“I regret to report that Lieut. Shortt, one Sergeant and one private are missing.”-
Maj. G.H. Cassels, A/OC 58th Battalion,
11 Dec. 1916
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| "Trench Raid" oil on wood, by Todd Sullivan 2013 |
In the early
evening of 10 December 1916, a raiding party of forty men, under Lieutenant
Allen Shortt “successfully formed up in ‘NO MAN’S LAND’ without the attention
of the enemy being attracted.”[1] These men, selected from the four companies
of the 58th (Central Ontario) Battalion had spent the prior three
days intensely rehearsing for this scheme.
Organised into six Parties- ‘E’ through ‘J’- the raid was to move under
cover of night, and effect entry of the German Front Line Trench at two
points. Their task was brutally simple:
“From
information received, there is an enemy bombing and sentry post at the junction
of the Front Line and enemy communication trench…and a large enemy dugout at or
near the junction which is known to be occupied….A party from the 58th
Canadian Infantry Battalion will raid portions of the Front Line Trench…for the
purpose of capturing prisoners, obtaining identification and inflicting
casualties upon the enemy.”[2] These orders made it explicit that the known
dugout was to be destroyed. The plan
called for Parties ‘E’ through ‘H’ to enter through an existing gap in the wire
on the left edge of the raid area, while ‘I’ and ‘J’ would get in via a hole in
the wire they were to blow by using a device called an “ammonal tube.” The ingenious thing about these tubes was
that they could be fastened together to create charges of substantial length
and had a narrow diameter. They were
just the thing for threading under barbed wire, the high explosives directed
upward could clear out
At exactly 6.35
pm, the tube was detonated, chewing through the German wire and clearing a path
which allowed Parties ‘I’ and ‘J’ to “pass through the wire with freedom.”[3]
The explosion also acted as a signal to the other parties to storm the trench,
while prearranged artillery and trench mortar fire was dropped onto the German
support trenches, isolating the raid area.
Parties ‘E’, ‘G’ and ‘J’ were to move along the trenches to establish
blocking positions, ‘F’ would hold the left point of entry- which would also be
the sole exit point- while ‘H’ and ‘I’ were to get on with the task at hand;
the destruction of the bombing post and dugouts.
As it was- as so
often happens in war- things didn’t go to plan.
On the left, there was little trouble and the bulk of the raid stormed
the German trench and took up their positions.
An enemy sentry was
In the actual
trench, the raid’s commander, Lt. Shortt, had noted the absence of Parties ‘I’
and ‘J’ which left his right flank exposed.
Lance Corporal Simms, in charge of Party ‘E’- assigned to move and set
up a blocking post on the left edge
would later state “At the point of entry we saw three Germans, one of whom I
shot. Mr. Shortt appeared to follow the
other two, who went to the right along the front line.”
“I was rear man
of L/Cpl Simms’ party,” Private Keel would corroborate, “as I dropped down into
the trench, I saw Lieut. Shortt a few yards to the right. He appeared to be covering our party as he
had his revolver drawn and pointing to the right.” Lt. Shortt, a former student from New York
City, married and only just twenty years old, was not seen after that.
“I’m inclined to
think,” Major Cassels, in temporary command of the 58th Battalion
would write in his report to his superiors at 9 Canadian Infantry Brigade, “that
when the right parties did not appear…Lieut. Shortt and possibly the Sergeant
moved along the front line to the south with a view to protecting the parties
up the communication trenches, and must have been put out of action in that
part of the front.” The sergeant
mentioned was Thomas Brazier. He’d only
had his third stripe for a month, a promotion gained from having voluntarily reduced
to the ranks in order to transfer from the 19th Battalion to serve
with his elder brother George in the 58th. Both Lt. Shortt and Sgt. Brazier would later be reported as ‘found
dead’ through diplomatic channels in January, and their names are listed on the
Vimy Memorial as their gravesites are unknown.
Despite the
setbacks and the loss of the only officer present, the men carried on with
their tasks, or, as with Parties ‘I’ and ‘J’, improvised from the situation as
it had developed. Acting Sergeant Fitton,
the ranking man in the blind trench held his men in position and had them bomb
the enemy front line from where they were, despite exposure to the machine gun
fire. These bombs managed to effectively
silence the MG to their left, and it’s believed a trench mortar struck the
emplacement to the right. Sgt. Fitton
withdrew his men after twenty minutes and not having any bombs remaining.
Once the absence
of the men of Party ‘I’ was noted, Sergeant Lamb of party ‘H’ took on the job
of the absent party as well as that of his own.
He took his men down a sap running off the communication trench. “This sap was found to slope upwards so that
at its end, where a machine gun emplacement was found, its bottom was level
with the parapets of the front line. On
entering the sap one of the enemy fired two shots with a revolver at the party
and was immediately hit in the face with a Mills Grenade which knocked him down
the entrance to a deep dugout. A five
pound package of guncotton was thrown down after him and duly exploded…no doubt
wrecking the dugout and causing casualties.” [4]
These incidences
were proof that empowering Non-Commissioned men with greater responsibility and
more latitude was a wise investment. Both Sergeant Lamb and A/Sgt. Fitton would
be awarded the Military Medal for their prescience during the raid. Sgt. Lamb would be elevated to the rank of
Captain, further recognised for gallantry with the Military Cross in August
1918. A/Sgt Fitton, unfortunately would die of wounds in April, 1917.
Also singled out
for praise during the night by Major Cassels was Major Dougall Carmichael, who
had command of a covering party on the left periphery of the raid. Not only did he personally take a supply of
bombs right over to the enemy Front Line Trench, but after the raiders had returned,
he, with L/Cpl Webster “went over to the enemy’s front line and endeavoured to
carry out a mortally wounded man…but was unable to lift him out of the
trench. This was a most gallant and
fearless act.” Major Carmichael and
L/Cpl Webster had attempted to rescue the third man reported missing, Private
Patrick Nigh. He had been struck by the grenade which had been
thrown at the raid as they made entry. Shrapnel had hit him in the face and
legs, and in the ensuing action he was mistaken for dead and left behind as the
raid retired. It was initially believed that his wounds were fatal. Later patrols to attempt to locate the
missing men found no trace of the three.
After some
initial confusion, it would be reported that despite the loss of an eye and a
seriously wounded right leg, Pte. Nigh was alive: a prisoner in a German military
hospital. He would later be repatriated
with other wounded prisoners to England in the spring of 1918.
By December of 1916, the entire Canadian corps was now all together at a little stretch of land in France they would be calling home for the next five months. Facing them was the grandest topographical feature in the vicinity, occupied by the Germans, intricately fortified over a period of years and denied any attempt at eviction. Come spring, it would be the Corps' job to do what had, so far, proved well on impossible. "They were going to go up there, that bloody ridge in the middle distance. It grew lazily upward from its surrounding until it crested above the landscape; intimidatingly darker than the night sky framing it like a bas relief." It is within these months leading up to and including the famed Canadian capture of Vimy Ridge in which my novel "Killing is a Sin" is set. The book is available through Amazon and by request at major book retailers worldwide.
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