The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

40 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLES?9i6was Billed beside him but he seemed to bear a charmedlife. As the evening approached the sound of explodingbombs ceased and it was known that he had shared thefate of so many of his brave Bombers. This officer wasrecommended again for the Military Cross but owing tothe regulations in force it was not possible to make aposthumous award.The Germans had been more than prepared for suchan attack. They were heavily reinforced during theaction and would have been even better supported if theover-reaching barrage had not effectively found thosewho were coming up the sunken roads. The enemysignalled by red and green lights to his gunners whoresponded accurately to the detriment of the assault.The Germans organized a counter-attack with a view tocutting off the thinned line. About 4.30 p.m. they wereseen to leave their trenches but they were driven backwith telling effect, Captain MacKenzie and his men inflicting enormous casualties. Finally the enemy maderepeated attempts to dislodge the courageous defendersfrom the communication trench but never succeeded. At:6.30 p.m. two platoons of "BCompany were sent toreinforce the front line and the balance of the companycarried up supplies.This attack was not successful, but only in that ReginaTrench was not completely captured and held. TheBrigade had upheld the established reputation of theCanadian Corps as shock-troops. Even had the wirebeen cut and the barrage accurately placed on the enemytrenches it is most doubtful if two companies and oneplatoon could have carried out the ambitious programme.The 5th Brigade and the rest of the 8th Brigade met thesame fate as the 4th C. M. R. This was the first attemptto subdue Regina Trench. It proved to be no ordinaryline of defence. A week later the 7th and 9th Brigadesprofiting by the experiences ofthe rest of the Division>also attacked this stronghold, but with similar results.The 49th Battalion, which relieved the 4th C. M. R.on the night of 2nd /3rd October, made a gallantbut unsuccessful attempt a few days later to get a foot-