On the Fringe of the Great Fight

In Flanders fields the poppies grow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead, short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunsets glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe. To you from failing hands we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies blow In Flanders fields.

JOHN MACCRAE, (Lt.-Col.)

By permission of the author.

CONTENTS

PAGE PREFACE xi

CHAPTER I. ON THE ROAD TO A GREAT ADVENTURE 1

CHAPTER II. ON SALISBURY PLAINS 11

CHAPTER III. EARLY WAR DAYS IN LONDON 32

CHAPTER IV. DAYS WHEN THINGS WENT WRONG 46

CHAPTER V. THE LOST CANADIAN LABORATORY 62

CHAPTER VI. THE DAYS BEFORE YPRES 70

CHAPTER VII. THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES 83

CHAPTER VIII. THE AFTERMATH OF THE GAS 107

CHAPTER IX. THE MEDICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BRITISH ARMY 125

CHAPTER X. KEEPING THE BRITISH SOLDIER FIT 134

CHAPTER XI. LABORATORY WORK IN THE FIELD 152

CHAPTER XII. SKETCHES FROM A LABORATORY WINDOW 169

CHAPTER XIII. PARIS IN WAR TIME 189

CHAPTER XIV. TABLE TALK AT A FLANDERS MESS 211

CHAPTER XV. ON THE BELGIAN BORDER 230

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Colonel George G. Nasmith, C.M.G. Frontispiece

Mechanical Transports in Salisbury Floods 16

Major-General M.S. Mercer, C.B. 64

German Barrage Fire at Night 104

French Soldiers Advancing under Cover of Liquid Fire 176

The Camouflage 208

"Home, Sweet Home"--Mud Terrace 232

British Tanks as Used in the Flanders Offensive 248

PREFACE

On April 22nd, 1915, the writer, in company with Major Rankin, saw the Germans launch their first gas attack near St. Julien upon the section of the line held by the French colonial troops and the first Canadian division.

This book was written primarily for the purpose of recording this as well as some of the other experiences of the first Canadian division as seen from the unusual angle of a scientist, in the course of 18,000 miles of travel in the front line area. It had the secondary object of giving the average reader some insight into what goes on behind the lines, and the means employed to maintain the health and efficiency of the British and Canadian soldiers in the field.

No attempt has been made to deal with the work of the real fighting men on land and in the air; others far better qualified than I are doing that.

If the book has no other merit, it has, at least, that of being literally true.

ON THE FRINGE OF THE GREAT FIGHT

CHAPTER I.

ON THE ROAD TO A GREAT ADVENTURE.

It began with a wish. That takes me back to a pleasant day in early August, 1914, and a verandah at Ravenscrag, Muskoka--a broad, cool, verandah overlooking dancing dark waters. A light breeze stirred the leaves and gently wafted to us the smell of the pines and the woods, mingled with the sweet odours of the scented geranium, verbena, and nicotine in the rock-girt garden. But my mind was far removed from the peacefulness of my immediate surroundings: the newspaper I held in my hand was filled with kaleidoscopic descriptions of the great European tumult. Unconsciously I voiced aloud the thought that was uppermost in my mind: "I would gladly give ten years of my life if I could serve my country in this war." "Do not say that," warned my hostess, looking up from her magazine, "for everything comes to you on a wish," and nothing more was said of the matter at the time.