On April 14, the Germans started to shell Ypres in earnest. In this picture taken on the 28th we can see that the great Cloth Hall is at the epicentre of the destruction.
But that is the big picture. In the next 2 weeks I will restrict our story to the tiny world of each of the small set of characters in our Montreal Story. For how can any of us comprehend the death of millions? But the loss of a dear friend, contemporary, a young person - that hits home.
On April 20th, my cousin Guy Drummond's good friend and brother in law, Trumbull Warren was in Ypres. Since April 14th the Germans had began a bombardment of the town that was to reduce it to rubble.
You could not safely be out in the open. Many lived in cellars or even as this picture shows in the sewers.
It got so bad by April 17th that orders were given to limit the men "congregating in the street" and officers "not to leave the immediate vicinity of their posts".
This is Guy's good friend "Trum" Warren back in 1914 at Valcartier when all of this was going to be such an adventure.
Trum was in the street in Cloth Square at the wrong time that fateful April and was to become the first of my family and their friends to die. It was a terrible shock to Guy who wrote to his mother Julia, Lady Drummond, on April 22, on the morning that he too was to die.
Dearest Mother,
Of course I came to the war knowing that its bitterest trial would be the loss of my friends or relatives, but I had not expected such a sudden or heavy loss as that of Tim Warren the day before yesterday.
He ends it with these prescient thoughts referring to his sister in law.
Words are no good, are they? Poor little wife. (He refers here to Trum's Wife who is Guy's wife's sister) Indeed and truly it’s much harder for you women at home.
Your affectionate son, Guy
As I read this, I am reminded of how I felt aged 18 when I received news of my roommate at school being killed in a car accident. At that age, it is impossible to reconcile this kind of death and I have never really been able to absorb it. But Guy would never have to get used to this as others did.
And what of Trum's mother? She was described as a "Spartan Mother " in the press.
And who was Trum when he was not a son or a friend or a husband?
The 48th Highlanders were the family regiment. His son would continue the tradition.
He is in the front row seated and is 2nd on the left. This is what is CO thought of him
“I had offered the position to Captain Trumbull Warren, but he declined it, as he was second in command with Major Osborne and he said he wanted "company" experience, how to handle men and to get to know them and learn how the military machine was worked. The real reason he stayed with his company was because he was so devoted to his men. He had formed ties which he did not like to break. Every man in the company thought he was the greatest company officer in the division, and I thought so too.
”
Excerpt From: John Allister Currie. “The Red Watch" / With the First Canadian Division in Flanders.” iBooks.
This is how he died.
“Shortly after luncheon Captain Warren and Lieutenant Macdonald came to the orderly room to ask some questions about the order in which we were to march into the trenches. An officer from each company had gone into these trenches the night before and looked them carefully over. The left section was given to Captain Osborne, the right to Captain McGregor and the centre to Captain MacLaren. The position consisted of seventeen half moon redoubts and they were not at all strong. Captain Alexander's company was to be in reserve with headquarters at St. Julien. As the officers had received orders not to go away from their billeting area, and had to receive permission to do so, both Warren and Macdonald asked me if they could go up to the Cloth Square to buy some comforts to take down into the trenches for the men. I gave my consent, but warned them to be careful and take cover from any shells that came along. About ten minutes later Lieutenant Macdonald arrived back breathless. He asked quite coolly, "Where is Major MacKenzie? Trum's hit with a piece of shell."
I immediately called the major, who was in the next room, and we learned that "Trum," as Captain Warren was affectionately called, had been badly wounded. He and Macdonald were standing in a grocery store at the north side of the square when a "Jack Johnson," as the huge seventeen inch shells fired by the Germans from the Austrian howitzers they have brought up to shell this town are called, fell into a building in the south side just opposite.
The shell wrecked the building into which it fell, killing an officer and seventeen men. A piece about an inch square flew fully two hundred yards across the square, passed through a plate glass window, missed Macdonald by an inch, and struck Warren below the right collar bone piercing his lung. "They have got me in the back, Fred”
Excerpt From: John Allister Currie. “The Red Watch" / With the First Canadian Division in Flanders.” iBooks.
Unlike many who were killed near the Salient this early in the war, his grave survived. Col Currie tried to attend the funeral but was rightly refused permission by General Turner - there was too much going on. But Guy did attend.
“In the morning I tried to arrange to go down to Ypres to the funeral of Captain Warren. Major Osborne wanted to go also and take a firing party with him, but much as he would have liked to acquiesce, General Turner had to refuse, for we were in a dangerous corner and no one could be spared. Lieutenant Drummond, his brother-in-law, was permitted to attend. Captain Duguid, the quartermaster, with the assistance of the engineers, had a metallic coffin made for him and they buried him in the Canadian burial plot.”
Excerpt From: John Allister Currie. “The Red Watch" / With the First Canadian Division in Flanders.” iBooks.
As I said earlier, it is the earlier deaths that hurt the most. Here is how Currie describes how he feels losing his two favourite officers.
“That morning I learned of the death of Captain Darling in London. We had expected that Captain Darling would be convalescent shortly after he went to England, but about a week before news had come that gangrene, the terrible disease that took so many of our wounded, had infected his shoulder, and a number of serious operations had to be performed. Still we had hoped that his splendid physique would pull him through. But it was not to be, and the two comrades that had been the pride of the regiment died within a few hours of each other.
The whole Empire did not possess two kinder or braver men than Captains Darling and Warren. It is only when men go down into the valley of the shadow of death together that they learn to appreciate each other. In the trenches soldiers are true comrades, backbiting, lying and slandering is left to the slackers and "tin soldiers" who stay at home. Both these young men were in the flower of their youth, both left young wives, both were men of means, brought up amidst wealth and refinement. They gave up a good deal to go to the war, and their example and their lives should fix a tradition not only for their fellow officers of "The Red Watch" but also for the whole Canadian Army. They did not hesitate to "take their place in the ranks," and they died like the heroes of Marathon and Salamis.”
Excerpt From: John Allister Currie. “The Red Watch" / With the First Canadian Division in Flanders.” iBooks.
So my dear readers we begin a two week period when over 6,000 Canadians will be killed or wounded out of the 24,000 in France and when over 1,000 passengers will die on the Lusitania.
And what of the 15th?
“The Muster of the 48th Highlanders after Battle of St. Julien—212 out of 1,034”
Excerpt From: John Allister Currie. “The Red Watch" / With the First Canadian Division in Flanders.” iBooks.
They were nearly wiped out.
But out of all this gloom also is hope. For Trum's wife, Marjory is pregnant. Her son, also Trumbull, will grow up and have a most distinguished career and will be General Montgomery's chief personal staff officer and kind of adopted son in WWII. He was conceived on Trum's last leave during Christmas 1914. Here is a lovely obituary that describes this relationship.
