Until the Canadians developed the trench raid in late 1915, neither side had considered the idea of raiding the other’s lines between major offensives. As the frequency of raids increased, battle planners began to appreciate the intelligence data they received, so the Canadians staged more than 55 trench raids in the Arras area in the four months before the next major battle. Some had only a dozen men and others more than a thousand and were timed to occur over a very specific, short, time period.  The weapons used were the light machine gun and the Mills bomb (hand grenade). Countless prisoners were taken and turned over to Intelligence Officers for interrogation. In addition to gathering information the raids served to keep the Germans in a constant state of unease.

Troops in the front lines used the raids as a form of training for the big battles to come, while troops at the rear built trenches that duplicated actual enemy trenches and used them for practice. Strangely the Germans made very limited use of the trench raid themselves.

McBride:

“The technique is simple. Wait until the enemy is quiet, slip over, bomb ‘em a little, hop into their trench, grab off a few prisoners and any machine guns you happen to see and beat it back home. The sheer audacity of the thing was what carried them through. The German mind could not at once grasp the idea that some dozen or so men would ever dare to invade the sacred precincts of their trenches.

Once we staged a twin bill. Two parties went out, one merely as a feint and the other the real raiding party. The first party made their way through the previously cut wire and heaved bombs into the enemy trench. This resulted in quite a little battle, bringing all the German reserves down to the point of attack. Then the other party rushed up and over another section of the trench and dropped down upon the few and unsuspecting sentries and very quickly escorted them back over the top and to our own lines. With few casualties we thought it was a pretty good night’s work.

Attacking groups must know the characteristics of the area to be invaded and must be composed of men trained and skilled in working in no-man’s-land. The best of all conditions is a cold, driving rain. No metal must show and faces and hands are to be blackened or rubbed with mud. As they cross between lines, they must try to avoid German patrols and freeze when flares are fired. It has to be over quickly.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that trench raiding was a vital and important part of trench-warfare. It provides the best sort of training in the matter of working together, seizing the moment when it arrives, doing not only all that was expected of you, but all that you would like to expect of yourself, and yet being able to retire neatly and in order with the party, conscious of a job well done. The best defence against such raids is to keep alert, give the alarm promptly and then everyone gets out of the dugouts and front trench and goes for the raiders.”

The writer of the 4th CMR War Diary was a man of few words and, other than recording the movements of the Battalion (including Bill) in and out of the lines in January 1917, had little to say. He did note that there were four Lieutenants and twenty Other Ranks brought on strength during the month and three Other Ranks killed and three Other Ranks wounded. They were located about twelve miles southwest of the 21st Battalion, closer to Arras than Lens. The War Diary of the 8th Brigade (of which the 4th CMR was a part) reports that, on one occasion, a daylight patrol of the enemy front line by soldiers from the 4th and 5th CMR found it almost empty. – “Invitations to cross over to our lines were left in dugouts by our patrol.” Plans were made to release gas toward the German lines, with the infantry to follow up in a smoke barrage to see what the effect might be in the enemy trenches.

The 21st Battalion (including Keith) put in a quiet shift early in January, although O.H. Allen was killed while the battalion was in reserve. They were relieved of most duties to train for a big raid in conjunction with the 20th Battalion. The 21st Battalion complement for the raid consisted of two Majors, two Captains, nine Lieutenants, twelve stretcher-bearers and 400 Other Ranks.

Corrigall:

“It was undertaken for the purpose of effecting casualties, securing booty, taking prisoners and destroying all the dugouts in the enemy’s system of trenches. The 21st Battalion and ourselves each had orders to have four hundred officers and men especially trained to take part in the operation. After this every man chosen had to go out on patrol for a short period. From Jan. 3 to 17, we did nothing but prepare for it. Under supervision of the Engineers, an exact reproduction of the enemy trenches was dug in the Brigade training area.”

The raid was to take place in three waves, with the first wave to secure the front line trenches, allowing the second wave to pass through and enter the support trenches and provide cover for their return. The third wave would be for general support of the first two. There were riflemen, rifle grenadiers, bombers, wire-cutters, stretcher-bearers, Lewis gunners, ladder-bearers and sappers with explosives to demolish dugouts and gun emplacements. Some carried one hundred rounds of ammunition, ten bombs and a rifle and bayonet. A few men carried Stokes and smoke bombs and others wire cutters. For a week, light and medium trench mortars attempted to destroy the enemy wire without success, so the job was turned over to the Artillery. Before the raid on January 17, patrols declared the wire sufficiently damaged to allow the raid to proceed and attached ropes to dislodged sections so they could be pulled out of the way at zero hour.
I suppose every soldier had thoughts about his mortality when he set out for a raid or battle.

Maheux:

“I am called dear wife to go over to the German trench tomorrow. One thing I want you (to do) is have the children well educated and kept them from liquor. I know some time I dint do right like drinking but I ask you pardon dear wife and I believe all my faults they are all pardon. One think I know the Government will used you well.”

After a hot meal at 4 AM on January 17, they set out over snow-covered ground and were in place in the forward trenches by 7:15 – ahead of zero hour, which was 7:45 AM. One of their final orders was:

“No effort to remove casualties shall be spared so that the enemy will not secure identification.”

Following our barrage, the 20th Battalion found few men in the German forward trenches and advanced through the communication trenches to the supports in twenty-four minutes. The enemy wire created few obstacles, either in no-man’s-land or between the German front and support trenches. The 18th and 19th created a diversion on the left flank and the engineers exploded a mine, leaving the enemy unsure of where the attack was really coming from. Fleeing troops were mowed down with the Lewis gun and those reluctant to leave their dugouts were blown up inside them. At forty-five minutes after zero hour, flares, amid strengthening enemy artillery fire, signaled the retreat. The accuracy of that fire was minimized by the smoke bombs, which blanketed the area. Within an hour, everyone, including wounded, had returned to our trenches, which were now under heavy bombardment. Corrigall reported that the German forward and communication trenches had been in very poor shape, with cave-ins, flooded dugouts and lots of damage from shell fire. A machine gun and two trench mortar emplacements had been destroyed by artillery fire.

Corrigall:

“We had taken fifty-seven prisoners, including one officer, captured one ‘Fish-tail’ mortar, destroyed thirty-five deep dugouts, two bomb stores, one fish-tail and one trench mortar. Thirty men and two officers of the enemy had been counted dead and more must have been killed in their dugouts.”

Things also went well for the 21st Battalion. At 8:19 AM, Sergeant Maheux reported that operations were proceeding satisfactorily, that the wire was well cut, but that there were a number of casualties in the right company. All objectives were met and the withdrawal was managed in a timely manner. Reports seem to indicate that there were in excess of 100 enemy dead and around sixty prisoners taken. Their tallies of equipment captured, dugouts destroyed and ammunition blown up were similar to those from the 20th. All Canadian troops, including dead and wounded, were back in our trenches by 8:40 AM. The 21st Battalion casualty list showed eleven Other Ranks killed, included A.F. Burton, W. E. Dent, G. Grant, H. Hatcher, W. G. Lee, A. H. H. Martin, M. McEachern, R. Robb, D. Saul, C. G. R. Wallis and C. Welch, and one Officer and sixty-one Other Ranks wounded.

McBride:

“Everything went like clock-work, but, where they had expected only the usual thin line of men in the front trench, they piled right on top of several hundred Germans. They had been just brought up for a raid on our trench, which was scheduled for exactly fifteen minutes later. That’s how we got the 101 prisoners.”

4th Brigade War Diary:

“Forty-six Other Ranks killed- one Officer and 122 Other Ranks wounded.”

21st Battalion Historical Calendar:

“This was recorded as the largest successful raid to this date on the British Front.”

From a letter found on a captured German soldier:

“I hope Canadians are not in a trench opposite you, for they, on the darkest night, jump suddenly into our trenches, causing great consternation and, before cries for help can be answered, disappear into the darkness.”