From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigade — John Shaqi
From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigadeCurry, Frederic C. (Crawford)
History
From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigade
Curry, Frederic C. (Crawford)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
Later we swung across the ample Downs, passing on our way Stonehenge.
After having said "I don't know" to a few hundred questions from the men
nearest you, it was a relief to be able to answer a few for a change.
What memory failed to supply imagination furnished; but this is every
guide's privilege. A momentary halt here--to give the men a
rest--afforded a chance for cameras to click, and then we left the road
and marched across the grassy Downs to the Bustard Inn. Here the rows of
tents that were to be our homes for the next few months had already
been pitched.
Other brigades went to Lark Hill, to Pond Farm, to Sling Plantation, and
to West Down, North and West Down, South ... one could lose a whole army
in this vast training ground.
Gone was the long main street of Val Cartier camp with its cinema shows
and booths of tempting merchandise. Gone, too, was the little river with
its gravelly shores for bathing.
But we were one step nearer our goal, and that was the one thought that
consoled us during those trying winter months that followed.
From then on we saw little but our own brigade--the 1st Brigade--and the
Princess Patricia's Light Infantry--who were also at Bustard Camp.
The latter held themselves rather aloof from the Canadian Division,
counting themselves as superior troops--as indeed they were, being
mostly veterans of one or two campaigns--and as they were not brigaded
with us we saw little of them.
Early in November the King, accompanied by Lords Roberts and Kitchener,
reviewed the Division. His Majesty took special interest in the
Patricias, so we were not surprised when in the early days of December
the "Pats" left the Plain to join the 27th Division. Of their subsequent
doings another book might be written, for no regular battalion of the
British Army has proved itself steadier on the field than this
magnificent corps--the gift to the Empire of a very gallant gentleman
who has since succumbed to wounds received while serving with it in the
field.[1]
Christmas brought with it leave and relaxation from the monotony of
drilling, but with the New Year we started brigade and divisional
manoeuvres, and we knew our stay on the Plain was drawing to a close.
We were again reviewed--in a drizzling rain this time--by the King on
February 4th, 1915, and on the following day--just six months after the
declaration of war--the First Canadian Division, complete in every
detail (horse, foot, and guns) entrained for France.
So secret had the departure been kept that people in the neighbouring
town of Salisbury knew nothing of the review or the entraining of the
troops till they were well on the high seas.
[Footnote 1: Major Hamilton Gault, referred to above, did not die of
wounds as first reported, but suffered the loss of a leg by amputation.]
After a very rough passage from Avonmouth the Division landed at St.
Nazaire in the Bay of Biscay, the last transport arriving some time in
the second week of February.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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