Calgary Herald

April 11, 1917 Vimy

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Word was passed around that the 4th Brigade Machine-Gun Company would relieve us tonight.

In the darkness we stole away over the snow. Fritzie was shelling pretty stiff, but we managed to find a quiet route out by Thelus. Thelus stood out like a spectre against the sky, gaunt, ruined, dead. The shell holes around it were veritable craters.

The damage done in so short a time was almost unbelievab­le. The roadway could hardly be detected for shell holes. Fritzie had a splendid dump here and evidently intended doing a lot of work on his trenches.... The roadway here was over a foot deep in mud. It was a long and weary trek out and we passed about forty stretcher bearers with stretchers for the front line. The men were utterly exhausted.

Our Company’s casualties were twelve, one being Donald Forbes. He was from Greenock, Scotland, and was a great friend of the writer.... His intention upon conclusion of hostilitie­s was to settle down in Scotland and marry a certain girl he was engaged to. Davenport was also killed. When found he was in a reclining position in a shell hole with his head resting on his arm. He was thought to be asleep, but instead he was stone dead with a bullet through his heart. The engagement was the easiest and most successful that I ever was in. The going was arduous and tough, but the opposition was negligible.... Thus ended the storming and capture of part of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian 2nd Division as seen by a participan­t.

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