying shell holes with very little cover. during the night, orders were received to make a further attack in conjunction with other units of the 9th brigade on artillery hill from the bois du sart; on the morning of the 28th aug., after getting into our assembly positions this order was cancelled, and we were ordered to take up new ground and closely support the 4th c.m.r. battalion in a flank movement from the south of the bois du vert, in conjunction with other units of the 3rd division.
at 11 a.m., “zero hour,” our artillery laid down a perfect barrage and both boiry and artillery hill were captured with a large number of prisoners, a line being established just on the outskirts of the town. at 9.30 p.m. very welcome orders were received that our division[77] would be relieved by the 4th british division and at 3.10 a.m. on the 29th of august the 116th battalion was relieved by a battalion of the hampshire regiment, companies moving off independently when relieved and assembling in billets in feuchy.
in these two days of fighting our losses were three officers, major j. sutherland, d.s.o., lt. h. d. livingstone, lt. r. campkin, and forty-two other ranks killed, seven officers and two hundred and forty-three other ranks wounded or missing.
on the 17th september the battalion was resting in the guemappe area, close to the scene of the fighting described above, and about 5 p.m. the german artillery suddenly commenced to register on our camp with 5.9’s; several men standing round the field kitchens were killed, and a number wounded. one of these shells burst within a few yards of a party of our officers who were on their way over to look after casualties, and captain f. w. ott and captain t. h. broad, both of whom came over to france with the battalion, were killed. colonel pearkes and lt. proctor were wounded, the former very seriously. this was a terrible blow to the battalion, coming on top of the very severe casualties we had experienced during the last month, and left us incidentally sans colonel, second in command (major sutherland); adjutant (captain ott); intelligence officer (captain broad); and scout officer (lt. proctor). the general surroundings and our recent losses had a most depressing effect on the whole battalion, and we were glad when[78] orders were received to move back to arras, which was accomplished on the 19th, under the command of major pratt.
later we were moved back a few more miles to “y” huts, already mentioned, and which was just across the road from the casualty clearing station in which colonel pearkes was lying dangerously ill.
arriving in france with the 8th canadian infantry brigade in 1915, private g. r. pearkes proceeded to win a commission in the field, and as a lieutenant in the same brigade was awarded the military cross for gallant conduct during the somme offensive of 1916—although he had been wounded three times he continued in his upward career, and as a company commander in the 5th c.m.r., with the acting rank of major, he won the victoria cross for conspicuous gallantry during the battle of passchendaele. it was then that the divisional commander (general lipsett) selected him out of all other officers in the 3rd division to fill the vacancy of 2nd in command to the 116th battalion.
all the previous honors won by him together with his almost unequalled experience were immediately centred in the welfare of our unit, and undoubtedly the high state of fighting efficiency and organization attained by us was greatly due to his unerring judgment and unselfish devotion to the battalion.
as our commanding officer in the battle of amiens he was awarded the d.s.o. and french croix de guerre, and although not permitted to lead the battalion against[79] boiry his influence and support behind were strongly felt by all ranks throughout this action and assisted us greatly in gaining our objectives. wounded severely for the fifth time, it seemed hopeless to expect that he could survive. to the surprise and joy of everyone he rejoined us later at the armistice line in time to lead the triumphant march through belgium and to return with us to canada.
