Globe and Mail: 27 October 1914

Buried on page 8 of the Globe and Mail on 28 October 1914 is a tidbit of info of an special farewell event for Norwood soldiers. They would be heading to Kingston, Ontario for basic training. By May 1915, they would be in England, and by September 1915 they would be in the Trenches of France.

Here is the extract:

"WARM CLOTHING FOR BOYS
Norwood, Oct 27 - Ten young men who are leaving for the front were bidden farewell at the Town Hall last night. Stirring addresses were given by several prominent citizens. Each of the boys was presented a box of warm clothing by the Home Guard, Gun Club, and Lacrosse team, also comforters and wrist-lets by the Daughters of the Empire."

Assault with the Bayonet in the Great War

Recently at Peterborough's Museum and Archives, students from Sir Sandford Fleming Community College Museum Management program showcased micro-exhibits. An excellent First World War bayonet exhibit was created.

To honour this student's work and future as a curator, I've created a link to Paul Hodge's article,
‘They don’t like it up ’em!’: Bayonet fetishization in the British Army during the First World War.

This entry focuses almost entirely on the use of bayonet's in combat in the First World War.

Stunning Photo: German Soldiers during the Kaiserschlacht, May 1918

Click to Enlarge Photograph

German Post Card, 1918

                                                                                  "Sappe Stellung Chemin des Dames Jetzt ist die Stellung

                                                                         im Besitze der Franzosen." Trans.  Trench position Chemin des Dames. 

                                                                                                     Now Trench is occupied by the French.

                                                                                                             Credit: Flickr, Drakegoodman

                                                                                      http://www.flickr.com/photos/drakegoodman/with/7159848907/

The picture was taken during the German Kaiserschlacht Offensive of Spring 1918. The offensive was the last great German roll of the dice to secure a military victory on the Western Front. German High Command knew the stakes were high; they faced the inevitable French and British summer offensives, and they would soon face the newly arrived American Expeditionary Force. The offensive lasted from March to July 1918 and captured large swaths of territory but were unable to secure a lasting victory.

What the picture tells us:  

The corpse on the firestep is wearing a British uniform. The German soldiers are walking in recently dug reserve  trench. The walls of the trench are not reinforced, the prados are poorly constructed, and the position lacks dugouts. The muddy footprints above the trenches indicate that the assaulting party traversed the line, seeking out any remaining 'tommies.' Finally, the spent bullet casings found on the top of the firestep,  unexploded grenades in the trench, and the discarded ammunition boxes in the far right  are evidence of the ferocious struggle that took place to capture this trench.  

The photograph shows war in all its reality.  Men splayed out in undignified poses, lying where they died. Rifles and equipment scattered across the field. After the shooting ends, the looting begins. Speaking to a veteran of the Normandy Campaign, I was informed that many Allied soldiers were motivated to kill for wedding bands and French Francs. In this photo, the two German soldiers are robbing from the dead, taking British boots and socks, and one soldier is wearing a British sargent's overcoat.

Last words belong to Ernst Jünger, a German officer that participated in the offensive. During a lull in the fighting, he explored a British Dugout that his men had recently captured. 

         "There was a whole crate of eggs, which we sucked on the spot, as eggs were little more than a word to us at this stage. On shelves along the walls were stacks of canned meat, tins of delicious English jam, and bottle of Camp coffee, tomatoes and onions . . . It was a scene I often came back to later, when we lay for weeks in trenches, on meagre bread rations, watery soup and thin nondescript jam (243)."

During Jünger's advance on Vraucolurt, he stole British soldier's overcoat, similar to the blokes in the photograph. Unfortunately for Jünger, his stolen coat would prove to be costly. He was shot in the chest wearing the British coat by one of his own men.

First Nations Participation in Great War - Hiawatha's George Paudash

Depiction of Aboriginal,
Canadian Patriotic Fund
Poster, 1916
Credit: web.vui.ca/davies 

First Contingent Sailing from Canada, Oct 1914
Credit: Library and Archives Canada

By October 1914 the fleet that was carrying the first of the Canadian Expeditionary Force reached Plymouth Hoe, England.  Residents from the English towns and villages that surround the port city of Plymouth came out to the harbour to greet the soldiers from the distant cold colony that had come to the aid in the fight against ‘Prussian Barbarism.’

Civilians were surprised at what greeted them. According to one Canadian officer, R.F. Haig of Fort Garry Horse Regiment, English residents were disappointed that the Canadians were not wearing feathers and pelts, or wearing traditional headdresses. English citizens expected the Canadians of popular literature.  A country with a untamed wild frontier, filled with proud native warriors wearing war-paint mounted on horse back, living alongside hardworking farmers. Imagery of Canada and the ‘noble savage’ aside; the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) sent thousands of Aboriginal soldiers overseas during the First World War.

Depiction of Aboriginal,
Canadian Patriotic Fund
Poster, 1916
Credit: web.vui.ca/davies 

Aboriginal men had every reason not to want to fight for Canada. In the decades leading up to 1914, officials acting on behalf of the Crown and the Government enacted numerous laws and policies that oppressed Aboriginal people. Similar to the Indigenous population of Australia, contact with Europeans brought misery and hardship upon the native population. The once proud warrior nations that hunted buffalo in the Great Plains or traversed the Great Lakes of Ontario were brought to the brink of extinction by disease, war, and euro-centric policies that placed First Nations people into a system of reserves often located on unsuitable destitute land. European colonizers attempted to take all native children away from their families and place them into residential schools, where the children would be beaten, and in some cases sexually assaulted by predatory clergymen; all in an effort to have the ‘Indian’ taken out of them.

Minister Sam Hughes Touring Arras, 1916.
Credit: IWM

Despite the systematic oppression and societal exclusion, many Aboriginal men made the decision to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.  As wards of the crown, natives were not granted the rights of citizenship, and therefore were legally excluded from fighting overseas. The Minister of the Militia, Sam Hughes, a  xenophobic Orangemen, tried to further discourage the recruitment of natives by stating: “While British troops would be proud to be associated with their fellow subjects, yet Germans might refuse to extend to them the privileges of civilized warfare.” Many local battalion officers overlooked the Minister’s concerns and allowed Aboriginals to enlist.

Map of First Nations, Central Ontario
Credit: Ontario Aboriginal Affairs

Sgt. Mike Mountain Horse, awarded the DCM, explained his reason for enlisting in the CEF:

“The fighting spirit of my tribe was not quelched through reservation life. When duty called, we were there and when we were called forth to fight for the cause of civilization, our people showed all the bravery of our warriors of old.”

In Central Ontario there is several First Nations that near Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Northumberland, and Quinte Region. Aboriginal men from: Alderville, Curve Lake, Hiawatha, Chippewas of Rama and Georgina Island, and Mississauga of Scuggog, and the Tyendinaga Mohawks were all eligible to enlist in Peterborough in the No. 3 Military District.

                                                                 
                                                                             George Paudash

George Paudash, Nov. 1914.
Credit: http://21stbattalion.ca

In the November 1914, two brothers from the Hiawatha reserve located outside of Peterborough enlisted in the 21^st Battalion (Eastern Ontario).  George Paudash, age 24; and Johnson Paudash, age 39; were trained and quickly sent overseas. The brothers arrived in France in the Autumn 1915, and spent several months in the M and N trenches south of Ypres in Belgium. The men of the 21st Battalion learned to snipe, scout, and exist under shell fire at the M and N trenches.

Months later the first rotations in the lines, the 21st Battalion would be pushed into their first actual pitched fight with the enemy, at the St. Eloi Craters. After the battle of the craters, the youngest brother, Corporal George Paudash, developed numerous abdominal pains and was sent to hospitals in England before returning home.

George’s older brother, Johnson Paudash, would find fame as one of Canada’s greatest snipers.
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