Remove the charges

First World War Audio Archive

Remove the charges

Transcript

Image of Hill 62 Memorial Belgium.

I knew right away that that bridge was gonna be used and they wanted the charge out of the bridge. I guessed that right away - we gotta take the charge out of this bridge, brick arch bridge. About a four foot brick parapet each side. We estimated

Courtrai Memorial Belgium.

the stream about 36 feet wide, and the roadway was about 30 feet wide. It was a fairly wide bridge. It was on a fairly good road

Le Quesnel Memorial Belgium.

running from Amiens to Roy, that was the, it was on the Amiens-Roy road, I remember at the time. And some of the boys discovered a map. We didn’t have a map of that part of the

Le Quesnel Memorial Belgium.

country but some of, one of the boys found a map and we found the name of this here village, found out what this village was. Domart was the name of the village. And after they, after they’s had left, the officers had left, I said, “Alright boys, we’re

Dury Memorial France.

going to open this here sealed orders and we’ll see just what we have to do.” I gets the boys together and then, “We, I think, I think we better go over the chain of command first fellows,

Monchy Memorial France.

you know who follows me if anything happens to me and I’ll detail the chain of command.” And my orders were very secretly,

Passchendaele Memorial Belgium.

take the charge out of the bridge, bury it safely in a safe position away from the bridge. Make a thorough examination of the

Masnières memorial France.

bridge. Find a suitable place to conceal enough material to build

Bourion Wood Memorial France.

a new bridge. And what was the other? Oh, a motor dispatch rider will report to you at three o’clock each morning for your report.

Courcelette Memorial France.

Have it ready! That was practically all that was asked... My guess is that this isn’t one of our charges, this is French,

Beaumont-Hamel Memorial France.

you see and we’re not very familiar with the French charges. We’ll just have to watch out. What I know about the French is

St. Julien Memorial Belgium.

they had, they use a loose explosive, and ammonal and they

Canadian National Vimy Memorial France.

use boxes, they have it in boxes. It weighs about 15 pounds, I understand. And I’m estimating there’s three of these boxes buried right in the roadway on top.

Description

Mr. Brice describes opening his sealed orders which instruct him to de-boobytrap the bridge at Domart. He discusses what, and how many explosives he expects to find.

Harry Brice

Harry Brice was born in Wimbledon Common, England, on August 26, 1888. He left home for Australia, via Canada, in 1909, but he fell in love with Saskatchewan and stayed. Mr. Brice was a Corporal in the 9th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers. Designated for special services with the 42nd Battalion, he and his crew first trained in weaponry, Allied and German, and became a Lewis gun crew helping to hold the Allied Northern flank during the Michael Offensive. He and his crew were then selected for a highly secretive mission, to debug the bridge at Domart which had been booby trapped by the French to thwart a German advance. However, the Allies now needed to cross the bridge to advance on the German positions. Mr. Brice describes in great detail the process of removing explosives, under threat of enemy fire, from a roadbed. There is no record of Mr. Brice’s post-war experience. He died August 26, 1959.

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