Thirty Canadian V.Cs., 23d April 1915 to 30th March 1918 — John Shaqi
Thirty Canadian V.Cs., 23d April 1915 to 30th March 1918Roberts, Theodore Goodridge
History
Thirty Canadian V.Cs., 23d April 1915 to 30th March 1918
Roberts, Theodore Goodridge
Victoria Cross; World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada
The solitary German was soon left behind; but from another aerodrome
came four German scouts who had been sent to the rescue of their friends
of the now untidy aerodrome. They had seen the latter part of the
battle. Though they were about a thousand feet above him they did not
attack, but fell behind after following for about a mile.
With his machine slashed almost to ribbons, Bishop made a safe landing
near the bunch of green trees beside the ancient farm. That night there
was great rejoicing at the "Abode of Love," for the news spread
quickly and men came from neighbouring parts of the line to offer
congratulations.
[Illustration]
PRIVATE J. G. PATTISON, 50TH BATTALION
During the morning of April 10th, 1917, the 44th and 50th Battalions
were instructed to capture and consolidate, as an outpost line, the
Eastern edge of Vimy Ridge lying beyond Hill 145. The men of the 10th
Brigade had been in reserve while their comrades swept over Vimy on the
previous day and were anxious to get in some good work with the rest of
the Corps. There is no doubt that they succeeded.
The men of the 50th made their way to Beer Trench, and at zero hour,
3.15 p.m., went forward with a rush. Opposition was immediate and
severe. From every broken tree and battered piece of cover machine-gun
fire swept the attack, and casualties were extremely heavy; but the men
continued to push forward.
On the right "C" Company attacked, with "D" Company in close support; on
the left "A" Company, with "B" Company in support. The leading companies
found the "going" extremely hard, but for a time all went well, and
though the advance was slow, steady progress was made.
As the incessant fire thinned the waves of attacking troops, greater
difficulty was encountered in enveloping the machine-gun nests that
barred our progress. In the first stage of an attack made by determined
troops the resistance close at hand is easily swamped; but as the men
continue to push forward the innumerable obstructions and perils of the
battlefield gather against their weakening impact, fatigue slows them,
their front is broken and their connecting files are shot down; and so a
steady enveloping movement becomes a series of bitterly contested little
battles, where small parties in twos and threes fight strategic
engagements with isolated strong points of the enemy. Finally a series
of partial checks culminates in an abrupt cessation of the advance--and
a gathering company finds itself held up before an embattled
fortification whose point of vantage covers the whole local zone of
attack.
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