72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

"SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAfor a moment from the menace of our patrols, his was asorry plight.On August 5th, 1917, a patrol consisting of one officerand a non-commissioned officer actually entered theenemy s front line by daylight and proceeded some300 yards along the trench until stopped by an enemypost. The patrol then withdrew to the point of entranceand worked down the enemy front line in the oppositedirection until it was stopped by the fire of another enemypost.. The patrol, then under a cross-fire which was embarrassing, to say the least, withdrew to their own lines,having obtained first-hand information about the actualstate of the enemy front line and the posts it contained.It was at this time that ammonal tubes were first usedby scouts to destroy wire in preparationfor a raid. Twogaps were blown in the enemy s wire which was verythick among the ruins of houses in order to furnish pointsof entrance for a raiding party. One of these gaps wasfilled by the Hun the night after it was blown, and inconsequence, on August 10th, 1917, a patrol under Lieut.G. Clark, proceeded on the following night to re-blow it.All went well until the moment to connect the fuse hadarrived, when suddenly our patrol was rushed by a German patrol who left their lines on a whistle signal beinggiven. Cpl. F. W. Spooner, in charge of that part of thepatrol detailed as a covering party, and his men, opened asavage fire into the enemy and Lieut. Clark, workingfuriously, connected the fuse, and turned the Nobellighter."Like a flash the white-hot spark leaped throughthe instantaneous fuse, and 20 pounds of ammonal, disintegrated with an ear-shattering roar in the very facesof the stubbornly-advancing Boche patrol. Our patrol, itstask accomplished, then skillfully withdrew to their ownlines without a casualty.On August 14th, 1917, one officer and a non-commissionedofficer, while on a daylight patrol, entered the enemy s70