72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFOETH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAmarching via Pernes. Although it was now evident thatthe Lys attack had been cancelled, defensive reconnaissances continued to be carried out and training for openwarfare was vigorously prosecuted. A platoon competition comprising turnout, marching, march discipline, fireand movement, was carried out. Brig.-Gen. J. H. Mac-Brien, C.M.G., D.S.O., his staff, and an officer from eachBatalion of the Brigade, were present at this competition.The R. S. M. of the 2nd Seaforths assisted in judging theturnout of the men before starting their march from Auchelto Pernes, where the competition was held. The result of the competition was that No. 12 Platoon, underthe command of Lieut. C. C. Ferrie, was given first place;No. 16 Platoon, under the command of Lieut. R. G. Major,M.M., second place ;and No. 1 Platoon, under the commandof Lieut. H. C. Whittaker, third place. Later on another competition (bullet and bayonet) was carried outon the Allouagne Ranges, which resulted in a win for No.14 Platoon under the command of Lieut. G. H. Clark, M.C. ;No. 5 Platoon, under the command of Lieut. A. C. Macdonald,third. Later on a Brigade competition along thesame lines resulted in No. 14 Platoon winning for the Battalion easily. In a Divisional competition of the same nature carried out near Houdain, the 46th Battalion wonfirstplace, No. 14 Platoon representing the 72nd Battalion,second, while the 87th Battalion won third place.The foregoing may be taken as a demonstration of theeffectiveness of the trainingin which most of the timeduring this long rest was spent. The facilities for thiswork were on the whole very good. The training waschiefly confined to open warfare, and many schemes involving the employment of tanks, artillery, trench mortars, engineers, machine guns and aeroplanes in combination withinfantry were carried out. Later, attention was concentrated on platoon manoeuvres, particularly with a view toovercoming machine-gun defense in depth. Extensive use102