Prelude to Amiens

Heroes Remember

Prelude to Amiens

Transcript

Amiens, that was the greatest battle of the whole war. That was the beginning of the end. The Last Hundred Days, yeah. It was the most secret, offensive of the whole war. All the moving was done at night. We left Arras in the middle of the night, boarded a train and went away down, we were wondering the next morning where the hell we were going, you know. We had maps. We were trying to trace where the railway line was going. There was just one little line that we missed, that's the one that took us down to Amiens, isn't it.

Description

Mr. MacDougall describes having to secretly travel overnight from Arras to Amiens in preparation for the Allied surprise attack at Amiens.

Alec MacDougall

Alec MacDougall was born on September 20, 1896 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. His father was a miner and also owned a farm. Mr. MacDougall finished grade 10, then worked at the local foundry until enlisting in the Army in 1916. His Battalion, the 185th Cape Breton Highlanders trained at Camp Aldershot, Nova Scotia before sailing to England aboard the SS Olympia. He deployed to France as a signaler with the 4th Division, and saw action most notably at Arras and Amiens.

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