The world war : $b a history of the nations and empires involved and a study of the events culminating in the great conflictMarshall, Logan
History
The world war : $b a history of the nations and empires involved and a study of the events culminating in the great conflict
Marshall, Logan
Europe -- History -- 1789-1900; Europe -- History -- 1871-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes
But with the acquisition of the ground the work had just begun. It was
necessary to erect tents for the housing of 30,000 men. A commissary
for their subsistence must be provided. Stores and storehouses had to
be rushed to the spot and there was a huge amount of work of a more or
less permanent character in the shape of water works with many miles of
piping, shower baths, drinking troughs, an electric light plant and the
like. The engineers were called upon immediately to lay out the camp
and its many auxiliary features. A rifle range, the largest in the
world, was immediately planned and put in operation for the training of
the soldiers, for few men unacquainted with military life are able to
handle modern high-powered military rifles with any degree of success,
although the average man, under capable instructors, rapidly becomes
proficient. Artillery ranges in the Laurentian Hills were established
for the training of the field artillery. Here the big sixty-pounders,
which throw a shell for nearly five miles, first woke the echoes.
A great bridge-building record was made by the men of the Royal
Canadian Engineers under the direction of Major W. Bethune Lindsay of
Winnipeg. The Jacques Cartier River separates the main camp from the
artillery practice grounds at the base of Mounts Ileene and Irene.
Across this 350 feet of waterway the Royal Canadian Engineers built
within four hours a barrel-pier pontoon bridge capable of carrying
heavy batteries. The Major and his three hundred men worked with that
well-ordered efficiency which characterizes the efforts of the British
bred. The race for the record started with the Canadian Northern
Railway. The materials barrels, planking, etc. were freighted on to the
ground with remarkable dispatch. The casks were made watertight, the
timber was made ready, the twenty-foot bank cut down to provide an easy
grade for traffic, and the actual test was on.
There was never a hitch. One party of men lashed the barrels to the
heavy planks, and, as soon as that operation was complete, another
party lifted the pier and carried it down the bank. Another squad of
men conveyed it on to the water, where it was taken in charge by still
another party and floated out to the front line. The pier was drawn
quickly into position, and as many men as could work with freedom soon
had the flooring spiked down. The actual bridging commenced at eight
o’clock; the span was complete at ten minutes after twelve. The extra
ten minutes were accounted for by the fact that on one or two occasions
passing bodies of other troops necessitated a temporary cessation of
carrying operations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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