"PRINCESS PAT.'S" REGIMENT

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 40, 16 August 1915, Page 2

"PRINCESS PAT.'S" REGIMENT

I HOW IT FOUGHT IN FLANDERS i STORY OF UNDYING GLORY. : (molt OCR OTTN CORRESPONDENT.! [ LONDON, 2nd July. The glorious but terrible history of Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Regiment, from the time it reached Flanders to the present day, is rotated by the Canadian "Eye- Witness" thus : — "Few are left of the men who met in. Lansdowne Park to receive the regimental colours nearly a year ago ; but those who survive, and the friends of those who have died, may draw solace from the thought that never in the history of arms have soldiers more valiantly sustained the gift and trust of a lady." The chief episodes in the despatch relate to the desperate fighting near Ypres early in May. "In this unhealthy neighbourhood no place by this time was safe, and on sth May Lieut. -Colonel Buller was unfortunate enough to lose an eye by the splinter of a shell which exploded 100 yards away." After mentioning that the roll-call on the night of 7th May showed the strength of the battalion as 635, the despatch proceeds : "The day that followed was at onco the most critical and the most costly in the history of the battalion. Early in the morning particularly heavy shelling began on the right flank, soon enfilading the fire trenches. At 3.30 it grew in intensity and gas shells began to falL At the same time a number of Germans were observed coming at the double from the hill in front of the trench. This movement was arrested by a heavy rifle fire. "By 6 a.m. every telephone wire, both to the brigade headquarters and also to the trenches, had been cut. All signallers, pioneers, orderlies, and servants were ordered into the support trenches, for the needs of the moment left no place for supernumeraries. Every single Canadian upon the strength was from that time forward in one or other of the trenches. A short and fierce- struggle decided the issue for the time being. The advance of the Germans was checked, and those of the enemy who were not either sheltered by buildings, dead or wounded, crawled back over the crest of the ridge to their own trenches. "By this time the enemy had two, and perhaps three, machine-guns in adjacent buildings, and were sweeping the parapets of both the fire and support trenches. About 7 a.m. Major Gault was severely hit by a shell in the left arm and thigh. It was impossible to move, him, and he lay in the trench, as did many of his wounded companions, in great anguish, but without a murmur, for over ten hours. The command waa taken over by Lieut. Niven, the next senior officer who was still unwounded. Heavy Howitzers using high explosives combined with field-guns from this moment in a most trying bombardment, both on the fire and support trenches. The fire trench on the right was , blown to pieces at several points. "At 9 o'clock the shelling decreased in intensity*; but it was the lull before the storm, for the enemy immediately attempted a second Infantry advance. A atoVm of machine-gun and rifle fire checked the assailants, who were forced after a few indecisive moments to retire and take cover. The battalion accounted for large numbers of the enemy in the course of this attack, but it suffered seriously itself. A GALLANT CORPORAL.. "At 9.30 Lieut. Niven established contact with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on the left, and with the Rifle Brigade on the right. Both we r f suffering heavy casualties from enfiiadp fire ; and neither, of course, could afford any assistance. At this time the bombardment recommenced with great intensity. \ "The range of our machine-guns was taken with extreme precision. All, without exception, were buried. Those who served them behaved with the most admirable coolness and gallantry Two were dug out, mounted, and used again. One was actually disinterred three times and kept in action till a shell annihilated the whole section. Cpl. Dover stuck to his gun throughout, and, although wounded, continued to discharge his duties with as much coolness as if on parade. In the explosion that ended his ill-fated gun he lost a leg and an arm, and was completely buried in the debris. Conscious or unconscious, he lay there in that condition until dark, when he crawled out of all that was left of Uie obliterated trench, and moaned for help. "Two of his comrades sprang from the support trench — by this time the fire trench— and succeeded in carrying in his mangled and. bleeding body. But as all that remained of this brave sol dier was being lowered into the trench a bullet put an end to his sufferings. No bullet could put an ond to his glory. At 10.30 the left half of the right fire trench was completely destroyed, and Lieut. Denison ordered Lieut. Clarke to withdraw the remnant of his command into the right communicating trench. He -himself, with Lieut. Lane, was still holding all that was tenable of the right fire trench with a- few men still available for that purpose. The right half of the left fire trench suffered cruelly. The trench was blown in and the ma-chine-gun put out of action. Sergt. Scott and the few survivors who still answered the call made their way to the communication trench, and clung tenaciously to it until that, too, was blown in. "Lieut. Crawford, whose spirits never failed him throughout this terrible day, was severely wounded. Captain Adamson, who was handing out small arms ammunition, was hit in the shoulder, but continued to work with a single arm. Sergt. -Major Fraser, who was similarly engaged feeding the support trenches- with ammunition, was killed instantly by a bullet in the head. At this time only four officers were left, Lieuts. Papineau, Vandenberg, Niven, and Clark, of whom the last two began the war in the ranks. "At 2 p.m. Lieut. Niven went with an orderly 'to the Headquarters, in obedience to brigade orders, to telephone to the General Officer Commanding the Brigade complete details of the situation. Ho returned at 2.30 p.m. The orderlies who accompanied him both coming and going were hit by explosive shells. At 4 o'clock, the support trenches were inspected, and it was found that contact was no longer maintained with the regiment on the left, the gap extending for 50 yards. A few men (as many as could be spared) were placed in the gap to do the best they could. Shortly afterwards news was brought that battalions on the left had been compelled to withdraw, after a stubborn resistance, to a. line of trenches a short distance in the rear. At this moment the Germans made their third and last attack, It was arrested by rifle fire, although some individuals penetrated into the fire trench on the right. At this point all the Princess Patricias had been killed, so that this part of the trench was actually tenantless. Those who established a footing were few in number, and they were gradually dislodged ; and so the third and last attack was routed as successfully as those wldch had preceded it. THE SERVICE OF THE DEAD. "At 11.30 at night the battalion was .relieved. by, ihe King's Royal Rifle. Corpa.

The relieving unit helped those whom they replaced in the last sorrowful duty of burying those of their dead who lay in the support and communicating trenches. Those who had fallen in the fire trenches needed no grave, for the destruction of their shelter had afforded a decent burial to their bodies. Behind the damaged trenches, by_ the light of the German flares, and amid the increasing rattle of musketry, relievers and relieved combined in the last service which one soldier can render another. Beside the open graves, with heads uncovered, all that was left of the regiment stood while Lieutenant Niven, holding the colours of Princess Patricia, battered, bloody, but still intact, tightly in his hand, recalled all he could remember of the Church of England service for the dead." '