The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

";D108 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLES^e 25th Canadian1918 Infantry Battalion and becoming partof the VI Corps.Mercatel was a village five miles south of Arras on theArras-Bapaume Road. Prior to the Battle of Arras inthe spring of 1917, it was just within the German linesbut when the enemy was pushed back to the HindenburgLine this area was built up with hutments and othertemporary shelters. The German counter-drive in 1918brought the line back but not as far as its original location.The foe was stopped on the other side of Mercatel andthe line ran through former British camps. Consequentlyin the rather wide No-Man s-Land were standing in amore or less dilapidated condition Nissen and Adrianhuts which had been used as rest billets, Y. M. C. A. hutsor Cinema buildings. The front was quiet, the weathergood and there was plenty of material lying about assalvage to improve the bivvys" and "funk-holes." Themen were in battle order without great-coats or blankets,but the lack of external protection was counteracted bythe renewal of the rum ration, a less cumbersome, andmore effective antidote for the cold. The Battalionspent the first three weeks of July in this area; twoweeks in support and in the line and the last week atWailly where the men billeted in the mid-summer heatunder the trees of Waillv Wood. The rear Details wereorganized into "Last Ditchers" and practiced manninga defence line known as the Purple Line. On the 4th:Captain Steer took over Company from CaptainL. G. Mills, who returned to Canada.An act which took unusual courage, occurred on theJuly 10,morning of July 10th after a party of "B"Company hadreturned from patrolling the front. They were standingin the trench having the usual "pow-wow"when Pte. F.Wilson who had been on the patrol, in trying to removea Mills Bomb from his pocket, released the pin ignitingthe time-fuse. He realized that the bomb would explodebefore he could get it out, so with great coolness andpresence of mind, he turned the bomb away from hiscomrades and moved down the trench. Before he couldextract it the bomb detonated, mortally wounding him