Private
1st Canadian Division / 1st Infantry Brigade / 3rd Canadian Infantry Battalion
Service #803205
Oscar Davis was born August 9, 1894. He was a grocery clerk in Strathroy when he signed up. He was attested in London Ontario with the 135th Middlesex Battalion on May 8, 1916. On August 22, 1916, he sailed on the S.S. Olympic from Halifax, arriving in Liverpool, England on August 30th. On August 15, 1916, he was transferred to the 134th Battalion at Whitley, and that same day was based with the 134th Battalion at Bramshott, England.
Many men were reassigned to different battalions after they had enlisted to maintain morale at home. Early in the war, men who came from the same area were kept together for individual morale purposes. However, it was concluded that in war conditions almost entire towns’ men were being killed in one battle in one day. This was terrible for morale at home, so men were dispersed into different battalions to reduce the chances of many men, from one area, being killed all at once.
He was assigned, as a reinforcement, to the 3rd Battalion on August 14, 1917. During World War I there was a very high rate of casualty attrition, and a steady stream of reinforcements was needed to fill the quota to keep battalions at strength. He joined his unit on March 27, 1917.
Private Davis was killed at Arras, France, on September 2, 1918, during the Battle of Drocourt-Quéant, by a shell explosion while sheltering in a hole created by a previously exploding shell.
“The Drocourt-Quéant Phase, September 2-3, 1918
After a 48-hour respite, the assault on the main enemy defensive line in the west, the Drocourt-Quéant Line, was launched. This time, the 1st and 4th Divisions led the charge. At dawn, armoured and infantry units advanced behind a powerful artillery barrage. South of the Cambrai Road, the 1st Division moved forward quickly as the tanks destroyed enemy posts that had survived the initial barrage. Just a few hours later, at around 7:30 a.m., one battalion had already cleared the main trenches, but not without suffering some heavy losses. Subsequently, the Canadians reached their objective of Buissy Switch before midnight.
In the centre, the 4th Canadian Division had also been fighting a hard battle between Dury and the main road, on the front trenches of the Drocourt-Quéant Line that were on a long exposed ridge of Mont Dury. Although the Germans had a topographical advantage that enabled them to fire and bomb from elevated positions, and despite their heavy losses, the Canadian battalions and the tanks reached the top of the ridge and drove the enemy back. The 4th Division had reached its first objective with the capture of Dury. During the night, the enemy pulled back, and on September 3, the Canadian Corps met no resistance when it advanced about six kilometres to take up positions facing the next obstacle, the Canal-du-Nord.
In the first four days of September, the Canadian Corps captured more than 6,000 unwounded prisoners and inflicted heavy losses on the German Army. Its own casualties amounted to 5,600 men in this short period.”
[Source: Collections Canada]
The Battle of Arras and the Drocourt-Quéant Line was where the letter L is on the above map.
Oscar Davis is buried in Dominion Cemetery at Hendecourt-Les-Cagnicourt, France.
There is also a memorial placed by his family in the Strathroy Cemetery.
The script beneath his age reads:
Somewhere in France with his comrades he’s resting
But near to us, ever his spirit will live
