Miles of artillery
First World War Audio Archive
Miles of artillery
Transcript
Picture of young Soldier.
machine gun fire. I don’t know how far it would be exactly, but oh, several hundred yards I would say - back of the canal there. They had a line of trenches, of course. There was a line of trench right along the top of the canal but apparently that was abandoned. They had quite a barbed wire entanglement just back of that again and then on the other side of the barbed wire entanglement, of course, they had a line of trenches but (inaudible). But, this barrage of ours, like I say, if you were unfortunate enough to run into anybody when we came up out over the canal, we had casualties. But apart from that it was really a terrific barrage. I think the heaviest barrage I ever saw there. In fact, it was. I know that. And by the time we got to these trenches, we had pretty well wrecked them all. There wasn’t really too much opposition. There was some around but not too much. It had just tore up that wire entanglement and pretty well wrecked these trenches. The night before that when we were coming up the line to get into position to jump off, I never saw so much artillery massed in my life. There always was a lot of it massed wherever there was going to be a push. But not too far behind our jumping off point, they had these eighteen pounders. That’s the lightest artillery. They were practically wheel to wheel for miles. Just gaps left where you could go through, you know. Otherwise, they were wheel to wheel. And, of course, further back behind them, the bigger guns too, several, they weren’t so thick. We had a tremendous barrage, just well, like I say it’s just really annihilated those trenches alright.Description
Mr. Stevenson describes the extent of the Allied bombardment at Canal du Nord, and its effect on the German first line defenses.
Donald Robert Stevenson
Donald Robert Stevenson was born in Bracebridge, Ontario, on October 28, 1897. His family moved to Saskatchewan where he worked with his father, a farmer. Mr. Stevenson felt duty bound to support the British Empire and enlisted on February 3, 1916, in the 217th Battalion. He took his basic training at Indian Head, Saskatchewan. He went overseas in May 1917, going to Bramshott where he joined the 46th Battalion. Mr. Stevenson’s service saw him in action at the Oppy Front, the Somme, and Canal du Nord. He was wounded in the neck and back, and returned to Canada to his family’s farm and then received a homestead through the Veterans Land Act, farming on his own at Fir Mountain, Manitoba. He married his wife, Elizabeth Helen, on November 7, 1923. He worked for Public Works in Winnipeg, and finally joined the railroad as a yardman, retiring in 1952. He then joined the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. Mr Stevenson died on June 27, 1985.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 1:58
- Person Interviewed:
- Donald Robert Stevenson
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- First World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Europe
- Battle/Campaign:
- Canal du Nord
- Branch:
- Army
- Rank:
- Private
- Occupation:
- Lewis Gunner
Attestation
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