BROTHERS FROM OVERSEA.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15603, 30 May 1916, Page 5

BROTHERS FROM OVERSEA.

The following article, prepared by the Canadian War liocord Office, has been received from the High Commissioner for the Dominion of Canada for publication, j .In the firing line at Ypres were found side bv side not only the successors of the British who had stayed in their island home and of the French who had remained in France and dealt with the British since on many a hard-fought field in Eurone, but the eons of those who had struggled together before the entrenchments of Ticonderoga or ou the fateful Plains of Abraham. - Of all peonies, the French are the most susceptible to appeal of the historic imagination. One can unaginS with what feelings they learnt that two thou sand French-Canadians t had landed with the Ist Division at St. Nazaire. One company of the 14th Battalion was entirely composed of French-Canadians, and as"the new arrivals started on their slow journey to the front the air rang with the old chansons which "three centuries before had come out of their own F J3v the last week of tie 14th Battalion was in trenches, learning their work with a Regular battalion (3rd Rifle Brigade). fiery ORDEAL.

A.n officer of the 3rd Rifle Brigade proposed to blood the French-Canadian companv. He told their officer that he would '"'like" the German sniping post abolished, and a veteran of the Rifle Brigade, who had just won the Military Cross for a similar exploit, was detailed officer asked for volunteers and every man in the company stepped forward. The first five men were accepted, and Victor Hardy 1. Martin, G. Valin, A. Lecroix, and J5. de Longchamps scsambled out of tie trench for their first brush with the Huns. Then there was an anxious wait for a quarter of an hour. Suddenly the German machine guns blazed out with lapid fire, and after five mmntes of suspense the patrol tumblwl safely into the trench 3 they had reached the Ger-

man advance post, found it deserted, destroyed the parapet, and pushed on right up to the German wire, when they were seen and fired at. This little affair was merely child's play to the fiery trial which was to await the Canadian troops in the following month at the historic battle of Ypres. The French-Canadians of the l*th Battalion shared the undying glory of the 3rd Canadian Brigade through that heroic season of April. Several officors of French extraction' distinguished themselves in the course of the prolonged struggle, among whom may be mentioned Major Hercule Barro. H© was severely wounded in the leg on his way to join his company, but he managed to crawl irito a ditch and to convey a message to his men. Within haif an hour two French-Canadian stretcherbearers, who had volunteered, rushed along the bullet and shell-swept road> and were by the major's side. He explained the risks they were running, as the enemy artillery was now searching the back roads for the' reinforcements. They replied, "Good, but wo must get you away 1" and under a most terrible fire they succeeded in. fetching him to a dressing station.

CRITICAL MOMENT. The -heavy losses incurred in the struggle oJt ipres had to be made good, 'i'iie contribution ot_ tue jt'i diaus to tno Ist Division Jiad been substantial. An eiiort oil a greater scale was now to be made, and iii the autumn o.' 1914 Colonel Cauclet set about raising the 22ad .battalion, wnich was to be included in the 2nd Division and recruited entirely from the province of Quebec. The ranks speedily hlled, and the whole battalion, was transported to St. Johns, Quebec, for its home training beiore itsailed for England on May 20th, l"ld--13y September, 1915, the battalion had reached the trenches with the rest of the 2nd Division. They arrived at a critical moment. The great Anglo-French -offensive at Jjoos and in the Champagne was launched the last week of September. Reserves had to be withdrawn from ether parts of the line to make the assail]*-, and the whole front had been propot tionately weakened. The staff, therefore, whether they wished it or not, •were compelled to place at once in the firing line troops which might other wise have been introduced to trench warfare by gradual stages of preparation. On the night of October sth, while the struggle round Lcub was still raging, the battalions on the right and •eft of the 22nd had been subjected to a cruel bombardment. These perpetual pillars of yellow and green smoke*, slashed with black debris, spouting to heaven, and the earth-shaking roar of hca*y shells do not encourage even the most trcnch-hardened warriors,

SPLENDID HEROISM. As General Watson passed along the trench speaking a word of encouragement or advjee here and there he met Major Roy. who was examining rifles in that mucidy alley flanked and topped with sandbags which we call a trench. He spoke to liim and "passed on. Hardly had he gone round the traverse when out of the sky fell one of those huge abominations fired from a big trench mortar. There it lay in a trench full of men, ready to explode in a second or two. Like a flash Major Roy took his risk and dashed to save the lives of his soldiers. As he stooped to seize the great greasy cone of steel and hurl it over the parapet he slipped in the mud and the shell exploded in his arms. There died a very gallant gentleman, and with him died ail doubts and hesitations about the steadiness of the officers and men of the 22nd French-Canadians. Ag tho winter advanced the _ 22nd showed a growing proficiency in the work of patrol warfare and in thoso small expeditions against the enemy's outposts which enliven the dull round of trench duty. . , One of the best officers m the 22nn Battalion was Captain E. M. Papineau. a direct descendant of the famous rebel of 1837 and a cousin of Lieutenant Papineau. M.C. of the Princess Patricia's. He had a perfect genius for reconnaissance. His keen si edit for the lo"ption of dfstant snipers became proverbial, hut at last one of these same snipers shot him throngh tho eye. Nevertheless, Papineau refused to admit th»<- his one eve was not eonal to a ! German's two. and, after leaving hoe- [ pital. defined a retiring pension and went bark again to the work.