The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

JulyAug. i,112 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLESmuch faster than most troop trains, arriving at Arneke,five miles northwest of Cassel at midnight.The Battalion was met by an R. T. O. and aTown Major, both rather junior officers, who did notimpress those who had to confer with them. ColonelPatterson was given a two-coloured map and the freedom of the area, which he found to be a field. However, it belonged to a kindly farmer who turned out inthe middle of the night, offered his barn to the officersand helped in stowing away everyone for the night.The following day at noon the Battalion left this temporary camp and marched in oppressive heat to a tentedarea at St. Eloi, near Abeele. The men s packs had beenleft behind and were brought on by lorry, so the unitmarched light through Cassel and Steenvoorde. Manyof the inhabitants searched in vain for familiar faces.A few of the older members of the Battalion were seento nod or wave or give some word in passing concerningthose comrades who were no longer in the ranks. TheBattalion came under orders of the 41st Division, commanded by Sir Sydney Lawford, moved into a new campon the 31st, and on August 1st marched from the campnear Abeele through Reninghelst and into the line on theLa Clytte sector taking over from the 15th Hampshires.:"B"Company was in the front line, and "A" C and"D" in support. The line consisted mainly of out-postshurriedly made during the rear-guard action against theGermans on the Lys. Very little work had been donein consolidating as practically all movement was observed from Kemmel Hill which was in the hands of theGermans.Aug. 2, Rain came on the second day in the line. The livingquarters were bad, and this fact combined with a rumourthat another move was in prospect dampened the goodspirit of the men. Patrols were active at night in No-Man s-Land where there were old Nissen Huts and formerhabitations as on the Mercatel sector. Lieutenants J.C. Coxford and W. A. MacLachlan, with an artilleryliaison officer, went out to investigate a rumour thatthere were a number of abandoned Field Guns in Name-