72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAof Courcellette. His guns, on and behind the BapaumeRidge, and particularly in the famed Loupart Wood, commanded an extensive and highly-informing view of theBritish positions. Especially did his artillery command theground in Death Valley and in the vicinity of Reginatrench. As a result, all movements had to be carried outat night. Owing to the terrible and all-prevading mud,every round of ammunition, every scrap of food in short,everything had to be carried from the junction of the10th Street and the Bapaume Road to the front line, adistance, at first, of about one and a half miles. As theline advanced this was lengthened to two miles. Two milesof tortuous communication trench two miles of liquidmud from eighteen inches to two feet deep. Travellinglight, by day, it was a killing journey. What it was ininky darkness, beneath a pitiless winter rain, carryinganything up to 60 pounds weight and under a nerve-racking fire from the German batteries, can only be fully understood by those who went through it.It was under these trying conditions that the Battalioncommenced its tours on the Somme. As the pouring wetdawn of October 30th broke, the 72nd found themselvesholding a position in Regina trench, with its right flankon the block to the right of 10th Street, and its leftextending about 600 yards along the recently-capturedRegina trench to the west. It will, therefore, beseen that both the Battalion and the Germans held thesame trench, with the "double block," so dear (?) to thehearts of bombers, between. The front line, as were allthe trenches, was a sodden ditch, half filled with water,on which no amount of baling and draining seemed tohave any effect.An energetic campaign of sniping was at once organized against the numerous parties of the enemy, who, disliking the water-filled trenches, essayed to walk overlandto their front line. This had a curious double effect. Our28