Battles for Mount Sorrell

[kerry]

Dear Pals,

could you please advise on sources of information regarding the battles and relevance of Mount Sorrell, bwteeen Hill 60 and Hill62? Was the allied effort purely Canadian or were British units involved, if so, which? Did it remain in German hands for the majority of the War as did Hill 60?

Grateful for any pointers. Many thanks

Kerry

[ypres1418]

Kerry,

Once on a walk there our guide was telling us a little of the fighting of 29th/30th june?

Apparently a Padre (?Canadian) was near the front and on seeing so many men go down was seen to pick up a rifle and charge firing at the Germans, he was not seen again.

Don't recall the name of the padre I'm afraid.

Mandy

[Bert Heyvaert]

Kerry,

The fighting at Mount Sorrel was a typical scenario for the fightings in the saliënt during 1916. Just as at the Bluff in februari and march, The British (here Canadians) had to give up their positions, but than bombarded the lost ground and the german supply lines so heavily that they could not consolidate the ground or keep it. I read a German account that they were impressed with the opposition put up by the Canadians, especially by the artillerists, who defended their guns till the very end.

regards,

Bert

[Aurel Sercu]

Canada at War - The German Attack on Mount Sorrel, pp. 85-96 in : Sanctuary Wood & Hooge, Ypres, by Nigel Cave. Series 'Battleground of Europe'

Aurel

[Dragon]

Hi Kerry

Further to the PM I sent you, if you visit here: Mountsorrel (Leics) village website, then click on About Mountsorrel, then click on History, on the mini-menu at the top of that page you’ll see The Battle of Mount Sorrel 1915.

Clicking on that will take you to an account, which I hope will be helpful.

I will scan and email other material as promised.

Gwyn

[kerry]

Many thanks for these most helpful repplies - I will follow up the leads.

Kerry

[chris.wight]

The 8th Brigade, Canadian Mounted Rifles, suffered very heavily, out of 702 men with the 4th C.M.R. holding the line, 76 remained uninjured. Two of the four C.M.R. Colonels were killed and one forced to surrender. Brigadier General V. Williams was badly wounded and captured while Major General M.S. Mercer was killed (they had picked an inopportune time to visit the front lines).

Kerry, have a look at some of the Canadian War Diaries of the Battalions involved:

4th Canadian Mounted Rifles War Diary

5th Canadian Mounted Rifles

1st Canadian Mounted Rifles

You will also find other interesting entries in the other Battalions of the 3rd Canadian Division.

[laughton]

If you are interested in Mount Sorrel you will want to watch Norm Christie's DVD on "Lost Battlefields" as it deals with that battle quite well.

This is the information on the DVD:

http://www.cefbooks.ca/Code/DVDLostBattlefields.html

To place an order, go to the main site:

http://www.cefbooks.ca/

[Borden Battery]

There are seventeen (17) references to Mount Sorrell in the following official history. You can download the complete document at the following site:

Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War

- Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson, C.D., Army Historical Section

This is the classic reference text [the Bible] for any student of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The original text is very difficult to obtain, however, the document is now available in .pdf format directly from the historical section of the Canadian Armed Forces website. [Note: The pagination in the online document is different than the original document - therefore citations with page number references cannot be used.]

http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dhh/downloads/O...ories/CEF_e.PDF