Map—Canadian Operations on the Somme
CANADA IN FLANDERS
By MAJOR CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS
THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE
CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
VOLUME III
CANADA IN
FLANDERS
By Major Charles G. D. Roberts
VOLUME III
WITH A PREFACE BY
LORD BEAVERBROOK
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXVIII
PREFACE
In writing this preface to Vol. III of "Canadain Flanders" I am saying good-bye to my task asauthor of the first two volumes. The increasingpressure of other duties has made it impossible forme to pay those prolonged visits to the Front whichalone keep a writer in vivid touch with theconstantly developing realities of modern war, or tospare the time for the proper study of the historicalmaterial. Under these circumstances it seemedbetter to retain the Editorship of "Canada inFlanders," but to hand over the story of the Sommeto the practised pen of Major Charles G. D. Roberts,who was present with the Canadian Corpsduring that Autumn Campaign.
But in doing this it is necessary to make goodas far as possible the errors and slips which havecome to light and been pointed out by the criticsin the text of Vol. II.
As in the case of Vol. I., the majority of themistakes is in the misspelling of names or theconfusion of identity between officers with the samesurname. I particularly regret the mistake by whichthe leadership of the advance on the lost craters atSt. Eloi on the night of April 6th is ascribed toLieutenant V. P. Murphy, of the 25th Battalion,instead, as it ought to have been, to LieutenantG. D. Murphy, of the 28th Battalion (pp. 129, 132).Similarly, on p. 42, the name of Sergeant-MajorBenton should have been inserted as thesergeant-major who went out with Private Donoghue to therescue of the wounded; while the commanders ofthe raiding party of the 19th (Ontario) Battalionin August, 1916, should have been given as CaptainC. E. Kilmer and Lieutenant H. B. Pepler (p. 68).
In the description of the battle of SanctuaryWood there are several mistakes of the samecharacter. Lieutenant Glassco, of the P.P.C.L.I.,has his name misspelt on pp. 181 and 182, andCaptain A. G. Wilken, the heroic chaplain of the1st C.M.R.'s, is reported as being killed, whereasin reality he was taken prisoner. On p. 216 it shouldbe made clear that the Colt guns under LieutenantZiegler, which played so important a part in thedefence of the Hooge position on June 6th, belongedto the Machine Gun Company of the 7th Brigade.On p. 70 Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Hill, D.S.O.,is wrongly given as the Colonel of the RoyalCanadian Regiment when the 3rd Division wasformed in January, 1916, instead of Lieutenant-ColonelA. H. MacDonnell, D.S.O.; while theCommander of the 5th C.F.A. Brigade at the sameperiod was Lieutenant-Colonel W. O. H. Dodds, andnot Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. Carruthers.
Among more general errors it may be noted thatLieutenant Elliot is described on p. 104 as the"signal" instead of the "signalling" officer, andthat the German unit opposed to us at St. Eloi wasthe 214