72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - Electric Scotland

THE SUMMER OF 17.
ing occupied much of the time, considerable attention being
paid to sports. A competition occurring at Paris on July
22nd, open to all Allied Armies, the 72nd tug of war team
left on July 20th to take part in it. They returned on the
25th, having won against all competitors. Other items of
record include the act of 129716 Cpl. H. G. Matthews, a
bombing instructor, one of whose class, after pulling the
pin of a bomb, dropped it in the trench among his com
rades. Cpl. Matthews immediately picked up the bomb and
threw it over the parapet and thus prevented a number
of casualties. During this rest also, the officers of the 72nd
erected a special marquee and gave a dinner, at which
Major-General Sir David Watson, Divisional Commander,
was present. It was during this period also that the Bat
talion suffered a serious loss when two of the original offi
cers, Captain R. T. Wilson Herald, M.C., Medical Officer,
and Capt. F. R. Glover, Quartermaster, took their de
parture. By their conspicuous ability, their devoted atten
tion to duty and their whole-hearted loyalty to the Bat
talion, these two officers had earned the hearty good-will
of all ranks.
The longest tour in the history of the Battalion began
July 25th when the 43rd was relieved on the Avion front
immediately south of the Souchez river.
Headquarters were
in Piano dugout*, and the tour lasted 39 days.
During the summer of 1917 daylight patrolling was
developed by the scouts of the 72nd to a very remark
able extent. Commencing as early as April 13th, when
Lieut.-Col. J. A. Clark and a mere handful of men brought
about the far-reaching results of the Battalion s attack on
that date by energetic daylight reconnaissance, the
of the Battalion began emulating this
achievement.
Scouts
The old way of patrolling at night means stumbling
*8o called on account of a piano which the luxury-loving Hun had installed
in it. It also contained a 40-foot revolving periscope which enabled the
occupants to survey the surrounding country in security.
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