The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

VIMY RIDGE 55ized and where he remained under severe machine-gunfire until ordered to withdraw. For this devotion to dutyhe was awarded the Military Cross. C. S. M. McQuarrie,who was captured the previous year at Sanctuary Woodbut managed to escape to our lines and re-join, waswounded while rendering valuable service for which hewon the D. C. M.During the night, patrols were sent out to keep intouch with the enemy. One patrol, under LieutenantL. G. Mills, encountered an enemy patrol, which theyengaged. A fusillade of bombs scattered them and theyfled, leaving behind one of their number dead. Also, during the night, supplies of ammunition, bombs, water, rumand rations were successfully delivered to the fightingtroops.The weather, as usual on the day of a British attack,was disappointing. It was wet and raw the day beforeand on the morning of the attack snow fell making thegoing heavy.The men went forward in almost blindingsleet. Later in the day the storm cleared and the suncame out. During the next two days snow fell until theground was white. They had discarded their great-coatsand in consequence suffered from the cold. There was acurious phenomenon, still unexplained, which raised thecuriosity of the men on the morning of the assault. Asthey crossed No Man s Land they noticed the water in theshell-holes was gory. In fact some of the men were quitepositive that it was blood; but their judgment wasprobably warped by the circumstances and in the heatof the moment had no time to make an examination. Asits appearance was coincident with the snow it would at firstsuggest to a student of Biology that it might be the minutealgae (Spcerella nivalis] which sweeps over the meltingArctic snow and turns it blood-red; but, as the temperature was not sufficiently low for this small organismit may have been some species of small pigmentedprotozoan sometimes found in temporary pools andwhich had been lying in the encysted stage until thesnow and rain fell. It has remained a mystery to theBattalion.A P ril7 Q 1 7