Details of the 53rd Sherbrooke Regiment were placed on active service for local protective duty on 6 August 1914.
First World War battles
Battle honours in small capitals are for large operations and campaigns and those in lowercase are for more specific battles. Bold type indicates honours authorized to be emblazoned on the regimental guidon.
MOUNT SORREL 2–13 June 16, (Battle of Hill 62) was a local operation by three divisions of the British Second Army and three divisions of the German 4th Army. It was also 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade's first action. Located in the Ypres Salient, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of Ypres, Belgium and 1,100 m (1,200 yd) from Hill 60, the battle took place along a ridge between Hooge and Zwarteleen in a smaller area called the Wieltje Salient. It was notable that the brigade commander Brigadier General Victor Williams was captured, and 5th CMR's commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Baker, Member of Parliament, was killed in action. Baker is buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery. [32] [33]
SOMME 1916, 1 July-18 November 16, also known as the Somme Offensive, was fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place on both sides of the upper reaches of the River Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history. [34]
Flers-Courcelette 15-22 Sep 16 was two and a half months into the Battle of the Somme. By that stage, the objective was a west-east line between the villages of Courcelette and Flers. The 8th Infantry Brigade with 5th CMR were on the left of 3rd Canadian Division's front providing flank protection, and was also successful in its attack in front of Mouquet Farm. In all, Flers-Courcelette had been far more successful than any British operation during the previous two months. If the employment of tanks had been premature, work was continuing on other weapons and methods. [35] [36]
Ancre Heights 1 October-11 November 16, is the name given to the continuation of British attacks after the Battle of Thiepval Ridge from 26 to 28 September during the Battle of the Somme. The battle was conducted by the Reserve Army (renamed Fifth Army on 29 October) from Courcelette near the Albert–Bapaume road, west to Thiepval on Bazentin Ridge. 5CMR was on the extreme right of 3rd Division flanking 2nd Division. 4th and 5th CMR were to block off Regina Trench from German counter-attacks from the west. Both battalions, met heavy machine gun fire as soon as they left their own trenches. Uncut German wire was a major hindrance to the advance, and one company was virtually eliminated between the opposing trenches. Part of one company reached Regina Trench but was overwhelmed and destroyed. The left forward company of the 5th CMR managed to reach the objective also, established a blocking position, but were driven out early on the morning of 2 October by continuous counter-attacks. Another assault company was impeded by wire and machine gun fire and recorded only 15 survivors, the rest either killed or captured. [37] [38]
ARRAS, 1917, 8 Apr-4 May 17 (also known as the Second Battle of Arras) was a British offensive. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun, surpassing the record set by the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916. [39]
Vimy Ridge, 1917, 9-12 Apr 17 was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of the German 6th ArmyBattle of Vimy Ridge order of battle. The battle took place at the beginning of the Battle of Arras, the first attack of the Nivelle Offensive which was intended to attract German reserves from the French, before their attempt at a decisive offensive on the Aisne and the Chemin des Dames ridge further south. [40]
HILL 70, 15–25 August 1917 was fought between the Canadian Corps and four divisions of the German 6th Army along the Western Front on the outskirts of Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France between 15 and 25 August 1917. Lens is immediately north of Vimy Ridge. The lessons of Vimy Ridge were well known to the planning staff, and the battle was fought by many of the officers and men. [41]
YPRES, 1917 31 July-10 November 17; also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was a British campaign from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. [42]
The First Battle of Passchendaele was fought west of Passchendaele village. The British had planned to capture the ridges south and east of the city of Ypres. Passchendaele lay on the last ridge 5 mi (8.0 km) from the railway junction at Roulers, which was an important part of the supply system of the German 4th Army. During this battle, although wounded, Major George R Pearkes, 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, age 29 years old and an acting major earned the Victoria Cross(VC) for most conspicuous bravery and skillful handling of the troops under his command during the capture and consolidation of considerably more than the objectives allotted to him, in an attack.
AMIENS 8–11 August 1918, also known as the Third Battle of Picardy was the opening phase of the Allied offensive, later known as the Hundred Days Offensive. The push ultimately led to the end of the First World War. Allied forces advanced over 11 kilometres (7 mi) on the first day, one of the greatest advances of the war, with Gen Henry Rawlinson's British Fourth Army (with 9 of its 19 divisions supplied by the fast moving Australian Corps of Lt Gen John Monash and Canadian Corps of Lt Gen Arthur Currie) playing the decisive role. [43]
Scarpe 1918 26–30 August 1918, was part of the Hundred Days Offensive. On the first day, 26 August, the Canadian Corps advanced over 5 kilometers and captured the towns of Monchy-le-Preux and Wancourt. Lt. Charles Smith Rutherford VC MC MM of 5 CMR performed actions that would earn him the Victoria Cross(VC). He captured a German party of 45, including two officers and three machine-guns, then captured another pill-box along with another 35 prisoners and their guns. [44]
ARRAS 1918 26 August – 3 September 1918, also known as The Second Battle of the Somme of 1918 was fought in the basin of the River Somme. It was part of a series of successful counter-offensives in response to the German Spring Offensive, after a pause for redeployment and supply. [45]
HINDENBURG LINE, 12 September – 9 October 1918, which included the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. As German defences collapsed and the army withdrew, the Allies planned a series of concentric attacks on the Germans (sometimes referred to as the Grand Offensive). Each axis of advance was designed to cut German lateral communications. The main German positions were anchored on the so-called Hindenburg Line, a series of defensive fortifications stretching from Cerny on the Aisne river to Arras. [46]
The Battle of St. Quentin Canal was a pivotal battle and involved British, Australian and American forces operating as part of the British Fourth Army. Further north, part of the British Third Army, south of the Fourth Army's 19 km (12 mi) front, was the French First Army's 9.5 km (6 mi) front. The objective was to break through one of the most heavily defended stretches of the German Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line), which in this sector included the St. Quentin Canal as part of its defences. The assault achieved its objectives (though not according to the planned timetable), resulting in the first full breach of the Hindenburg Line, in the face of heavy German resistance. [47]
Canal du Nord 27 Sep 2 October 1918, was a continuation of the Hundred Days Offensive by the Allies against German positions. The battle took place along an incomplete portion of the Canal du Nord and on the outskirts of Cambrai. To prevent the Germans from sending reinforcements against one attack, the assault along the Canal du Nord was part of a sequence of Allied attacks at along the Western Front. [48]
Cambrai, 1918 8-9 Oct 18 (also known as the Second Battle of Cambrai) was a battle took place in and around the French city of Cambrai. The battle incorporated many of the newer tactics of 1918, in particular tanks. The attack was an overwhelming success with light casualties in an extremely short amount of time. [49]
VALENCIENNES 1-2 November 1918 was part of the Hundred Days Offensive on 1 and 2 November 1918, it resulted in the capture of Valenciennes from the Germans by Canadian and British forces. The city formed an anchor point for the so-called Hermann Line, and after it came under punishing Canadian artillery fire, over 1800 prisoners surrendered to the attacking Canadian battalions. [50]
SAMBRE 4 November 1918, was part of the final European Allied offensives of World War I. German resistance was falling away. Unprecedented numbers of prisoners were taken in the Battle of the Selle, and a new attack was quickly prepared. The French First Army and the British First, Third, and Fourth Armies were tasked with advancing along a 30-mile (48 km) front toward Maubeuge-Mons. Together with the American forces breaking out of the forests of Argonne, the attack disrupted German efforts to reform a shortened defensive line along the Meuse. By aggressively pursuing retreating formations, two Canadian divisions were able to roll up three different defensive lines. [51]
FRANCE AND FLANDERS 1915-18. [52]
The Western Front was the main theatre of war for Canada during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France.
Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made.
The unstoppable advance of the Allied armies during the Hundred Days Offensive of 1918 caused a sudden collapse of the German armies and persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable. The German government surrendered in the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and the terms of peace were settled by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
