Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919

103 YEARS AGO TODAY: Remains of a German Friedrichshafen G.III bomber, which crashed upside down near Ytres, Pas-de-Calais, 19 February 1918. Friedrichshafen G.III bombers were used in a medium night bomber role (similar to the Gotha bombers), along with the A.E.G. G.IV, including raids over Paris and many Entente aerodromes. Pilot, rear gunner, and bombardier/front gunner manned the planes, though on occasion a crew of only two was carried. The sturdy undercarriage and easy flight characteristics protected the G.III from landing mishaps that plagued many other German bombers.

https://cefrg.ca/blog/frederick-hope-stockhausen/

Ruins of La Bassée, 3 October 1918. General view of the ruins of La Bassée, entered by 2/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers (55th Division) previous afternoon. Mine crater, destroyed bridge, German observation post in La Bassée. Ruins of the church at Villers-Bretonneux. American gunners of the "A" Battery, 108th Field Artillery Regiment (formerly 2nd Regiment, Field Artillery and detachment of the 1st Cavalry, Pennsylvania National Guard) firing 75 mm guns near Varennes-en-Argonne. Lieutenant Colonel Bernard William Vann VC , Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment. Signed photograph of Colonel T E Lawrence on the balcony of the Victoria Hotel in Damascus on 3 October 1918, half an hour after he had resigned his position in the Arab Army.

German Lines South and Central Beaumont Hamel, including the church. Aerial photo by No. 15 Squadron, 3rd Wing RFC 1916-04-26.

St Eloi craters following the British engagement in March 1916, and the Canadian engagement during April 1916. Six craters were first blown at 04h15 on 27 March 1916 by the British. The first image comparison is from 31 March 1916, before the 2nd Canadian Division relieved troops in action on the night of 3/4 April 1916. The second image comparison is from 16 April, showing the Germans had already dug a new trench to the west of the craters. To 16 April, there were 1,373 casualties in the 2nd Canadian Division, 617 of them from the 6th Canadian Brigade. Aerial photos by No. 6 Squadron, 11th Wing, Royal Flying Corps.

102 YEARS AGO TODAY: German prisoners working in the marble quarries at Marquise, 25th November 1918. Officers of the Royal Engineers in charge of the marble quarries at Marquise. Captain Julian Royds Gribble VC. Unit: 1st Battalion, attached to the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Death: 25 November 1918, died of pneumonia, Mainz, Germany.

Aerial photo by Royal Flying Corps, D956 between Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt and Dury, east of Upton Wood, 26 November 1917.

Captain Robert Pearson, of the Y.M.C.A., severely wounded in action during the Battle of Courcelette on 8 September 1916. With a bullet still remaining in his thorax, Pearson returned to the Y.M.C.A. He also served with the 49th, 28th and 31st Battalions, and spoke to the Alberta Legislature in early 1918. https://cefrg.ca/blog/robert-pearson/

Garrison presentation of medals by Sir Robert L. Borden and Lieut.-Gen. Sir Richard E.W. Turner at Seaford to 'Byng's Boys' on 11 August 1918. By this time, news of the 'Black Day of the German Army' had reached the troops in England. Only three days earlier, Canada's Last Hundred Days had begun with the Battle of Amiens.

102 YEARS AGO TODAY: Funeral of Major Roderick Ogle Bell-Irving DSO MC, 16th Battalion, Cagnicourt, 17 October 1918. Major Roderick Bell-Irving was acting commander of the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion when he was killed in action on 1 October 1918 near Cuvillers, France. After his body was recovered, he was buried in the British Eterpigny Cemetery on 17 October 1918. Bell-Irving had halted for a short time in Cuvillers, and then accompanied by the Assistant Adjutant, L...ieutenant Kerans, moved on towards the front. When a few yards ahead of the outpost linebetween eight and nine a.m. Kerans drew the attention of the Acting Commanding Officer to the fact that both flanks of the companies in the resistance and outpost lines were in the air. When this remark was made Bell-Irving was studying his map, and without looking up replied: I know that, but I’m going to push on to the men in the road at M36cthe exploitation limit. He then instructed Lt. Kerans to see to the flanks, and moved forward. That was the last seen of Bell-Irving alive.

102 YEARS AGO TODAY: Frémicourt, Pas-de-Calais aerial photos by Royal Air Force, 16 November 1918.

103 YEARS AGO TODAY: The second day of the Battle of Cambrai, 21 November 1917. Even a poor-quality image by photographer Lieutenant Ernest Brooks perfectly illustrates the tragedy of war.

These six sites are informally known as the Battlefield Memorials. https://cefrg.ca/blog/canadian-battlefield-memorials/

British graves with human bones on the surface in the Lochnagar mine crater at La Boisselle, 21 September 1917. IWM Q 49394

The railway station at Vichte was captured by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment on 20 October 1918, and the village by the 9th (Scottish) Division two days later. In Vichte Military Cemetery, Rows A and B and part of Row C in Plot I were made in October 1918, by the burial officers of the 9th and 31st Divisions, and the remainder of the cemetery was formed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields. In June 1933, a further 31 graves were... moved here from SWEVEGHEM CHURCHYARD. Vichte Military Cemetery now contains 236 Commonwealth burials of the Great War, 60 of them unidentified. There are also two Second World War burials, one of which is unidentified. The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw. Vichte Military Cemetery is located 40 Kms east of Ieper town centre and 13 Kms east of Kortrijk. The cemetery is located on the left hand side of the Elf Novemberlaan.

103 YEARS AGO TODAY: Battle of Cambrai, 20 November 1917. Opening day of the Battle of Cambrai.

Evolution of Gas Masks - A French soldier displaying a P2 gas mask with three compresses and displaying a gas mask for use against asphyxiating gases with hyposulphate compresses at La Renarde, Marne, 30 November 1915. The French Tissot mask demonstrated by a French soldier, 1 July 1916. The Tissot mask was revolutionary in that it gave the wearer greater visibility by allowing air to pass over the eye-pieces, 12 July 1918.

The communal cemetery was used by units and field ambulances from August 1915 to May 1916, and again in April 1918, but after the Armistice the 64 burials were moved into the extension. The extension was used by units, field ambulances, and the III Corps Main Dressing Station in 1916, and by the 4th Australian Division and other units in March and April 1918. Millencourt Communal Cemetery Extension now contains 340 Commonwealth burials of the Great War, and five German burials. The extension was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

102 YEARS AGO TODAY: It is important to note the Great War ended with the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. The guns did not fall silent on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, although it was hoped they would. Casualties continued, and the wounded continued to die. The final casualties of the war fell on 21 June 1919, at Scapa Flow, the week before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. British and American officers examining a German artillery range table found in the observation station on top of Mont St. Aubert, 13 November 1918. A steep hill, 150 metres high, at Mont St. Aubert, just North of Tournai commanding a wonderful view. Taken by 142nd Brigade, 47th Division on 9 November. Photograph taken on 13 November 1918. French boys, deported by the Germans, returning from behind the Germans lines. Near Tournai, 13 November 1918.

Sadly, Canadians cannot appreciate we have the two most magnificent memorials of all wars, though both were inspired by the Great War. Astonishingly, only one in ten Canadians recognize the Vimy Memorial (even fewer can name it). I wonder how many Canadians recognize 'The Brooding Soldier' monument? I would not venture to inquire how many know it's proper name. https://cefrg.ca/blog/st-julien-canadian-memorial/

Hon. Captain Rev. William Henry Davis, MC was one of that small band of brave and selfless men of God who served and often gave their lives as Chaplain to the men of the 4th CMR. https://cefrg.ca/blog/william-henry-davis-mc/

Private Thomas Ricketts dies the same day Sergent Thomas Ricketts earns the Victoria Cross, 14 October 1918. Both serving with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. https://cefrg.ca/blog/thomas-ricketts/

The village of Dadizeele (now Dadizele) was in German hands for much of the Great War until reached by the 36th (Ulster) Division, and taken by the 9th (Scottish) Division, on 29 September 1918. Severe fighting followed on 1 October, at Hill 41, a little south of the village. Dadizeele New British Cemetery is in fact an extension of the communal cemetery. It was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields of 1918, a...lthough there are a few 1914 graves in Plot VI, Row D. The cemetery contains 1,029 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the Great War. 158 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials to seven casualties known or believed to be buried in the cemetery. Other special memorials bear the names of three soldiers buried in German cemeteries, whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden. CEFRG (Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group) cefrg.ca See more

Several significant events occurred on 14 October 1918, including a Memorial Service at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, commemorating the arrival of Canadians in Plymouth 14 October 1914. At Cambrai, Abbé Thuliez held a Thanksgiving Service at the Cambrai Cathedral on 14 October 1918, attended by Sir Arthur Currie, the Prince of Wales amd General Watson. In the afternoon, the Prince of Wales visited the Divisional Commander, General Russell, and assembled troops at a review of New Zealand Division at Beauvois, 14 October 1918.

Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer, the first commander of the 3rd Canadian Division. https://cefrg.ca/blog/malcolm-smith-mercer/

The Botterell Brothers, Captain Edward Simpson Botterell and Lieutenant Henry John Lawrence Botterell sons of Henry H. and Annie Botterell, of Woodroffe, Ontario. Edward, originally a Private, had a meteoric rise in the ranks of the 48th Highlanders. Henry, the last surviving pilot of both Great Wars when he died in 2003. https://cefrg.ca/blog/botterell-brothers/

102 YEARS AGO TODAY: Aftermath of the Battle of Cambrai, 11 October 1918. Three British soldiers amusing themselves in Cambrai with the remains of a motor car. A photograph of a ruined shop front, typical of the damage done by the Germans' delay action mines. Cambrai, 11 October 1918. Note a British soldier wearing a trophy pickelhaube.

In terms of lives lost in a single day, 12 October 1917 ranks as the most catastrophic in New Zealand's post-1840 history. On that day the New Zealand Division assaulted Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele, it was a disaster. The New Zealanders began their advance at 5:25 a.m. on the 12 October 1917. The preliminary artillery barrage largely ineffective as thick mud made it almost impossible to bring heavy guns forward. Exposed to raking German machine-gun fire from both the front... and the flank, and unable to get through uncut barbed wire, the New Zealanders were pinned down in shell craters. Orders came for another push at 3 p.m., but this was mercifully cancelled at the last moment. The troops eventually fell back to positions close to their start line. For badly wounded soldiers lying in the mud, the aftermath of the battle was a private hell; many died before they could be rescued. Extensive efforts were made to get them out in the next two days, assisted by an informal truce that developed as Germans refrained from firing on stretcher parties. The toll was horrendous: 843 New Zealand soldiers either dead or lying mortally wounded between the lines. After analysis of casualty figures it is estimated fatalities of the 12 October attack is 957 lives lost. On 18 October, Canadian troops relieved II ANZAC Corps. In a series of well-prepared but costly attacks in atrocious conditions, the Canadian Corps finally occupied the ruins of Passchendaele village on 6 November 1917, at a cost of over 4,000 dead.

103 YEARS AGO TODAY: Battle of Passchendaele, 10 October 1917. Not a single colourized image. No bones about it - can't stand this disrespect. Already over 1,000 views of Q6053 at "their" site, and then their vomit-inducing rendition gets shared to Passchendaele 2017. Will never get it. Zero appreciation. Why is it so disrespectful? These people know nothing of Remembrance, and are motivated by profit. So there.