April 1917

I had a conversation with my aunt last week and she asked me, "Was Jack at Vimy?." Yes he was...

The beginning of April, found Jack and his battalion still encamped at Bois des Alleux. On April 2nd, the largest artillery barage (which had started on March 24th) was stepped up. To the Germans, it became known as the "Week of Suffering." Over one million shells were dropped during this time. A major assault was coming. Jack and the rest of the men of the 123rd Pioneer Battalion, though, still worked on their plank road.

According to the 123rd War diary (dated April 4th) a meeting between the CO and Major's Boone and Smith discussed the possibility of the battalion taking part in the coming offensive. No word was received on that suggestion.

On April 5th, A and B companies, while working on the plank road, where shelled and gassed. Four causalities from B company were recorded. Two days later, 123rd recorded their first KIA. Pte. G.R. Helm was killed by shell fire and buried that day in Ecovires Cemetery.

After days of waiting for their orders for the coming offensive, it was decided that the 123rd would be part of it.

On April 9th at 530am, the main assualt on Vimy Ridge began. It appears that the 123rd was tasked to keep up the maintenance of the forward roads leading to the battle. Throughout the day (as the War diary records) wounded Canadian soldiers and German prisoners kept coming down the road. In less than two hours three out of four Canadian divisions had taken their objectives.

It doesn't appear that Jack and the rest of the 123rd were aware of the significance of Vimy Ridge. Oh, they knew it was a great victory, but soon they were all back to work on that plank road. Even though they were short of supplies, the road was finished on April 16th. Days later they were detailed to build another one near Maison Blanche. This work was carried out throughout the rest of the month.

Today, Vimy Ridge has taken on the status of legend. The "Birth of a Nation" is what I have heard those few days described as. It was the first time all four Canadian divisions fought as one and one of the first victories of the war. I don't know what Jack thought about it all. All I do know is that day, Jack and his buddies worked on the main road to the battle. After that, they were back on the plank road.

Trench Life

The Trenches of the Western Front, that's one of the things we remember the most of the First World War. There's a good reason why.

It was a living hell.

Gas Attacks
Shell Fire
Raiding parties
Mud
Lice
Rats
Bodies half buried
Boredom

The daily routine of the trench began with stand to. An hour before dawn, men were roused from sleep and ordered to stand, with bayonets fixed, to guard against a raiding party. When stand to ended, the men were set to cleaning their rifles for morning inspection. A breakfast of bully beef, bread and biscuits was served. After this, NCO's assigned chores to the men, which usually included filling sandbags or maintaining the trenches. After the daily chores were completed, the men had some time for other matters. Some wrote letters home, some chatted with other soldiers, some read, others tried to sleep. Enemy snipers constantly watched for any signs movement in the trenches.


Soldiers shave

At dusk, stand to was repeated. As snipers could not easily see at night, trenches became much more active. Men were sent to the rear for rations and water, supplies were brought in more maintenance was carried out. Men were assigned sentry duty, which typically lasted two hours before they were relieved.

Patrols were often sent out under the cover of darkness. Some were tasked with repairing barbed wire or setting up listening posts. Sometimes enemy patrols would encounter each other in No Man's Land.

The next morning, the same routine began again.


Soldiers de-lice their clothes

There were many other problems faced by men in the trenches then just enemy shells. Trenches routinely became flooded due to rain. Although they were drained daily, the water and mud never quite went away. This gave rise to the incidents of trench foot.



Lice to was a huge problem, and many men suffered from what was known as "trench fever." It wasn't until, 1918, though, that the medical authorities maid the link between the fever and the lice.

Isaac Rosenberg captured the unpleasantness of lice in his poem "The Immortals."

I killed them, but they would not die.
Yea! all the day and all the night
For them I could not rest or sleep,
Nor guard from them nor hide in flight.

Then in my agony I turned
And made my hands red in their gore.
In vain - for faster than I slew
They rose more cruel than before.

I killed and killed with slaughter mad;
I killed till all my strength was gone.
And still they rose to torture me,
For Devils only die in fun.

I used to think the Devil hid
In women’s smiles and wine’s carouse.
I called him Satan, Balzebub.
But now I call him, dirty louse.

Jack Dow 1909

I'm going to go back a few years to 1909. After talking to my Aunt today, she told me of this photo of Jack playing for the Ontario Juniors in 1909. He in on the bottom left. According to my Aunt, he was an extraordinary hockey player and in the 1930's played on the Toronto Hydro hockey team.

March 1917

In my last post I explained that the 123rd Pioneer Battalion was readying themselves for deployment to France. Jack, who had been part of the 180th Battalion, had transfered over to the 123rd in February of 1917. By the beginning of March, the battalion was still in training for deployment.

Part of their camp at Witley was still under quarantine for vermin and then measles. In addition to their day to day duties as soldiers, the men of the 123rd enjoyed some of the comforts of home. The battalion diary states that on March 3rd, the officers played a game of baseball. According to Tim Cook's book, "At the Sharp End", organizations such as the YMCA and the Salvation Army established huts near Army Camps to care for soldier's needs.

From what I was told by my father, Jack was mad for baseball. In fact, it, along with football (soccer) and cricket were the most popular sports played by the BEF and CEF. From "At the Sharp End,"

"The Canadian baseball matches within or between battalions and then against other armies' teams, especially the Americans' once they joined the war, attracted enormous crowds."

On March 6th, the Battalion recieved orders to leave for France on the 8th. This was eventually delayed 24 hours. On March 10th, Jack, along with the rest of the 123rd Pioneer Battalion boarded the transport ship "Invicta." They disembarked in Boulogne-sur-Mer that evening and the battalion marched to the Camp St. Marten for the night. Upon arrival in France, the strength of the battalion was 43 officers and 857 other ranks.

The 123rd Pioneer Battalion had been stationed in Haillicourt for a few days before they received word that they would be replacing the 3rd Pioneer Battalion. In the War diaries it states there much confusion over these orders. The main problem with moving to replace the 3rd Pioneer Division seemed to be that there were not enough billets for all the men. Tents were hastily put up. On March 17, the battalion moved to Bois des Alleux to relieve the 3rd Pioneers. Being only 3 miles behind the front lines, the guns were clearly heard. The next morning A, C, and D (I believe this was my great-grandfather's company) companies were detailed to begin where the 3rd Pioneers left off.

Jack's war had begun.



D Company was given the job of maintaining a road near the towns of Mont St. Eley and La Targette (which was destroyed.) A portion of this road came under enemy fire and two causalities were recorded. They were Pte. Carpenter (sent to hospital) and Pte. Bain (returned to work.)

For the next few weeks D Company worked on that road and came under more shell fire. On March 24, the 123rd's camp was shelled by German planes. By the end of the month the road was within 100 yards of completion.

February 1917

As you can see I am jumping ahead to February 1916 as this is where Jack's story finally begins. After arriving in England in November 1916, Jack's battalion (180th CEF) was broken up and the men put into the 3rd Reserve Battalion. In February of 1917, Jack was assigned to the 123rd Pioneer Battalion.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force had eight pioneer battalions whose task was to performed construction tasks in the forward area that did not require the special equipment of engineers. This included constructing trenches and dugouts although they occasionally acted in the engineer role on tasks such as the construction of bridges. They had a large proportion of tradesmen and were organized the same as infantry battalions.


Recruitment poster for 5th Pioneers.

The 123rd Pioneer was based out of the Witley Camp in Surrey, England. On February 1st, the battalion was informed that they would be mobilized for France. According to the 123rd Battalion War Diary, it was during this time that they finally received (after many delays) their steal helmets and Lee Enfield rifles.

Jack, along with many of the new men in the battalion, were discovered by the Commanding Officer that they had not received any gas instruction, dental treatments, inoculations or even instruction in field engineering or wiring. This was soon corrected. The whole Battalion spent the next few weeks training heavily in field engineering and in gas attacks. Dummy trenches were constructed in order to train the men in "working parties." Men were vaccinated against typhus and many fell ill because of it. The last week of February was spent fumigated the huts as they had become infested with what the war diary called "vermin."

The men of the 123rd Battalion trained hard for soon they would be in France.

Posts

I just wanted to clarify to all my readers that I will be posting at excerpts from my great-grandfather's story at least once a week. It takes a lot of research to get the facts right along with the time it takes to pour through all the documentation I have. I will from time to time post about other events that happened during the First World War so stay tuned.