The first five hundred

Front matter

The First Five Hundred

The First Five Hundred

Being a historical sketch of the military operations of the

Preface

THIS volume has a twofold purpose. The first is to chronicle briefly the military operations of the heroic, fighting battalion that represented Newfoundland among the gallant and victorious troops of the British Empire in the greatest war of history, and to illustrate its persistent gallantry and splendid achievements by reference in each chapter to conspicuous individual heroism. The second pirrpose is to put in compact form and within reach of the public the individual military records of the first contingent which embarked from Saint John's on the most solemn duty that has ever been thrust upon our country. The latter purpose has been greatly facilitated by the data available.at the Militia Department. The task of procuring individual pictures' "of the men of the first contingent, which would add meaning and individuality to each record has, however, been a most difficult one. Only slightly, less difficult has been the task of getting proper, information regarding the various engagements in which our Regiment took part. The work has necessitated scores of interviews, and a continual search for scraps of information wherever it could be found. This work does not profess, however, to be a detailed record of the whole of the movements and a complete description of every engagement of the Regiment. Many readers may be for tunate enough to be able to supplement, some of the descriptions or move ments with interesting information already in their possession. These, however, will be comparatively few. The hope is that the information contained herein will become general, especially among the young people of our country, who, when reading of heroes and heroic accomplishments, will not forget the heroes of their own country.

R. C.

SERGEANT RICKETTS, V. C.

PRIVATE T. RICKETTS

PRIVATE T. RICKETTS was awarded the VICTORIA CROSS for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on October 14, 1918. During the advance from Ledgehem the attack was temporarily held up by heavy hostile fire, and the platoon to which he belonged suffered severe casualties from the fire of a battery at point blank range. Private Ricketts at once volunteered to go forward with his Section Commander and a Lewis Gun to attempt to outflank the battery. They advanced by short rushes while subject to severe fire from enemy machine guns. When 300 yards away, their ammunition gave out. The enemy, seeing an opportunity to get their field guns away, began to bring up their gun teams. Private Ricketts at once realized the situation. He doubled back 100 yards, procured some ammunition and dashed back to the Lewis gun, and by very accurate fire drove the enemy and their gun teams into a farm. His platoon then advanced without casualties, and captured four field guns, four machine guns and eight prisoners. A fifth field gun was subsequently intercepted by fire and captured. By his presence of mind in anticipating the enemy intention and his utter disregard for personal safety, Private Ricketts secured the further supplies of ammunition which directly resulted in these important captures and undoubtedly saved many lives.

SIR RICHARD ANDERSON SQUIRES, K. C. M. G., PRIME MINISTER

Hon. Alex Campbell, M.D.

Minister of ^ricc//fure&Mir>e5

SIR E. P. MORRIS (NOW LORD MORRIS) Who was Prime Minister of Newfoundland at the outbreak of the great war and quickly rallied Newfoundland to the aid of The Empire.

JOHN R. BENNETT, ESQ.

Who was Colonial Secretary of Newfoundland at the outbreak of the war. He later became the first Minister of Militia.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL (REV.) THOMAS NANGLE

Newfoundland's Representative on the Imperial War

Graves' Commission.

Part I

Historical Sketch of the Military Operations of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment

CHAPTER I From Saint John's Through Gallipoli

When the great war-cloud burst over the world in August, 1914, Newfoundland was engrossed in her peaceful occupations. From a military standpoint no country could be in a state Newfoundland unprepared of greater unpreparedness. Such various for a military emergency. Church organizations as the Methodist Guards, the Highlanders, the Church Lads' Brigade and the Roman Catholic Cadets had very little resemblance to a modern military organization, though their ranks became rapidly depleted by the enlistment of the Regiment. And even those organizations were confined to Saint John's. In the outports there was no group or body of men either in the nature of a military or social organization that could render any assistance as a unit in preparing to fight an enemy.

From the standpoint of immediately available untrained men the country was scarcely more prepared than in military organization. It was the time of every year when almost the entire country is engrossed in the prosecution of the cod fishery. Large numbers of men were scattered along the Labrador coast, far from the excitement and anxiety caused by the international cloudburst. And others, a greater number, were engaged in the same work at their homes around the entire Island. They were engrossed in a means of livelihood that could not be put off for a month, or even a week, but a kind of work upon the success of one brief week of which the happiness of the family for the entire year might depend. At any time of the year from October to May the response to a national call would have been many times as great.

The Government, however, lost no time in taking suitable action to meet the emergency. On the eighth of August Governor Davidson wired

the Secretary of State as follows: "Ministers desire au- Government thority to enlist special men service abroad by land and action. sea. Ministers undertake to raise force of Naval Reserve

by October 31st to 1000 efficient men available for naval service abroad for one year and are willing to meet all local expense. Several hundred with efficient local brigade training offer for enlistment

Page Nineteen m^ for land service abroad. Believe that 500 could be enlisted within one month. Propose to induce serviceable men between 18 and 35 years to enroll themselves in training for home defense wherever corps instructors are available. These will form material for further drafts." On the following day the Secretary of State replied to Governor Davidson: "Your telegram of August 8th. His Majesty's Government gladly avail themselves of offer of your Government to raise troops for land service abroad. Will telegraph later as to Naval Reserve." For the purpose of making good our offer, a preliminary meeting was held on the afternoon of the tenth of August in the Executive Council Chamber, and was presided over by the Prime Minister, Sir E. P. Morris. Besides the Prime Minister there were present at that meeting the Colonial Secretary, Mr. J. R. Bennett; Lieutenant-Commander MacDermott of the H. M. S. Calypso; Inspector General Sullivan; Captain Wakefield, M. D., of the Legion of Frontiersmen; Major Hutchings of the Methodist Guards' Brigade; Lieutenant -Colonel Rendell of the Church Lads' Brigade; Lieutenant- Colonel Patterson of the Highlanders; Major Carty of the Catholic Cadet Corps: Captain Goodridge and Captain J. W. Morris of the Rifle Club. On Wednesday night, August 12, a public patriotic meeting was held in the C. L. B. Armory, the purpose of which, as stated by Sir E. P. Morris (now Lord Morris), was to endorse what the Government had already decided on. The enthusiasm of the meeting left no doubt that the public endorsation of the Government's action was unanimous.

During the following week patriotic meetings were held for the purpose of getting together an efficient organization that would be responsible for the immediate development of a military force. The public spirit ran high. While public excitement, and, in consequence, confusion, would have been more pronounced, the spirit of unselfish patriotism and of resistance of a brutal and militaristic enemy could not have been greater if the enemy were at the entrance of Saint John's harbor. On August 21, a proclamation was issued by the Governor-in-Council calling for 500 volunteers. If the patriotic meeting of the twelfth lacked anything in the way of demonstrating the public endorsation of the Government's action that was unquestionably supplied by the public response during the days immediately following the issuing of the proclamation. By the thirty-first of August over 500 had offered their services, mostly from the stores and offices of the Capital City. It is significant that considerably more than half of these hailed from the city brigades. On September 3, the second day of the Legislative Session, Governor David- Page Twenty son informed the Prime Minister that in response to a telegraphic message he (Governor Davidson) had replied saying that "the Newfoundland Regiment is now 800 strong and going under canvas. Contingent of 500 will be ready to start on the first of October."

No. 1 TENT AT PLEASANTVILLE, 1914

Being the first ten men to take the oath.

Standing, left to right: W. H. Janes, J. Thompson, N. Patrick, M. Sears, J. Long.

Sitting, left to right: J. Irvine, R. Andrews, G. Langmead, J. Carter, R. Williams.

This tent produced 4 Commissioned Officers, 1 Warrant Officer (1st class), 1 Warrant Officer

(2nd class), 3 Sergeants, 1 Private.

The action which had already been taken by the Governor-in-Council received the necessary legislative sanction by the enactment on September 4 by the General Assembly, which met on September the second, and was again prorogued on the seventh of "AN ACT RESPECTING

ta"e Twenty-one

A VOLUNTEER FORCE IN THIS COLONY." Section 1 of the Act provided, that: "The Governor may accept the services of any persons

desirous of being formed under this Act into a volunteer First War corps and offering their services, and upon such acceptance

Legislation. the proposed corps shall be deemed to be lawfully formed."

Section 5 provided that: "Volunteers shall be enlisted for service abroad and for home defence against the alien enemies of the King. Every volunteer shall sign a roll in which the conditions

TWO VIEWS OF PLEASANTVILLE MILITARY CAMPS, SEPTEMBER, 1914

Page Twenty-two of his service shall be stated. No person shall be enlisted for a longer period than the duration of the war, but not exceeding one year." It was the general opinion at that time that one year would cover the period for which military service would be required, but we shall later see that re-enlistment became necessary while the volunteer force was still in training in England and at a time when men of the type of the Newfoundland force were badly needed to reinforce the troops that were operating against the Turks on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

The month of September was spent in the rudiments of military training in Saint John's. The scene created by the hastily constructed military camps at Pleasantville will for many years remain fresh in the memories of the people of the Capital City. It was an entirely new scene, and one

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL W. H. FRANKLIN, D. S. O., AND HIS SON.

of immense importance. The uniforms worn by the first volunteers speak adequately of Newfoundland's military preparedness in peace times. They remind one of a famous utterance by an American statesman when he was opposing any increase in the military forces of the United States. "If a foreign foe should invade our shores," he said,

Page Twenty-four

"a million of us would rush to the shore and push them into the sea." Fortunately it was not the uniforms that counted, but the same high spirit of patriotism and courage that carried the Newfoundland Regiment through a glorious record. No small amount of credit is due Lieutenant- Colonel Franklin whose untiring efforts contributed so largely to the success of the initial steps in the formation of the Newfoundland Battalion. He gave up his successful business, and devoted his entire energy and attention to the training of the first contingent.

On the fourth of October, the first contingent of the land force that was to represent Newfoundland in the Allies' struggle against Central Europe

set out for England on the H. M. S. Flor- First Contingent embarked izel. The event was one which, in point for England. of military importance and demonstrated

national patriotism, was without parallel in Newfoundland history. In answer to the call of the Mother Country her Oldest Colony had spoken in no uncertain terms. The voice of the country was loud and clear, and at no time during the struggle, not even when the hardest blow was met at Beaumont Hamel. can there be said to have been a note of uncertainty or faintheartedness. Whatever doubt there may have been as to the wisdom of the method of raising men, the fact that men were to be raised was practically unquestioned, even in the more isolated parts where the supreme importance of the situation f

Qy

OFFICERS OF THE FIRST NEWFOUNDLAND REGIMENT, 1915 Top row, left to right : Tait, Ledingham, Nunns, Wighton, Summers, Rowsell, Goodridge,

Butler, Wakefield.

Bottom, left to right: Ayre, Raley, O'Brien, Alexander, Rendell, De-Burton, Carty,

Bernard, March.

was not fully realized and hence the spirit of national patriotism not so fully aroused. Voluntary enlistment may have been regarded as a plausible method during the first months of the war when it was almost unanimously believed that the war would be of short duration, but after Lord Kitchener's famous prediction it must have been apparent to the enlightened legislators of that time that the only democratic, fair and systematic Page Twenty-six method, though more difficult to operate and less tasteful to the politician would have been selective conscription. No sentimental argument should stand in the way of efficiency and fairness. The United States did not for one moment question the loyalty and patriotism of her subjects, though she had scarcely declared war on the Central Powers before she announced a plan of selective conscription. Political expediency, especially when international or intercolonial questions are involved, is a menace to the right conduct of any country. At the moment that this chapter is being written the United States are placing their own sincerity, and, indeed, their whole national reputation, at stake by declining to support or make any pronouncement on the League of Nations, though they themselves brought in the plan to forever prevent the horribleness and inhumanity of modern wars. Political expediency versus national and international interests, and in all such cases the former generally wins. The point is worthy of notice here only because it involves a very important principle affecting the conduct of our own Government while the question of maintaining a battalion in the field was persistently asking for a non-political solution.

Our concern here, however, is not the particular method adopted for raising and maintaining a battalion, but to chronicle briefly the military operations of our Battalion with its splendid record of heroism and ability. More than ten months were spent at Salisbury Plain, Fort George near Inverness, Stobs Camp near Hawick and finally at AJdershot in intensive military training, dining which time several other drafts were sent over seas which brought the Regiment up to full battalion strength. It will be remembered that volunteers were first accepted for a period of one year, but at Aldershot, where the last days of training were spent, upon being given the alternatives, when reviewed by His Majesty the King and Lord Kitchener, of returning home or enlisting for the period of the war practically every man accepted the latter alternative.

It was on the same day, in the early part of August, that Lord Kitchener made the pronouncement that the Newfoundlanders were just the men he wanted for Gallipoli, and a week later, on the seventeenth Selected for of August, they were informed that on that same night they Gallipoli. would embark for the Dardanelles. The order went into

effect, and early next morning the Regiment detrained at Devonport and marched on board the converted cruiser, "Megantic,"*

* See Extracts from the diary of the late Lieut. O. W. Steele at the end of this chapter for details.

Page Twenty-Seve which was to take them to Alexandria. At Alexandria the Regiment entrained for Cairo, and on arrival there marched into camp at Heliopolis, on the desert about a mile from Cairo. The stay at Cairo was brief, only a few days, and the Regiment proceeded to Mudros (Mudros had been selected as a subsidiary base of the Allies), in Lemnos, from which port it arrived at Suvla shortly after 9 o'clock in the evening of September 19.

Before continuing to trace the operations of the Newfoundland Regiment it is necessary that we understand something of the stage of the

Gallipoli campaign when our Battalion arrived Stage of the there, and the conditions under which it was

Gallipoli Campaign. fought by the Allied troops. As stated above,

the port of Mudros, in the historic Island of Lemnos, about fifty miles from Gallipoli, was selected as a necessary subsidiary base. Mudros, as far as facilitating the campaign or being in any way beneficial to the Allied forces was concerned, was scarcely more than a safe anchorage. Quantities of stores, such as ammunition and fuel for the ships engaged, could with great difficulty be stored there, but no supplies for the troops or the battleships could be purchased there. The Island produces comparatively little of what is consumed by its own small population. Neither did it offer any facilities for loading or discharging, so that the work of storing supplies of anything like the quantity required involved an enormous amount of incessant and strenuous toil. At Gallipoli this situation was aggravated and intensified by the fact that the work had to be done under the fire of the enemy's guns. When a large British transport crossed the English Channel with a load of shells and big guns she pulled alongside a commodious pier in a French port, and her cargo was rapidly discharged by the use of powerful cranes, with comparatively little manual labor and out of the reach and sound of enemy guns. At Gallipoli ships' derricks were used for taking the cargoes from the decks and the holes of ships, but there the labor-saving devices of scientific invention ended and incessant, arduous toil began. Only the troops who actually did the work can fully understand the difficulties and the hardships. Probably, however, the greatest difficulty, failure in which caused the greatest demoralization and enervation among the troops, was in keeping on hand an adequate supply of fresh water to relieve the scorching thirst of a whole army. The strip of land occupied by the Allied troops offered no fresh water that could with safety be utilized. This meant that all the water used by our entire army had to be brought

Page Twenty-Nine

^^=5^

^fe rrmmm

Inspection by Sir William MacGregor, Representing the "Army Council" at the historic event of the Newfoundland Regiment receiving its colors, the gift of the "Daughters of the Empire."

Officiating Clergy representing three denominations, and Lady MacGregor representing the " Daughters of the Empire."

Page Thirty

Lady MacGregor presenting the colors and Lieutenant Fox receiving them on behalf of the Regiment, June 11, 1915, at Stobs Camp.

500 miles. The quantity needed was 80 tons a day. Without fresh water in the scorching heat of a Gallipoli summer's day, living on a salt meat diet, while engaged in the most strenuous labor,— carrying heavy packs and getting large pieces of machinery up trackless hills, — and all under the fire of the enemy's guns, created a hardship and mental strain which only the men who actually did it can ever fully appreciate.

It was in the face of these difficulties and others of scarcely less magnitude that the Gallipoli campaign was carried on from April 25, 1915, when the first landing was effected, until the first days of 1916. The fighting during May, June, July and the first part of August was very severe, and costly in human life. Not only, however, was the German boast that the Allied troops would not land settled for all time, but great successes were achieved and possession taken of a considerable portion of the Peninsula. The record is one of glorious sacrifice and unsurpassable courage. The Allied offensive terminated with the failure of the thrust at Sari Bair, August 6th-10th. It failed through lack of sufficient men and water. The five days' battle on a front of twelve miles had cost the Allies almost a quarter of their entire Gallipoli army. Fifty thousand men, with large quantities of food and ammunition supplies would be required for another attack. It was decided that these should not be sent, and after several thrusts during the latter days of August the fighting on both sides settled down into trench warfare.

This, then, is the situation both as regards the nature and the stage of the Gallipoli campaign, when, in the early morning of September 20, the Newfoundland Regiment landed on the beach Regiment Landed at Suvla, and was shelled for the first time by the at Suvla. enemy. The beach was piled high with ammunition,

sand bags, large and small guns and innumerable other things that go to make up the equipment of an army. The ground inland was very hilly and in some places set with steep clifts, and as our men moved off in this direction in small platoons the Turkish shell fire became heavier. One officer and eight men of other ranks were wounded during the first day. As night came on, under cover of darkness, our Regiment marched toward the trenches, about four miles distant, A Company taking a position in the support trenches. Each day a new company went into the support trenches, and on the 24th A and B Companies relieved the Worcester and Hampshire Regiments respectively. These two regiments with the King's Own Scottish Borderers and now Newfoundlanders constituted the 88th Brigade, and formed part of

Page Thirty-

LTM,

THE LAND OPERATIONS ON GALLIPOLI

The various beaches where British, Australian and Newfoundland troops made landings on the west coast of the peninsula, are indicated as " Beach W, " " Beach X, " etc., running north to " Beach Z. " Points where some of the severest fighting took place, after the cliff on the shore had been surmounted were Krithia, Achi Baba, Gaba Tepe, and Anafarta. In the earlier operations with ships the Dardanelles were penetrated almost through the Narrows.

The teach where numerous troops landed.

Mule Gully, a scene familiar to our men who fought at Gallipoli, and typical of the inland approach.

Page Thirty-five

U , Li\y u i. r-n b \J b

Ian Hamilton's "incomparable Twenty-ninth Division." The New Zealanders and the 88th Brigade were the principal attacking parties in the great effort of August 6th-10th for the all important hill, Sari Bair. They won their objective, but the troops that relieved them were attacked by an overwhelming force, and the hill was lost, not to be retaken during the Gallipoli campaign of 1 9 1 5 . The trenches now held by the 88th Brigade were at the bottom of a series of several promontories which lay in front of Sari Bair. The promontories ranged from 250 to 600 feet in height, and Sari Bair stood majestically in the background about 900 feet high.

On September 28 the Turks tried several times to take the position held by the Newfoundlanders. Their attempts cost them heavy losses and ended in complete failures. In order to make any advance in this area the Turks had to rise over the crest of the nearest ridge, about 700 yards away. Their plan was to attack in mass formation, but as they appeared on the crest of the ridge they were subject to a terrific rain of shells from the ships in the Bay and the batteries at Suvla. The Newfoundland Regiment stood to arms for several hours. They expected at any moment the order to advance and engage the enemy, or to have to ward off a strong enemy attack. Although the Turks did make an attempt to advance, and in great strength, so accurate and destructive was the work of our ships and artillery that comparatively few of the enemy were left to be held up by rifle fire. No casualties were suffered by our men.

Practically no attempt was made by the enemy after this time to take the position held by the Newfoundland Regiment, and life at Gallipoli became monotonous and full of routine. The whole experience was a complete disappointment to our men. They went to fight the Turks, but, as we have seen, the Allied offensive at Gallipoli was over more than a month before the Newfoundland Regiment arrived there. But it- must not be concluded that the soldier's life at Gallipoli from this time until evacuation was mere play. Quite to the contrary; conditions brought about by other enemies were far worse than the Turks were capable of creating by military activity. Dysentery and enteric Dysentery and spread with amazing rapidity and played havoc with the Enteric. ■ entire forces. In front of the trenches held by our men were the corpses of hundreds of the enemy. Clouds of flies swarmed over these as they decayed in the sweltering heat of the day. The same flies preyed on the food and the drink, carrying disease and death in their trail. High winds blew the Peninsula sandy soil, which was thickly inhabited with disease germs, into the food and the water. The Thirty-six

F very fine sand, apart from any disease germs carried by it, was claimed to be responsible for much of the dysentery. Available hospitals at Alexandria, Cairo, and other places were filled with men suffering from dysentery and enteric, and, as will be seen from the records of the "FIRST FIVE HUNDRED," many of our men were invalided to hospitals, some going to England. The vitality of the entire army was lowered. Few escaped the disease entirely, and many died from its effects.

Apart from the haunts of disease and extreme thirst, life was scarcely more than a daily routine. There was some shelling every day and every night, especially when either side showed unusual activity. Machine gun and rifle fire formed part of the daily and nightly program; but the most effective activity on the part of the enemy was sniping. Every possible nook or place of any kind in which they could conceal themselves was inhabited by Turkish snipers. Specially did they watch with great vigilance any place where drinking water could be obtained, so that any of our men who attempted to relieve their maddening thirst was shot down by cleverly hidden snipers. One writer, referring to the Newfoundland Regiment, says: "The soldiers had come expecting to find war a life of excitement. They found it, on the contrary, duller than the most dreary spells of lonely life in the back woods of their own island. * * * The heat, the hard work, the flies, the thirst, and the intermittent shelling combined to tax the nerves and temper of the men to the full." Dullness, however, in the outport settlements of Newfoundland, has no resemblance, not even in the matter of degree, to the experience of our men at Gallipoli. It was dull only in the sense that there was no severe fighting. Disease and deprivations created hardships that were too great for human strength.

As an indication of how the ranks became depleted, Sickness Caused although the Regiment sustained comparatively Many Casualties. few casualties from the activities of the Turks, up

to October 1 1 only half of the Regiment was in the front line at one time, and its place was taken after six or seven days by the other half. From that date it was no longer possible to make such a division. The whole Regiment went in together, with the time of relief always very uncertain. Usually, however, the period during which they were in the front line trenches was double what it had previously been. Relief depended upon Imperial troops being available. The only diversion from digging new trenches and making those already occupied more comfortable was in hunting enemy snipers. For this purpose, and also

R

T for the purpose of finding out what the Turks were doing, patrol parties would go out into No Man's Land every night.

One of these patrols had a trying experience. On the night of November 4, a patrol sent out under Lieutenant J. J. Donnelly occupied a ridge midway between the trenches occupied by the enemy and those held by our men. From this ridge the Turks had been giving trouble every night for some time. The patrol had scarcely reached the ridge before it was opposed by the enemy who outnumbered our men by about seven to one. The sound of the firing from the ridge indicated to the Commanding Officer that our patrol was being attacked, and, suspecting that it was greatly outnumbered by the enemy, he immediately despatched six men under Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Greene to reinforce the patrol.

As this small party was slowly making its way across No Man's Land it encountered a large party of Turks who were rapidly surrounding our men who were holding the ridge. In the skirmish that followed only Sergeant Greene and Private Hynes escaped without being wounded. The coolness,

resourcefulness and courage with which these two men Two Heroic managed the situation could not be surpassed by soldiers Parties. of many years active warfare experience. By their rapid

fire at close range they completely deceived the Turks who greatly exceeded them in numbers. The enemy finally retired to his own trenches, and the attempt to surround our original patrol was

Page Thirty-eight

I

CAPTAIN DONNELLY.

Caribou Hill, position of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment is indicated by square and " C. H ."

Page Thirty-nine completely foiled. This timely aid enabled Lieutenant Donnelly and his men to hold the ridge all night, although every man in the party had been wounded, some several times. On the following day the Regiment advanced its front line to the ridge that had been so nobly held by the two small patrols, and placed machine guns in commanding positions. This ridge was afterward most appropriately called Caribou Hill. The name will for many years linger in the minds of Newfoundlanders, and will recall the true soldierly qualities of the Newfoundland troops who fought at Gallipoli.