Order No. 95
Operation Order No. 95, 1st Brigade C.E., 2 August 1918: the entraining order
Order No. 96
Operation Order No. 96, 5 August 1918: the transport move to the Bois-de-Boves
Note to Robertson
Pencil note addressed to “Lieut. Robertson”, 5 August 1918: pull out of the station yard and wait
3rd Inf. Bde. order
Operation Order No. 256, 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade, 2 August 1918: Robertson's unit's copy, No. 15
Click to enlarge
1st Brigade, Canadian Engineers · Operation Orders 95 & 96 · 2–5 August 1918

The Move South

Summer 1918: the move to Amiens

The Move to Amiens got the 1st Canadian Division's engineers out of the line and into billets around St-Pol under a training-area cover story. These are the two orders that carried them the rest of the way (Operation Orders 95 and 96, Robertson's own unit's copies) covering the four days from the trains at Frévent to Boves Wood, the wood south-east of Amiens where the attack of 8 August was mounted.

Operation Order No. 95 and its administrative instructions are the entrainment. The division was being shifted from First Army to Fourth Army by strategical train; the B & T Section drew Train 24, out of Frévent at 21.20 on 4 August. The detraining station was issued under sealed orders “not to be opened prior to departure of trains,” and there would be a one-hour halte repas somewhere on the way. Robertson's diary keeps step: entrained at Frévent at 6 p.m. on the 4th, “all on board in an hour,” then “Train pulled out at 9.45 for unknown destination”; halte repas at Noyelles-sur-Mer at 6 a.m. the next morning; detrained at Vieux-Rouen at noon.

Operation Order No. 96, issued the afternoon of 5 August, is the approach march. The brigade's transport was to be pooled under one senior officer and moved to the Bois-de-Boves on the 6th; no movement forward of Molliens-Vidame before dark; everything kept under the trees by day, fires and lights down at night; all units ready to start work in the forward area on the night of the 6th/7th. A typed slip added that Capt. F. J. O'Leary (the transport officer who was meant to guide the route) “has gone forward,” and a pencil note reached Robertson at the station yard: O'Leary “asked me to tell you to pull out of the station yard to the road and wait until he came back with further orders.” It is signed, in a hand that is hard to read, by Major Pepler, his old company commander. The diary has the rest: the 44-kilometre trek to Boves Wood he got the C.R.E.'s leave to break at Vers, the troops brought in on the night of the 6th/7th, and (on the 8th) watching “the flood of the barrage” break at zero.

The fourth document is the odd one in the set: an operation order of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade, not the engineers. It is here because its distribution list runs a copy (No. 15, the one that survives) to the “P.B. & T. Unit, 1st Cdn. Div.” Robertson's small specialist section had been bracketed onto the tail of an infantry brigade group for the move, on the same Train 24 out of Frévent.

Transcription
SECRET. 1st Brigade, C.E. — Operation Order No. 95. Copy No. 4.
Ref. map: Lens 11, 1/100,000. Issued at 6.30 p.m., August 2nd, 1918.
1. The 1st Canadian Division is being transferred from 1st Army to 4th Army by strategical train and will be in G.H.Q. Reserve.
2. The 1st Brigade, C.E. will commence entraining at 14.40 on August 4th, 1918:
UnitTrainDue to leaveEntraining station
1st Bn. C.E.1915.40, 4thPetit Houvin
2nd Bn. C.E.2219.40, 4thPetit Houvin
3rd Bn. C.E.2117.20, 4thFrévent
1st Bde. C.E. H.Q.2421.20, 4thFrévent
1st B. & T. S. C.E.2421.20, 4thFrévent
7. Strict march discipline will be maintained. 100 yds. distance between Companies on the line of march … Water-proof sheets and steel helmets carried on the packs; greatcoats inside the pack (worn only if raining, at the C.O.'s discretion); mess tins inside the pack, or slung underneath if done uniformly throughout the unit.
8. Instructions as to Billeting Areas will be handed to Battalion Commanders on arrival at detraining point by Capt. F. J. O'Leary, M.C. [signed] J. P. Mackenzie, Lieut. Col., Brigade Major, 1st Brigade, C.E.
Administrative Instructions issued with Operation Order No. 95 (ref. A.32-4-18, Copy No. 4): 3. Detraining station — will be communicated to units under sealed orders, and must not be opened, prior to departure of trains. 4. Composition of strategical train — 40 covered cars, 40 men each; 17 flats, 4 axles each; 1 coach, 30 officers. 8. Halte repas — one hour during the journey; hot water for personnel and water for horses available. 10. Supplies — units take with them on the train rations for consumption on August 5th.
SECRET. 1st Brigade, C.E. — Operation Order No. 96. Copy No. 4. Issued at 2.00 p.m., August 5th, 1918.
1. The Transport of the 1st Brigade, C.E. will be Brigaded and move under a Senior Officer, to be detailed later, tomorrow August 6th, to the Bois-de-Boves area. 2. Transport will move in the order — 1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions C.E., 1st B. & T. S., C.E. 3. Route: Camps-en-Amiénois, Molliens-Vidame, Fluy, Clairy, Saveuse, Dury, road junction west of “P” in Pt. Gagny, Sains-en-Amiénois.
4. Strict march discipline … 500 yards between units. 5. No movement is to be allowed east of Molliens-Vidame before dark. 6. The column will move off from Hornoy in sufficient time to arrive at Molliens-Vidame at dark. 7. Halts to feed en route arranged by the Officer in charge of the column. 8. Acknowledge. [signed] J. P. Mackenzie, Lt.-Col., Bde. Major, 1st Brigade, C.E.
“Orders for the move of the 1st Brigade, C.E.” (attached to O.O. 96, 5-8-18; noted by Robertson “Rec. 3.10 P.M.”): “The 1st and 2nd Battalions, C.E., and the 1st B. & T. S., C.E., will embus on the Moufliers–Rambures Road … ready to embus at 8.15 p.m. tonight; the busses will move off at 9.00 p.m. sharp … units will debus at Sains-en-Amiénois … the 2nd Battalion, C.E., and the 1st B. & T. S., C.E., will bivouac in the Bois-de-Boves … transport and personnel must be kept under cover of trees … during the hours of daylight. Fires and lights must be kept down to a minimum at night … All units will be prepared to commence work in the forward area on the night of the 6th/7th August.”
Typed note (attached, 5-8-18): “Capt. F. J. O'Leary, M.C., has gone forward, so that instructions reference the transport route that were to have been given by him are as follows: — The 1st and 2nd Battalions … will march under their own orders … to Hornoy, where they will park for the night. The 3rd Battalion … and the 1st B. & T. S. … route optional, to Hornoy … On arrival at Hornoy all units will report to the C.R.E.'s office for instructions.” [signed] J. P. Mackenzie.
Pencil note (attached, 5/8/18): “Lieut. Robertson — Capt. O'Leary asked me to tell you to pull out of the station yard to the road and wait until he came back with further orders. He will be back shortly.” [signed] Pepler, Major, C.E.
Message form (Army Form C.2121, undated): To 1st Bde. Transport Section — “You will draw rations for consumption 6th from 3rd Bde. Dump at Boves.” From 1st Bde. C.E.
SECRET. 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade — Operation Order No. 256. Copy No. 15.
Ref. map: Lens 11, 1/100,000. Issued at 9.00 p.m., 2nd August, 1918.
1. In pursuance of 1st Canadian Division Operation Order No. 269, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade will continue its move by strategical train … 5. Captain E. O. Reitchel, M.C., 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) will be in charge of entraining of this Brigade Group … 13. Rations for consumption on August 5th will be issued on arrival … to all units except the 1st Brigade C.E., who will take with them on the train rations for consumption on August 5th. [signed] A. D. Wilson, Major, Brigade Major, 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade.
Tables “A” and “B” (embussing and entraining, all from Frévent). Serial 8 in both: “No. 4 Co., 1st C.D. Train; 1 Co., 15th C.I.Bn.; 1 Co., 16th C.I.Bn.; P.B. & T., Cdn., Eng.; Hdqrs., Div. Engineers” — Train 24, Frévent, 21.20, 4 August. Written under Table “A”: “Transportation to entraining point for … P.B. & T. Cdn. Eng. and HQrs. Div. Eng. being arranged by 1st Cdn. Div.”
Attached note (HQ 3rd Cdn. Inf. Bde., 2-8-18): “Please have one O.R., with bicycle, report to Staff Captain ‘Q’, 3rd Cdn. Inf. Bde., at Frévent Station half an hour before the departure of No. 3 Train. These O.R.'s will reconnoitre billets and act as guides for their respective Units.” Addressed to the four battalions, the 3rd C.T.M.B., 3rd Bn. C.E., a machine-gun company, the field ambulance, and the Pontoon Bridging & Transport Section.
“The Move to Amiens”: the billeting order that came first →“Roads, Bridges and Tracks”: the engineer plan for the attack →“The Coastal Detour”: the roundabout rail journey south →The Battle of Amiens begins →

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. The pencil note to Robertson is signed “Major, C.E.” over the surname Pepler (Robertson’s company commander in 1916–17), in a hand that is hard to read.