1st CMMGB: Pte RW Mercer - Letters from the Great War
1st Canadian
Motor Machine Gun Brigade
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Pte. Richard William Mercer
Personal Letters from the Great
War: 1915 - 1919
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Letter 20:
Pte. Richard Mercer to William and Georgina Mercer
- October 29, 1917
York Camp, near Poperinghe, Passchendaele, Belgium
Belgium
Oct 29/17[131]
Dear Father & Mother:-
Received your most welcome letter to-day with money enclosed.
I received a letter from you the other day but have been in the line[132]
since and haven't had time to write you. Tom was killed yesterday
afternoon just before we came out of the line[133].
Some of the boys saw him get it and they say he was hit in the head[134].
I really can't believe it. I don't know what the Tracy's will say.
They will feel it awfully. Walter is still alright. He happened
to find me while in the line[135].
He seemed quite well and cheerful. We little thought that poor Tom
has just got it. I saw Leicester the other night and we had quite
an evening together[136].
Well, I will close for the present. Hoping you are both quite well.
With Love[137]
Rich
Footnotes
[131] The Borden War Diary notes
the weather as " Fine" with cleaning of guns and spare parts in the morning
and bath parade in the afternoon. This letter has probably been written
after Bath Parade when the men would have had a little time before supper.
[132]
On Sunday, 28 October, 1917, the date Pte. Tom Tracy was killed, the Borden
Motor Machine Gun Battery War Diary recorded the following: "YORK CAMP
(near POPERINGHE) BATTLE - PASSCHENDAELE Partly fine. At 10
a.m. an Order was received from the group commander Major J.C. Brittou
to fire on the S.O.S. line D.12.A.4.8 to D.6.Q.4.4. This fire
was maintained throughout the day. (Appendix No 11). Orders
were received to reconnoitre new Battle positions near HAMBURG. An
attempt was made to dig these positions, but this could not be done on
account of Enemy Observation. At 4 p.m. in accordance with Operation
Order #134 from 1st C.M.M.G. Bde., this Battery was relieved by "A" Battery
1st C.M.M.G. Bde. (Appendix No. 12) There was heavy shelling on the
way out, but we suffered no casualties. Total ammunition expended
during the Operation = 138 000 rds."
[133]
Pte. Tom Tracy ( 911023) was killed during the final stage of the Battle
of Passchendaele. The battle had been raging since July 1917.
He was killed on 28 October 1917 and at the end of the Canadian Corp's
"First Phase" which gained between 400- 1,000 yards, cost 2,871 casualties
including 598 dead. He is buried near the spot where he is killed,
however, the gravesite was lost during the ensuing battles and he becomes
another "Unknown Soldier". In just over two weeks of battle more
than 15,000 Canadian soldiers were casualties. The death toll was
over 5,000 with many bodies never recovered. The Canadian Corps was
the military unit that finally captured Passchendaele on 10 November 1917.
The total Allied casualties from Passchendaele are estimated at over 250,000.
Poisonous gas was prevalent throughout the battle.
[134]
Later in a letter written on 24 December 1917 Pte. Richard Mercer provides
an account where he witnessed the death of Pte. Tom Tracy. In this
instance the Borden Battery and the Yukon Battery must have been sited
beside each other and clearly within view.
[135]
Pte. Wylie is with the 46th Battalion (Saskatchewan), 10th Infantry Brigade
of the 4th Canadian Division of the Canadian Corps that was in active combat
at this time. More research on the activities of the 46th Battalion
is required at this time.
[136]
This letter is unusual in that it makes light of the death of a very best
friend with a reference to a party later. One can only assume this
is how one best dealt with all the death and also how one was required
to record it in censored letters that were being mailed home.
[137]
To understand the Passchendaele experience are the comments of a British
gunner on the effects of poison gas in addition to the mud: "Surely
the God of Battles has deserted a spot where only devils can reign.
Think what it means, weeks of it, weeks which are eternities when the days
are terrible but the nights beyond belief. Through it all the horror
of continual shell fire, rain and mud. Gas is one of the most potent components
of this particular inferno. Nights are absolutely without rest, and gas
last night is the crowning limit of horrors. The Battery that occupied
the position before we came was practically wiped out by it, and had to
be relieved at short notice, and the battery that relieved them lost 37
men on the way in." p. 199, The Imperial War Museum Book of the
Western Front, Malcolm Brown (1993), Sidwick and Jackson
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