Evening star., 1916-09-19
All Had Stories to Tell.

This rainy day one saw battaIions OF
them marching out from the trenches
they had won and other battalions
marching In. Those fresh from the
fight were plastered with mud, but
Triumphant They had a hundred
stories to tell, while the rain dripped
from their tarpaulin. of how the "Byng
boys" had made good. The wounded,
also drenched by the rain, eagerly join
cd in these stories. The Canadians are
known as the '.Byng boys," after the
name of their corps commander. Cen
Sir Julian Byng. and also by virtue of a
popular song in London entitled "The
Byng Boys Are Here"
Gen. Byng grasped the idea that the
Canadians have initiative. Just there,
Z as far as the correspondent could learn,
is the essential of the universally ad-
mitted brilliant stroke which the Cana
dians dealt when 1t came to return to
play their part in the colossal plan Of
the Somme offensive. In other words,
Gen Byng understood that given a goal
the men of North America would go to
It with all there was in them ready to
take pinch-hit chance.
The correspondent went over the
ground today where they went to 1t
and saw where they stuck In trenches
under shell IRE which they had gained
after their second charge and which
were not in the original plan. The
in charge of that branch of the front
showed the correspondent the Canadian
objective No home run was expected
from them. but only a sacrifice fly, to
Q home run and brought In all the men
on the bases.
Captured Trench on Time.
They gained their first objective In
an uninterrupted dash, absolutely on
time. There was the trench which the
'Byng boys" held on the morning of
the 18th, as the correspondent saw it
today. Behind it and ahead of 1t shell
craters were SO thick that you could
step from one to another. Having
taken their objective. their part was
finished, but Gen. Byng decided. despite
the duplicated timetable methods of
a modern offensive. that he could go
farther. The commanders of British
corps of all kinds. from cockneys to
the clerks, stock brokers and farm
hands of the new army, made the same
decision. So they worked in conjunc-
ton, as everything in these big moves
must be cooperation and team play. :.
"Confound cost and everything else"
said the Canadians. their nerves strain
ed 10 the breaking point In their deter
mination to make good on their hrst
offensive. When the word was given
they started for Courcelette, which
they were ordered TO take. Now, this
village had been Tess crumpled" than
any yet captured.
There were some battered rafters of
roofs still in position. That is, Cour-
celette had had less hammering by
preparatory shellfire so as to clean out
its strong points. nests Of machine guns
and SO forth. Through these streets to
their new objective, marked on their
map. went those fighters of the new
world, including men from a. FAR
south as New Orleans. as well as men
from Nova Scotia and Vancouver. They
were determined to get there. and make
sgood, and they got there.
Too Busy Winning, Is Report
When no word came back for some
time the stafr, sitting in the center of
the web OF telephone and telegraph
wires over which was flashing the news
of the progress of the great battle. be-
gan to wonder II the Canadians were in
trouble. But presently they got word