{"id":10407,"date":"2015-01-05T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=10407"},"modified":"2015-01-05T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T11:00:25","slug":"canadians-train-under-difficulty-in-1915","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/canadians-train-under-difficulty-in-1915\/","title":{"rendered":"CANADIANS TRAIN UNDER DIFFICULTY IN 1915"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, January 5, 1915<\/em><\/p>\n

In Camp, Lark Hill, Salisbury Plains<\/em><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cNo parades.\u00a0 All men on fatigues.\u201d\u00a0[1]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0\u201cSalisbury, Eng., Jan 5.\u00a0 Possibly, when this letter is published the Canadians will be across the channel or at least preparing to leave England.\u00a0 Nothing of an official character has been written or said to this effect, but the conviction has settled in every mind that the stay in this camp will be short.\u00a0 Conditions for training could not be worse, and it may be said safely that from this standpoint alone there is little use in the contingent remaining here any longer.\u00a0 Practically none of the battalions have done any drilling for over two weeks, owing principally to the mud and rain.\u00a0 Southern England is said to be experiencing the worst flood in twenty years.\u00a0 Sections of the Canadian camp have been inundated, roads are one, two and three feet deep in water, and it is almost impossible for even the transports to carry supplies.\u00a0 The four brigades of infantry have been more or less idle for a month.\u00a0 Their chief occupation has been building roads and drains to carry water away from the lines and, of course, endeavoring to keep dry.\u00a0 The latter has been futile.<\/p>\n

There has been considerable talk of the division going to southern France, where further training can be done under favourable conditions.\u00a0 Egypt has also been mentioned persistently but rumors are always cropping up and spreading.\u00a0 One merely has to await developments.<\/p>\n

One thing is certain \u2013 everybody believes that the Canadian division will leave England this month, one brigade of infantry along with an extra battalion remaining to be used in the second contingent and also to \u201cfeed\u201d the main force when it goes into action and suffers casualties.\u00a0 There has been great competition among the battalions, for none wants to be left in England.\u00a0 But it appears that the fourth brigade, under command of Lt.-Col. Cahoe, will not go with the first lot.\u00a0 However, all the other units will soon finish their monotonous training after five months of it.<\/p>\n

There has been an outbreak of illness of the influenza, and severe colds variety, about 1,000 patients being in the hospitals.\u00a0 This is not at all serious when the inclemency of the weather and the size of the expeditionary force is taken into account.\u00a0 Spinal meningitis broke out in the 17th<\/sup> Batt.\u00a0 (Nova Scotians chiefly) and four deaths have resulted.\u00a0 The disease also spread to other battalions, but it is considered that it has now been checked.\u00a0 Until a month or so ago the health of the force was excellent, but living conditions have become bad owing to the constant rain and mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salisbury, the nearest city to the camp, today bears a slight resemblance to Venice as far as the streets are concerned.\u00a0 One portion of the town is under water and business has been practically suspended. The two main streets are streams, and two rowboats have been put into use by two enterprising citizens who charge \u201cthrup-pence\u201d for a ride.\u00a0 Men possessing horses and wagons have been reaping a harvest, chiefly from Canadians, who don\u2019t mind paying for a new and novel experience.\u00a0 The fact that the city is flooded in such a way gives one an idea of what the officers and men must endure on the Plain.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, it amounts to active service conditions without the \u201cexcitement.\u201d\u00a0 That is what the men claim.\u00a0 A wounded soldier who fought for several weeks in France has imparted the information that the living conditions were worse here than at the front.\u00a0 In Belgium or France a soldier fought an enemy he could in most cases see, but here it was the unseen enemy \u2013 sickness \u2013 which must be encountered.\u00a0 No man will be satisfied until he goes to France.\u00a0 The constant waiting under such conditions has caused considerable discontent.\u00a0 Having had about five months of training, the men think it is quite enough.<\/p>\n

However, battalion commanders have told the men that they will leave this month, and the prospect of an early departure has caused considerable joy.\u00a0 Whether such information is official or merely to cheer the men it is difficult to say.\u00a0 For both officers and men the order to leave cannot come too soon.\u201d\u00a0 [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, Jan 5, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa,\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089686.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCanadians Train Under Difficulty,\u201d John A. Maclaren, The Toronto World,<\/em> Toronto, Ontario, Friday, January 22, 1915, pg. 6, col. 5.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tuesday, January 5, 1915 In Camp, Lark Hill, Salisbury Plains The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cNo parades.\u00a0 All men on fatigues.\u201d\u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0\u201cSalisbury, Eng.,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-day-in-rmr-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}