R. Lewis

“ It was while in those trenches that we first started to use the Lewis gun and the Stokes trench mortar.
The Lewis machine gun is a wonderful weapon. Like a rifle it can be fired from the shoulder and the discharge is at the rate of about 500 rounds a minute. The Stokes gun is much like a stove pipe; and as fast as the shells, which weigh 13 lbs., are dropped into it, they go flying through the air right to their object, and then burst and create an awful havoc. The Germans have invented quite a [22] number of trench mortars, but nothing to come up to this. ”

“ That is the reason you see so many bold footed officers holding down staff jobs in England and Canada. Colonel Hilliam who was now our commanding officer, says that the 25th battalion made his name; but the 25th boys are equally positive that he made the battalion. It was truly wonderful the confidence we placed in him and he never disappointed us. He was very strong on discipline, and when all is said and done that is most essential in the army. Without it a battalion simply becomes a mob. ”

“ The general public does not appear to know very much of the achievements of this battalion and this perhaps may be due to the fact that we left Canada in May of 1915, and that we had been in France some nineteen months before any other Nova Scotia Battalion went into action as a unit. This story is not being penned with the slightest idea of seeking in any way to disparage the Nova Scotia Highlanders; that intrepid body of superb fighters have fought splendidly and well and their glorious record is fresh in the minds of all. ”

“ Whistles blew and over the top went the Canadians. The artillery started their work. Hundreds and [54] hundreds of guns commenced drum fire simultaneously. Looking towards the Hun trenches it appeared as if the whole line was afire. It was a grand and impressive sight. The gallant pipers leading the 25th could be seen but it was impossible with the din to hear what they were playing. Gradually we advanced our ground—nothing but holes filled with mud and water to make the going very difficult. At last we reached the German line which had been taken by the 24th and 26th Battalion. ”

“ Well, after a long march we arrived at our destination.
How easy to write this back here, but what a feeling whilst going up. An occasional shell bursting close to you. Now and again a machine gun opening up. You are marching along very quietly when a battery of our own guns open up alongside of you and I tell you honestly there are times when the bravest of us get the creeps. We were in our new home, and had to see about some shelters. We would dig into the side of the parapet just enough for a man to crouch up into. ”

“ We get to his wire it is not cut as well as it should have been, but we belong to the "25th." We have to get through regardless of what happens to ourselves. We get through the wire but most of the boys are a little too much to the right. There is a machine gun playing on us but not doing any damage.
One of Fritz's bombs burst right close by us and some of it gets me behind the ear. But they are only flesh wounds and we have got to get to the objective, which is a sunken road. He is using a trench mortar on us. ”

“ Now and again we would think that the German was coming over so would have an extra good watch. He is such an uncanny devil he is always sending up fancy signals. The next morning as usual I visited my teams, issued their rations and rum. I had just finished doing this with my middle team and was sitting down talking to them. The little trench was more like a grave that could just hold us comfortable. ”

“ Every man in the "Fighting Twenty-Fifth" lifts his hat to Toby Jones—the greatest hero of them all!
We carried out several raids the next few weeks on the Kimmel front, and, as a matter of fact, it is no exaggeration to say that trench-raiding which has since been carried out so extensively was really initiated by the "Fighting Twenty-Fifth." Before proceeding further, let me describe a trench. They are all transversed, because if a shell or bomb should burst in one part of the trench the transverse prevents the spread of the shrapnel. ”

“ A good thing, for if we did a few of us would be good patients for a lunatic asylum. We stayed here for the night and the next morning we got as far as the Brickfields near Albert where there were a lot of the old London Motor Buses waiting to take us back to a little village clear of the shell fire so that we could reorganize and get another go at Fritz. [40] We were all as happy as larks, singing "Are we downhearted," "The Canadians took Courcelette, they can fight you just bet" and other trench songs. Some of the boys had on Fritz helmets and others had Fritzs' revolvers ”

“ We toiled through the shell-torn ground for about six hours before we got to where Battalion Headquarters were. Sometimes, our guides lost themselves. At other times Fritz would put a barrage across. We would lie down then in a shell hole and start talking about old times, never giving a thought to the shells which would burst quite close to us. In fact they got a few of our boys on the way up. But one has to be there to realize how callous a person appears to shell fire. ”

“ On the night of the 5th Major Delancy, who was going to take the Battalion over the top, held a meeting of all officers and everything was explained. The officers were made to understand that even if only one man was left alive the objective must be taken and held and unless the position was serious no calls for help were to be sent to other units but that the "25th" must carry out the task alloted to them. ”

“ I am too far ahead of my men. The Fritz's who are firing the Trench Mortar see me and think that we are all there. So they start to beat it. I fire at them with my revolver. I hear some squealing behind me and look around. Three Germans! What can I do. I cannot take them prisoners nor can I take any chances. ”

“ Just imagine a party of about a hundred men carrying wire trench mats across the open in full view of Fritz. A flare goes up; everybody stands still; a machine gun opens fire; everybody goes down so that they will not be hit; and then every thing is still again. All of a sudden somebody swears as he trips over a shell hole, but the oath is made in such a reverent way that it is more of a prayer than a curse word. Thus it continues night after night.
[24]
Chapter SixToC ”

“ Fritz's machine guns were now playing on us.
Aeroplane map of the sector in which the "Fighting 25th" were engaged at "Vimy Ridge."
Aeroplane map of the sector in which the "Fighting 25th" were engaged at "Vimy Ridge."
We saw some of the boys turn around and then drop dead. It must be a great death, for in the excitement one would never know what struck him. We opened up our machine guns on the Huns who were hiding in a bit of a wood. My team is up with the first wave by now. Then we all made a dash and arrived at the Convent wall in Courcelette. There were lots there before us. ”

“ I went to the left flank to carry out my order, and found my gun and ammunition scattered around the sunken road not damaged. But my team was gone, so I hunted around and got another team together and placed them out in "No Man's Land." If Fritz had to counter attack us that night he would have got an awful reception, for we had quite a few machine guns out in front and everybody was in good spirits and keeping a good look out.
We found out by this time we had lost quite a few of our best officers; out of our company we had lost one of the finest men that ever went over. ”

“ At seven the next morning I had a message handed me telling me that my men were not to stand down until I was notified later, as the Brigade on our left were going to carry out a raid. Again we pounded Cain out of him. Our men went over and our artillery formed a box barrage so that they could go in the trenches secure from a German counter attack. They had great success, brought back 100 prisoners besides what were killed. We suffered very light.
After our boys came back, Fritz, thinking that we still held it completed the work of knocking his trench to pieces which we had started. ”

“ I'll tell you, the British soldier does not need rum to buck his courage up. I believe that it was given to the men before they went over in the beginning, and that after the effect wore off it left the man drowsy. Once you start "over," you do not give a curse for anything. All you think about is that there is an objective, and that there is nothing in this world to stop you and you keep that spirit up until you have everything securely in your hands, and then perhaps a couple of hours after a certain amount of reaction sets in. ”

“ If ever a man deserved a V.C., he did. We marched from here to the Brickfield and from there back to a village behind the lines, out of the range of shell fire. We were still the same old battalion in name and those of us who were left intended to let the reinforcements know what sort of a battalion they had come to.
When our reinforcements at last arrived Col. Hilliam took them and gave them a good lecture and then the old boys got after them. It did not take them long to decide that we were the best battalion in France and that is how we got the "Esprit de Corp." ”

“ Nothing could be seen all along the horizon in the rear but one mass of flame, where our guns were sending out shell after shell. They were there in all sizes from the eighteen pounders up to the fifteen inch guns.
Now, our boys are over with all their objectives well defined. The principal one for our division, at the time, was the Sugar Refinery, and in a very short while the prisoners started to come in. Some of them carrying our wounded with them, others carrying some of their own wounded. ”

“ Wise pulled off his raid so successfully, the Fourth Brigade "put one over" on the Hun. They raided his trench, bringing back some prisoners and doing quite a lot of damage to his trench.
But one of their men had been missing and had been given up for lost. Two days later one of the Artillery officers, while observing our fire, noticed a chap wandering around No Man's Land, and he would have fired at him only the man turned round and the observer saw his black face and knew right away that it was the missing man. A couple of boys crawled out and brought him in. ”

“ Before turning in to sleep we would have a sing-song, all the men being in the best of spirits for at last we knew we were going to have a real scrap with the Hun, and although we had been in France twelve months, we had always been on the defensive and that is always the hardest kind of fighting. As we had quite a lot of old scores to pay off, we were just eager to get at the foe. After a long march we finally arrived at the brickfield in Albert, and there we saw for our first time the brass statute on the Church of Albert which was [27] hanging head down. ”

“ A communication trench is usually to connect the trenches together, and sometimes these trenches are a mile long reaching from the front line to some part behind the line where it is comparatively safe to walk around. ”

“ Their Commanding Officer thought that they were the best battalion that ever left Canada, and Hilliam, the bulldog that he was, would not stand for that; so there was always a certain amount of rivalry between us.
On one occasion there were a few Canadians guarding a road where people were not supposed to travel by night unless they had a pass, and a "Twenty-fifth" man who had been having a good time was coming home. "Halt," cried the sentry, "who goes there?" Answer "25th," "Pass 25th all is well," so the 25th man went on his way home. ”

“ He would be around his guns all day and at night he would be scouting all over "No Man's land" and in December, 1915 it was no joke crawling around in the mud. He never got any rest. He would not eat, and the day of the raid Fritz had straffed us quite a lot. I was in trench S.P. 12 along with Toby when a message came to tell us that a shell had knocked in one of the dugouts and had killed one of our N.C.O's, Corporal Ferguson, a chap who was well liked by everybody. ”

“ The miners work is as follows; first they sink a shaft so many feet down, and then when they get down deep enough they start sapping forward, putting up timbers as they go. They have to work very quietly as Fritz also does some sapping and if too much noise is made the miners themselves are liable to go up in the air and come down in pieces, and I do not think that anybody would relish that idea. Mining is done now on a very large scale. ”