The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

THE SOMME 31the relief the Germans bombarded with gas-shells causinga number of casualties. Lieutenant J. U. Garrow wasgassed and subsequently died. Captain A. S. Hamilton* finding his men overcome in a gas-saturated trenchjumped into it, with utter disregard for his own life, anddragged them to safety. Although so badly gassed thathis health was permanently injured, he refused to leavethe line and it was not known until later that he carriedon throughout this and a subsequent action in greatpersonal distress. For this devotion to duty he wasrecommended for the Military Cross.Two days were spent in trenches which ran east fromMouquet Farm, 2,000 yards to the north of Pozieres.Here "T"saps were constructed as jumping-off pointsfor the 5th C. M. R. which relieved the 4th on the nightof the 13th-14th attacking from these positions on the15th.The general attack which was launched all along the Sept. is,line on September 15th was preceded by a heavy bombardment for several days. The tanks, then new mysterious machines of war, were used for the first time.Rumours of their existence had filtered through the armybut the knowledge of their whereabouts and appearancewas obscure. These lumbering caterpillars made theirdebut before the masses of troops on this eventful morning.The previous night some of the Battalion saw themcrawling into position. They were spinning out whitedirection tapes under the command of an officer whowalked ahead semaphoring with his arms to the operatorinside. At that time there were two kinds of Tanks,the female with her trailer being more awkward thanthe male. Five Divisions of Cavalry were concentratedbehind the lines to seize any opportunity of a breakthrough. Great things were expected. It was a redletterday in the Somme offensive.The 1st and 5th C. M. R. battalions of the 8th Brigadetook part in the attack in the early morning and successfully reached their objectives. The 1st C. M. R. was* Captain Hamilton died on April 20th, 1926, at Port Credit, Ontario,after a long illness, a direct result of gas-poisoning.