72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - Electric Scotland

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA
On October 22nd the Battalion left Abscon and its
long-to-be-remembered hospitality, and moved to Fosse
Bligneres on the eastern outskirts of Denain. This com
paratively large mining town, even though it lay on .the
fringe of "the
fighting, was en fete, and the 72nd met with
a great reception from the inhabitants, the women em
bracing the men as they marched <along,
while boys car
ried flags at the head of the column through the city.
On arriving at Fosse Bligneres the Battalion was bil
leted in the houses of the miners, which, after the French
fashion in such cases, ran in neat, parallel lines close to
the Fosse itself. Over this little cluster of habitations the
fight had swept the previous morning as the Boche was
driven from his last hold on Denain. Hardly had the Bat
talion settled in their quarters when a Canadian battery
of 6-inch howitzers, drawn by their sweating horses, swung
into position along the roadway in front of the group of
houses. Slowly the squat black muzzles of the guns raised
themselves as if searching in an ominous, blind fashion for
their target. Then the battery fired. Every pane of glass
along the whole street was blown in against the still dazed
occupants by the terrific concussion. Later a German 5.9
battery, searching for the hidden guns, hurled a shell
into the end house of one of the rows. A flash of flameshot
smoke and one side of the house subsided grotesquely
into a smoking mound of brick. It was only a little in
cident in the midst of stirring events, but it serves to show
just what "driving the Germans to the Rhine" meant to
the unfortunates living in areas .through which the tide
of battle flowed.
About a day after arriving at Fosse Bligneres it
became
evident that the stand which the enemy had been expected
to make along the line of the Canal de 1 Escaut, from
Valenciennes northward, was now a reality.
After fifteen
miles of more or less desultory fighting he was attempting
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