BX June 12, 1919

The Story of the 4th C.M.R. – Company Sergeant Major Robert Henry Sanders, D.C.M., Who Enlisted Here and Served With That Unit From First to Last, Tells of Its Trials and Glories

A record of the 4th C.M.R. was recently received by Lieut.-Col. Muir of Burford from Company-Sergt. Major Robert Henry Sanders, D.C.M. of Ottawa. Private Sanders, who enlisted with the Brant Dragoons, went to the C.M.R. and he has had a distinguished service at the front. He tells of the different events in four years in the following interesting vein.

June 3, 1919
254 Rideau Street, Ottawa

Sir,

I will endeavor to outline the work carried on by the battalion from the time we left Brantford until the time I left it.

Upon the arrival in Toronto, November 21, 1914 we were formed up in squadrons and we three Burford boys were lucky in being put in a troop under the command of Lieut. Harvey Cockshutt of Brantford. We carried on training as mounted rifles and we sent our first batch of horses overseas and then we began to get dissatisfied for we thought the war would be over, so we volunteered to go over as dismounted troops. We left Toronto for Niagara Camp on May 22, 1915, and were there less than a month, as we were to go to Valcartier for intensive training, prior to our proceeding overseas, but I was picked out with 75 others to take charge of 1,000 horses going to England. We arrived there without any excitement from submarines, but we had a rough time of it otherwise, for we were on the water 14 days and the food was very poor. We rejoined the regiment at Shorncliffe in August and started our musketry and I am pleased to say that Vic Haydon and I turned out first class shots, and after our course was finished we had to do a lot of bayonet fighting and bomb throwing to get us used to the work we had to do against the Hun on the other side. At the beginning of October we had a final muster and then were C.B., as we were expecting to go to France any day. About October 13 we were told to turn in our spurs and bandoliers, which we felt rather hard and then they gave us Webb equipment and a Ross rifle, which was useless equipment, as I will relate to you later on.

On Sunday, October 24, 1915 we had a full kit parade and off we went to France to get a crack at Fritz, which we had longed for since November, 1914. We landed at Boulogne the same night only taking two hours to cross, and after being there two days we started for the line as happy as sand boys. We were attached to Col. Seeley and his cavalry brigade, and were put in the trenches with the 4th Battalion to get our first knowledge of shell fire, and we thought it was great to stand there on the fire-step and look towards the German lines for any movements. The next day Vic was looking through that periscope when he called to me that he could see a German moving around (and I was quite surprised at the size of him, as we were under the impression that the Germans had no food). Well, we had a loop-hole in our bay, so we set a rifle and Vic kept watching for him, and when his head was showing we let drive, and if he didn’t kill him he got a good scare, for he never showed himself again. After doing another tour with the 2nd Battalion and several working parties we went out to billets in Meteren for Christmas, and it was there that we three each got a box from Burford ladies which were appreciated to the fullest extent. In January, 1916 we went to the line again and took it over as a regiment, and the first night we had two killed, one man being from Brantford, by the name of Craig. The next night was worse, for we had seven casualties in our troop during a bombardment of the enemy artillery, and when a “stand to” was ordered there were four rifles in the bay I was in and only one rifle would work, as all the bolts seemed to jam. We stayed on that front for about two months, and it was there that I was made lance-corporal, while Vic was cooking for the company officers. Every night he would bring a big jug of coffee to us, which was a blessing in cold and raw weather.

We then went out and got reinforced by the 8th C.M.R. Battalion. We did a lot of infantry training under the instruction of various N.C.O.’s from the First Division, and then we marched to Ypres. Before going we paraded in front of General Alderson, then in command of the Canadian army in France and he told us that if the Hun broke our trenches to go at them with the bayonet, as they couldn’t stand it, which we were soon to learn. When we landed at Ypres I was made full corporal, and was in charge of No. 2 post in the gap, which was a piece of trench held only at night by a series of bombing posts, and No Man’s Land was only 35 yards wide, so you can understand that there wasn’t much movement on either side. On the dawn of March 31, 1916, I brought my party back to the front line and received our rum issue, after which I commenced to issue the rations to my section, of which Vic was one, and the rations were short, so Vic said he could take a walk as far as the battalion bombers to see if he could get any rations that they would not need. He started off with another one of the section, and had only got a few yards from shelter where we had been sitting, when a sniper got him through the brain. The next day he was buried in a small cemetery in Maple Copse, a few hundred yards behind the line and we had just got his grave nicely decorated with flowers when it was blown to pieces.

The next trip in the line was one that will live in the memories of all Canadians, for it was June 2, and only 78 of us came out of the line the next night, and we had gone in 694 strong, so you can guess that we had it rather rough. It was in this engagement that we lost Lieut. Cockshutt, who was at that time company commander, and I can assure you his loss was felt keenly. Out of a whole platoon, only another corporal and myself came out, the remainder being killed, wounded or taken prisoner. We then were issued the Enfield rifles, to the great joy of everyone, and then we went to the Somme to get a little more excitement, and it was there that Ralph Andrews rejoined us, for he had been down to hospital for months with a skin disease. He was put into the band as a snare drummer, and he stayed in the position all the time.

While at the Somme we went over the top twice and we certainly paid him back in full for what he did to us at Ypres, for we could get all the artillery support we needed, which places confidence in the infantrymen. The first time we went over was the same time the tanks were in action, September 15, 1916 and they were as much a surprise to us as they were to the Germans, for they had been kept so secretly hidden from view. We had quite a successful day of it, and the next day we were busy consolidating our new gains. The next time we jumped the sand bags was October 1, and we met with stiff resistance, for he had reinforced his line with the marines and only one company of the 5th C.M.R. got in his front line, as the wire had not been cut by the artillery, and out of a platoon of 38, which I started off with only seven and myself came back, and we only had one officer left out of five. We proceeded to a real part of the line for the brigade we relieved only had six casualties in four months, but when our artillery got behind us they certainly livened things up considerably and we spent a lively Christmas as we pulled off the largest bombing raid known in the war up to that time, for we captured 52 prisoners besides causing twice as many casualties and destroyed all his dugouts in the first and support lines. After that we carried on the same routine of trench warfare, and on New Year’s Eve I was taken sick with a touch of trench fever, and I was away from the line four days, the first time since we had landed in France. In February 1917, we went out to train for the Vimy show, and we spent a very pleasant six weeks at Burbure. It was the first time we had slept in a real bed in France and the people of the village were very good to us indeed. We went up to the line full of vigor after our rest and were eager for the fight. Sergt. Parker, M.M. of Paris and I were detailed to get all grenades ready, as we expected a stiff fight for the right, and we examined in all over 2,000 bombs and stoke mortars, and put them in bags ready for the reserve carriers, but we did not need them, for our artillery had done its work well, and we had few casualties (that is according to what we expected). We stayed in that front until August, when I had been promoted to company-sergt.-major, then we went in to relieve the 5th Battalion at Hill 70, which had had a real rough time, and we got a lot of casualties from gas and shell fire. After we had been there two weeks we went out to practice the taking of Lens and Mericourt. Just as all the preparations had been made we were suddenly moved back to Ypres, the grave of the 4th C.M.R., and we moved into the line on October 24 and all the men were disgusted with it, for it was awful, and we had all looked forward to the taking of Mericourt, which would have been easy with the great number of tanks that were going to be used in the attack. On the 26th we started to jump off, and we met with stiff resistance and we had a large number of casualties, for we had only about 100 yards, when I became company commander, as the four officers became casualties, and it was through that, that I was awarded the D.C.M., for I was without an officer all during the attack, and when I called the roll I had only two corporals, out of all the N.C.O.’s of the company, for seven sergeants killed and two wounded, and seven corporals killed and two wounded.

After leaving Passchendaele, we went back to our old position at Hill 70, and that is where we spent Christmas with lots of whiz bangs and trench mortars for Christmas breakfast, but we replied with interest. On January 4, I went to the front line and detailed a raiding party, for we were going to try and take two machine guns that were bothering us quite a lot, and when I returned to company headquarters, think of my surprise when the company commander handed me an order to report to battalion headquarters en route for Canada, as I had been picked out to go to the U.S.A. as instructor in sniping, scouting and observing.

I reported to the Tower of London, England and there our party mobilized 25 officers and 35 N.C.O.’s. We stayed there only six days, then proceeding to Buxton, from there to Liverpool, and while on the ship we had an exciting time, for we could not sail for nine days and then it took us 12 days to cross, so you see we were on the ship 21 days. We reached Washington on February 12. There the party broke up and was sent to different camps. I was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and after I went to Camp Wadsworth, S.C., and I came back to Ottawa in August 1918, and upon the armistice being signed I was sent to Toronto to help in the discharge section and I finally finished with the army on March 19, 1919. I would have liked to have paid Burford a visit, but I had to return to Ottawa at once.

C.S.M. R.H. Sanders, D.C.M.