236
THE YPRES TIMES
For the next few days the situation was the subject of earnest contemplation,
and views, as to why the Germans had "met the Canadians half way," were freely
aired.
In the early hours of 17th Novembersixteen days previous to the erection of
the barrierthe 7th Canadian Battalion had raided the German trenches at the junction
of Petite Douve Farm and returned with twelve prisoners of the 2nd Battalion, 11th
Prussian Regiment. It was, therefore, generally conceded that the new German
forward position was to frustrate a repetition of attack by stealth, as, from the flanks
of the barrier a wide field of fire was obtained and even though a raiding party might
have succeeded in reaching the German line, withdrawal would have been disastrous.
There were many, however, who held to the more sinister aspectthat mining activity
may have been progressing and that the advanced fort was intended to give added
protection to the, supposed, gallery entrance shaft.
Finally, a well-conceived plan was devised which was successfully carried out
on the morning of 15th December.
A fifteen-minute bombardment was put down in the afternoon and again at night
on the 12th, 13th and 14th of December, and for five minutes only, from 4 a.m.
of 15th.
An attacking force, consisting of three parties of one officer and fourteen men
each, was selected on the 12th and assembled in a hut in Ploegsteert Woodjust west
of Hyde Park Cornerwhere the scheme was gone over in every detail. In fact,
leaving nothing to chance, a rehearsal was carried out on the Ash Road barrier on
the night of 13th.
During the bombardment on the afternoon of 13th, the defenders once again
emerged from the barricade, being driven out by the shell fire. Six were promptly
shotfive being accounted for by Sergeant J. S. McGlashan (later, Major, M.C.,
D.C.M.) of the 5th Battalionwhile the remainder scuttled to the cover whence
they fled.
On the night of 14th/15thin preparation for the final phasethe 3rd Battery,
C.F.A., placed an 18-pdr. in the front line directly opposite their target. This was
a bold piece of work. The gun was towed up the Messines road to the Chateau
de la Hutte by an armoured car of "A" Battery, 1st Cdn. Motor Machine Gun
Brigade. From this point it was decided to man-handle the gun the remainder of
the way as it was feared the chug of the motor might be heard by the enemy. A
pause was made until the 11 p.m. bombardment subsided. But, during the retaliatory
fire a tree was felled across the road between the gun and the front line. After the
bombardment had ceased, this obstruction was hauled aside; new shell holes were
filled in and the gunwhose carriage wheels had been covered with rubber tires
was noiselessly wheeled up to the position that had been cleared for it. An embrasure
was made by pulling down the parapet for a width of two and a half feet. The
stage was then set.
The attacking parties moved up to the front line to take up their allotted positions.
All badges and numerals had been removed from their uniforms, and faces and hands
blackened with charcoal. The bayonet-men had affixed small, pocket flashlights to
their riflesbeing bound on with telephone wire just below the lower band.
The flanking parties crept silently over the parapet and crouched to right and
left of the road. These men, in order to deaden the report of the forward gun, had
stopped their ears with cotton batten.
Promptly at 4 a.m.15th Decemberthe artillery opened on the barricade. The
forward gun fired three rounds of H.E. followed by twenty-two rounds of shrapnel
at point blank rangethen something happened to the firing mechanism. Its
work, however, had been accomplished.
