This was not heartening, but certainly gave all of us a
keener desire to get to grips. On the side of the banks of
the Yser we were formed into three waves and received
instructions that we were going over in extended order to
drive the Huns from the position. But the Canadians had done
so grandly that we were not needed until the following
morning, when, in broad daylight, the remnants of the once
whole battalion, in single file, made their way along the
hedges, taking advantage of every possible cover, up to the
village of St. Jean.
"Much to our surprise we did not stop there, but went right
through and came within view of the Boches. Immediately we
were under the special care of their artillery, and within a
short space of time lost half of our numbers. We had to dig
ourselves in with entrenching tools, but after having got
fairly decent cover, had to move on again over to the left.
We got right forward into the front line, and found it held
by a mere handful of the Canadians, who received us with
enthusiasm and were so heartened by our reinforcements that
they were more determined than ever to hang on to the last.
"Meanwhile between the two lines our wounded lay unattended,
those who were able made their way, crawling and rolling
through the barbed wire, into our lines.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50