Private Denyes (from Lennox, Nova Scotia) joined
the 164th Infantry Battalion along with many of the Milton boys
in March of 1916. Alexander Denyes was the son of James Malcolm and Mary Denyes
(of J. M. Denyes School name).
He to was taken on strength with the
102nd Infantry Battalion (11th Brigade, 4th Canadian Division) in February 1918, arrived in France on
April 1, 1918 and was KIA on September 2, 1918. He had
been appointed Acting Lance Corporal and requested he be demoted
to Private.
On August 8, 1918 the CEF entered into what was to be know as
"Canada's Hundred Days", as the trench warfare turned
mobile and the Canadian's started a fast paced battle that took
them from Amiens, through Cambrai and on to Mons. Still, many
Canadian soldiers paid the ultimate price, so close to the end
of the war.
On the date of his death on September
2, 1918 the War Diary reports that the 102nd was fighting for the Vis-en-Artois
Switch, France as part of the Battle of Arras at the Drocourt-Quéant
Line (Nicholson
Chapter 14). The unit was to the west of the Canal du
Nord, hard on the heels of the 87th Infantry Battalion. The 4th
Canadian Division had moved through Vis-en-Artois along the
Arras-Cambrai Road.
The details of the action of September 2, 1918 are provided
in APPENDIX
to the unit war diary. Heavy machine gun fire was decimating
the unit.
The D-Q Line was taken that day, and
Private Denyes paid the ultimate price. Much of the HQ
unit was killed that day as well.
