The Story of Milton Gregg
A documentary film supported by the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR). Amanda Gellman is Producer and Director; Tim Gillies is Producer and Production Manager. Andrew (Andy) Robertshaw and Norm Christie are Subject Matter Experts. Crew TBA.
Milton Fowler Gregg
From the Farm to the Fields of Battle...
Farmer’s son, scholar, and teacher, Milton Gregg was one of the younger siblings in a family with nine offspring. As for the younger sons of so many families of his time, he needed to be ready to make his own way in the world. Demonstrating a capacity for focus and accomplishment, he was noted for academics and athletics in his teens. By the time he was 20, Gregg was a public school teacher and had completed a certificate at the Royal School of Infantry, qualifying him to be a Cadet Instructor. In late 1914, Gregg volunteered for service in the First World War. By April, 1915, he landed in France as stretcher-bearer with the 13th Canadian Infantry Battalion. This initial service in the theatre of war would last only six weeks. Wounded on the 21st of May, 1915, Gregg was evacuated to England. After recovering from his wound, he was sent on officer training and two years later returned to France.
An Officer of the Royal Canadians...
Lieutenant Milton Gregg returned to France as an officer of The Royal Canadian Regiment in April, 1917. After less than two months with The RCR, Milton Gregg was in action and, on June 8, 1917, led a grenade attack on German machine-gunners. For this act, he was awarded the Military Cross for his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty and, while wounded himself, for carrying another wounded officer from the field. Returned to the Regiment in November, 1917, Gregg was decorated again for actions on August 26, 1918. Also for leading a bombing party against machine-guns, he received a second award of the Military Cross, adding a “bar” to his ribbon for that medal. Twice wounded, twice decorated. Gregg’s story does not end here.
On the 28th of September, 1918, once more in the face of stiff enemy resistance, Gregg influenced the flow of the battle on the Regiment’s front. Ensuring the supply of grenades, leading from the front with determination, and personally capturing enemy soldiers and machine-guns, he earned his third valour award, the Empire’s highest honour – the Victoria Cross. He also received his third wound.
A Lifetime of Service...
As a recipient of the Victoria Cross, Milton Gregg would have been hailed a hero if he had decided to return home and settle into a quiet life of farming. But that was not how the story of his life went. After the War, Gregg returned to his studies and graduated from Acadia University in 1921. He also continued his military service with the Canadian Militia. Appointed Sergeant-at-Arms of the Canadian House of Commons in 1934, he took a break from serving Parliament to go overseas in 1939. Gregg embarked on his Second World War service again with The Royal Canadian Regiment. After a transfer to command the West Nova Scotia Regiment, he was promoted to Colonel and returned to Canada in 1942 to command a school for training new officers.
A veteran of both World Wars, Gregg returned to public service in 1947 when he was elected to Parliament. Over the the following decade he would serve his riding of York-Sunbury, and hold the Ministerial appointments of Veterans Affairs and Labour and Minister of Fisheries. Gregg’s regimental service continued in an honorary appointment from 1952 to 1957 and he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967. Milton Fowler Gregg died in 1978. A Canadian hero.
The Background
The Story of Milton Gregg" is intended to be a documentary film to remember and honour a Canadian Hero, Milton Fowler Gregg, Victoria Cross recipient and member of Parliament.
The film will look upon his early days as a boy in New Brunswick, his service with the Black Watch of Canada, and his becoming an officer of The Royal Canadian Regiment. The focus of the documentary will primarily be on the action of September 28th - 30th, 1918, during the historically critical Battle of Canal Du Nord.
With the Allied armies pushing back the retreating German armies in the final months of the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force advanced rapidly during the Hundred Days campaign. At the end of September, 1918, Canadians would fight the Battle of the Canal du Nord. This would be one of the battles of the Hindenburg Line as the Canadians attacked toward the town of Cambrai.
The line of the Canal du Nord in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France was an incomplete section of a canal intended to connect the Oise River and the Dunkirk–Scheldt Canal. The section in front of the Canadians, east of Inchy-en-Artois, would be permanently engraved in the story of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on the first of four days of battle from 27 September to 1 October, 1918. The terrain of the canal had provided the Germans an opportunity to create a defensive position that would take determined effort to break through and open the way to the capture of Cambrai. With this battle, Germany’s last major defensive lines were on the verge of being broken.
On 27 September, General Currie launched the Canadian 1st and 4th Divisions, on a narrow front limited by a large swampy area to the north, across the Canal du Nord and onward to capture three objective lines, “Green,” “Red,” and “Blue.”
This first stage of the battle would capture the town of Bourlon and Bourlon Wood. The Blue line, about 6000 yards past the Canal, extended northward from the east side of Bourlon Wood. Advancing behind rolling barrages of artillery, capturing enemy soldiers, machine guns and artillery as they went, the Canadians were experiencing a very different form of warfare than they had during years of stalemate in relatively static trench lines. At this point the Canadian assault was half-way to Cambrai.
From the Blue line, the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions continued the assault on 28 September. The first objective to their front was the Marcoing Line, a prepared line of defences with heavy wire obstacles blocking the attackers’ approach. The 3rd Canadian Division was attacking from the area of Bourlon Wood towards the northwest outskirts of Cambrai. Within the division, the 9th Canadian Brigade advanced beside the Cambrai-Bapaume Road and the 7th Brigade was beside them to their north. The attack of the 7th Brigade, across relatively featureless terrain for the first 2500 yards, was led by The Royal Canadian Regiment. The 7th Brigade’s other units would carry the assault forward after The RCR had opened the way through the Marcoing Line.
Over four days of fighting from the Canal du Nord to the capture of Cambrai and the towns to the north, the Canadians alternated divisions, brigades, and battalions in the attack. Most units entered that fight on two separate assaults, taking ground and capturing enemy soldiers and weapons, before handing over the lead to fresher troops until they had given all they could. With this fight behind them, their final actions in the last weeks of the war would come soon enough after rest and reinforcement.
FILMING
