{"id":11469,"date":"2015-06-23T05:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=11469"},"modified":"2015-06-23T05:00:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T09:00:43","slug":"canadian-infantry-soldiers-load-in-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/canadian-infantry-soldiers-load-in-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"CANADIAN INFANTRY SOLDIER\u2019S LOAD IN BATTLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, June 23, 1915<\/em><\/p>\n

Trenches – Givenchy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote nothing for this day: \u00a0[1]<\/p>\n

\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: During the First World War,\u00a0\u201cThe Canadian infantry soldier carried about 75 pounds, or 35 kilograms, of equipment into battle. This included the following:-<\/p>\n

\"RMR<\/a>Basic Equipment:\u00a0<\/strong>Heavy woolen uniform, tin hat, woolen great coat(in winter), gas mask, water bottle and first aid dressing (bandages to dress a wound).<\/p>\n

Rations:\u00a0<\/strong>Tins of \u2018bully beef\u2019, a type of canned corn beef which had been boiled. Bully beef could be eaten cold and troops in battle often survived on it for days.<\/p>\n

Weapons: \u00a0<\/strong>Lee-Enfield rifle along with several rounds of ammunition and a bayonet that could be fitted on the barrel of the rifle. The infantry soldier carried bombs and grenades of various sorts. A special grenade-launching device, capable of throwing a bomb about 200 feet, could be fitted onto the muzzle of a rifle. (Revolvers were only carried by officers.)\u201d [3]<\/p>\n

Equipment of the British Infantry Soldier:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe equipment list for each soldier [of a British regiment, the 9th York and Lancasters] set out in the orders for the battalion, brings home the challenge that faced these men as the whistles sounded, even before they came under enemy fire:<\/p>\n

\u2018All Officers will be dressed and equipped the same as the men; sticks are not to be carried [this was to prevent the enemy identifying officers and directing snipers to fire on them].<\/p>\n

Fighting order for all ranks:<\/p>\n

(a) Clothing, Arms and Entrenching Tool, as issued.
\n(b) Equipment as issued with the exception of the pack. Haversacks are to be worn on the back, except for Lewis Gunners, Rifle Bombers and carrying parties, who will wear it at the side.
\n(c) Box Respirators and P.H. Helmets [\u2018small box respirator\u2019 or \u2018SBR\u2019 and \u2018phenate hexamine helmet\u2019, type of gas mask].
\n(d) Iron Rations, unexpended portion of the day\u2019s rations, Mess tin and cover.
\n(e) 120 rounds S.A.A. [small-arms ammunition] except Bombers, Signallers, Runners, Lewis Gunners and Rifle Bombers who carry 50 rounds. Carrying Parties, 50 rounds S.A.A.
\n(f) Every man (except bombing sections) two Mills Bombs [hand grenades] one in each top pocket. These bombs will be collected into dumps as soon as the Objective has been gained.
\n(g) Moppers Up and Carrying Parties will not carry flares, nor will carrying parties carry (f).
\n(h) Three sandbags per man for Moppers Up only.
\n(i) Water Bottle, full.
\n(j) Mopping Up parties will carry one \u2018P\u2019 Bomb [phosphorus grenade; i.e. a smoke bomb] in addition to two Mills Bombs.
\n(k) Bombing Sections will carry:-
\n(1) Bayonet Men 6 Mills Bombs.
\n(2) Remainder of Section, 12 Mills Bombs per man.
\n(l) Bombing Sections of Mopping Up Parties will carry 10 Mills Bombs and 1 \u2018P\u2019 Bomb per man.\u2019<\/p>\n

The concession in (b) for Lewis gunners\u2026 was to enable them to carry an extra eight magazines. Since the equipment they would have to take into action would weigh more than 65 pounds (30kg), the extra magazines meant that a gunner\u2019s load would be in excess of 100 pounds (45kg).
\nAny personal \u2018extras\u2019 would also need to be carried.\u201d [4]<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, June 23, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089753.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, PA 867<\/pre>\n
[3]\u00a0 Bill Freeman, Richard Nielsen, \u201cFar From Home \u2013 Canadians In The First World War<\/em>,\u201d Toronto, Ontario, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1999,pg. 101.<\/pre>\n
[4]\u00a0 Bill Lamin, \u201cLetters From The Trenches: <\/em>A Soldier of the Great War,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Michael O'Mara Books, London, 2009, \u00a0Feb 28, 2012 \u2013\u00a0 (Google eBook), \u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/books.google.ca\/books?id=xy3dAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday, June 23, 1915 Trenches – Givenchy The Battalion War Diarist wrote nothing for this day: \u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: During the First World War,\u00a0\u201cThe Canadian infantry soldier<\/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-11469","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\/11469","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=11469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}