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PAGE INTRODUCTION 7

HONOR ROLL 94

INTRODUCTION

There were very few, if any, Canadian Militia Regiments that succeeded in keeping their identity in France throughout the Great War. The reasons for this were--Firstly, the recruiting system, by means of which men were gathered into the Battalions of the Expeditionary Force, through the different Militia Regiments; the majority of the overseas Battalions being formed by drafts from three, four, five and sometimes more different Regiments. Secondly, the method of reinforcement, which distributed officers and men to Battalions in France disregarding any other principle except that these officers and men were from the same Province as the Battalion to which they were going. And even this did not hold good at all times.

The fact remains, however, that the 116th Battalion was recruited and fostered in the County of Ontario and led to France and in France by an officer of the 34th Regiment. In consequence, a few details concerning the military history of that County and the parent regiment may be of interest to those members of the 116th who joined the Battalion from other parts of the Province and through other regiments.

The County of Ontario can justly claim credit to have been one of the first counties in the Province to recognize and fulfil its militia obligations, the first company of militia in the County being formed at Oshawa and known as The Oshawa Rifle Company.

Lieut. Colonel Bick, the Commanding Officer of the 34th Regiment, has in his possession a bugle with the following inscription:

"Presented by the Ladies of Oshawa to the Oshawa Rifle Company on their return home from the Front, June 1866."

The 34th Ontario County Regiment was organized in accordance with the general orders of September 14th, 1866, and was composed of ten companies and H.Q. as follows:--

Battalion and Staff H.Q. Whitby No. 1 Company Whitby 2 " Brooklin 3 " Oshawa 4 " Greenwood 5 " Port Perry 6 " Uxbridge 7 " Beaverton 8 " Pickering 9 " Columbus 10 " Cannington

Sometime afterwards the Battalion was reduced to seven companies, those at Greenwood, Port Perry and Columbus being eliminated.

In 1905 one more Company was added with Headquarters at Brechin and the distribution at the present time is as follows:--

Regimental H.Q. Whitby A. Company Oshawa B. " Whitby C. " Oshawa D. " Beaverton E. " Uxbridge F. " Port Perry G. " Cannington H. " Oshawa.

During the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1868, Ontario County contributed its quota and a number of Ontario County men saw service in the North-West Rebellion of 1885, some of whom are still living in the County.

When war broke out in August, 1914, recruiting centres were established throughout Ontario County, and almost immediately the 34th Regiment was asked to supply a draft of 125 men for the First Contingent.

So great was the response to the call for this draft that finally 7 officers and 200 other ranks went to Valcartier to join the 2nd and 4th Battalions.

During the interval between the departure of the First Contingent and the enrolling of the Second, a great deal of preparatory work was done, but recruiting was not the only military activity of the times, as there was considerable anxiety felt throughout the County regarding the attitude of the alien population.

The public buildings throughout the County were placed under guard, and upwards of 300 aliens were paroled and kept under surveillance. Great credit is due to Major A. F. Hind, at that time Chief of Police in Oshawa and later an officer in the 116th Battalion, for the efficient way in which this work was carried on.

During the month of May, 1915, Lieut. Colonel Bick, Officer Commanding the 34th Regiment, prior to his departure for Niagara with the 37th Overseas Battalion, appointed Captain G. W. P. Every of Whitby , to carry on recruiting throughout the County. Many small drafts of officers and men were despatched to the different overseas Battalions at that time being formed, including 27 other ranks to the 58th Battalion which was afterwards closely connected with the 116th in France; and so things went along until October, 1915, when the 116th Ontario County Battalion was authorized. Major S. S. Sharpe, second in command of the 34th Regiment, was given the command of the Battalion. Headquarters were established at Uxbridge with companies distributed as follows:--

A. Company Uxbridge Major H. P. Cooke B. " Beaverton Major F. H. Moody C. " Whitby Major G. W. P. Every D. " Oshawa Major A. F. Hind

Lieut.-Colonel Sharpe immediately set to work to enlist the sympathy and secure the co-operation of the citizens in all parts of the County.

A Civilian Recruiting League was formed and a deputation sent to wait upon the County Council and ask for financial assistance. The County Council responded in a magnificent manner to the request and voted ,000 to the 116th Battalion--,000 for the purchase of band instruments, and ,000 for recruiting purposes.

Many other generous donations were made to the Battalion by the people of Ontario County including the Colours of the Battalion, which were carried through Belgium, with great pride, after the Armistice.

The progress made in recruiting during the winter was such that by May, 1916, the Battalion was 1,145 strong, and on the 23rd of July, 1916, set sail from Halifax for England on the old reliable H.M.T. "Olympic."

SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE.

On the 8th February, 1917, the 116th Battalion, quartered at Witley Camp, England, was warned to proceed to France on Sunday, 11th February. Everything, in consequence, was hustle and bustle, and the Battalion Orderly Room, which at the best of times is no haven of rest, was inundated with requests for additional information and leave. There was very little information to be got, other than that we were really for duty in France, and absolutely no leave, and so we gradually subsided and commenced preparations for our departure.

The next few days seemed an eternity, for it was greatly feared that, even though we had received official warning for France, the Battalion's departure might be delayed on account of mumps; at least four huts just now being quarantined with that disease. Notwithstanding many pessimistic prophecies emanating from the M.O. , the fateful day arrived, and the Battalion, less its horses and half the transport section, which had been sent on in advance under Lt. Proctor, entrained at Milford Station at the usual army hour for such operations , one ten ack emma.

The London and South Western Railway seemed determined to make up for all its past bad behaviour, and by ten o'clock the same morning we were all safely tucked away on board His Majesty's Transport "Victoria" with part of the 66th Imperial Divisional Headquarters and some drafts. Nothing of any importance happened during the voyage, and no "subs" were sighted, so far as we knew, so that by noon we had arrived at Boulogne. A short march brought us to St. Martin's Camp, during which we were carefully scrutinized by the inhabitants, who shouted many unintelligible comments at us, but which by the expressions on their faces we interpreted to be of a complimentary nature. A host of small, stockingless boys accompanied us all the way from the boat to the camp, asking the most extraordinary questions in broken English, and generally ending by "cigarette?" or "bully beef?".

St. Martin's Camp, situated as it was on the side of a hill, and about five kilometres from Boulogne, did not commend itself to us in any way, and there was nothing of interest there except the odd Y.M.C.A. or Salvation Army Hut. The men slept about ten in a tent and the officers were billeted all together in a kind of barn; blankets and bed rolls were freely distributed, and having vainly applied for leave to visit the City we turned in to dream of our dear ones or to wonder what fate had in store for us during the next few months. There is nothing on earth quite so trying as waiting for orders, especially when confined to a camp like St. Martin's, but we were not to be kept in suspense very long, for at midnight orders were received to move, and by 8 a.m., 12th February, the whole Battalion had entrained for a destination "Somewhere in France."

The poor old despised London and South Western Railway was a perfect paradise to the cattle trucks of this train, but what did anything matter now?

It might be well at this point to state that we were under orders to join the 3rd Canadian Division, and it was generally understood that we were to take the place of the 60th Battalion, which, although the junior Battalion of the 9th Brigade, was held in very high esteem as a fighting unit. The reason given for this most unusual proceeding was that the 60th Battalion, being originally recruited in Quebec, could not get sufficient reinforcements from its own Province, and in consequence was receiving both officers and men from the Province of Ontario. This method of recruiting was evidently frowned upon by superior authority, and the 116th Battalion had been chosen out of many others in England as an alternative to the 60th Battalion, and as a means of overcoming the Provincial question of reinforcements.

Now, as already stated, the 60th had a wonderful record, and individually they were as fine a lot of men as one could meet anywhere; therefore, it is only natural that the news that they were soon to be broken up should cause consternation in the ranks, not only of the 9th Brigade, but the whole of the 3rd Division; and this did not increase the popularity of the 116th.

In addition to our family troubles we were without field kitchens or transport, which made things far from comfortable, and it is certain that during this period our inexperience proved to be our salvation. We were fresh and eager to do credit to the name of our unit and our Commanding Officer , whose untiring energies had succeeded in gaining a place for us in France; so we dealt with our experiences as we found them and passed through them to others.

Whilst at Haillicourt the Battalion was inspected by Major-General Lipsett, G.O.C. 3rd Division, and by Lieut.-General Sir Julian Byng, G.O.C. Canadian Corps, and after about two weeks' training in the new platoon formation we were moved to Faucquenheim, in order to be closer to the other battalions of the 9th Brigade. The real reason for this move was made obvious during the next few days when orders were received on the 5th March for the Battalion to be split up in the following manner:--

A. Company was to go to the 58th Battalion; B. Company to the 60th Battalion; C. Company to the 43rd Battalion; D. Company to the 52nd Battalion.

The object of this being to give the Battalion training in actual warfare with men who were already experienced in front line work. Further, each Company was split up so that one platoon was apportioned to each Company of the different Battalions as above, and all that now remained of the youthful 116th was an ardent desire to get through the "baptism of fire" with as much glory and as few casualties as possible.

On the 11th March the 9th Brigade, composed of the 43rd, 52nd, 58th and 60th Battalions, moved into the trenches at the foot of Vimy Ridge, accompanied by their unwelcome but willing guests from the 116th. Apart from working parties and general trench routine, which to the inexperienced is all more or less exciting , nothing of any great military value was accomplished during this tour, and by the 25th of the month our Battalion was reassembled at old friend Houdain, where the experiences of the past fortnight were feverishly discussed and compared. It was generally conceded that trench warfare had not all the advantages the instructors at Bramshott had claimed for it, and that "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty" was not such a rotten song after all.

Several of the Companies had encountered mud in the trenches, well over their knees, and, as military overcoats are not constructed for mud wading, a great many of the men in these Companies, following the advice of the "old" soldiers in the Battalions to which they were attached, had cut their coats in accordance, not with orders from the 9th Brigade, but with the depth of the mud encountered. As these tailoring alterations were for the most part made by means of the Service Jack Knife the results were hardly in keeping with , and by the look on the C.O.'s face when he inspected the Battalion for the first time after its reassembly at Houdain there was certainly trouble in store for somebody.

The next day saw about 200 brave, but ragged warriors, lined up outside Battalion Orderly Room, awaiting sentence for destroying Government property. The sentences were not severe, but the Battalion tailor had his hands full for a while.

VIMY RIDGE.

For two years he had looked down into our trenches from the top of that accursed ridge, which had been lost by the French in the early days of the war. He could see the country behind our lines for a distance of about 5 miles, and although every artifice in the dictionary of camouflage had been used to conceal the hundreds of guns which were hauled in, under cover of darkness, for the attack, Mister Fritz could not help seeing something of our preparations. His nerves were certainly on edge, but it was equally certain that he underestimated both the strength and number of our guns and the courage of the assaulting troops.

To drive him from the top of the ridge we must advance a distance of nearly three miles, uphill, over deep mud and shell holes, and through barbed wire entanglements strung across the front in a way that only Germans with a dread of British steel know how to do. Such an advance, even without a shot being fired from his lines, would be quite an undertaking; and so he sat back in his deep dug-outs around the "Zwichen Stellung," and smiled at the idea of anyone taking that comfortable home away from him.

This, then, was the situation when we received orders on the 7th of April to vacate our billets in Houdain and take over a series of mud holes on the top of Mt. St. Eloi, called Dumbell Camp.

From this position, which was right on the edge of a wood , we had a wonderful view of Vimy Ridge, and also made an equally wonderful target for Fritz's high-velocity gunners, who seemed to suspect, and rightly so, that that wood of ours was a good hiding place for troops. His shooting was erratic so far as we were concerned, the shells either going over our heads into the Engineers' Camp or falling short amongst the mud holes of another battalion.

And here we stayed until the morning of the 9th of April, which was the day set for the attack. No definite position among the assaulting troops was assigned to us, the whole of the 9th Brigade being in reserve, but we were told that we would be used to consolidate the captured trenches, and that we might win much honour and glory by conveying ammunition and trench material to the front line, in the event of a successful attack. These little jobs sound rather tame in comparison with honest fighting, but in reality they require just as much skill and courage. Ask any infantry man which he would rather do--go "over the top" or be in reserve and do working parties, and he will choose "going over the top" every time. We had not yet reached the point where we could appreciate these little distinctions, and in consequence were inclined to underestimate the importance of the part allotted to us.

The dawn of the 9th of April, 1917, saw perhaps the fiercest and most scientific artillery barrage of the war let loose on the German front and support line trenches. Fritz must surely have realized that this was something more than the daily "warm up," which our artillery had been giving him during the last three weeks, and when its full meaning had sunk into his thick and short-cropped head his feelings must have been far from happy.

The boot was to be on the other foot now, for instead of watching us swimming around in the mud of the Souchez Valley, we were soon to see him flying across the lowland which stretches from the eastern side of the Ridge towards Avion and Lens, with the lash of our shells and bullets around his ears.

From our position we could see only the flash of the guns as it was scarcely daylight, when, like a mighty earthquake, the artillery burst forth, sounding the keynote of the advance to our waiting comrades in the trenches.

Gazing into the smoke and dust, caused by the bursting shells, we vainly tried to picture the drama that had just begun, and many a prayer for success went up from the watchers on Mount St. Eloi that morning.

The work by these Companies, acting independently for the first time, deserves the highest praise, and their adventures throughout that memorable day would almost fill a book in themselves. The Sector of the ridge where our Companies were employed had been cleared of the enemy and by the time that No. 8 platoon had reached the new front line around La Folie Farm, the German artillerymen, who up till now had been chiefly engaged in dragging their guns to safety, were searching the top of the ridge in an endeavour to retard the work of consolidation. They must have sighted No. 8 platoon, for no sooner had our men begun work on the wiring schemes than a veritable hail of shells was poured into them. In spite of heavy casualties the work of consolidation was continued and completed, and towards midnight all companies reported in to Dumbell Camp, having lost ten men killed and thirty wounded, including Company Sergeant Major Graves.

The reports from all parts of the line fulfilled the highest expectations, and the prisoners' cages were crowded beyond capacity, but for the next few days there was to be no rest for anyone until our new line had been so firmly established as to admit of no possibility for a successful counter-attack by the Bosch.

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