Roads, Bridges and Tracks

Summer 1918: the move to Amiens

This is the engineer plan for the Battle of Amiens, 8 August 1918: the day Ludendorff called “the black day of the German Army.” It divides the work of the 1st Canadian Division's three Engineer Battalions across the ground the attack would cross: roads (fill every shell hole with brick, finish by “Y.Z. night”), water (reconnoitre and clean out every well “in captured territory”), tracks pushed across No Man's Land “with the greatest possible speed,” and three bridges over the Luce (at Aubercourt, Ignaucourt and Caylux) whose 16-foot steel girders “will be hauled forward by tanks,” an officer walking with each tank to guide it to the bridging site.

The sheet is headed, in Robertson's hand, “Bridging Unit,” with his initials: his copy, No. 27, though the printed distribution list on the back runs only to 23 (his unit, formed that June, was not yet on it). His own diary tracks the same days from inside: the long night trek to Boves Wood on 6–7 August, watching “the flood of the barrage” break at zero on the 8th, hauling shovels forward on the 9th, and pulling out for Aubercourt at daylight on the 10th.

Transcription

SECRET. Copy No. 27.
Reference L.C. Demuin, sheet 1/20,000.

Instructions in Connection with Engineering Work to be done.

Work in the Divisional Area will be carried out by Units as under:—

1. (a) ROADS. The 1st Bn. C.E. will be responsible for the repair and maintenance of the Gentelles–Cachy road from T.10.a. to U.8.a., Cachy exclusive. The repair of this road is to be commenced at once. All shell holes will be filled with brick. Brick is obtainable in Gentelles and Cachy. The repair of this road is to be completed on Y.Z. night.
(b) MAIN ROAD. The Valley road from V.25.a.3.5 forward — the work on this road is to be put in hand as soon as possible after the troops have passed over it.

2. The 2nd Battalion, C.E. will be responsible for bridges and water.
(a) BRIDGES. The Aubercourt–Courcelles bridge at V.25.b.8.5. The Ignaucourt bridge at V.27.b.0.8. The Caylux bridge at V.30.c.1.6. The material for the construction of these bridges will be hauled forward by tanks, and will be delivered in the immediate vicinity of the above locations. The 2nd Bn. C.E. will arrange to have an Officer proceed with each tank to guide the tank to the point where the bridge is to be constructed. The above bridges will be 16 ft. steel girders with 2½ in. plank decking.
(b) WATER. The 2nd Bn. C.E. will be responsible for the reconnaissance and cleaning out of all wells in captured territory. A list of wells is attached. The 2nd Bn. C.E. will arrange to build canvas reservoirs for water at selected points to be notified later.

3. The 3rd Bn. C.E. will be responsible for tracks as shown on the attached map, also for cross-roads in the Divisional Area, marked in brown on the attached map.

4. The Tunnelling Company of the 1st Bn. C.E. will be employed on the construction of Divisional Headquarters at T.10.d.5.1., and immediately after ZERO they will proceed to advanced Divisional Headquarters and have this put in order — location to be notified later. The Tunnellers of the 2nd Bn. C.E. will be employed on the reconnaissance and reclaiming of wells. The Tunnellers of the 3rd Battalion, C.E. will be employed on the reconnaissance and reclaiming of dugouts in the captured area.

5. Units will detail definite parties for each job. All arrangements for tools, rendez-vous, and the time when work is to be commenced, are to be carefully worked out. The tracks and roads across No Man's Land are most important, and are to be rushed through with the greatest possible speed. Tracks “C” and “B” from the grid line between squares U.9 and 10, and U.15 and 16, are the principal tracks across No Man's Land.

6. The attached map shows Divisional Boundaries, roads, tracks, cross-roads and bridges.

Issued at 3.30 p.m., 6[?]-8-18.
[signed] J. P. Mackenzie, Lieut.-Col., Brigade Major, 1st Bde., C.E.

Distribution. Copy 1 — 1st Battalion, C.E.; 2 — 2nd; 3 — 3rd; 4 — 1st Canadian Division; 5 — 1st Can. Inf. Bde.; 6 — 2nd; 7 — 3rd; 8 — 1st C.D.A.; 9 — C.C.H.A.; 10 — Chief Engineer; 11 — A.D.M.S.; 12 — A.P.M.; 13 — C.R.E.; 14 — B.M.; 15 — Staff Captain A. & Q.; 16 — Staff Captain S. & T.; 17, 18, 19 — War Diary; 20, 21, 22 — Spare; 23 — File.

“The Battle of Amiens Begins” →The diary, 10 August 1918: “pulled out for Aubercourt at daylight” →Operation Order No. 88: his unit's relief order a month earlier →

The originals are in the Treherne family collection. “SECRET” is the 1918 security marking; operational records of this kind are held openly at Library and Archives Canada today. The issue date reads “6-8-18”: the middle figure is indistinct, and could be a 6; the ground and the tank-hauled bridging place it firmly at the 8 August 1918 attack. It is the hand of Lieutenant-Colonel J. P. Mackenzie, Brigade Major of the 1st Brigade, C.E.: the same post, rank and hand behind the brigade’s other 1918 move orders in this collection, and a warning order from the same fortnight (18 August) carries his reference initials, “JPM,” in the typist’s sign-off block.