Operation Order No. 88

Summer 1918: the move to Amiens

In the spring of 1918 the Canadian Engineers were rebuilt. The old field companies were absorbed into three Engineer Battalions per division, grouped under a Brigade, Canadian Engineers, and the divisional pontoon equipment was concentrated in a single Bridging and Transport Section: the unit Robertson was given that June, the one his mess had started calling “the fleet.”

On 9 July 1918 the 1st Canadian Division was ordered to relieve two British divisions, the 15th and the 56th, in the line near Lens, astride the Scarpe. This order sets out the engineer side of the relief: which British field and tunnelling companies each Canadian Engineer battalion would take over, the divisional boundaries in the new sector, and a code word (“WHITE”) to wire back once the relief was done.

The distribution list on the second page runs to twenty-four copies. Copy 5 went to the “1st Bridging & Transport Section, C.E.” (Robertson’s own command) which is how the order comes to be in his papers. He himself was in Boulogne that day, at the start of the leave he had been chasing since the winter; his section’s own move is Serial 6 on the table’s third page: Gauchin Legal to Louez on the 14th.

Transcription

SECRET.

1st Brigade, Canadian Engineers — Operation Order No. 88.
Map reference: Lens II. Issued at 11 a.m., 9 July 1918.

1. The 1st Canadian Division will relieve the 15th and 56th Divisions in the Line. Relief to be completed by the morning of 14 July 1918.

2. The 1st Brigade, C.E. will relieve: 91st Field Co. R.E.; 73rd, 74th and 513th Field Cos. R.E.; 257th Tunnelling Coy. R.E.; 185th Tunnelling Coy.; New Zealand Tunnelling Coy.

3. Details of the Field Companies and Tunnelling Companies to be relieved by each Battalion C.E. will be forwarded tomorrow, when details of the reliefs will be arranged between the officers commanding concerned.

4. Moves as per attached table will take place.

5. Staff Captain A. & Q. will give units full details as to billeting arrangements, location of headquarters, etc. Units will make their own arrangements for taking over billets.

6. Receipts in triplicate from the Town Majors will be forwarded to this office to the effect that billets are left in a clean and sanitary condition.

7. The 1st Battalion C.E. will be responsible for the work in the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade area; the 2nd Battalion C.E. for the 2nd Infantry Brigade area. The 3rd Battalion C.E. will be in reserve, and will be employed in the back areas.

8. Provisional divisional boundaries in the new area: (a) Southern — Pelves Alley in H.32.a. (inclusive) to H.31.b.10.55, Wilderness Avenue (inclusive) to G.30.d.9.1, thence to G.30.c.8.0, due west to G.29.c.5.0, thence to G.28.c.95.40. (b) Northern — Hudson’s Alley in H.11.a. (exclusive), thence to H.11.c.00.95, H.10.b.00.40, H.9.b.0.3, G.11.a.2.4. (c) Inter-brigade — the right bank of the Scarpe (inclusive to the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade).

9. Completion of reliefs will be notified to this office by wiring the code phrase “WHITE.”

10. Acknowledge. (Engineer units only.)

Signed: Mackenzie, Lieutenant-Colonel, Brigade Major, 1st Brigade C.E.

Distribution — 24 copies: the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions C.E.; the 1st Bridging & Transport Section, C.E. (copy 5); Canadian Corps “G”; C.E. Canadian Corps; C.E. XVII Corps; 1st Canadian Division “G” and “Q”; C.R.E. 15th and 56th Divisions; the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigades; S.S.O. 1st Canadian Division; 1st Canadian Divisional Signals; Supply Officer, 1st Infantry Brigade; C.R.E.; Brigade Major; Staff Captains A. & Q. and S. & T.; War Diary; File.

Attached move and relief table

Serial	Date (July)	Unit	From	To	Notes
1	12th	1st Bn. C.E.	Gauchin Legal	Arras	Clear Gauchin Legal by 10 a.m.; route Chaussée Brunehaut
2	13th	2nd Bn. C.E.	Hermin	Arras	Pass embussing point 10 a.m.; by bus
3	13th	3rd Bn. C.E.	Hermin	“Y” Huts	Clear Hermin by 9 a.m.; route Caucourt, Villers Chatel, Aubigny, Arras–St. Pol road
4	13th/14th	1st Bn. C.E.	Arras	Line	Relieving units of the 15th Division
5	13th/14th	2nd Bn. C.E.	Arras	Line	Relieving the 513th Field Co. R.E. and a tunnelling company
6	14th	1st Bridging Section, C.E.	Gauchin Legal	Louez	Clear Gauchin Legal at 9 a.m.; route Chaussée Brunehaut, Maroeuil
7	14th	H.Q. 1st Brigade C.E.	Villers Chatel	Écoivres	Clear Villers Chatel by 9 a.m.; route Maroeuil

Embussing point at map reference I.G.79.08. Army Routine Order 2135 to be observed.

The diary, 9 July 1918: Robertson in Boulogne, about to go on leave →Administrative Arrangements for the same relief: the “Q” side →“The Admiral and His Fleet”: how he got the Bridging Section →The 1918 reorganization, charted in his 1921 paper →

The original is in the Treherne family collection. “SECRET” is the 1918 security marking; operational records of this kind are held openly at Library and Archives Canada and The National Archives today.