“…it is an old trick of his…”: Sifton’s Actions in a New Light?

Lance-Sergeant Ellis Westwood Sifton

Lieutenant Vincent McCarter Eastwood, M.C.

Special thanks to Michael Ritchie, the author and caretaker of the blog, Letters From Vincent, from which this material was sources. Lieutenant Eastwood was a member of the 18th Battalion from Peterborough, Ontario and Michael is diligently transcriping the letters from his Great-Grandfather.

At 5:15 a.m. on the morning of April 9, 1917 the weather was recorded in the 4^th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary as:

“It was a cloudy morning with a fine mist and rain fall which helped to conceal our men from enemy observation during their forming up in their jumping off trenches.”

Fifteen minutes later the Brigade advanced as the general attack began, with the 18^th and 19^th in the vanguard and with support from the 20^th Battalion.

Three minutes later the first objective was taken and the Brigade moved forward to the next objective.

By 10.50 a.m. the 18^th Battalion reported that they had reached their objective and were in the process of consolidating the new front line.

Some time prior to this Lance-Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton earned the Victoria Cross in, what the 18^th Battalion War Diary called, “An act of conspicuous bravery…”

Now a new perspective to this “act” has been discovered through the efforts of Michael Ritchie with his recent transcription of a letter from his Great-Grandfather, the then Lieutenant Vincent McCarter Eastwood, a serving officer of the 18^th Battalion and the author of the July 8, 1917 letter. He was present at the Battle of Vimy and three months after this battle and relates about the action in which Lance-Sergeant Sifton was to earn his V.C.:

“Well Jack it is pretty hard to tell you anything about Vimy in a letter. It certainly was a wonderful sight. The morning of the 9th was rainy and dull.

When the guns opened up it all seemed to cut loose. Of course the Bosche had been pretty well bombarded the three or four days previous. In most cases the Bosche shoved up his hands. But as it is an old [trick][i] of his[,] our men shot quite a few of them. Three or four machine guns held out for quite a while. One of our Sergts. cleaned up on three crews bayonetting nearly every man on his gun. He was killed while cleaning up on the three crew. He was given the VC, the only one in our division[ii].”

The account in interesting as it implies that the action in which Sifton earned his V.C. was not the only action in which he subdued a machine gun post. The letter states that he “cleaned up three crews” which may refer to three separate machine gun crews. The wording is awkward and hurried and it is not clear why the story is not more coherent, especially as the Battalion was in Divisional Reserve at huts in Bovigny Woods and not in the front line.[iii]

It certainly brings to light that the actions on that April morning in 1917 were hectic and confused. The official citation for this action does not give much more additional detail stating:

“For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty.

During the attack in enemy trenches Sjt. Sifton’s company was held up by machine gun fire which inflicted many casualties. Having located the gun he charged it single-handed, killing all the crew.

A small enemy party advanced down the trench, but he succeeded in keeping these off till our men had gained the position.

He was killed just as he returned with the second man. In carrying out this gallant act he was killed, but his conspicuous valour undoubtedly saved many lives and contributed largely to the success of the operation.”

(London Gazette, no.30122, 8 June 1917)[iv]

Eastwood’s account, though succinct and lacking a fuller narrative, gives one the impression of the turmoil of activity during a military action. It also adds some questions to the narrative of Sifton and his V.C. Was there more than one machine gun put out of action by Sifton and, if so, why is this, to this author’s knowledge, the first narrative relating this? If there was more then one machine gun dispatched by Sifton why have other sources not related this? The individual actions for the 18^th Battalion are veiled by time and the perspective of Eastwood’s story is not known. Was it an eye-witness account or a story related to him by a third-party that did witness the actions Eastwood writes about?

The letter allows us to see how a soldier, valiant in his own right, relates the actions of April 9, 1917. It gives one more glimpse into the world of the Canadian soldiers of the 18^th Battalion and may open the opportunity to explore the actions of one soldier in a new light on that day.

[i] The original transcription used the word “back” but on examination of the source image of the document this author interprets the word as “back”. It would be in context for the situation being related.

[ii] Four members of the C.E.F. earned the Victoria Cross during the action.

[iii] Lieutenant Eastwood was with the Battalion at the time he wrote this letter. Interesting to note that he had been gazetted to earn the Military Cross on May 26, 1917 and mentions it in a letter dated April 18, 1917.

[iv] Source.