{"id":11335,"date":"2015-05-27T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=11335"},"modified":"2015-05-27T05:00:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T09:00:07","slug":"bumps-in-the-night-rmr-company-commander-arrested-as-a-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/bumps-in-the-night-rmr-company-commander-arrested-as-a-spy\/","title":{"rendered":""Bumps In The Night" – RMR Company Commander Arrested As A Spy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, May\u00a027, 1915<\/i><\/p>\n

In trenches,\u00a0Festubert<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diary has no entry for this day: \u00a0[1]<\/p>\n

\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0The Battalion history tells us that: \u201cDawn on May 27th<\/sup> revealed that a point, known as K5, was in\u00a0 possession of the enemy, though supposedly in the line held by the 14th<\/sup>.\u00a0 A bombing party occupied and consolidated this point without resistance, further reconnaissance to the left failing to locate a definite enemy line. Knowing, however, that the Germans held a position named L8, a party from the Royal Montreal Regiment advanced along a trench towards this post, the enemy retiring promptly to the north.\u00a0 The accommodating attitude of the Germans was probably explained by the fact that the trench was mined.\u00a0 Fortunately, this was discovered and the wires cut, before the mine could be blown.\u00a0 Two wounded Germans, captured during the advance of the 14th<\/sup> party, were sent back for medical attention.\u00a0 During the operations Lieut. R. Roy and Corp. Langelier accomplished valuable work.<\/p>\n

\u2026During the operations mentioned above the Signal Section of the Royal Montreal Regiment laid telephone lines to the outlying posts and maintained communication between the companies and Battalion H.Q.\u00a0 On one occasion Signallers Hazelgrove and Bickley were detailed to lay a wire to advanced Headquarters by way of a roundabout communication trench.\u00a0 The straight line across the open, though dangerous, seemed more practicable to the pair, who started to lay their line accordingly.\u00a0 Half way across the open they stumbled into a deserted German trench and found a machine gun with some sixty boxes of belted ammunition.\u00a0 Continuing, they brought their line to its destination and established connection with H.Q., just as an abandoned German trench some yards further forward was blown up by mines. This trench was un-garrisoned at the time, though the Germans probably imagined otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0 During this same operation, Signaller Barltrop* and a companion were at work one night in No Man\u2019s Land, when footsteps squelched in the mud a few feet away.\u00a0 Then a figure appeared and the Signallers challenged, \u2018Halt! Who goes there?\u2019\u00a0 A moments silence, then, \u2018British officer,\u2019 came the reply.<\/p>\n

\u2018Name and regiment?\u2019 demanded the Signallers, keeping the halted figure covered.<\/p>\n

\u2018Barltrop is my name,\u2019 came the answer.\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019ll name my regiment when I know more of yours.\u00a0 Who are you anyway?\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Personally,\u2019 replied Signaller Barltrop of the 14th<\/sup>, \u2018I\u2019m your brother.\u2019<\/p>\n

And so it proved; whereupon Lieut. Barltrop explained that he had been sent from the London Regiment on the flank with a message to the 14th<\/sup> Battalion H.Q. and had lost his way, little thinking that it would be pointed out to him by a brother whom he had not seen for years.\u00a0 \u00a0[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

* Note\u201d Signaller (Private) Arthur Herbert Barltrop, #26615, a native of London, England, at this time was just 18 years old. He was promoted to Lance-Corporal in 1916, and in May 1917 he transferred to the 16th<\/sup> Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment, where he was commissioned as a Temp. 2nd<\/sup> Lieutenant.<\/p>\n

\"27<\/a>\u201cThe grim practical joking of fate is illustrated by the adventures of Capt. Hercule Barr\u00e9, a hard bitten French Canadian, who fought well and spoke English imperfectly.\u00a0 He had been ordered to get to his command in haste and on the way (it was dark) met some British officers who promptly declared him a spy.\u00a0 The more he protested the more certain they were that his speech betrayed him.\u00a0 So they had him taken back to the nearest headquarters where he was identified by a brother officer and started off afresh only to be held up a second time by some cyclists, who treated him precisely as the British officers had done.\u00a0 Once again he reached headquarters, once more the officers who had identified him before guaranteed his good faith, and for the third time Capt. Barr\u00e9 set out.\u00a0 This time it was a bullet that stopped him.\u00a0 He dragged himself to the side of the road and waited for help.\u00a0 Someone came at last and he said: \u2018Who is it?\u2019\u00a0 \u2018I Barr\u00e9,\u2019 he cried.\u00a0 \u2018What, you Barr\u00e9? What do you want this time?\u2019\u00a0 It was the officer who had twice identified him within the last hour.\u00a0 \u2018Stretcher bearers,\u2019 said Barr\u00e9.\u00a0 He summoned stretcher bearers and Barr\u00e9 was borne off to tell the tale against himself afterwards.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [i]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"27<\/a>Hercule Barr\u00e9 was born in Montreal in 1879, educated at Mont St. Louis College and the University of Montreal where he graduated with a degree in pharmacy.\u00a0 He joined the 65th<\/sup> Regiment, Carabiniers Mont-Royal, on the outbreak of the First World War and was part of the draft of eight officers and about 250 men of that Regiment to join the newly formed 14th<\/sup> Battalion.\u00a0 Joining as a Captain and a company commander, his enlistment with the 14th<\/sup> is dated September 23, 1914.\u00a0 He received injuries to his hip during the Second Battle of Ypres, and after recovering, returned to Canada on December 10, 1915. Just after sailing from England, his ship, the Hesperian<\/em>, was torpedoed.\u00a0 Lt.-Col. Barr\u00e9 was rescued and ultimately reached Montreal.\u00a0 Once there, he was immediately tasked with recruiting the new 150th<\/sup> Battalion, composed essentially of French speaking Canadians from Montreal and surrounding area.<\/p>\n

\"27<\/a>As commanding officer, he then led that Battalion to England, leaving Canada on September 23, 1916 and arriving October 6th<\/sup>. There the battalion\u00a0 was used as a source of reinforcements and absorbed into the 14th<\/a>, 22nd<\/a>, 24th<\/a>, and 87th<\/a> Battalions, C.E.F., and the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles<\/a>. The unit officially ceased to exist as of February 15, 1918. The 150th (Carabiniers Mont Royal) Battalion, C.E.F. had one Officer Commanding: Lieut-Col. Hercule Barr\u00e9<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 For his services, France awarded Lieut.-Col. Barr\u00e9 the Legion d`Honneur, Croix de Chevalier, in March of 1916.\u00a0 About 1919 he became the Canadian Commercial Attach\u00e9 in Paris and remained at that post until making his escape from Paris before the arrival of the Germans in 1940.\u00a0 He retired from his government post March of 1943.<\/p>\n

Lieut.-Col. Hercule Barr\u00e9 died at Montreal December 30, 1943 and was buried in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal.\u00a0 He was survived by two brothers and a sister – and a nephew who also rose to fame in the RMR during the Second World War: Major Paul Barr\u00e9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, May 27, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089734.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0 R.C. Featherstonhaugh, The Royal Montreal Regiment 14th<\/sup> Battalion C.E.F. 1914-1925<\/em>, Montreal, The Gazette Printing Co., Ltd., 1927, pp. 59-60..<\/pre>\n
[3]\u00a0 Sir Max Aitken, \u201cCapt. Hercule Barr\u00e9, Montreal, Arrested by British as a Spy,\u201d The Montreal Daily Mail<\/em>, Montreal, Quebec, Saturday, May 22, 1915, pg. 1, col. 3<\/pre>\n
[4]\u00a0 Archives of Ontario War Poster Collection<\/a>;\u00a0 Ref. Code: C 233-2-4-0-197,\u00a0 No:\u00a0 I0016177\u00a0http:\/\/www.archives.gov.on.ca\/en\/explore\/online\/posters\/recruitment.aspx<\/a><\/pre>\n
[5] https:\/\/alaviealaguerre.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/affiche-romane-d.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday, May\u00a027, 1915 In trenches,\u00a0Festubert The Battalion War Diary has no entry for this day: \u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0The Battalion history tells us that: \u201cDawn on May 27th<\/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-11335","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\/11335","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=11335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}