The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

22 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLESfive hundred and sixty-three reinforcements had arrived.They were soon followed by smaller drafts, which broughtthe battalion up to strength. A week later ten officersreported and in a few days twelve more arrived, wonderingwhere they were and where they should go. Several menfrom the ranks were granted commissions, which helpedto swell the already full quota of officers.The new members of the Battalion soon found themselves doing infantry drill. Sergeants from the Grenadierand Coldstream Guards were posted to the Regiment asinstructors. These splendid soldiers were admired butnot welcome. Many of the freshly joined officers andmen had been doing such drill in England for monthsand had expected that once in France they would merelypractise what they had learned. The disappointment wasonly temporary. Soon the Battalion was rounded againinto a fighting machine and after being thoroughly inspected by the Army Commander, General Sir HerbertPlumer, G.C.M.G., by the Corps and Divisional Commanders and also by Brigadier-General J. H. Elmsley,D.S.O., who had succeeded Brigadier-General Williams,the Battalion went in parties by bus to Ypres, where it livedin the Cavalry Barracks, went into the front line for a fewdays instructional work, and supplied large working-partiesfor the 7th Brigade. For many men of the new Battalionthose days will be remembered as their first experienceunder fire. The working parties w r ould leave at dusk,laboriously tramp over the uneven duck-boards up thelong communication trenches in unknown directions, dotheir task, and be back before daylight.July The Battalion had been sending parties in turn toYpres and to work in the line but after another round ofinspection the whole Battalion moved by route march onJuly 13th to Camp St. Lawrence and the following daywent to Ypres Asylum and thence to the Cavalry Barracksand other billets in Ypres. These consisted of reinforcedcellars and improved shelters in the mediaeval rampartswhich encircled the city. Few buildings were standing,and none had been left untouched; their pointed gableendsstill supported by the open fire-places and chimneys