72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAThe men, therefore, settled themselves in one of the longfreight sheds to await its arrival. The hours wore on, andstill ithere was no sign of the train. At about 1 a.m., afaint,almost imperceptible sound, gradually increasing tillit seemed to cut like a knife through the moonlit air, galvanized all ranks into attent alertness. To those who wereat Amiens it brought back a similar experience during anight-march near Rosieres. To all except the newly-arrived,it was fraught with menace. Clearly now through theautumn night came the rising and falling drone of doubleenginedenemy bombing planes. To be shelled in action isa thing which can be endured by seasoned men with a coolness approaching equanimity. But to be bombed whilewaiting and quiescent is quite another matter.Perhaps Fritz was going over to more distant targets.Perhaps crash ! the end of the shed seemed to be bathedin a sheet of vicious yellow flame, followed by the overBomb after bomb followed,powering roar of the explosion.as the Boche pilots, high in the starlit night, emptied theirbomb-racks onto the maze of tracks below. Fortunatelythese last bombs fell in ithe railway yard away from thesheds. But the damage had been done. The tense, lowvoicedorder, "stretcher-bearers on the double," soundedthrough the shed. Many of the 38 casualties sustained bythe Battalion had been caused by falling debris, and therewas great difficulty in liberating some of the sufferers.Entrainment was postponed till the morning, and duringthe remainder of that fateful night the troops took shelterin the lurking shadows of the streets adjoining the stationin anticipation of a second visit of the hostile planes.At about 8 a.m. on the following day, the Battalion entrained and proceeded to Bullecourt, arriving at noon.From this point it marched to its billeting area at Riencourt,where the men were finally equipped with the thousand and one things necessary for an attack. A final catechising of the officers by the C. 0., Lieut.-Col. G. H. Kirk-138