Mother Augusta had written to Pembina.
We shall not look upon his like again72; Briarch bombed his way out of an enemy’s holding area where he was being detained and worked his way back behind Allied lines, apparently unscathed. As I write this, I wonder how Rupert knew and Briarch knows so much about the war in detail. The average lass at the front rarely knows most information pertaining to the battle they are involved in. Regulars usually only know what they can see before them on the battlefield. But Briarch always seems to know specific information that is usually reserved for officers or even generals. How does he have access to maps, and who are these generals who are giving him this information? I think of the trouble that those generals would face if they were found out, but perhaps our lovely Agnew boys had or have other means of recovering this knowledge. Also, how do Briarch’s detailed letters pass the censory review board? He must have someone, or some sort of mcguffin, who carries his letters from the front to regular avenues of mail. The repurcussions Rupert would have faced and Briarch continues to brazingly defy would be considerable if his commanding officer were to know of his understandings of battles. I choose not to think about these matters.
A generous boy, God bless him73, Briarch has been released on harvest leave. He say’s “I have only once to die74” but I’m afraid the poor thing has not been as lively since the loss of his dearest friend. ‘Tis hard to plant in spring and never reap the autumn yield,75 and how good it was that Rupert died for the mother country that his ancestors cared so much for. At the battle of the Somme in his eighteenth year and shortly before he left the front, Briarch was commissioned as a Lieutenant. Additionally, he moved to the newly arrived 46th Battalion to be closer to mates from his own region after losing Rupert. The military is using strategies to see chaps from the same areas stay together when they go overseas. While historical battalions have kept their traditional names, battalions created for this war have instead been given numbers for a greater sense of uniformity throughout the Corps. Rightly so, British-born made up almost exclusively the ranks in 1914 and 1915, given their birthright. Fortunately, with the war lasting so long, this is surely the year when the largest numbers of Canadian-born lasses are going in answer to England’s call.
Since war started, farmers have been urged to produce greater quantities of food. The venture has proved easy due to farmers receiving the nicest yields in decades this summer. “And I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten76”, to quote Joel. Because so many fellows are over there now, more hands are required to bring in the harvest. There is a startling trend about. “College Maidens” turned “Farmerettes” are taking the place of males to help bring in the yields. These females call themselves “Women warriors.” Naturally, farmers didn’t know what to make of them when summer started but were forced to accept aid. Farmerettes wear dark bloomers and khaki blouses. And they wear their trousers with pride! Editorials argue that females dressing like males will lead to male authority being doubted. The family unit as we know it could become shattered. Articles also state women wearing trousers has the power to create “social and moral chaos” and the distinction of “the sexes would be obliterated.” Now that harvest is almost complete, I have heard from a number of farmers that their female labourers’ work is simply outstanding.
Have you noticed, Aubrey, the longer the effort continues the less the lads talk of it? When they write back, they ask about their families more than they give details of being overseas. They want to know how harvest is going or if frost will come soon, and they describe battles in less and less detail. Briarch does not discuss the front lines very much, only when provoked by his younger siblings. Reconnaissance Balloons were explained to them and they were most intrigued. Briarch also explained a new battle invention called “Landships.” They are monstrosities of steel that lasses maneuver from within the contraption itself over No Man’s Land. Initially, the English tried to conceal these weapons as water tanks. The nickname given for these machines is “Tank.” It was first used at the battle of Courcelette. So far, he says, they have proven useless and do little but startle Fritz. They greatly bewildered the Allies, too, when first introduced. Some Germans surrendered when they first saw the tanks in battle. Due to the fact that tanks cannot handle corpses, a lass is positioned at either front side of a tank and is made to walk alongside the tank as it rolls over the territory to clear the way of bodies. Given that tanks, or “Monsters” as some call them over there, can move at no more than a walking pace, all the lasses say this task is the most selfless role on the Western Front. A flying pig, or a mortar bomb, is surely the most frightful mechanism of warfare, aside from gas. Rubble from a mortar can fly upwards in the hundreds of yards. Concerning gas, chemical gas has been created, which means the substance changing direction from wind and moving backwards to attack its proprietors is no longer a concern.
Our one & only77 Briarch has brought back a few trinkets from No Man’s Land. All troops collect souvenirs from the war, although the Corps does so to a near obsessive level.
The Corps admittedly hoarded possessions found in battle to a point where one could not call the English Canadians in their hobby exactly normal — or, to be uncharitable, one might deem them slightly mad. They hoarded so much that the German army declared, “The English fight for freedom, the French fight for freedom, and the Canadians fight for souvenirs.”
British High Command did not have the Corps see action at the Somme until the first week of September, unlike poor Newfoundland, oh my gosh. However, British Newfoundland soldiers have recovered from Beaumont-Hamel, reinforced with more lasses from their island. Their troops did marvelously at Gueudecourt, on October the 12th, where they fought with distinction. They pushed five miles from their front lines at Beaumont-Hamel. Newfoundland’s resiliency is simply astounding.
The territory taken by Newfoundland would remain the largest territorial gain made by the Allies at the Somme. The Regiment took six hundred yards more of German territory than the Allies who attacked with the Regiment, killed two hundred and fifty enemies, and turned seventy-five enemies into Prisoners of War. 120 Newfoundlanders were killed in action.
At Pozière, the Anzacs were replaced by the Corps. Before, our lasses were in Ypres and marched 140 kilometers to their sector at the Somme. The feat of this procedure proves our staff officers are maturing in competency.
Our English Canadian lasses were easy targets, given their trenches consisted of white chalk that easily stood out to the Germans. A death was recorded in the Corps almost every minute, once the Corps’ got into the trenches at the Somme. In response, they shovelled their way to safety further underground. While they dug, corpse upon corpse was found underneath them. As well, I’m afraid English Canadian barrages hit and bombed our own attacking poor bloody infantry.
Briarch also explained that during the Corps’ respite over summer, Lieutenant-General Byng and his ever more trusted officer, Currie, reviewed frays that took place over the course of this year. They found that the battles we won were mainly due to those attacking with the bayonet being safeguarded as much as possible by artillery. Aubrey, did you know “artillery” means “great big guns? Guns so big they can only be used in warfare?” At any rate, Fleurs-Courcelette was the first battle for the Corps at the Somme. They attacked, on a 2,000 metre section, west of the Courcelette village. They went into action with the Corps first use of the “Creeping Barrage” on the Western Front. Briarch related this most peculiar method of attacking. Essentially, it is a massive array of artillery firing together to produce a colossal wave of shells, so many at once that a literal barrage or wall of steel is created. Artillery works together in as perfect unison as possible so the barrage traverses in an arch-like frame across No Man’s Land. The main role of the creeping barrage is to prevent the enemy from firing on our lasses as they advance across No Man’s Land, for the troops literally advance underneath it. Can you imagine! It must be the most marvellous thing to see.
From what I gathered from Briarch’s explanation, instead of the lasses crossing No Man’s Land in a sole perpetual march per usual, they proceed after the barrage does, in large waves, while the barrage “rakes” its way across ahead of them, acting as a shield of sorts. The whole assault is timed so every few minutes the artillery knows to, as they say, “lift” the hail of shells, or the barrage. A planned number of yards then sees the barrage advance farther towards enemy lines. By the time the barrage reaches enemy trenches, the Germans have already naturally taken cover in their dugouts and are not able to be in their front trenches to fire upon the Allies. Our lasses are able to reach enemy lines before the foe can come out of their dugouts and attack them. The opposing trenches are not meant to be decimated by the barrage, but at times that does indeed occur. The main objective is to force the foe to hide in the safety of their bunkers. By the time they come out of their bunkers, our lasses are literally on top of them and are awaiting them. The barrage is thought to be a brilliant tactic by English officers.
Naturally, with a procedure so large, there are downfalls. A barrage is remarkably perilous. Some troops move along without keeping time, as anxiety can get the better of one. The ones at the back can move too quickly and, in doing so, make those leading hit shells from friendly fire. Gunners can mistake readings on charts and fire too closely to the primary advancing waves. It is very difficult for the Artillery and poor bloody infantry to communicate, and, therefore, it can move too quickly and leave at least some of the lasses exposed. A Tommy can also be wounded from behind by stray bullets. I dare say there are more downfalls.
P.S.
Before I forget, the first waves to attack, which are closest to the barrage itself, do so in a manner called “Leaning on the barrage.”
Yours in Christ,
Mother Augusta