size and insatiable appetite for gunpowder and lead. They were heavy and awkward to carry from one position to another on the pitted landscape of No Man’s Land. The gun itself weighed 13 kilograms, plus another 4.5 kilograms if the water jacket was full. The tripod weighed nearly 22 kilograms. Each ammunition box, which carried a cloth belt containing 250 rounds, weighed 9.5 kilograms. Given that they could run through two belts of ammunition every minute, it was a full-time job providing a constant supply of bullets. With the high volume of fire that machine guns were capable of, the spent casings would soon bury a gun emplacement; the support team was kept busy filling sandbags with spent cartridges, which were stockpiled and hauled to nearby dumps, where they would be removed by salvage companies for recycling.84
One soldier, Private George Coppard, described the procedure for setting up a Vickers machine gun to fire:
Number One dashed five yards with the tripod, released the ratchet held front legs so they swung forward, both pointing outwards, and secured them rigidly by tightening the ratchet handles. Sitting down, he removed two metal pins from the head of the tripod, whereupon Number Two placed the gun in position on the tripod. Number One whipped in the pins and then the gun was ready for loading. Number Three dashed forward with an ammunition box containing a canvas belt, pocketed to hold 250 rounds. Number Two inserted the tag-end of the belt into the feed block on the right side of the gun. Number One grabbed the tag-end and jerked it through, at the same time pulling back on the crank handle twice, which completed the loading operation.85
Once this was done, the Number One gunner flipped up the sights and was ready to fire. If properly placed along the battlefront, with well-designed overlap in their fields of fire, these machine guns could lay down an impenetrable and deadly curtain of lead. To attempt to enter into this field of fire would be disastrous for the enemy.
In order for each gun emplacement to operate smoothly, a constant stream of supplies had to be brought forward. Ammunition belts, water, lubricating oil and spare barrels, as well as replacement personnel in case of casualty, had to be kept in reserve. To work successfully, each machine gun team had to be well trained and ready to deal with all sorts of contingencies, from replacing another member of the team to repairing malfunctions quickly and efficiently. The training continued for months as the Boyle men waited for their orders to go to the front.
In June 1916, the Boyle unit was renamed the Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery, but still they had seen no action.86 Captain Harry F. Meurling, from the instructional staff of the Canadian Machine Gun School, was placed in charge, with Lieutenants Nicholson, Harkness and Strong under his command.87 Captain Meurling, born in Sweden and later trained as a civil engineer, had seen service with the Swedish Royal Navy and in the Belgian Congo force before enlisting in Sherbrooke, Quebec, the previous year. Meurling would command the Yukon units for the remainder of the war.
Finally, on August 15, 1916, they shipped out for France aboard the SS Nirvana. This is what they had trained for, for so many months. Now fully equipped to go into combat, they were eager to get to the front. They did not know where that would be, and they had only a vague idea of what to expect when they got there. For the men of the Yukon Battery, the war was about to begin.
The Battlefields of France
The Yukon Battery arrived in Le Havre, France, the morning of August 16 and quickly made their way to Number 2 Rest Camp, at Sanvie, just outside Le Havre. From there, they moved steadily forward until they reached the camp of the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade at Abeele, Belgium. Now designated E Battery, they immediately took up position on gun emplacements.
Captain Harry Meurling commanded the Yukon (Boyle) battery, and later the 2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade, which also included the George Black contingent. Library and Archives Canada 3219317
The Yukon Battery was in the heart of the action. What followed was a constant cycle to the front, where they provided direct fire and barrage support along the Ypres (Belgium) Salient—a tiny piece of northwestern Belgium, including the town of Ypres, still held by the Allies, that protruded into the German line—then went back to the rear lines for rest and recovery. Over the next two months, they alternated between billets and the front line. Behind the lines they rested and trained, and cared for their equipment. Much time was spent at gun instruction, gun practice and filling machine gun belts. On September 16, they covered a raiding party that penetrated enemy lines in a night raid. On September 22, they opened fire on an enemy working party. “Enemy machine guns tried to locate our positions but failed,” reported the entry in the battery war diary for that day.88 On October 15, Privates McKinley and Bloor were wounded during routine duty installing splinter-proof shelters.
On October 21, the Yukon Battery, now attached to the 4th Canadian Division, became involved in the assault of Regina Trench (named Staufen Riegel by the Germans), a lengthy enemy trench system that was positioned behind the devastated French village of Courcelette on the Somme battlefield. According to historian Tim Cook: “The Somme battlefield was a wasteland of ruined farmers’ fields; scummy, water-filled shell holes; and acres of unburied corpses… not a single metre of the war zone had escaped being chewed up by artillery fire… The mixture of blackened flesh and broken bones with thousands of tonnes of metal and shattered structures created a nightmare landscape.”89
As for the village of Courcelette, like many others, Lieutenant A.B. Morkill, who had been a bank manager in Victoria before coming to the Somme, noted: “The battle-fields are indescribable. What villages there were, are as flat as ploughed fields, and most certainly the country is one of desolation. Not a tree, but occasionally the stump of one to accentuate the barrenness, and at night when it is lit up by the flames and flashes of the guns, it leaves the impression of a very modern hell.”90
It was this shell-blasted wasteland that they sought to capture. The attack commenced at six minutes after noon with a heavy barrage. The Yukon Battery was positioned parallel to Sugar Trench and provided heavy barrage support. At first, it was an all-out burst of intense fire from each machine gun that lasted for twenty minutes, followed by a reduced rate of one hundred rounds per minute, and then slackened to fifty rounds per minute. The pace of firing varied but continued throughout the afternoon and overnight.
The Regina Trench was pounded into oblivion by the artillery barrage, which was supported by the planned machine gun barrage. Behind the carefully designed creeping barrage, Canadian infantry were able to advance and take the German positions. A curtain of lead from Canadian machine gun fire effectively prevented a successful counterattack by the Germans. The machine gunners were not so much trying to hit specific targets as they were trying to drench the area with bullets, thus forcing the enemy to take cover while Canadian troops advanced. Those members of each gun crew not actively firing their weapon were kept busy bringing a steady supply of ammunition to the emplacements.
So intense was the rate of fire by the Yukon Battery that one soldier, Frank McAlpine, was sent to hospital, overcome by the noxious gasses emitted by the machine gun during the continuous firing.91 The Yukoners were lucky, having come in at the very end of the Battle of the Somme, an offensive that started four months earlier and gained little at great expense of lives. A million combined casualties were inflicted upon the Germans and the Allies during this offensive; more than twenty-four thousand of them were Canadian.
Through the end of October and into November, the Yukon Battery followed its daily firing orders. Things became routine until, on November 15, Private Bob Ellis was hit in the head by a piece of shrapnel in the trenches near Courcelette. His fellow Yukoners carried him to a dressing station 3 kilometres distant. He was still breathing when they arrived but later died.92
Then, on November 18, the Yukon Battery was engaged in a major offensive action providing barrage support
