{"id":10822,"date":"2015-03-14T11:39:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T15:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=10822"},"modified":"2015-03-14T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T15:39:20","slug":"trench-life-described-in-letter-home-in-1915","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/trench-life-described-in-letter-home-in-1915\/","title":{"rendered":"Trench life described in letter home in 1915"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, March 14, 1915<\/i><\/p>\n

In billets, Rue\u00a0du Quesne<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cSame billets as last time out.\u00a0 Weather\u00a0 fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Major<\/a>
Major Paul Hanson marked with red arrow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0Division Occupied Trenches Vacated by Guards Regiments and Welsh Borderers – Sixty Yards to Prussians \u2013 Major Paul R. Hanson Writes of Life at the Front \u2013 Lost Six in One Company in Ten Minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow the Canadian division now at the front replaced some of Britain\u2019s best regiments in the trenches opposite the Prussians is told in a letter which has just been received from Major Paul R. Hanson, of the 3rd<\/sup> Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. (sic)* The division, he says, covers a frontage of two miles.<\/p>\n

Before leaving for the front, Major Hanson was Montreal manager of the Dunlop Rubber Co., and was also treasurer of the Montreal Automobile Trade Association.\u00a0 His letter, which is dated France, Sunday, March 14, follows:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018I have had my fourth tour of duty in the trenches in two different parts of France, and I might say that the Canadian division have been out in the parts of the firing line that was looked after by England\u2019s best regiments.\u00a0 The Grenadier Guards, the Scots Guards, and the Welsh Borderers.\u00a0 In my dug out I relieved Lord Dublie, and it was the trench the Prince of Wales had with his company.<\/p>\n

We cover a frontage of two miles, and go in for four days and four nights, and never take our arms or clothes off.\u00a0 Our rations are brought up at night and cooked in the trenches.\u00a0 We are all the time working, improving and strengthening them, though they have been nearly in the same place for five months.\u00a0 We have to pump and use pails to keep the water down.<\/p>\n

In some places you can sink waist deep in the mud, and they are very low, as if they are high they are shelled down.\u00a0 On our left we are only 60 yards from the Huns and the longest distance is 300 yards, all barbed wire and catch wire in front, which we repair at night, and it\u2019s a ticklish job, I can tell you.\u00a0 They send up a flare, and you drop to the ground, if they see you they turn on the Maxim gun.<\/p>\n

Company Lost Six Men in Ten Minutes<\/strong> \u2013 The Germans have lots of men who worked in England, and can speak good English, and our men call over, \u2018waiter, sausages for two,\u2019 and such calls.\u00a0 It gets them mad, and they open up at us; then we sing Rule Britannia, and the Maple Leaf, etc.<\/p>\n

We attacked on our right flank on Monday, and the Royal Highlanders (regular) captured two trenches.\u00a0 We are near a place that was taken two days ago, and the casualties are awful. I have helped to bandage and give first aid to lots of poor fellows.\u00a0 I lost six in my company in ten minutes.<\/p>\n

Their snipers are wonderful shots.\u00a0 Every man who straightens up gets one through the head sure. I put my own cap above the parapet on a stick, and it wasn\u2019t up two seconds when two bullets went through it.\u00a0 I am glad my hat had not my head in it.<\/p>\n

We are well looked after, but the Canadian troops do not get enough to smoke, and if you could send any of your boy friends who you know, a few packages now and again you could not give them anything that would please them better.<\/p>\n

Our heavy guns are behind us, and fire right over the house I am now in, and if you saw this place \u2013 not a stick of furniture, the Germans cleaned out everything.\u00a0 The men are in a barn with no roof.\u00a0 It has all been shot away, and today the chimney was shot off this house.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Are used to Shell Fire Now<\/strong> \u2013 You know how you walk along the street and hear the honk of a motor car.\u00a0 Well, a 60 pounder has no more effect on a man than that.\u00a0 When we fire or they fire a 13-inch gun, the projectile, which weighs 450 pounds, comes along with a roar, and the boys say, change cars for Dominion Park, or St. James Street.\u00a0 They call them street cars or freights, and say another souvenir for the Germans, and in goes the trench or down comes a house or barn, and we cheer and pop at them as they run.<\/p>\n

We occupied the trenches at first with the regulars to get us used to fire.\u00a0 It was the same regiment who had the Xmas truce.\u00a0 They talk to each other all night, and say \u2018hello, is Carl there?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 The Germans ask for Bill Smith, etc.\u00a0 They know each other well, and then the next moment they are at it again.\u00a0 The Bavarians are not bad.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to fight the English.\u00a0 It\u2019s the Prussians who are the blood-thirsty lot.\u00a0 They are opposite us now.\u00a0 Why the Bavarians wanted the English to shoot in the air, and they would do the same, as most of them have lived in England most of their lives.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0* Note: Major Paul R. Hanson was a company commander with the 14th<\/sup> Battalion at this time.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, March 14, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa,\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089701.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCanadians in Place of Britain\u2019s Best,\u201d The Journal of Commerce<\/em>, Montreal, Quebec, Wednesday, April 7, 1915, pg. 6, col. 5<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, March 14, 1915 In billets, Rue\u00a0du Quesne The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cSame billets as last time out.\u00a0 Weather\u00a0 fine.\u201d\u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0Division Occupied<\/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-10822","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\/10822","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=10822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}