12th Canadian Machine Gun Company War Diary

Report on Operations

24-10-17 to 2-11-17

Narration

On the evening of 24th Oct. No.2 section consisting of Lieut. Bevan & 21 OR proceeded to positions at D16 d22 sustaining casualties – 1 OR killed & 6 OR wounded on the way in. Also spare parts box & some belt boxes were destroyed by shellfire.

At 3am. 25th Oct. sections 3 & 4 under Lieut’s. Stewart & Rutledge respectively with 21 OR each proceeded to positions at D16c 8.2. 2 OR were wounded on the way in. Advanced HQ were established at Levi Cottage. Section 2 carried out harassing fire from 5am to 11am.

Owing to heavy shelling during the next 24 hrs Sections 3 & 4 were moved to positions at D16 d2.3. During this move Lieut. Rutledge was killed. Lieut. Stewart was also badly shaken up but insisted on staying in until after the operation. Lieut. Leach & Fleming went in to replace Lieut. Rutledge (Section 4) & Lieut. Stewart (Section 3) respectively.

Throughout the period rations water & SAS were conveyed by pack train to Zonnebeke station.

Zero hour for Red Line offensive was set for 5.40am 26th when barrage fire was laid down on specified targets. At 4.34pm the S.O.S. was observed & immediately responded to, the machine guns being in action 8 minutes before the artillery opened up. Reports from 10th Brigade H.Q. state that the counter-attack was broken up & situation saved by machine gun barrage.

On the night of 27th Section 1 consisting of 21 men under S.M. Snow went into the line to take up positions as follows:- D16 b2.8 (1 gun), Dab (?) Trench (2 guns), D18 a 2.6 (1 gun). The following morning this section was taken over by Lieut. Hall. Harassing fire was carried on during the night of 27th/28th. At 10pm 27th the 10th (?) affected a stealth advance. One gun of No. 1 section under Cpl. Booth were forward with attacking force. This gun was knocked out.

On 28th Oct. sections went forward to prepare new positions as follows: No 2 section at D17 a 1.2 and nos. 3 & 4 sections at D16 b 82.35. S.O.S. signals were observed & replied to at 8.30pm & 9.45pm

On the morning of the 29th, section 4 moved to positions at Heine House to form a sniping battery under Lieut. Leach with direct fire on Meetcheele Ridge.

Four guns of this company were detailed to go over a consolidation guns with rear line (?) of Blue line attacking force. They were composed as follows: 2 guns of No 1 section under Lieut. Fleming to 78th battalion & 2 guns (one from no 1 section & one from no. 4 section sniping battery) under Lieut. Leach to 85th battalion. The sniping battery now composed of 3 guns was left in charge of L/Cpl. MacMillan. In the barrage guns Lieut. Duncan took charge of No. 3 section, Lieut. Bevan of No 2 section & Lieut. Hall was in charge of details. These barrage guns moved to new positions as above on the night of 29th.

The operation against the blue line objective took place at 5.40am 30th. The consolidation guns of this company reached their objective but shortly afterwards on of Lieut. Fleming guns was knocked out. The G.O.C. 12th Brigade then requested that four more mobile guns be sent forward. These were obtained by taking the 3 guns of the sniping battery & one gun from Lieut. Bevan’s barrage battery. These guns were divided between Lieuts. Leach & Fleming. Lieut. Leach guns were mounted at D12 c 6.5 & Lieut. Flemings at D12 a 5.0

Meanwhile the barrage guns had been spotted by hostile aircraft & a heavy concentration of artillery was brought on the battery positions forcing the barrage guns to withdraw to the old barrage positions. During the next 24 hours the S.O.S. was observed and responded to promptly several times.

On 31st. Oct. Lieut. Leach was ordered to move 2 guns to Decline Copse to protect cap between Canadian & Australian fronts but, later, patrols reconnoitred the ground & found it impassable for counter-attacks & these guns were moved back to their former postitions.

At 3pm 1st Nov. Lieut. Leach’s guns were observed by hostile aircraft which were very active & a heavy concentration of fire was brought on them resulting in 2 guns being knocked out by direct hits. Lieut. Leach was carried out suffering from shell shock & his crews suffered heavy casualties.

On the night of ½ Nov. the remaining 2 guns of Lieut. Leach’s battery were relieved by 2 guns of 1st ANZAC MG Coy & Lieut. Bevans 3 remaining barrage guns were withdrawn from the line. Lieut. Fleming can out of the line with a shrapnel wound in the arm.

The rest of the Company were relieved on the night of 2nd/3rd, Lieut. Flemings guns being relieved by 4th Canadian MG. Coy, & section 3 (barrage) by 6th Canadian MG Coy.

Casualties, 12th CMGC Officer Other ranks
Killed 1 8
Wounded 2 30
Missing   2
Total 3 40

Carriers Other ranks
Killed 2
Wounded 8
Missing 1
  11
Total 3 Off. 51 OR

Ammunition Expenditure  
Barrage fire 39,000 Rds
Direct fire 1,000
S.O.S. 55,000
Harassing fire 33,000
Total 128,000

 Observations & Lessons Learnt

Duties or responsibilities of Group Commander Sub-Group commander & section officers should be clearly defined
Positions of all guns should be camouflaged as much as possible as many casualties were caused by positions being observed by hostile planes
Casualties also caused moving sections to new positions by daylight under observation.
Signal arrangements might have been greatly improved by the use of lamps. Battalions found them invaluable when airplane could not be kept up.
There should be a liaison officer with Brigade. Group Commander should be with guns. The two duties cannot be done by one man.
Rations should be under MG Battalion arrangements with one recognized dump for them. Rations for consolidation guns should be dealt with by Infantry Battalions.
When guns are grouped in batteries it is suggested that the battery by protected from hostile aircraft flying low by machine gun mounted for anti-aircraft work at a distance of several hundred yards from the battery.
Losses & Wastage

7 guns

4 Tripods

3 spare parts boxes All destroyed by shell fire

24 belt boxes

3 mules

4 packsaddles

Signed

Capt. William for 12th Cdn. MG Coy.