Arthur Douglas Crease Letters, Diaries and Scrapbooks
Letters from Arthur Douglas Crease of Victoria to his brother Lindley Crease and his mother Sarah Crease; instructions for the offensive of July 26, 1917; a regimental notebook, diaries and scrapbook. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
BC Archives MS-0055; BC Archives MS-2879
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Keep - AD Crease
SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY
by Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur W. Currie, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., Commanding Canadian Corps.
25th November, 1918.
1. Some of you have already commenced, while others are about to begin, the march to the RHINE, liberating Belgium in your advance. In a few days you will enter Germany, and hold certain parts in order to secure the fulfilment of the terms of the Armistice Preliminary to the Peace Treaty.
2. The rulers of Germany, humiliated and demoralized, have fled. That unscrupulous nation, who in 1914 set at naught every treaty and violated every moral obligation, who have since perpetuated the most ferocious atrocities on land as well as on the sea, is beaten, famished and at our mercy. Justice has come, retribution commences. During four long years, conscious of the righteousness of your cause, you have fought many battles and endured cruel hardships, and now your mighty efforts are rewarded; your fallen comrades are avenged. You have demonstrated on the battle field your superior courage and unfaltering energy. By the will of God you have won, won, won.
3. Marching triumphantly through Belgium, you will be received everywhere as liberators, but the kindness and generosity of the population must not cause any relaxation of your discipline or alertness. Your task is not yet completed, and you must remain what you are, the close-knitted army, in grim, deadly earnest.
4. German agents, scattered throughout the country, must not be able to report to their masters any weakness or evidence of disintegration of your fighting power. It is essential that on the march and at the halt, discipline must be of the highest standard. Every possible protection should be taken at all times to guard against hostile acts by organized bodies, and to lessen the possibility, always present, of isolated murders or desperate guerilla acts by factions of the enemy. Above all, it is of capital importance to establish in Germany the sense of your overwhelming moral and physical standing, so as to complete by the presence of your potential strength, the victories you have won on the Battle Field. All external signs of discipline must be insisted upon, and the example in this, as in all instances, must come from the leaders. Clothing and equipment must be, if possible, spotless, well kept and well put on. Badges and distinguishing marks must be complete, while the Transport should be as clean as circumstances will allow. In short, you must continue to be and appear to be that powerful hitting force which has won the fear and respect of your foes, and the admiration of the world.
BC Archives, MS-2879, Box 83, File 1 CREASE FAMILY "Diary of the War", diary and scrapbook of Arthur Douglas Crease 1915-1919.