The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

":"104 4ra CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLESApril 22,the Battalion learned that the British had been forced toretire from Passchendaele.Almost at once Colonel Patterson was informed bythe Brigade that it would be necessary to secure identifications by a raid. Captain L. B. Bumstead, commanding "C company and Lieutenant G. Heighington ofthe same company, volunteered. There were to beraids by other Battalions at the same time. CaptainBumstead chose a party of sixty men and prepared plansto raid the enemy at Humbug Sap. During the day ofApril 21st he outfitted his men with bombs, flares, pistols,wire-cutters and other necessary equipment and movedin the evening from Tosh Alley and Loos Trench toquarters in the front line. Major W. V. Sifton andLieutenant G. F. MacDuff established an advancedBattalion Headquarters in a dugout in the front line inHugo Trench to the left of Humbug Sap. Major H. C.Davis, the Medical Officer and Captain W. H. Davis,the Padre, took up a position in an advanced dressingstation in the front line. At 11.27 p.m. gold and silverrain-rockets were fired from the Fosse at Loos and threeminutes later the 18 Pounders, 4.5 s and 6 inch Howitzers,opened a lively bombardment on the Brigade sector;presumably as a retaliation for the heavy shelling butin reality to disturb the enemy s defences.At 1.30 a.m. on the 22nd, the barrage opened and asthere were other raids in progress it made an imposing"shoot. Three minutes later the raiding party, whichwas divided, went forward. Both sections encounteredwire and it took nearly fifteen minutes to cut gaps andget through. The left party under Captain Bumsteadwas at once faced by a machine-gun which was encircled,the crew of four killed and the gun captured. Thisparty established blocks" and proceeded to mop upthe trenches. The enemy had fled down his communication trenches and only two wounded prisoners werefound, one in a dugout and one in a cement pill-box. Theright party under Lieutenant Heighington proceeded to thecorner of a wood where they found a vacated bombingpost; continuing they discovered a"Pineappledump un-