Cavalry Regimental Flags at Moreuil

Thanks to my friend Jean Paul Brunel for this image of the flags of, left to right, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Fort Garry Horse, and Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians). They were on display at the memorial site dedicated to the battles at Moreuil and Rifle Woods, Picardy, France. The photo is dated June 10th, 2014.

Can readers comment to tell us what was going on at the time?

The Attack on Rifle Wood (Part 3)

A rare lighter moment was recorded by Sam Williams in his account of the action at Rifle Wood. He recounts how Lieutenant Bennett of the Fort Garry Horse was hit by shrapnel in the area of the crotch. Williams had this to say:

'He was saying to Captain Hutchison between sobs, "Hutch," sob, sob, "The dirty bastards," sob, sob, "Have shot my balls off." There was not a happier man in the whole hospital the following day than Bennett, when a more careful and complete examination showed him to be still a complete man.'

The Fort Garry Horse Nominal Roll records a W.O.1/Lieutenant George Henry Ritson Bennett. I hope Lt. Bennett's wound was enough to keep him out of the front lines for the rest of the war, and that he went on to live a happy and prosperous life.

The Attack on Rifle Wood (Part 2)

A newspaper of the day boasted of mounted riders attacking with sabres, putting German batteries out of action. To see the quote, click here.

The reality was far different. There were certainly no "sabres flashing in the sunlight." Lieutenant Sam Williams was one of only four Strathcona officers available, and the only one not a casualty after the battle at Rifle Wood.

Sam Williams and fellow Strath officers

In his meticulous and detailed book, Stand to Your Horses, he recounts how the members of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade who had survived Moreuil Wood took Rifle Wood. They advanced not in the saddle but on foot, under heavy machine gun fire, against a determined enemy supported by artillery. Williams took the precaution of borrowing a bandolier so he would not be so easily spotted as an officer and sniped. During the advance the man to his left went down, as did the man to his right.
The Fort Garry's were ahead of Williams and the Strathconas,and they paid a heavy price.
Even before reaching the wood the senior Strathcona officer in the party had been wounded, leaving Williams in command. Of the two remaining Strath officers, one was killed and the other wounded.
Of the 165 other ranks and four officers of the Strathconas that took part with the Garry's and the Dragoons at Rifle Wood, three officers and 79 men were killed or wounded.
Sam Williams was awarded the Military Cross for his efforts that day.

The Attack on Rifle Wood (Part 1)

Moreuil Wood from the Bois de Senecat

The Canadian Cavalry Brigade was not yet in for a rest. After the brutal battle at Moreuil Wood, the Brigade bivouaced at Bois de Senecat, on the hillside west of Moreuil across the Avre River. 
The next day, March 31st, 1918, they stood to, returning to their bivouac at 2100, with reveille at 0300 on April 1st. In the saddle at 0400, they once again crossed the Avre on the bridge at Castel. 

 Sam Williams, author of “Stand to Your Horses”, took part in the battle at Rifle Wood. He later read with some amusement a newspaper’s article about the battle, submitted by a war correspondent who gave an “eye-witness” report as follows:

“We swept up the slope with our sabres flashing in the sunlight, swept through the wood and on beyond to take a battery of guns.”

Williams later commented ruefully that he wished such had been the case, given the heavy casualties inflicted on the brigade by the enemy batteries, still very much in evidence.

Next entry: Sam Williams’ part in the attack on Rifle Wood.

(The preceding Battle of Moreuil Wood is dealt with in my historical novel, "Soldier of the Horse".)

Canadian Cavalry Brigade Regroups, April 1918

April, 1918. The Canadian Cavalry Brigade had been terribly battered and bloodied at the Bois du Moreuil and Rifle Wood. Now the survivors were licking their wounds, some formations barely recognizable. Corporals stood in for dead or wounded sergeants-major, sergeants for lieutenants as troop leaders. After the battles at Moreuil and Rifle Wood, the line stabilized about where the Canadian Cavalry Brigade had helped stop the German push close to the line of the Avre River.

The Canadian Cavalry Brigade would next see action in August, but in the meantime there were many gaps to fill in the ranks of men and horses. Also to come was a change in leadership, with Galloper Jack no longer in command.