Canadian Military History
Volume 19 Issue 3 Article 4
2010
“Il a bien merité de la Patrie” The 22nd Battalion and the Memory of Courcelette
Geoff Keelan
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Recommended Citation Geoff Keelan "“Il a bien merité de la Patrie” The 22nd Battalion and the Memory of Courcelette." Canadian Military History 19, 3 (2010)
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. : “Il a bien merité de la Patrie” The 22nd Battalion and the Memory of Courcelette “Il a bien merité de la Patrie” The 22nd Battalion and the Memory of Courcelette
Geoff Keelan
he 22nd Battalion’s assault on the the successes at Courcelette, but that Abstract: This article examines Ttown of Courcelette in September the role of the French Canadian the victory remained an important 1916 was one of the few successes in soldiers of the 22nd Battalion and the “harbinger of greater victories to the prolonged offensive known as reaction to their achievements on the come.”5 For the 22nd Battalion the the Battle of the Somme, 1 July to 18 battlefield (specifically at the battle action became much more than that. November 1916. During this period of Courcelette) as well as tracing The story of the French Canadian the development of the literature British Empire troops suffered 432,000 published by veterans after the war. battalion at Courcelette was one of casualties.1 The British Fourth Army The dominant narrative for French courage and heroism. At 1530 hours, under General Sir Henry Rawlinson Canada’s experience of the First Lieutenant-Colonel T.L. Tremblay, bore the responsibility of leading the World War focuses on the domestic commander of the battalion, received offensive. Rawlinson was an advocate experience of the province and places word that the unit would assault the little emphasis on the actions and of heavy artillery bombardments and German lines at 1800 hours. As the
Canadian War Museum (CWM) 19880309-005 Canadian War experience of its many soldiers on limited objectives, and his conception the Western Front. This work will assault began, two companies, single of the attack conflicted with the offer some balance to that narrative file and 350 yards apart, marched views of breakthrough-obsessed and combat the myth of a monolithic towards the village of Martinpuich Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, experience for French Canadians and the “Candy Trench,” with two during the Great War. commander-in-chief of the British companies following in reserve. The Expeditionary Force. The result forward companies then swung to was what historian Hew Strachan reports of disorganized German the left directly towards the southern described as a “plan for the battle forces, Byng ordered the seizure edge of Courcelette. Shells and that was fatally compromised at the of the village itself.3 The resulting shrapnel rained down upon the tactical level.”2 Canada paid a heavy attack, led by the 22nd Battalion, beleaguered soldiers, who kept the price for that failure. the only French-Canadian front line line moving forward. By the time The Canadian Corps, commanded unit, captured the village and the they had taken the entire village and by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Canadians received widespread established a defensive line north Byng, arrived on 30 August and praise. Field-Marshal Haig wrote of it, they had captured over 300 was set to take part in the upcoming that Courcelette “was a gain more prisoners, a 4.1-inch German gun offensive in mid-September. General considerable than any which had with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, Sir Hubert Gough’s Reserve Army attended our arms in the course several machines guns and a large assigned the Canadians to attack of a single operation since the quantity of German hand grenades. Courcelette to help protect the left commencement of the offensive.”4 Throughout the battle, there were flank of Rawlinson’s Fourth Army. Still, the success of the Canadians on many instances of individual courage Leading was Major-General Sir the Somme would be brief. Despite and initiative. Lieutenant Charles Richard Turner’s 2nd Canadian heavy losses they failed to take Greffard, knocked unconscious for Division, whose objectives were to Regina Trench, and left the theatre on two hours by a shell, refused to stay seize German-held territory to a 10 October. David Campbell argues at the dressing station and continued depth that varied from 400 to 1000 that this setback and the “overall the attack until he was wounded yards. After initial success during the dismal reputation that the Somme in the shoulder. With that wound morning of 15 September, and amidst campaign gained” overshadowed dressed, he returned to the battle
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CHARGE VICTORIEUSE DU 22IEME BATAILLON (CANADIENS-FRANCAIS) LIEUT-COL. T.L. TREMBLAY, COMMANDANT by E.P. Gartlan
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until he was wounded a second time, against the distant European war. and then reluctantly left the fight. As a result, recruitment from Quebec Captain René Lefèbvre was shot was lower than from English Canada. through the chest but continued to Increasingly, supporters of the war wave his men forward as he died attacked Henri Bourassa, defacto from his wounds. Lieutenant-Colonel leader of the Quebec nationalistes, Tremblay was also in the village as the heart of this provincial revolt. itself and was buried three times by As 1915 wore on his vitriolic words CWM 19930012-220 shellfire but continued to spur his raised the ire of his English-speaking men forward. He reportedly did not countrymen and helped to reinforce sleep for three days and two nights an image of Quebec as an anti-war as he held the battalion headquarters province.10 Despite efforts such as the in the centre of Courcelette. All Bonne Entente movement in 1916,11 told, the battalion would repel 13 Quebec felt isolated and persecuted German counterattacks at great loss by the refusal of Ontario, the largest to themselves and the enemy. 6 predominantly English-speaking For the “Vandoos,” Courcelette province, to recognize the right of was their first bloodletting and their Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas-Louis French Canadians to be educated in first true experience of the harsh Tremblay, commander of the 22nd their own language while demanding reality of attritional warfare. Of the 22 Battalion at the Battle of Courcelette. that they voluntarily fight in a war officers who entered the battle, seven that they saw as utterly remote from were killed and eight wounded.7 their interests.12 The only support Everything after would be compared upon a carefully constructed story from French Canadians came from to Courcelette and it would be of oppression and victimization. It “anglicized” French Canadians such one of the battalion’s most revered requires French Canadians to forget as Sir Wilfrid Laurier or Talbot Mercer battles. Sergeant Claudius Corneloup the other historical memory of the Papineau. As it became increasingly wrote of the “marges impérissables First World War, the participation clear that the war would not end de Courcelette. Le 22ième d’alors and achievements of soldiers from soon and that more soldiers were marchait vers l’immortalité.”8 “Si Quebec’s French-speaking majority. required, English Canadians argued l’enfer est aussi abominable que In this light, the record of the 22nd that conscription would create an ce que j’ai vu [à Courcelette], je ne Battalion, the “Vandoos,” came equality of sacrifice and participation souhaiterais pas à mon pire ennemi to represent the valour, honour among all. After the election of d’y aller,” was how Lieutenant- and sacrifice of French speaking the Union government in 1917, Colonel Tremblay encapsulated soldiers in their service to Canada conscription was ruthlessly enforced; the experience.9 Glory and tragedy and Catholicism. Though this has and, as the war came to a close, the were irrevocably intertwined at been largely forgotten by historians, Francoeur motion and the Easter Courcelette. It was the battalion’s and French Canadians themselves, riots of 1918 in Quebec demonstrated first major victory and its first great literature published by veterans the depth of betrayal felt by French graveyard. Veterans would reflect on after the battalion returned home Canada.13 Afterwards, Quebec began the battle for decades after the war, suggests that Quebec commemorated to reject the partnership between two in articles, books and at reunions. the soldiers of the 22nd Battalion as languages and cultures resulting in Although the 22nd Battalion would heroes of a victorious conflict. the rise of a more defensive French go on to fight in many more battles That perspective has long since Canadian nationalism. in the First World War, Courcelette been overtaken by the dominant Jonathan Vance’s book Death epitomized their memory of why memory of French Canada’s Great So Noble is the major work on the they fought. The bravery of the troops War, which magnifies the impact of Canadian memory of the Great War. and the success won by their sacrifice certain events to the exclusion of all He argues that this memory was a proved the commitment and capacity other aspects of that experience. That legacy of the late 19th century. It was, of French Canadians and Quebec. narrative opens with British Canada he suggests, the Victorian conceptions entering the war in a rush of imperial of sacrifice, renewal and redemption * * * * * patriotic enthusiasm. In the months that formed the nucleus of English- he Quebecois memory of the after August 1914, popular sentiment speaking Canada’s war memory in TFirst World War in the late 20th in Quebec, feeding off the words the 1920s and 1930s. These ideals were and early 21st centuries is built of Henri Bourassa, began to turn closely associated with the society’s
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deeply embedded English Canadian represented. While the large majority Protestantism. A parallel argument of French Canadians saw the First can be made for French Canadians World War as a conflict that had little who according to Vance were to do with Catholic civilization (Rome unwilling to “concur [with English was after all resolutely neutral and Canada] in the proper combination sought peace not victory), a minority of remembering and forgetting.”14 drew upon the old values to justify In effect, English Canadians chose participation in a war for France and CWM 19910109-906 to forget the dissidents and those their Catholic faith. who opposed to the war, while Nowhere is this clearer than in Quebecois chose to forget those who the record of the 22nd Battalion. Their supported it.15 The memory of the exemplary war record challenged the French Canadians who supported myth of French Canada’s anti-war and fought in the war developed stance and lack of fighting spirit. from an entrenched conception of They did not fight for Empire. They, their history and purpose as a people like English Canadians, fought for deeply rooted in their cherished a range of reasons: for money, for language and religion. Just as English Lieutenant Jean Brillant of the 22nd honour, for faith. The regimental Canada’s Protestant faith formed Battalion was awarded a posthumous motto, je me souviens, which became the foundation of their collective Victoria Cross for his gallant actions the provincial motto, reflected the remembrance, French Canadian during the Battle of Amiens, August policy of survivance and the need to Catholicism shaped memory in 1918. remember the traditions and beliefs Quebec. that made French Canada special. By This theme is discussed by More recently historian Arthur war’s end, the 22nd Battalion boasted Elizabeth Armstrong, whose book Silver has further explored this idea. two recipients of the Victoria Cross, The Crisis of Quebec 1914-18 was He argued that French Canadians Joseph Kaeble and Jean Brillant, the published in 1937, early enough not not only built their identity on only French Canadian general on to be entirely grounded in the anti- religion, but as a society demanded the Western Front, Thomas-Louis war narrative of French Canada that the defence of Catholicism at Tremblay, as well as numerous battle would become more fully developed home and abroad. Thus French honours. starting in the 1940s. Central to her Canadians joined the Papal Zouaves It is important to remember argument was the paramount role to defend the Papacy from the Italian that the 22nd Battalion fought the of the Church in French Canadian Revolution, supported the Catholic iconic battle of Courcelette against society. After the conquest of 1759 regime of Maximillian in Mexico, the backdrop of growing tension at and the withdrawal of France from and advocated military action against home. The Bonne Entente movement the New World, it was the Catholic the killers of Christians in China sought to muster support for the war Church which replaced the state during the Boxer Rebellion.17 Upon in Quebec by countering the influence as the institutional authority in the return of Zouaves to Quebec, the of Bourassa, but, as Desmond the colony. The church’s policy of Revue Canadienne asked “why may Morton has written, “withered into “survivance” preserved Quebec’s we not believe that [French] Canada resentment and anger” remembered religion, culture and language as the will play the same role in North only as a “symbol of futile good sole bastion of French Catholicism America that France has played in will.”19 To be fair, it was a hard in North America. Thus, with the Europe?”18 The Catholic identity battle against the oratorical talents of increasing secularism of France after fashioned in Quebec in the latter half Bourassa, a former Liberal member the Revolution, the Church in Quebec of the nineteenth century had some of parliament and editor of the most anxiously constructed the educational similarities to that of British high prominent paper opposed to the system of the province to instil the imperialism in the Victorian era. Just war, Le Devoir. At the height of his importance of religion in every as the English had the obligation to powers in 1916, Bourassa’s reply to French Canadian. This internalization defend their version of civilization Talbot Papineau’s impassioned call and linking of religion with identity, and its tenets, French Canada had to for French Canadian participation Armstrong argued, formed the defend Catholicism and its ideas. This was crushing. Papineau, American- genesis of the French Canadian would ensure the survivance in the raised but determined to be French nationalism which developed before New World of their religion-based Canadian, wrote an eloquent letter and during the First World War.16 culture and of all of the values it in English to Bourassa that was
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published in the Canadian and war, at the expense of detailed British press. Great-grandson of accounts of the Canadian forces. the famed rebel leader, Louis- During the fall of 1916 many of Joseph Papineau, he believed the front page headlines focused himself intimately connected on the campaign in the Balkans, to his ancestral home. He wrote with news from Bulgaria, to Bourassa who was also a Romania and Greece and the great-grandson of Papineau, fate of the Germans there. declaring, “as I write, French and Likewise, editorials tended to English-Canadians are fighting address international events, and dying side by side” and and less often commented on asked if “their sacrifice [would] Canadian developments. On 18 go for nothing or [would] it September 1916, two columns of not cement a foundation for text stretching the length of the a true Canadian nation…”?20 C 9092 Canada (LAC) Library and Archives broadsheet covered the battles Bourassa spurned the efforts to of Thiepval and Courcelette, rally Quebecois to enlist: “All but also news from the French the nations of Europe are the forces to the south, and from victims of their own mistakes, the Balkan front. In the account of the complacent servility with of Courcelette, the Canadians which they submitted to the featured in only two lines: dominance of all Imperialists “All the nations of Europe are the victims of their own “in reaching this advanced and traders in human flesh.”21 In mistakes, of the complacent servility with which they line, our Canadian lads had a this correspondence, the super submitted to the dominance of all Imperialists and great and glorious share. They nationalist, Bourassa, did battle traders in human flesh.” – Henri Bourassa have added to the honours with the anglicized patriot, of Ypres, and duplicated the Talbot Papineau; these were the Star, La Presse, La Patrie, Le Devoir, gallant Anzac deeds at Pozières.”26 polarities of the discourse about the and L’Action Catholique, represent a There was no particular focus on the war within Quebec mid-way through few of the many papers published French Canadian soldiers, much the the conflict, and the advantage clearly in the province but their readership same as in any paper in Ontario or was with Bourassa. included a large portion of the urban across English Canada. O n e writer in L e D e v o i r population.24 All except the Montreal In the following days, the Star highlighted a fundamental difference Star were French-language papers,25 did make some mention of the 22nd that undermined every attempt to Certainly two of these papers Battalion, but only briefly in the bring Quebec more fully into the war offered distinct views of the battle context of more general coverage. effort: “When an English Canadian that stood out from the others: On 19 September, for example, the pronounces the word patriotism, he Bourassa’s Le Devoir and the Montreal paper described the “Canadians wishes to say love of Empire, while Star. The Star, the most prominent [storming] Courcelette” as coming the French-speaking Canadian, English paper in Quebec, clearly “from Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, with the same word, thinks only of reflected the outlook of Montreal’s and Vancouver” as well as “others Canada.”22 Here was the essential gap English population. Hugh Graham, who, on the soil of France, hailed between English Quebec and French its editor, would become Lord one another in the French tongue of Quebec. Prime Minister Borden’s Atholstan in 1917, and, as his peerage Quebec.”27 In one rare direct remark, declaration at the beginning of that suggests, he was as intense in his a headline in the 23 September edition year, 1916, that Canada would raise support of Canada’s participation proclaimed that “AFTER SOMME 500,000 men and the low recruitment in the British Empire war effort as FIGHT FRENCH CANADIANS numbers which followed signalled to Bourassa was in his opposition. In CLASSED WITH BEST.”28 Then the many the coming conscription crisis. the casualty lists the Star published 22nd Battalion was not mentioned by Yet the representation of the 22nd each day, there was no mention of name in the weeks after Courcelette. Battalion’s victory at Courcelette the particular units to which the The paper presented the battle as one in the press gives a much more killed and injured belonged, and thus more Allied thrust towards victory complex picture of opinion in no special emphasis on the French and the end of the war. Quebec.23 The newspapers selected Canadian battalion. Indeed, the paper Several items criticized the French for the present study, the Montreal featured general coverage of the Canadians of Montreal for their lack
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of support for the war effort. La Patrie delivered a stirring Sergeant J. Murphy’s letter to commentary: the editor on 15 September asked why men attended Si le sort du soldat que la patrie recruitment meetings but did appelle sous les armes, pour faire not join the forces.29 Another face à l’ennemi envahisseur et article reported a sermon by a qui succombe en pleine gloire, en Protestant minister in the army accomplissant son devoir sacré, on the necessity of conscription est digne d’éloges et d’envie, CWM 19920044-425 to maintain the war effort: quelle admiration enthousiaste “true Nationalists are those doit soulever l’action de ceux who strive to maintain the qui volontairement volent au Dominion of Canada by secours de leur patrie menacé et maintaining the Empire. Any offrent généreusement leur vie other nationalism is a dream pour elle.34 and fatuity.”30 Le Devoir, like the Star, These phrases evoke the offered little comment on same ideas and sentiments the soldiers of the bataillon that Armstrong and Silver canadien-français who battled posit to be the basis of French for Courcelette, but for nearly Canadian nationalism and opposite reasons. In the days their reaction to the war. The following the engagement, French Canadian soldier was the paper passed on vague called forth by his homeland to reports from London of the accomplish his sacred duty. It Canadians’ victory, and none was a voluntary duty not only on the reception of the news to his native soil and to the at home. The articles that did home of his ancestors, but to his speak well of the Canadians God as well. The importance were those sent out by the attached to the voluntary press agencies; for example, nature of their service denotes on 21 September the same the difference between 1916 article appeared in both Le and 1917. Conscription may Devoir and L’Action Catholique: have been on the horizon but “Les Canadiens sont couverts its possibility was no secret. A d’une grande gloire.”31 The Quebecois paper stressing the paper’s own editorial content triumph and heroism of those “As I write, French and English-Canadians are fighting continued to focus on the and dying side by side…[would] their sacrifice go for who fought for Canada of their negative costs the war inflicted nothing or [would] it not cement a foundation for a true own accord would become a upon the nation. A day before Canadian nation…”? – Talbot Papineau rare thing soon enough. the battle, Bourassa published L’Action Catholique, the an article entitled “La Réorganisation largest newspaper in Montreal, on official newspaper of the Catholic de L’Empire” in which he claimed 23 September: “Le Grand Courage Church in Quebec, described the that Canadians were “les complices et L’Initiative de nos Canadiens soldiers of the 22nd as “hommes aveugles de l’impérialisme” and Français.”33 On 28 September the que vous voyez travailler sur leur they were now paying for their paper reported in detail a memorial ferme, dans la province de Québec, “complaisances passées” in blood.32 to the “héros de Courcelette” that ou dans les fabriques de la Nouvelle- In sharp contrast to Le Devoir, the was held in the armoury of the Angleterre.”35 This attitude is not other French language newspapers 65th Regiment, honouring the surprising. Quebec’s Catholic Church portrayed the war in terms of religious soldiers from that militia unit that supported the war from the outset. duty, bravery and sacrifice, and had gone overseas to serve in the Through the L’Action Catholique closely followed the feats of French 22nd Battalion and fallen taking the the Church urged its followers to Canada’s own soldiers. Typical was village. Presiding was Curé Belanger, support a just war against the evils the headline of La Patrie, the second who offered a prayer for their souls. of Germany. This was not a view
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necessarily held by all the priests of appear on the front page, while assembly of the Young Conservatives, small town Quebec, but it dominated lower ranks appeared in back pages. the minister repeated many familiar the speeches and memoranda of many The paper mentioned Courcelette patriotic themes. The newspaper was of its bishops.36 In the aftermath of almost daily. The battle proved that also more than willing to respond to Courcelette, L’Action Catholique wrote “les volontaires canadiens…ont any charges concerning the adequacy of the “éloges des Canadien-français” prouvé au monde qu’ils savent aussi of Quebec’s contribution to the and their success in Europe.37 bien attaquer que se défendre.”39 war effort. It argued against claims La Presse was one of the “Les Canadiens-Français Brillent au from the Toronto Globe that Quebec battalion’s most ardent supporters Front” was the title of an editorial on recruitment numbers were not on par having championed the push for 22 September. The bravery of Quebec with those of the English provinces. the formation of a French Canadian soldiers, argued its editors, flew in the If, they argued, one examined the unit during the first weeks of the face of certain groups that believed number of French Canadian recruits on the basis of percentage of the population, the difference between them was only 1.25 percent.42 The French-language newspaper coverage from the time of the Courcelette action shows two quite different conceptions of the war. If the number of readers reflected the
CWM 19930012-223 views of the population, then La Presse and its pro-war message was the most influential. However, for the majority of Canadians outside the province, it was Bourassa’s stance that resonated most strongly. Both streams of thought, pro- and anti- war, would evolve in 1917 and 1918, but both streams were still clearly evident at the war’s end. Bourassa and those who resisted conscription may have been louder, but they could not silence those who supported the war. Moreover, the veterans returned Officers of the 22nd Canadian Infantry Battalion watering a horse, June 1918. to Canada to tell their story. The body of literature produced war. Jean-Pierre Gagnon’s seminal only they were patriots.40 One of the by French Canadian soldiers work, Le 22e bataillon (canadien- central points of the newspaper’s demonstrated that they had unique français) 1914-1919: étude socio- coverage was that the soldiers were ideas about the meaning of their militaire, describes the enthusiasm French speakers from Quebec. The service to their nation and Quebec. and successful fundraisingthat paper was just as patriotic as any Though forgotten after the Second contributed to its creation. Even found in English Canada, a fact that World War, the voice of the 22nd before the battalion’s establishment, it constantly sought to emphasize. Battalion’s veterans was a strong readers of La Presse’s celebration of The daily reminders of French one in Quebec society in the inter- French Canada’s military spirit and Canadian contributions to the war war years. (In 1922 a Quebec man prowess could already imagine their effort were a clear reply to those who dynamited a war memorial in Saint- future exploits.38 By the autumn of decried Quebec’s lack of commitment Hilaire because it was not inscribed 1916, this passion had not abated. to the great struggle underway on the with the names of those soldiers who Of all the newspapers of Quebec, battlefields of France. “La Province had given their lives to defend the it was the soldiers’ most stalwart de Quebec est loyale,” stated a province.43) Like millions of other supporter. In the weeks that followed headline on 18 September for an combatants, French Canadians who the battle, La Presse printed the article reporting a speech from the returned, their loved ones, and the names, pictures and homes of those minister of inland revenue, Esioff- loved ones of the many who did not who had died. Officers would often Léon Patenaude.41 Speaking at an return, lived with the memory of
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the sacrifice long after the armistice dit qu’elle a fait appel en vain aux During training, he often visited a of 1918. They, like combatants and descendants de ceux qui apportèrent Catholic church near to his camp. their families and friends in the rest il y a trois cents ans son nom, sa Every Sunday he attended mass with of Canada and other countries, had langue et sa religion sur les rives de his comrades, a ritual that would to find meaning for their grief. The la Nouvelle France.47 continue throughout his service. He writings of the former soldiers of the asked God “d’avoir pitié de moi, et 22nd Battalion reveal the same themes This call to arms, rooted in the de me donner le courage de supporter evident in contemporary coverage history of New France and the vaillamment toutes mes épreuves.”51 by French Canadian newspapers sacredness of the homeland along the Lapointe did not always have such that supported the war effort. The shores of the St. Lawrence, expressed an easy relationship with his faith. veterans, by their own account, sentiments no different from those As the war dragged on and he had fought for their religion, their who fought for the British Empire repeatedly entered into the damning province and their comrades. and the civilization it represented. experience of combat, it was not One of the first works on the For French Canadians no less than nearly as comforting. He awoke to 22nd Battalion published after the English Canadians, conceptions church bells on Christmas Day 1917 war was J.A. Holland’s Les Poilus of God and ancestral duty gave a with his heart filled with bitterness. Canadiens, which is as close as the unit purpose for those who fought and When, he wondered, would those got to an official history.44 A speech those who grieved. bells ring for peace? Lapointe and his given by the Bishop Camille Roy on The “souvenirs et impressions” by comrades, depressed that Christmas the second anniversary of the battle Arthur Lapointe, first published in had dawned on them in such a of Courcelette in 1918 introduced 1919, reached a fourth edition in 1944, horrible place, opened Christmas the short account. Roy reminded convincing evidence of its continuing gifts from strangers with a heavy his listeners that the soldiers “lutter popularity.48 Lapointe enlisted in the air, as if consoling themselves over pour la justice, lutter pour le droit 69th (Reserve) Battalion and then “l’absence de leur mère.”52 The des gens et pour le droit de Dieu, joined the 22nd in May 1917. In a small act of opening the package ce fut notre tâche historique, et prefatory note Lapointe explained filled with common objects that had c’est notre gloire, qui fut parfois that the book was his wartime been missing for so long, a razor, douloureuse.”45 Unmistakable is journal. He observed that despite cigarettes, chocolate, socks, raised the bond between the fighting in the horrible nightmares of the war Lapointe’s spirits. When night fell, France and fighting for God. The he now endured, “j’ai la consolation he entered a church and prayed at bishop commemorated Courcelette d’avoir été utile à mon pays, et d’avoir the cradle of baby Jesus, asking God as a victory for the province and its payé ma dette de reconnaissance à la to put “un peu de baume sur [son] religious duty. That duty grew out vielle France.”49 The journal made coeur meurtri.”53 With a considerably of the Church’s defence of French it clear that Lapointe knew why he calmer soul, he wrote, he returned language and culture on an English would fight, even before entering to the military camp to sleep. These continent: survivance. The main text of combat: a sense of duty to Quebec’s were not the words of a man whose the book continued in much the same original mother country featured faith was superficial or in doubt. His vein. The battle of Courcelette was a throughout his entries. Upon his Catholicism was the foundation for victory for the “l’élan impétueux des arrival in France, he was ecstatic. his ability to endure the atrocities of Canadiens français, qui balayèrent “Vers une nouvelle destinée” was the war and continue to fight. For some tout devant eux et brisèrent comme title of the entry for 5 May 1917, the soldiers of the 22nd their faith was un fétu la résistsance d’un ennemi day of his arrival on the continent. all that kept them sane, allowing numériqument supérieur.”46 There As he and his fellow soldiers walked them to hold their fire when Germans was no mention of discontent, or towards the battlefields, French surrendered instead of giving in to disciplinary problems, or negative children ran beside them crying, the urge for revenge.54 They did not sentiments towards the army, country “Vive les Canadiens!,” and grinned even fully reflect Quebec’s Catholic or Empire. The book described the as the soldiers replied in kind, “Vive survivance; his journals had no major battles of the battalion and la France!”50 For young Lapointe, commentary on post-revolutionary concluded with a passage echoing the the war meant defending a land that France and its anti-religious policies. sentiments expressed by Bishop Roy: since childhood he had wished to Lapointe simply believed in a God see. He felt as strongly connected to that aided him and a France that had La France saigne encore pour la France as he did to Canada. called to him. cause de l’humanité. Elle a besoin The journal was also infused with Perhaps the most absorbing de secours, et il ne faut pas qu’il soit Lapointe’s profound Catholic faith. of the three books published by
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22nd Battalion veterans in 1919 as religious as his fellow combatants The title of the book, L’Épopée was L’Épopée du Vingt-Deuxième by were. Major J.A. Filiatrault of the du Vingt-Deuxième, symbolized the Sergeant Claudius Corneloup. He 22nd noted “the great influence of ultimate purpose of Corneloup’s was an Alsatian who had fought with the clergy…The curé [is] not only the work. The heroism of the soldiers the French Foreign Legion in Tunisia, spiritual guide of the flock but also was inherent in the “epic” tale. The joined the 22nd Battalion in 1915 and their counselor paid attention to in soldiers, as actors in these dramatic survived all its major engagements. all difficulties. It is with this spirit events, became larger than life. At “Les soldats ne voient rien,” he wrote, that our young soldiers arrive…”58 the end of the Courcelette battle, as “[aveuglés], ils continuaient leur Corneloup’s foreign birth and the battalion’s relief arrived, they procession funèbre dans ce labyrinthe experience separated him from this asked, “comment-avez-vous fait pour où, à chaque pas, ils heurtaient une integral part of the character of attaquer avec si peu de monde?” Their forme écrasée qui avait été enfantée the 22nd, which was 95.5 percent answer was that “nous l’ignorions par une mère.”55 This haunting Catholic.59 nous-mêmes.”63 Much as Corneloup sentence is a microcosm of the For Corneloup, there was another understood of the unit’s will to entire work. The soldiers blinded central aspect of the unit’s character combat, he still found it hard to grasp. themselves to their humanity, and that sustained it’s fighting power At times, he was almost at a loss for thus willingly committed the worst in the seemingly endless, grinding words that adequately described of acts by taking others’ lives. He battles of the Western front. The what occurred. His record of the did not indict the soldiers; rather he battalion possessed a sort of tenacity 22nd Battalion’s war was an attempt implied that their ability to press on that deeply impressed the veteran to come to grips with the horrors and by blocking out normal emotions soldier. One of the bloodiest and share more than a simple narrative was what made them heroic. This most memorable battles of the war of the battle. Corneloup and the intense imagery made the soldier’s for Corneloup was the battle of others who survived the bloodletting experience of the war seem almost Courcelette and it was clear to him at Courcelette and the other great mythical in nature. “Tous ces noms that success was rooted in the great battles of the war could not believe illustrés et inconnus sombrés en plein spirit of the 22nd Battalion. their friends had died for no greater champ de victoire doivent être gravés purpose than a strip of mud. en lettres d’or sur un monument La résistance ennemie fut désespérée; In the fall of 1920, a few weeks national,” the book declared in its la ténacité des nôtres fut sublime. after the battle’s fourth anniversary, final paragraph.56 In the end, he said, Le 22ième peut dire qu’il lutta un La Canadienne Revue published an it was worth it. He believed that the contre douze. Les combats corps à account of the battle by Lieutenant- burden of having survived when so corps, à la baïonnette, au poignard, Colonel Joseph Chaballe. He fought many others did not had earned the à coups de rotin, s’amplifièrent. with the regiment for the entirety veterans a place in history. The men Le sang coulait dans les rues. Nos of the war and his honest account of the Vandoos had suffered intensely soldats s’interpellaient en français, underscored the extraordinary on the battlefields of France and se battaient à la française, c’est-à-dire nature of their time in Europe. The Corneloup’s work endeavoured to d’un mordant irrésistible.60 Revue’s introduction to “Courcelette: capture their sacrifice for the people Glorieux fait d’armes du 22ème Régiment of Quebec. Between 15 and 18 September Canadien-Français” noted that “one Religion was not as dominant 1916 the battalion suffered 207 men factor [stood] out above all others: for Corneloup as it was for Lapointe killed and wounded.61 Much like the battalion’s spirit, its will to or in Les Poilus. Still, the death the battle of Second Ypres and the win.”64 Chaballe reinforced this point of the battalion’s priest, Rosaire enduring memory of the German throughout his work. He painted Crochetière on 6 April 1918, moved gas attack there for the 1st Canadian a picture of brave, passionate men, him to write that “notre coeur se serra Division, September 1916 would who fought with an unwavering douloureusement dans une pénible become a defining moment for the determination. The battle began, he contrainte.”57 The grief of the battalion French Canadian battalion and the wrote, with “three loud cheers for was palatable. Corneloup did not 2nd Division’s 5th Brigade of which Canada and three even louder ones evoke religion often throughout the 22nd formed a part. At Courcelette, for the Province of Quebec” and then the work but he acknowledged its the unit and the 5th Brigade had “une they received a blessing from their importance to the men with whom âme pour le conduire à travers de chaplain before they were “bound for he fought. It was an important part grandes et merveilleuses étapes” Courcelette and glory.”65 The article, of their daily rituals. Perhaps as a wrote Corneloup.62 written for an audience that had only Frenchman from Alsace, he was not seen the battle through the lens of
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newspaper accounts, is replete with a strange juxtaposition against the midst of a Second World War, the powerful images. A dead Bavarian developing memory of those at home battalion’s veterans met to celebrate who lay in the middle of the road, who had experienced a different the 25th anniversary of Courcelette. a dog howling mournfully beside war. The increasingly predominant “Ils tinrent bon, jusqu’au bout!” said him; 66 or in the aftermath of battle view emphasized the imposition of Colonel Henri Des Rosiers, former realizing that “the entrance was conscription in 1917-18 in the face commanding officer of the 22nd blocked by a couple of corpses, our of French Canada’s opposition, the who had become deputy minister of fallen comrades who had crawled ultimate act of victimization at the defence. Courcelette had proven that there to die.”67 The account neither hands of the militaristic British Empire “l’âme des fils de la vieille France n’a hid nor reviled the horror of their and its English Canadian adherents. pas dégénéré.”72 The linking of the environment. So connected was the Even though the vast majority of battle to France was still prevalent battalion to the misery of Courcelette the 22nd Battalion’s members were in their commemoration. Included that to condemn it denigrated the volunteers, the accepted memory in the booklet for the anniversary soldiers and their cause. Their shared of the war seemed to be that any was Chaballe’s history from 20 experience bound them together as Quebecois fought against his will, years before. Its moving words were they fought for Canada and Quebec with God at their sides. Chaballe’s history entwined religion, sacrifice and bravery in a French Canadian context. The battalion did not suppress its identity for the sake of fighting smoothly within the Canadian army. When CWM 19930012-184 the message that Courcelette had fallen reached the 5th Brigade’s headquarters, a translation was required, as an officer from the 22nd wrote it in French.68 As Quebecois soldiers fighting under the British flag, in an English-speaking army, surely that difference was noticeable Officers of the 22nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, June 1918. and remarked upon. Yet, that is not what its veterans remembered. While and thus no one willing to fight had no less poignant. Tremblay, now a there were many instances of soldiers been Quebecois. While Chaballe major-general, reminded his readers wronged for no cause other than they proclaimed to Colonel Tremblay after that they should “Soyons dignes du were French-Canadian,69 the veterans the victory of Courcelette that “the 22e!”73 Remembering Courcelette had mentioned here remembered most Province of Quebec could be proud become less about the battle and more how their French Canadian ties kept of the Van Doos,”71 it was difficult about the battalion: the men who them together. An unofficial motto to find proof of it in the years after had fought, those who had died, and of the battalion, Chaballe reminisced, the fact. Nevertheless, the writings those who had survived. The battle was the French Canadian slang, of these former soldiers stood as a had been lifted from the profane “on s’ostine,” stolen from its British testament to the war they lived. They experience of the First World War to original, “what we have we hold.”70 did not question their commanders become a sacred memory of soldiers. The old saying conjures up the image or their purpose. They did not find Many of these soldiers’ memoirs of the British bulldog, tenacious and injustice in their treatment or regret are as moving and emotional as any immovable. Adopted – perhaps in their actions. They believed in from English Canada. The fourth subverted – by the French Canadians, 1916, and after the war, that they had edition of Lapointe’s journal was it was an odd symbol for the 22nd participated in the greatest war their published 6 June 1944, as French Battalion. Though they fought under province and their nation had ever Canadian soldiers once more were the British flag, they took up its cause known; and they had served them landing on French soil to fight for as their own, it suggests, and they both with honour. their ancestral home. In an epilogue would fight for it with full intensity. The legacy of their belief would written for the edition, Lapointe The veterans’ pride in their stretch well beyond the peace for reflected on the enduring legacy fighting prowess and resolve was which they fought. In 1941, in the of the 22nd Battalion and their
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The men of the 22nd Battalion pass Lieutenant- General Arthur Currie (marked with arrow) as he reviews the Canadian Corps as it crosses the Rhine River at Bonn, December 1918.
experience of the Great War. What before a cenotaph, 25 years after that French Canadians had refused he remembered the most about the his experience on the European to fight and had nearly rebelled end of war was the arrival of the battlefields. As the two minutes of against the prevailing patriotism 22nd in Quebec in the spring of 1919, silence began, he desperately tried that had carried the war to its “de son défilé triumphal à travers les to remember each of his friends long victorious conclusion to no small rues de Montréal et des acclamation since gone. The moment stretched extent drew on Bourassa’s stand délirantes qui le saluèrent partout sur on as countless names, faces, stories, against an imperialistic war. Those son passage.”74 All the horrors of war and places flashed through his mind. who sympathized with Bourassa were now past and the survivors had Then it ended – too soon for Chaballe were more than happy to be seen as only “joie de vivre” as they paraded – who could not remember them all the villain in English Canada because in front of cheering crowds. He in time.76 It is a poignant reflection. it meant they could be the heroes did not remember a bitter betrayal Even the memory of those who in their own telling for resisting through conscription, or English had been there cannot do justice the injustices of conscription and persecution, or the soldiers as victims to what the fallen deserve. These imperialism. It was a simple history of grand imperial designs. Lapointe veterans did not represent the vast of Canada, a black and white version instead celebrated the victory of the majority of Quebecois, nonetheless that did not allow for shades of grey. soldiers with the people of Quebec. they represented those unaffected Nationalists among both linguistic His final words to the young men of by the decades between the wars. groups in the country ignored the Quebec who now fought anew were Those that still believed the brave experience of the 22nd Battalion: a “l’honneur et la liberté refleuriront and righteous soldiers of Quebec had French-speaking Canadian patriot en terre française et de nouveau la fought for higher ideals. They may be was either not truly French Canadian Grande Martyre fera rayonner le few but historians cannot ignore the or not truly patriotic. flambeau de son héroïsme et de sa longevity of their beliefs.77 Yet the soldiers of the 22nd culture sur un monde libéré de ses Much as the memory of the 22nd Battalion did not quietly disappear. chaînes sur un monde libéré de ses Battalion veterans had in common They remembered their fallen chaînes.”75 Long after his generation with the memory of veterans from comrades and the sacrifices they had first shed blood in service of their English Canada, by 1919 that memory had made. They had fought for duty, country, Lapointe’s message was the was at odds with the narrative of honour and religion. They did not same. Quebec’s wartime experience that fight for the province that by 1917 Chaballe too wrote a stirring had become predominant in both and 1918 had come to resist the war epitaph for his former battalion. English and French Canada. The effort. They fought for the province It was 11 November and he stood view among many English Canadians that was a full partner in Canadian
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confederation and a continental 9. [if hell were as abominable as what I saw 15. Ibid. For work dealing with English in Courcelette, then I would not wish my Canadians against the war see Thomas island of its own unique culture and worst enemy to go there] As quoted Jean- Socknat, Witness Against War: Pacifism in religion. The veterans themselves, Pierre Gagnon, Le 22e Bataillon (canadien- Canada, 1900-1945 (Toronto: University of as chief proponents of this memory, français), 1914-1919: étude socio-militaire Toronto Press, 1987); for a more focused (Ottawa: Presses de l’Université Laval, analysis of some dissidents, see Adam sanctified it through their writing. 1986), p.104. All translations are my own Crerar, “Ontario and the Great War,” Justification for their voluntary unless otherwise noted. in Canada and the First World War: Essays participation in the war to their 10. The argument that Bourassa was against in Honour of Robert Craig Brown, David CWM 19930065-677 war was the construction of English Mackenzie, ed. (Toronto: University of readers was implicit in every phrase. Canadian commentators. For a different Toronto Press, 2005), pp.230-271. In the void between the dominant view, based on analysis of his writings, 16. Elizabeth Armstrong, Crisis in Quebec discourses of the war, they formed see Robert Rumilly, Henri Bourassa: La Vie 1914-18 (1937; repr. Toronto: McClelland Publique d’un Grand Canadien (Montreal: and Stewart, 1974), pp.46-53. It is their own, not least to make the Editions Chantecler, 1953); Joseph Levitt, important to note that the book is based horror meaningful to themselves. As Henri Bourassa on Imperialism and Bi- on French language sources despite Corneloup reminded his readers in culturalism, 1900-1918 (Toronto: Copp Armstrong being American. Clark Publishing Company, 1970); or Réal 17. A.I. Silver, The French-Canadian Idea the closing pages of his remembrance Belanger, “Bourassa, Henri,” Dictionary of Confederation 1864-1900 (Toronto: of his comrades, the French Canadian of Canadian Biography Online. University of Toronto Press, 1982), who had fought in the Great War 11. Toronto businessmen began the Bonne p.224. Howard Marraro identified 135 Entente movement, which sought to unify Canadians fighting with the Papal was special; “Il a bien merité de la the divided country by bringing together Zouaves, see his “Canadian and American Patrie.”78 English and French Canadian community Zouaves in the Papal Army, 1868–1870,” leaders. Ultimately, it failed to combat the Canadian Catholic Historical Association influence of Bourassa of others opposed Report 12 (1944–45), p.83. to the war in Quebec. See Brian Cameron, 18. Silver, p.233. Notes “The Bonne Entente Movement, 1916- 19. Desmond Morton, Fight or Pay: Soldier’s 1917: From Cooperation to Conscription,” Families in the Great War (Vancouver: UBC Journal of Canadian Studies 13, no. 2 (1978), Press, 2004) pp.171, 277. 1. Tim Cook, At the Sharp End (Toronto: pp.42-55; Desmond Morton, When Your 20. Papineau to Bourassa, R4911-0-8-E, vol.3, Viking Canada, 2007), p.521. Number’s Up: The Canadian Soldier in the Talbot Mercer Papineau Fonds. 2. Hew Strachan, “The Battle of the Somme First World War (Toronto: Random House, 21. Le Devoir, 5 August 1916, p.1 (translation and British Strategy,” Journal of Strategic 1993), pp.55-62. from English version of letter found in Studies 21, no.1 (1998), p.93. 12. Chief among these grievances was Talbot Mercer Papineau Fonds, vol.3; 3. David Campbell, “A Forgotten Victory: the enactment of Regulation 17 by the see also R8069-0-5, reel M-721, Fonds Courcelette, 15 September 1916,” Canadian province of Ontario in 1912, which Bourassa for French version as originally Military History 16, no. (Spring 2007), p.40. severely limited the teaching of the published). 4. Ibid., p.44. French language in public schools there. 22. As quoted in Robert Craig Brown and 5. Ibid., p.45. See Margaret Prang, “Clerics, Politicians Ramsay Cook, Canada 1896-1921: A Nation 6. This account of the battle is derived from and the Bilingual Schools Issue in Ontario, Transformed (Toronto: McClelland and “Story of the 22nd Battalion, September 1910-1917,” Canadian Historical Review 41, Stewart Limited, 1974), p.265. 15th, 1916 the Capture of Courcelette,” no.4 (1960), pp.281-307; Marilyn Barker, 23. Many newspapers self-censored their Canadian Military History 16, no.2 (Spring “The Ontario Bilingual Schools Issue: content for the course of the war, 2007), p.49. The account is anonymous; it Sources of Conflict,” Canadian Historical including Le Devoir, but their pages was found in the George Metcalf Archival Review 47, no.3 (1966), pp.227-248; Robert still offer some conclusions towards a Collection without a source or date M. Stamp, The Schools of Ontario, 1876- French-Canadian view of the battle. For 7. See Thomas-Louis Tremblay, Journal 1976 (Toronto: University of Toronto more information on censorship, see de Guerre (1915-1918), Marcelle Cinq- Press, 1982). Jeff Keshen, Propaganda and Censorship Mars, ed. (Outremont, Quebec: Athena 13. Numerous works have dealt with the during Canada’s Great War (Edmonton: Éditions, 2006), pp.166-67. Tremblay’s issue of conscription and its consequences University of Alberta Press, 1996). record differs slightly from that of Joseph in French Canada. For some of the most 24. The province’s total population as Chaballe who stated that 7 officers were prominent, see Carl Berger, Conscription of the 1911 census was 2,003,232. All killed and 11 were wounded, which 1917 (Toronto: University of Toronto papers were published in Montreal differs again from the document “Story Press, 1969); Jean Provencher, Québec sous (estimated population of 550,000) with the of the 22nd Battalion,” from the George la loi des measures de guerre 1918 (Trois- exception of the L’Action Catholique which Metcalf Archives. As well, they disagree Rivières: Les éditions du Boréal Express, was published in Quebec (estimated on who exactly was wounded; see Joseph 1971); J.L. Granatstein and J. Mackay population of 90,000). Their circulation Chaballe, “Courcelette: Glorieux fait Hitsman, Broken Promises: A History of in 1915 was: The Star, 106,769; La Presse, d’armes du 22ème Régiment Canadien- Conscription in Canada (Toronto: Oxford 117,975; La Patrie, 46,494; Le Devoir, 18,894; Français,” La Canadienne: le Magazine du University Press, 1977). For a more recent L’Action Catholique, 14,250; see McKim’s Canadien Français 2, no.3 (October, 1920) overview and analysis, see Martin Auger, Directory of Canadian Publications, 1915. 14; “Story of the 22nd Battalion,” p.56. “On the Brink of Civil War: The Canadian 25. As an aside, the estimated English 8. Library and Archives Canada, “We Were Government and the Suppression of the population of Montreal in 1915 was 25.8 There: Claudius Corneloup,” 11 Nov. 1918 Quebec Easter Riots,” Canadian percent while the French population was 2000,.
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29. Ibid., 15 September 1916, p.4. 47. [France still bleeds for the cause of Permission!…C’est Bon pour une Recrue: 30. Ibid., 18 September 1916, p.10. humanity. She needs help and it must Discipline and Illegal Absences in the 31. Le Devoir, 21 September 1916, 3; L’Action never be said that she appealed in vain to 22nd (French-Canadian) Battalion, 1915- Catholique, 21 September 1916, p.8. the descendents of those who, 300 years 1919,” Canadian Military History 18, no.4 32. [the blind accomplices of imperialism] ago, carried her name, her language and (Autumn 2009), pp.3-16. [past complacencies] Le Devoir, 15 her religion to the shores of New France] 70. Chaballe, “Courcelette,” p15. September 1916, p.1. Ibid., p.43. 71. Ibid., p.41. 33. [The Great Courage and Initiative of 48. Arthur Lapointe, Souvenirs et impressions 72. [They held out until the end] [the our French Canadians] La Patrie, 16 de ma vie de soldat, 1916-1919, 4th ed. (St. souls of the sons of old France has September 1916, p.3. Ulric, Quebec: Le Devoir, 1944). not degenerated] Joseph Chaballe, 25e 34. [If the fate of the solder whom the 49. [I have the consolation of having been anniversaire de la bataille de Courcelette, homeland calls to arms, to confront the useful to my country, and of having paid 1916-1941 (Montreal, 1941), p.4. invading enemy and who succumbs with my debt of gratitude to ancestral France] 73. [Let us be worthy of the 22nd] Ibid., p.6. great glory in accomplishing his scared Ibid., p.9. 74. [its triumphal procession through the duty, is worthy of praise and envy, how 50. Ibid., pp.52-53. streets of Montreal and the cheering great must be the admiration for those 51. [to have pity on me and to give me the which greeted them everywhere in their who willingly fly to the help of their courage to endure valiantly all my trials] path] Ibid., p.257. threatened homeland and generously Ibid., p.37. 75. [honour and the freedom will bloom offer their life for it] Ibid., 28 September 52. [the absence of their mother] Ibid., p.184. again on French soil and again the Great 1916, p.11. 53. [a little balm on [his] bruised heart] Ibid., Martyr will shine the torch of her heroism 35. [men you see working on their farms in p.185. and her culture on a world freed of its the province of Quebec or in the factories 54. “Story of the 22nd Battalion, September chains] Ibid., p.259. of New England] L’Action Catholique, 20 15th, 1916 the Capture of Courcelette,” 76. Joseph Chaballe, Histoire du 22e bataillon September 1916, p.3. p.54. canadien-français, 1914-1919 (Montreal: 36. For an overview of the support and 55. [The soldiers see nothing. Blind, they Les Editions Chanteclerc Ltée, 1952), dissent in Catholic Church in Quebec, continue their funeral procession in this p.407. see René Durocher, “Henri Bourassa, labyrinth where, at each step, they bump 77. One notable absence in this paper is one les Évêques et la guerre de 1914-1918,” into a squashed form once born by a of the most famous veterans of the 22nd Canadian Historical Association Historical mother] Claudius Corneloup, L’Épopée Battalion: Georges P. Vanier. Vanier, Papers 6 (1971), pp.248-75. For a wider du Vingt-Deuxième (Montreal: La Presse, who joined the Vandoos in 1915, earned sketch of Catholicism’s role in the 1919), p.69. numerous decorations for courage in Canadian army, though not specifically 56. [All these names, illustrious and combat, including the Military Cross focused on French Canada by any means, unknown, fallen on the fields of victory, and Bar, and the Distinguished Service see Mark G. McGowan, “Harvesting must be engraved in golden letters upon Order. At Chérisy he was wounded the ‘Red Vineyard’: Catholic Religious a national monument] Ibid., p.150. along with many other Vandoos and his Culture in the Canadian Expeditionary 57. [our hearts beat sorrowfully in painful right leg was amputated. Despite this Force, 1914-1919,” Catholic Canadian constraint] Ibid., p.115. grievous injury, he would have a highly Historical Association Historical Studies 64 58. As quoted in McGowan, p.58. successful career as a diplomat after the (1998), pp.47-70. These brief articles leave 59. Gagnon, p.345. war that culminated in his appointment many unanswered questions and much 60. [The enemy resistance was desperate, as Governor General in 1959. Vanier kept more work is required if historians are the tenacity of our men was sublime, the a diary while he served with the 22nd to fully understand the reasons for the 22nd can say that it fought one against Battalion on the Western Front, but it is Catholic clergy’s support of the war than 12. Combat intensified, hand to hand, not included in the present paper because can be explored here. with bayonets, with daggers, with canes. Vanier did not publish it himself, and 37. [praises of the French Canadians] L’Action Blood flowed in the streets. Our soldiers in fact it did not finally appear in print Catholique, 20 September 1916, p.3. called out in French, and fought in the until 2000: Georges P. Vanier, Georges 38. Gagnon, pp.38-41. French way, that is to say, with irresistible Vanier, soldier the wartime letters and 39. [the Canadian volunteers proved to energy] Corneloup, p.55. diaries, 1915-1919, Deborah Cowley, ed. the world that knew how to attack as 61. Gagnon, p.103. Gagnon states that 6 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2000). The well as they could defend] La Presse, 20 officers died, 5 were wounded; 82 men difference between the audience, and the September 1916, p.4. died and 114 were wounded. fact that Vanier himself did not publish 40. [The French Canadians shine on the front] 62. [a soul to lead it through great and the diary, is important. Vanier’s memoirs Ibid., 22 September 1916, p.4. wonderful steps] Library and Archives were presented and absorbed in an era of 41. Ibid., 18 September 1916, p.2. Canada, “We Were There: Claudius Quebec that was changed from the world 42. Ibid., 23 September 1916, p.4. Corneloup.” of his fellow veterans. 43. Vance, p.119. 63. [How did you attack with so few people] 78. Corneloup, p.150. 44. J.A. Holland, Les Poilus Canadiens (1919). [we did not know it ourselves] Corneloup, Les Poilus has no publisher listed, but p.63. Holland’s other work is Story of the Tenth 64. Chaballe, “Courcelette: Glorieux fait Canadian Battalion 1914-1917 (London: d’armes du 22ème Régiment Canadien- Canadian War Records Office, 1919). It Français,” p.1. (The copy referenced here Geoff Keelan is a PhD Candidate at the is not known if Les Poilus is also from the is a version translated from the original by University of Waterloo doing research War Records Office. the Department of the Secretary of State, into the intellectual history of Canada 45. [fight for justice, fight for the rights of 1980.) and the Great War. He is studying the man and the right of God, it was our 65. Ibid., p.16. published and unpublished reactions of historic task, and it is our glory, which 66. Ibid., p.37. Canadians throughout the course of the was sometimes painful] Holland, p.5. 67. Ibid., p.41. war. For two years, he has had the good 46. [impetuous momentum of the French 68. Ibid., p.14. fortunte to work at the Laurier Centre Canadians, who swept away everything 69. For some discussion of disciplinary for Military Strategic and Disarmament before them and broke like a straw the problems resulting from being French Studies with its Director Terry Copp as resistance of a numerically superior soldiers in an English army, see Gagnon, a Research Associate. enemy] Ibid., p.29. 307-308 and Maxime Dagenais, “Une
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