“The
attack will be pressed forward with the utmost firmness, and when the German Front Line has been gained,
its consolidation will be vigorously pressed.”
-Para. 4
Operations Order No. 57
1st
Canadian Infantry Brigade
7 July 1916[1]
Just a few days prior,
a heavy thunderstorm had broken the steady weather of hot days. Out of the line, men had been reporting sick
at higher numbers than usual. The day of
this breaking storm, the 4th of July 1916, one battalion medical
officer recorded fifteen men on sick call, four of whom were bad enough to
evacuate to hospital.[2] Heavy rain had soaked the rich Flanders earth
to slick and sticky mud, but after the storm passed, the summer’s heat
continued. What had also remained
constant, rain or shine, day and night along the stiches of trench lines
winding through ground interrupted by singular hills and shattered woods was
the duel between German and Canadian artillery; whose unwitting witness and
victim were the infantry clinging to what shelter these much abused defences
could provide.
At intervals from 6 pm
to midnight on the 8-9th July, the Canadian guns increased their
intensity of fire. “July 8- weather fine
and warm….From 6.00 to 7.40 pm a bombardment of the enemy’s trenches on MOUNT
SORREL took place and also again at 11.40 pm.
At midnight out fire lifted and the infantry advanced.”[3]
This bombardment was concentrated on a particular stretch of the enemy line- one
of the few places still in German hands from two weeks’ worth of back and forth
battles the month before- meant to cut the wire in front of the German position
to clear the way for a party of men from the 4th Canadian Battalion,
led by Captain A.G. Scott, each one of them laden with as many grenades as they
could carry, so that they could finally take back this ground.
In the four years of a
World War, so much can become overlooked, overshadowed and, through that, forgotten. In most references to Canada and the Western
Front, the Battle of Mount Sorrel is well documented. Between June 2-13 the Canadian Corps and the
German forces in the area engaged in a costly struggle. Just after daybreak on the 2nd, “For
four hours a veritable tornado of fire ravaged th Canadian positions from half
a mile west of Mount Sorrel to the northern edge of Sanctuary Wood….The
trenches vanished and the garrisons in them where annihilated.”[4] Such was the intensity and ferocity of
shelling that by the time German troops advanced they “met with very little
resistance (and) in a very short time Mount Sorrel and Hills 61 and 62 were in
German hands.”[5]
It was a shocking
development. While Canadian units had
been afield since spring the year before, operating at corps strength was only
a recent evolution, and in fact, the Canadian Corps had still yet to
incorporate all of its divisions. The 4th
Canadian Division was still organising itself in England and would not embark
for France until August. Perhaps, some
thought, in light of this loss of ground at Mount Sorrel, these colonial
divisions should be kept within British Corps and under closer supervision. Now, not only was it tactically prudent to
counterattack and regain the ground lost, it was becoming a matter of national
pride, and perhaps the result would become the basis on which an independent
Canadian Corps would be judged. This
hasty attempt failed to gain any ground, and it wasn’t until ten days from the
initial assault, after deliberate and meticulous planning that the corps won
through. On the 12-13 June “The
determined Canadian push, ably supported by the artillery successfully
recaptured most of the ground lost.”[6]
The fight at Mount
Sorrel in its initial stages had all the attendant elements of a Great War
battle. Artillery and mines devastated
the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles to a shadow of its nominal roll and
a desperate stand by the PPCLI at Sanctuary Wood against terrible odds kept the
line from entire collapse and showed the plucky resolve which captures public
imagination. Continuing to the well
organised and brilliantly executed counterattack which presaged how battles were
to be won in this war and vindicated the young Canadian Corps, these two weeks
of action at Mount Sorrel wrap up quite nicely.
This is where the narrative of history leaves off. Even Colonel Nicholson’s expansive official
volume pauses here, picking up the story of Canada’s war in September, upon the
Corps’ movement to the Somme area of operations. Yet, the 12-13 of June was not quite the end
of things at Mount Sorrel- revealed above in Professor Cook’s use of the phrase
“recaptured most of the
ground lost.” (emphasis mine)
I myself had little
notion of this and honestly stumbled upon it while researching something else
altogether. Understandably these ten
weeks from mid-June to September are overlooked; indeed overshadowed by the
shocking bloodiness of the British offensives in July; but for Captain Scott
and his men about to strike out at midnight between 8-9 July, those events
further south were of little consequence to them.
The enemy had been
observed strengthening position-those still remaining in German hands since th
Major William Rae DSO,
Officer Commanding 4th Battalion had placed himself well forward to
observe the attack. Just after dark, he
had sent patrols out to discern the state of the enemy’s wire. Zero hour was only moments away, and the
reports were not promising. Some small
gaps had been cut, but along much of the attack’s front, the wire was mostly
intact. Counterbattery fire against the Canadian gun line had reduced their
capacity to commit effectively to the bombardment of German trenches. The 5th
Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, although suffering no casualties or losses
of guns had been hit so severely it was forced to move and did not contribute
to the entire fire plan.[8] Major Rae was faced with a difficult decision,
certainly not one which is enviable. Resigned
that it was “too late to make any change in the plan,” Major Rae ordered the
attack be carried out.
It turned out to be an
impossible job. The wire was strung in
thick coils, breast high and several rows deep.
Gaps which the scouts had reported were only apparent in the forward
most row, “the succeeding ones being practically intact.” One of the first field reports taken from
Major Rae’s superiors at 1st Brigade to the command at 1st
Division relayed “our advance was met by heavy MG and rifle fire and bombs AAA Casualties
not definitely ascertained.”[9] Major Rae’s after-action report corroborates “Most
of our casualties were due to the bombs of which the Germans threw a very large
number.” Something else had gone terribly wrong, the attacking party lost a
great deal of cohesion when “the leaders and most of the leading groups of the
parties became casualties almost immediately.”[10]
Captain Scott was
killed just moments into the attack; Lieutenant Ansley, only just arrived
overseas two days prior, was lost; believed to also have been killed, though by
late August was known to be a prisoner of war in German hands. Lieutenant Greacen was terribly wounded, the
second time in two months, hit several times with grenade fragments at the
beginning of the attack, but rallied his men to go forward for a second attempt,
refusing medical treatment until he could make his report to the CO. Company
Sergeant-Major Rusk despite having a foot blown off, stayed with his men and continued
to direct them throughout the attack.
Men came back to Canadian lines, in great excitement, to request more
bombs in order to press the assault home.
It was of no use. Within the
first hour and a half of the operation, Major Rae “decided to discontinue the
attack and consolidate our position.”
Major Rae sums up his
report by stating “I consider the behaviour of the men as worthy of the highest
praise….even after they discovered the nature of the obstacle confronting them,
they continued their efforts to overcome it, notwithstanding their casualties.”[11] These were: 13 killed, 22 wounded and 6
missing. It might not seem much in a war
that for British and Commonwealth forces cost an average of 1,723 casualties
each day, but it illustrates that even at times considered “quiet”, periods
glossed over by texts and narratives, men were putting their lives at risk, a
risk sometimes forgotten when this occurs in a three month period encapsulated
in the Official History by one sentence as “The Canadian Corps remained in the
Ypres Salient until the beginning of September, its role ‘stationary yet
aggressive.’”[12]
[1] Operations Order No. 57, Appendix B, 1st
Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary July 1916
[2] War Diary Entry, 31st Battalion Medical
Officer, 4th July 1916
[3] War Diary Entry, 6th Brigade Canadian Field
Artillery, 8th July 1916
[4] Nicholson Col GWL “Canadian Expeditionary Force:
Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War” Roger Duhomel,
Queen’s Printer Ottawa, 1962 pp 148-9
[5] Marteinson, John “We Stand on Guard: An Illustrated
History of the Canadian Army” Ovale Publications 1992 pg. 137
[6] Cook, Tim “At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the
Great War 1914-1916” Penguin Canada 2008 pg. 373
[9] Message rec’d by 1st Canadian Division, 9th
July 1916 from 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade, appended to 1st
Can Div. War Diary July 1916
[10] After action Report, submitted by Major W. Rae, OC 4th
Bn. on actions of 8/9 July 1916, appended to 4th Bn. War Diary July
1916
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