Lance Corporal William Russell Middleton
644073
Born in 1891 in Coldwater, ON
Enlisted with the 157th Simcoe Forresters
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Killed in action – Sept 29, 1918, Battle of Canal du Nord
Sleep was a luxury. Captured in snippets…momentary increments. A few chance minutes of kip here and there spent in the back of a lorry, men crammed shoulder to shoulder. It would have been quiet…not the excited chatter that was volleyed about in advance of earlier operations. By this time in the war, the men in the truck would have been virtual strangers to one another, tossed together in advance of a planned operation. For those old hands, like William Russell Middleton, they knew what was going to happen next…they had seen, felt, smelled war firsthand. The new recruits who just only arrived would have only heard about it…rumours validated by the look in the eyes of those who survived. These men were headed from rear areas to what appeared to be Amiens. It was dark and details were scarce. Being late summer, the days were still hot and dry. The men hid amongst the trees and forests in the daytime, away from the eyes of German airmen searching for any hints of movement that would call to a pending attack. These conditions necessitated that movement was only allowed at night, thereby ensuring the clouds of dust raised by the hundreds of trucks moving men and material closer to the front line would not be seen by the enemy. Division by division, brigade by brigade and battalion by battalion, tens of thousands of men from Currie’s CEF moved into position.
It was just past midnight on August 8th, 1918.
Darkness. Complete silence.
It was planned long in advance. A moonless night. The perfect time to launch a monumental assault on the Germans lines. Private Middleton, accompanied by a small party was one of the first teams to be dropped off into position. They were on the left most flank of the target zone assigned to the 116th Battalion. Opposite them was Dormart Wood. A forested area protected by an array of German machine gun nests. The remainder of the battalion was to be spread out across to eastern approached to the village of Hourges. Their objective…Hamon Wood. As the minutes ticked by, every effort was made to remain completely silent. One misstep might alert those enemy manning the many machine guns over on German front line, resulting in the certain death of many. Together they waited. Zero hours was 4:20am.
The number of men assigned to this particular sector was fairly limited…one platoon, 40 souls. Yet the 27 yr old man, whom two years prior was peacefully tending to his crops on the family farm in the tiny rural town of Coldwater Ontario, was now checking and rechecking his gear, steadying himself and preparing to participate in the greatest attack the Canadians had been engaged in thus far. Measuring this transition, from farmer to warrior, is quite spectacular to contemplate and furthermore, to appreciate what he was able to accomplish in the new few hours was even more so.
As the second hand struck the assigned time, the guns placed up and down the entire front erupted. The platoon’s orders were to remove the threat of the Germans holding the rear and left-hand flank of the position in front of Domart Wood. The record is not complete nor entirely clear, however his Distinguished Conduct Medal indicates that this farmer-come-soldier started out by single-handedly taking three machine gun posts out of action. In response a forth German manning a heavy calibre machine gun started to hold down the oncoming Canadians. Then, as if it was just out of a movie, Middleton rushed into the fray. Unphased, the adrenaline-fueled man, started to blast away with his gun at his hip towards the gunner. In the end, his brave, crazed scramble across the field of battle ended up one gun position and with seven sets of hands being raised in the air. Once can only imagine what fear will do to a man…as it would be certain that he did not conduct this brave assault powered by trained instinct alone.
The 116th Battalion lost 44 men killed and many more wounded from the actions taken by the unit that day. Most of the men who did die that day were killed by machine gun bullets as the unit advanced from Hourges towards Hamon Wood. How many more would have died if Middleton did not take out those machine guns can only be speculated…however it is certain that many of the men who were able to take the objective would be left as casualties on the field without the bravery demonstrated by William that day.
Approximately three weeks later, the 116th, along with the remainder of the 9th Brigade and the 3rdDivision, was moved to the sector just east of Arras. On the 27th of August, they participated in the Second Battle of Arras where the unit cleared out the Germans protecting the village of Boiry-Notre Dame. Middleton was promoted to Lance Corporal after this operation. During this phase in the war, the Allies executed new attacks against the entrenched Germans every day up and down the Hindenburg Line. From Boiry they moved to Bourlon Wood then onto Canal du Nord. This manmade canal needed to be taken to proceed onto the strategically important city of Cambrai. It was during the advance onto German positions at Ste Olle, a village situated on the western approach to town, when another series of machine guns went into action. This time, not bravery, bravado nor heroics would save his day. William Middleton, along with 131 other men from the battalion would fall in combat. He was one of the first to fall and is buried at Crest Cemetery, a small area of land that sits then as it does now, amidst the fields of local farmers…a perfect resting spot for the farmer from Coldwater, Ontario.