Page 1
SECRET administrative instructions, 1st Brigade C.E., 30 July 1918: billets and advance parties
Page 2 · distribution
Page two: transport, supplies, baggage, and the 26-copy distribution list
The order
Operation Order No. 94 itself, 1st Brigade C.E., 30 July 1918: the relief and the code word “KHAKI”
March table
The march table attached to Operation Order No. 94: eight serials, 31 July to 2 August
Click to enlarge
1st Brigade, Canadian Engineers · Operation Order No. 94 · 30 July 1918

The Move to Amiens

Summer 1918: the move to Amiens

In the last days of July 1918 the Canadian Corps was pulled quietly out of the Arras front and moved south. The men were told it was a move to a Training area; it was really the concentration for the Battle of Amiens, and the secrecy was total: the plan the engineers would work to is in Roads, Bridges and Tracks.

This is the administrative half of the 1st Brigade C.E.'s Operation Order No. 94: which village each unit billets in on arrival, the advance billeting parties reporting to Étrun on 31 July, kit cut to a haversack, gas clothing handed to the relieving units. The B & T Section (Robertson's Bridging and Transport unit) is Copy No. 4, ticked on the distribution list. His diary catches the same two days from inside: 29 July, "The CRE came round this morning + told us we were due to shift. – Light & fast."; 30 July, "Went back to Savy for lunch. – Tender came round at 1.30 + ran us down to Auxi."

The tactical order those instructions belonged to is here as well, and it is short. The 1st Canadian Division would be relieved in the line by the 56th and 57th Divisions by daylight on 2 August; every map, plan and air photograph was to be handed to the incoming troops; and the completed relief was to be reported back in a single word: the code word “KHAKI.” The attached march table sets the moves against dates: the B & T Section is Serial 5, Louez to Sars-lez-Bois on 1 August, the billet the administrative instructions had already named. What happened next, the trains at Frévent and the approach march to the wood outside Amiens, is in The Move South.

Transcription
SECRET. 1st Brigade C.E. Copy No. 4.
Administrative Instructions issued in connection with 1st Brigade C.E., Operation Order No. 94. July 30th 1918. Ref. map: Sheet 51B / Sheet 51C, 1/40,000.
1. BILLETS. On arrival in the Training area, units will be billeted as follows:—
1st Brigade Headquarters — Lécauroy.
1st Battalion C.E. — Gouy-en-Ternois.
2nd Battalion C.E. — Penin.
3rd Battalion C.E. — Maizières.
B & T Section C.E. — Sars-lez-Bois.
2. ADVANCE PARTIES. (a) Billetting parties as undermentioned will report to Staff Captain A & Q, 10 a.m. at Étrun, July 31st 1918 — one officer each from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions C.E. and the B & T Section C.E. (b) From Brigade Headquarters these parties will proceed by car, first to Gouy-en-Ternois, Penin, Maizières and Sars-lez-Bois respectively … and arrange billets for their units. (c) The party will then proceed to Hautville and arrange billets for the 3rd Battalion C.E., and thence to Fosseux to billet the 2nd Battalion. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions will be billetted in these towns the night of August 1st/2nd. (d) The billetting officers will remain at Gouy-en-Ternois, Fosseux and Hautville respectively. Officers will bring with them haversacks only.
3. LORRIES. Distribution: 1st Brigade C.E. — 1; 1st Battalion C.E. — 2; 2nd Battalion — 2; 3rd Battalion — 2. Lorries will report to their respective battalions on July 31st 1918 and will remain with the unit until completion of the move.
4. TRANSPORT. On vacation of present lines a clearance certificate will be obtained and forwarded to this office not later than the last D.R. that day. Upon arrival at destination, care will be taken that unbroken fields are not selected as Transport Lines, and that animals are not tied up to trees.
5. SUPPLIES. All units will move with the current day's rations on the man or in the travelling kitchens. Rations for the following day will be carried on the supply wagons of the Divisional Train and delivered to units' wagon lines on arrival in the new area.
6. GAS CLOTHING. Gas clothing in the possession of units in this Brigade will be turned over to the relieving units, receipts forwarded to this office with the least possible delay.
7. BAGGAGE. Weight of officers' kit to be carried will not exceed 50 lbs. in the case of a Commanding Officer, and 35 lbs. for each other officer, as laid down in the Field Service Pocket Book, chapter 7.
[signed] Captain, Staff Captain, 1st Brigade Canadian Engineers.
Distribution. 1 — 1st Battalion C.E.; 2 — 2nd; 3 — 3rd; 4 — B & T Section C.E.; 5 — 1st Division Q; 6 — 1st Cdn. Divl. Signal Coy.; 7 — 1st Cdn. Divl. Train; 8 — S.S.O.; 9 — C.R.E.; 10 — Brigade Major; 11 — Staff Captain A & Q; 12 — Staff Captain S & T; 13–21 — Town Majors (Arras, Léincourt, Hénin, Fosseux, Maizières, Dainville, Penin, Hautville, Gouy-en-Ternois); 22 — File; 23 — Spare; 24–26 — War Diary.
SECRET. 1st Brigade, C.E. — Operation Order No. 94. Copy No. 35.
Reference map: Lens 11, 1/100,000. Issued at 11.55 a.m., July 30th 1918.
1. In accordance with the 1st Canadian Divisional Operation Order No. 267, the 1st Canadian Division will be relieved in the Line by the 56th Division on the Right and the 57th Division on the Left, relief to be complete at daylight August 2nd, 1918.
2. In view of this, moves as per attached table will take place. 3. Details of relief to be arranged between O's.C. concerned. 4. Units will hand over all Maps, Plans, Aeroplane Photos, and information in connection with the work in progress.
5. Units will obtain receipts in duplicate from Area Commandant, Arras, that their billets are left in a clean and sanitary condition. One copy of this certificate will be turned into this office. 6. Completion of the relief will be notified this office by using the code word “KHAKI.” 7. Acknowledge.
[signed] J. P. Mackenzie, Lt.-Col., Brigade Major, 1st Bde., C.E. Distribution: 34 copies, with Copy 35 added in pencil — “1st Bridging & Trans. Section, C.E.” (Copy 4 — 1st Can. Div. “G”; Copy 5 — 1st Can. Div. “Q”; Copies 30/32 — War Diary.)
March table to accompany 1st Brigade, C.E., Operation Order No. 94.
Ser.DateUnitFromToRoute / remarks
131 Jul1st Bn. C.E.LineDainvilleTransport remains in present billets
21 Aug1st Bn. C.E.DainvilleGouy-en-Ternoisvia Warlus, Wanquetin, Hauteville, Avesnes-le-Comte
31 Aug2nd Bn. C.E.LineFosseuxvia Dainville, Warlus, Wanquetin — clear Louez 8 a.m.
41 Aug3rd Bn. C.E.LineHauteville— clear Louez 8.30 a.m.
51 Aug1st B. & T. Section, C.E.LouezSars-lez-Boisvia Hermanville, Izel-les-Hameau, Villers-Sir-Simon, Ambrines
62 Aug2nd Bn. C.E.FosseuxPenin
72 Aug3rd Bn. C.E.HautevilleMaizières
82 Aug1st Bde. C.E.ÉtrunLe Cauroy
"The Coastal Detour": the roundabout rail journey south →“The Move South”: the trains and the approach march that followed →"Roads, Bridges and Tracks": the engineer plan for the attack →Operation Order No. 88: three weeks earlier →

The originals are in the Treherne family collection. "SECRET" is the 1918 marking; records of this kind are held openly at Library and Archives Canada today.