Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1917-18

After a blitz reading (because its so good) I'm ready to do my review of Tim Cook's newest book, Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917-1918.

Unlike Volume 1, At the Sharp End, this book does not cover a lot of the social history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Strategy and the momentousness battles (Vimy, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Hundred Days) are the main focus in this edition. As Shock Troops covers the most important battles Canadians fought in the First World War, I'm glad Cook had concentrated on that. I was also glad to see an in depth overview on the Hundred Days campaign (rightly called Canada's Hundred Days) During this period of time Canada was the spear point of the retreat and eventual defeat of the German Empire. During this time the CEF suffered 46,000 casualties.

To the British, French, Americans and even the Germans, the men of the CEF were regarded as an elite Corps of soldiers and I am glad that Tim Cook's book does the distinction justice. It was Canada's successes on the battlefield that enabled the country to forge its own separate identity from Britain.

Passenger Lists

Something new that Library and Archives, along with Ancestry.com (which you have to pay for) is doing. As you can see I found Jack.

A Reply from Veterans Affairs

A few months ago I wrote to the Honours and Awards section of Veterans Affairs to see if they could re-issue Jack's Class "A" War Badge. Today I got a letter from them telling me all though Jack was entitled to that class of War Badge, they no longer re-issue them. It's too bad as we don't know what happened to the original and I would have liked it for sentimental/historical value.

In Northern France there sits a tiny piece of Canada. It was on this piece of land in April of 1917 that the Canadian Corps took Vimy Ridge. In gratitude, the French government granted the land in perpuitity to all Canadians. It was here that the Canadian National Vimy Memorial was built. A memorial to the 66,000 Canadians killed in the First World War, it also contains the names of
11,285 names of Canadian soldiers with no known graves (who were killed in France.)

To the valour of their
Countrymen in the Great War
And in memory of their sixty
Thousand dead this monument
Is raised by the people of Canada

Not far from Menin Gate is another memorial to the fallen of the First World War. In fact it is the largest British Commonwealth cemetery in the world with 12,000 graves, of which 8,367 have "A Soldier of the Great War" engraved on their headstones. A stone wall that surrounds the cemetery has the names of 35,000 Commonwealth soldiers who fell between August 17 1917-November 11th 1918 and have no known grave.

1914 - HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL
GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH - 1918

Inscription engraved on the frieze above the panels which contain the names of the missing.

Every night at 8:00pm, a familar tune is played in the town of Ypres. Roads are closed, while crowds of people and sometimes none at all, gather under a marble archway to remember the dead from the First World War.

Menin Gate is a memorial to the 54,896 Commonwealth Soldiers who have no known grave. On completion of the memorial in 1927 it was discovered that it would be too small to hold all the names originally planned. A cut off date of August 15, 1917 was chosen and a further 34,984 names are inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. 7,000 of names on the Mein Gate are Canadians.

One of the most tragic features of the Great War was the number of casualties reported as 'Missing, believed killed'.  To their relatives there must have been added to their grief a tinge of bitterness and a feeling that everything possible had not been done to recover their loved ones' bodies and give them reverent burial.  That feeling no longer exists; it ceased to exist when the conditions under which the fighting was being carried out were realised.

But when peace came and the last ray of hope had been extinguished the void seemed deeper and the outlook more forlorn for those who had no grave to visit, no place where they could lay tokens of loving remembrance...

It was resolved that here at Ypres, where so many of the 'Missing' are known to have fallen, there should be erected a memorial worthy of them which should give expression to the nation's gratitude for their sacrifice and its sympathy with those who mourned them.

A memorial has been erected which, in its simple grandeur, fulfils this object, and now it can be said of each one in whose honour we are assembled here today: 'He is not missing; he is here'."

From Lord Plummer's speech on the unveiling of Menin Gate

Some Good Reading

Tim Cook, curator of the Canadian War Museum and author of "Nowhere to Run" and "Cilo's Warriors" has written an excellent volume of books (with the new one, "Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917-1918) coming out on September 30th. Volume 1, "At the Sharp End" tells the history of the start of the First World War, the formation of the First Contingent and the first battles (Ypres to Mt. Sorrel) the Canadian Expeditionary Force faced.

I got to tell you this is an amazing piece of work and one of the few books I stayed up all night reading, simply because I could not put it down. From the inception of the First Contingent (on a shoe string budget) to the first action at 2nd Ypres to Mt. Sorrel, from the description Tim Cook puts forward you will feel like you are there on the Western Front.

The book, however, isn't all battles. The book also describes the boring day to day routine of the average soldier's life at the front. Fun and games and the British perspective of the Canadians are also talked about in great detail. From this first volume you begin to see how the First World War transformed Canada from British dominion into a distinctive country with its own identity.

A Land Fit for Heroes

A Land Fit for Heroes? It was David Lloyd George who coined the term to describe what post-war Britain would be like after the war. The truth of it though depended.

Most soldiers found it hard to integrate back into civilian life. For those with disabilities, the government offered meager compensation. Jobs promised to soldiers at war's end didn't always happen. Many men found they had to start their lives over again while they watched "stay at homes" reap the rewards. An economic downturn in 1919-1920 saw 200,000 Canadians out of work, many of them former soldiers.

A letter, written by Walter Draycot to  his former CO

August 21st, 1930.
Senator W. Griesbach,
Parliament Buildings,
Ottawa.
Honoured Sir,
In writing you may I respectfully recall a War episode by way of introduction: During the early stages of the Third Battle of Ypres you assumed command at Yeomanry Post at the critical moment.
As Sergeant in charge of Brigade Intelligence I volunteered the role of Despatch Carrier, in company with Capt. Wallis, as I had previously mapped and sketched the area.
You probably remember my Intelligence work on the Brigade and the field sketches which you have copies of.
I hope I am not trespassing on your time but I am desirous of your assistance if such lies in your power.
On 1-4-1923 my disability pension ceased and though letters were sent the Department for re-consideration of my case they were of no avail.
When making application for re-instatement of Pension in the Spring of this year I was granted 25 per cent from 1-3-30.
During the period 1-4-1923 to 1-3-1930 it was a great struggle to keep afloat and being unable to take on any steady work caused me to fall back so consequently my rates and taxes are in arrears.
A friend of mine in somewhat similar circumstances had been re-instated in his Pension and has received the full amount of the dormant period of his Pension allowance. In all fairness I anticipated the same treatment, as a comparative case, but received only an evasive reply to my enquiries. True enough the fortunate applicant is a well known politician, and I not so, which explains the comparison.
My overseas record, longer than any other Canadian of the C.E.F. in the constituency of Vancouver North, extends from 1914 (in the trenches at Dickebusch) to the latter end of 1918 as an original member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
Since my return the community has benefited by my services to them without salary or emolument as a School Board Trustee, Chairman of the Boy Scouts, founding Lending Libraries and Museums at six schools, and other public matters.
The granting of my dormant Pension allowance would clear me of debts incurred through my War disabilities.
I should feel indeed grateful if you could assist me in my case if it is possible for you to do so.

Resting,

Yours Respectfully,

Walter M. L. Draycot
J.P.

Now Jack was lucky. When he returned home, he found work in his father-in-law's (Frank Kerr) tannery, though the smell of the work drove Jack to quit a few months later. A skilled tradesmen, Jack soon found work with Toronto Hydro and stayed there till retirement. Many others, though, remained under employmed.

To respond to returning soldiers needs, the Government of Canada created the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment in 1918. At its peak, the department operated a number of hospitals (both medical and psychiatric), out patient clinics, programs for out of work veterans and vocational classes for those disabled veterans.

Like their American counter-parts, Canadian Veterans demanded a bonus ($2000) to be paid out to compensate for their services. Like the Americans, the government refused to listen. It was not until 1930 that the government passed the War Veterans Allowance Act, that provided poor veterans over 60, $40 a month (for married veterans) or $20 a month (for single veterans.) To help fight the Government for benefits, two organizations were created the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League (Royal Canadian Legion) and the Great War Veteran's Association.

The Rest of the Story

You're probably wondering what happened with the 123rd Pioneer Battalion after Jack left them? Here's a summary of the actions they were involved in till May 1918.

In December 1917 the 123rd was pulled of the line to undergo further training and to accept new drafts of men. By Christmas the Battalion was back at work at the city of Maroc, setting up wiring. By the begining of the new year, the 123rd was back in the thick of things, suffering about twelve casualities in the first few days of January. By the end of the month they were again taken off the line and rotated to Ourton, for rest and further training.The 123rd was relocated back to Vimy in February to continue work fixing trenches and dugouts.

March 1918 saw the anniversary of the battalion's arrival in France. During this month, things did not change to much. For the last half of the month, the battalion was constantly being put on stand to due to the increasing German attacks. The battalion was put on notice that they might be required to move within two hours time as an attack on Vimy Ridge was a possibility. On april 12th the battalion was withdrawn from Vimy and returned to Maroc.

In May, the Battalion was suddenly broken up into the 7th, 8th and 9th Canadian Engineer Battalions. This was a huge blow to the men of the 123rd as the battalion had been in existence for over two and a half years. Today the 123rd, along with the  3rd, 58th, 124th, and 204th Battalions perpetrates The Royal Regiment of Canada. 

Britian's Last Tommy

Harry Patch, age 110, one of two men left in the world to have fought on Western Front.

"Any one of them could have been me. Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left."

Harry Patch was born in Combe Down in Somerset England on June 17th 1898. Conscripted into the British Army, he was posted with the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant gunner in a Lewis Machine Gun section. From June 1917 to September 1917 (when he was injured by shell fire) Harry Patch served at the front during the Battle of Passchandaele. After the war Harry continuted his work as a plumber.

It wasn't until his 100th year that Harry Patch finally talked about his war time experiences. Since that time, he has even authored a book, "The Last Fighting Tommy" about his life, from his birth at the close of the 19th century to the First World War, and his life after (and it's a good read to!)