Canadian Military History Guide Sample Edition Volume I, 2025 Remembering Canadian Heroes — A tribute to unforgettable contributions
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For soldiers in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), there was little time for celebrating the New Year during the few first days of 1915. Having arrived in France just weeks before, the battalion was now on the move towards Ypres, Belgium. It could not have been a pleasant march; the soldiers’ Canadian issue boots were defective with the soles disintegrating in the wet of a Flanders winter. The unit diary of 5 January notes, “Bn (battalion) much handicapped from want of boots” followed the next day with this comment, “Lack of boots much felt many men marching with no soles at all to their boots.” It was not the most auspicious beginning for what would become one of Canada’s most storied units. Canada was not yet ready to send a contingent overseas when war was declared in early August, 1914. It would take several months to assemble, train, and transport Canada’s first contingent to Europe. Not willing to wait, thirty-two year old Montreal millionaire Hamilton Gault took matters into his own hands and offered the Government $100,000 (about 2.5 million in 2016 dollars) to raise and equip a battalion for overseas service. In order to expedite mobilization of the unit, men with previous military service were sought. Some By John Goheen The First of Many Above Princess Patricia inspecting the PPCLI in 1919, Library and Archives Canada.
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3,000 applicants were recruited within eight days from which 1098 were selected - 96% of them having served in the Boer War or in the British Army. Named after Princess Patricia, the daughter of Canada’s Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, the PPCLI was Canada’s first in the field —the first Canadian unit to go overseas in 1914 and, in early January 1915 days, the first on active service in the Great War - the first of many. On Jan. 6, 1915, the PPCLI took over 1,150 yards of the front line near Voormezele, southwest of Ypres, Belgium. The conditions were appalling, the trenches resembling muddy ditches, really. Recently occupied by the French, they were found in a miserable state — “filled with water and conditions trying,” according to the unit diary. Then, on the morning of Jan. 8, the diary records “the enemy shelled trenches with shrapnel and HE (high explosives)… casualties slight.” This was just the beginning. Few of those originals would see summer, let alone the next New Year. Among those original PPCLI men were 35-year-old L/Cpl. Henry Bellinger of Brantford, Ont. and 27-year-old L/Cpl. Norman Fry of Ottawa. These men were typical of the early war makeup of the battalion. Both were British-born with a decade each of previous military experience in the British army. Both had come to Canada to start a new life but quickly answered the call when Gault raised the PPCLI. Sadly, they would share one more thing in common. Those “slight casualties” noted on Jan. 8 included two killed; while we do not know who was killed first, “the enemy shelled trenches with shrapnel and he (high explosives)… casualties slight.” war diary, jan. 6th
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Bellinger and Fry were the first Canadian soldiers killed in the Great War. They would not be the last. The killing fields of the Western Front would exact a terrible toll on the PPCLI and the 47 other Canadian fighting battalions that would ultimately serve in the war. One hundred years on, Canadians should remember that the Great War marked a pivotal turning point in our nation’s history. For the first time, Canada played an important, and ultimately decisive, role on the world stage and, in doing so, began to develop a national identity at a great cost. The war changed how others viewed Canada and how we viewed ourselves. Sadly, many Canadians have forgotten the Great War and do not realize that it was the greatest and most traumatic chapter in our history. Canada was a small country in 1914, with a population of just over 7.2 million. Most people lived in rural communities and even our largest city, Montreal, had fewer than 500,000 people — with Vancouver just over 100,000. Our pre-war regular army was insignificant by any standard, with just a few thousand trained soldiers, 600 horses and a scattering of militia units across the country. Yet within three years, the small Dominion fielded the four-divisionstrong Canadian Corps, a “national’ army, really, and hailed as one of the best — and perhaps the very best fighting formation on the Western Front. Canada’s first major action was at Ypres in April 1915, when the 18,000 men of the 1st Canadian Division prevented an Allied rout by holding the line against gas and overwhelming numbers at a cost of progress of the battle of the somme between 1 july and 18 november.
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more than 6,000 casualties including 2,000 killed in just three days. Far worse would come. By the time the Canadians entered the Somme Campaign in late August 1916, more than 11,000 Canadians had already been killed in the war. By then, two more divisions were overseas and, by the end of the year, a fourth division joined the Canadian Corps in the field. Their 10 weeks in the Somme bloodbath in the fall of 1916 marked some of that campaign’s few successes; 24,000 Canadian casualties were grim testimony to the nature of the fighting. The Canadians were learning the business and cost of war. Stunning victories the following year at Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and Passchendaele marked the Canadian Corps as an elite formation. They were earning a reputation, they were good and they knew it. Canadian achievements on the battlefield came at a heavy cost — more than 35,000 casualties in those three 1917 battles was grim testimony to the price of success. But it was in 1918 that the Canadians would play a decisive role in a series of major battles known as the “Hundred Days” between August and November. They “were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another.” Soldiers digging a communication trench through Delville Wood, Imperial War Museum.
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The Corps’ reputation as shock troops was solidified for all time at Amiens, the Scarpe, the dQ Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai and the final push to Mons. The Canadian contribution was decisive at this stage of the war. They took on one quarter of the entire German army on the Western Front. They smashed the hinge of the German defence system and made it possible for the overall Allied advance that ended the war. These last three months accounted for 20% of all Canadian casualties in the Great War — almost 46,000 killed, wounded or missing. Four years of war transformed a citizen army of volunteers into a highly effective fighting force — they were the finest army Canada ever put into the field. The list of Canadian achievements was outstanding, the cost was staggering. More than 600,000 Canadians enlisted and just over 400,000 went overseas to fight for “King and Empire” in the Great War. of those 345,000 served on the Western Front; more than 68,000 were killed and another 176,000 wounded — more than 245,000 Canadian casualties in four years of war. We live in a fast-paced world, where younger eyes seem fixed on the present and the future rather than on the past, and 100 years is a long time. Yet the passage of time does not make the contributions and sacrifices of those Canadians who served any less significant. Charles Laking, Canada’s last living witness to combat in the Great War, died more than a decade ago. Now that they are all gone, it is left to the rest of us to remember. “To you from failing hands we throw the torch….”
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adanaC Military Cemetery (the name was formed by reversing the letters of “Canada”) is located near the village of Courcelette in the Somme. It’s what’s known as a “concentration cemetery” - such cemeteries were created after the armistice when the former battlefields were cleared of the debris of battle in the 1920’s. Thousands of small cemeteries and isolated battlefield burials littered the French and Belgian countryside; the decision was made to concentrate all the isolated graves and many of the smaller cemeteries into existing sites or to create new cemeteries where the graves could be better tended. adanaC was created by bringing wartime burials, mostly from the Canadian battlefields of 1916, in from the surrounding area. The cemetery is situated on a Canadian battle site. Looking south from the cemetery, the grain fields of today were once war-torn terrain over which Canadian units attempted to take the infamous regina Trench positions on 8 october 1916. among those buried at adanaC are soldiers who were killed within a few hundred meters of the cemetery. Today there are now 3,187 Commonwealth burials and commemorations from the great War in adanaC. More than half of the burials are unidentified with special memorials commemorating thirteen casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Wartime burials were often hurried and sometimes the fighting continued over ground where By John goheen THE PIPER
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soldiers were buried. Remains were often destroyed, lost, or rendered unidentifiable, especially with earlier in the war burials. In more than twenty-five years of leading tours to the sites of memory and meaning on the old Western Front, I have visited ADANAC dozens of times and on only one occasion have I ever encountered another visitor from outside of our tour group. Despite its grand scale and because of the high percentage of unknown burials, ADANAC is largely a “forgotten” place. That is why on the day I did saw someone else in the cemetery, I took immediate notice. But then this other visitor was hard not to miss. He was kilted and wore a Great War highland uniform. A set of pipes rested on his shoulder. I watched as this lone piper made his way with purpose along the rows of burials and stopped at one specific grave. He came to quiet attention. I knew who he was visiting. He filled his pipes with air and proceeded to play a Lament. There in that windswept and forgotten cemetery situated on a former battlefield, the lone piper paid fitting tribute to another piper, who came this way long before. I knew the headstone the piper visited was that of Piper James Richardson, VC. James Cleland Richardson, known as Jimmy, was born in Scotland in 1895, one of seven children in the Richardson family. Like so many other families in the UK at the time who sought opportunity, they came to Canada. The family moved sometime between 1911 and 1913 and initially lived in Vancouver but then moved to Chilliwack where James’ father became Chief of Police. James worked as an apprentice electrician in the False Creek area and joined the cadet corps of the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and soon became a Piper in the regiment’s pipe band. James was just a few months shy of his 19th birthday when the Great War began in August 1914. Soon after he volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was taken on strength on 23 September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec. He was then assigned to 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), as a piper. The Battalion sailed for Britain in early October 1914 and arrived in France on 9 February 1915. James’ baptism of fire came in April 1915 when the 16th Battalion, as part of the 1st Canadian Division, helped stem the German offensive at St Julien, Belgium. On 22nd April, the Canadian Scottish were part of a night attack to flush the advancing Germans out of Kitcheners’ Wood. In this action, James reached a farmhouse, around which a group of Germans were sheltering from the heavy fire. James was spotted by a German officer who waved his men forward, but James shot him and ran back to tell his Sergeant Major of the German positions. James was lucky to survive this first action. The 16th Battalion started off with just over 800 men that night; by the next morning only 5 officers and 263 men were left to answer roll call. By the summer of 1916, the Canadian Expeditionary Force had expanded to three divisions in the field with a fourth on its way. While the Canadians were deployed in Belgium around Ypres, the bulk of the British Army had assembled to the south in France in preparation for the Somme Offensive.
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The British artillery pounded the German position for a week prior to their attack set for 1 July 1916. More than 1.5 million shells rained down on the German front line positions. This massive artillery effort was desigbed to so weaken the German defenses that the British assault would be a walk over – a matter of crossing No Man’s Land to occupy the German positions. To the surprise and shock of many in the first wave that morning, the Germans manned their line in strength. They had simply endured the British bombardment in deep undergrounds shelters – some as deep as 45-60 feet. They then emerged from their dugouts and manned their machined guns and mowed down the advancing British infantry. By the end of the day more than 19,000 were killed and more than 38,000 wounded for little gains. The first day of July 1916 remains the single most costly day in British military history. While no Canadian units participated in the opening of the battle, the Newfoundland Regiment, from Britain’s oldest colony, assaulted German positions at Beaumont-Hamel. The cost to the tiny colony was high. Of the 721 Newfoundlanders that participated in action that morning, 619 became casualties included 234 killed. Many families in Newfoundland were devastated – it was said that the Newfoundlander’s assault failed “because dead men can advance no further.” The Somme offensive ground on through July and August with little gains to show for the enormous casualties suffered on both sides. At the beginning of September, the Canadians entered this bloodbath. Moving from Belgium, the 1st Division, including the 16th Battalion and Piper Richardson, took over a sector of front near Pozières from the exhausted Australians who had suffered 23,000 casualties in their six weeks on the Somme. The 16th Battalion was involved in a series of local attacks between 4 and 7 September and suffered 349 casualties. This was just the beginning. Joined by the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, the Canadian assaults continued. By October they were poised to assault the infamous Regina Trench, reputed to be the longest German Trench system on the Western Front. In the pre-dawn hours of 8 October, with a cold rain falling, the kilted soldiers of the 16th waited for the order to attack. Richardson was not originally included to go in on this assault. However, so strongly did he plead to be permitted to “go in” that his battalion commanded relented. At 4:40 am, the artillery opened up on the enemy positions and the Canadian Scottish went “over the top.” The artillery was supposed to cut the German barbed wire but the first Canadians to reach the wire entanglements found them very much intact. The attack soon stalled as the Scots, failing to breach the wire, went to ground. Richardson had not yet been ordered to play his pipes that morning, but sizing up the desperate situation facing the Battalion, he turned to his Sergeant Major and in his thick Scottish brogue asked, “Will I gie ‘em wind…?” “Ay mon, gie ‘em wind” was the Sergeant Major’s reply. What happened next is nothing short of unbelievable. Ignoring the withering German machine
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gun fire and artillery bursts, richardson rose from the meagre protection of a shell hole and began to play his pipes. He strode up and down the wire playing with the “greatest coolness.” By all rights he should have been killed. Watching the site of their seemingly immune piper defying all odds, the inspired 16th men rose to their feet and charged the german wire and were soon through to the enemy trenches. richardson was later awarded the Victoria Cross for his selfless act of valour. Miraculously he survived the battle and was detailed to take back a wounded comrade and some prisoners. after proceeding some distance, richardson realized that he left his pipes behind and turned back towards the front line to retrieve them. The piper who had survived a hailstorm of fire that morning was never seen alive again. His body was not found until 1920. richardson was one of the almost 8000 Canadians killed on the Somme in the late summer and fall of 1916. Curiously, his pipes were found by British army chaplain, Major edward Yeld Bate in 1917. He pulled the pipes out of the mud and took them back to the school in Scotland where he taught after the war. richardson’s remained in Scotland until 2006, when the Canadian Club of Vancouver purchased this incredible artifact. You can now see richardson’s pipes on display in the rotunda of British Columbia’s Legislature in Victoria. as the last notes of the lone piper’s lament faded into the winds blowing through lonely adanaC that day, I was glad that I was not alone. rICHardSon’S VC CITaTIon For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when, prior to attack, he obtained permission from his Commanding officer to play his company “over the top”. as the Company approached the objective, it was held up by very strong wire and came under intense fire, which caused heavy casualties and demoralised the formation for the moment. realising the situation, piper richardson strode up and down outside the wire, playing his pipes with the greatest coolness. The effect was instantaneous. Inspired by his splendid example, the company rushed the wire with such fury and determination that the obstacle was overcome and the position captured. Later, after participating in bombing operations, he was detailed to take back a wounded comrade and prisoners. after proceeding about 200 yards, piper richardson remembered that he had left his pipes behind. although strongly urged not to do so, he insisted on returning to recover his pipes. He has never been seen since, and death has been presumed accordingly owing to lapse of time.
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Situated on top of a gentle rise just a few kilometres inland from the Normandy coast in France is Beny sur Mer Canadians War Cemetery. Once a corner of a farmer’s field, it is now the final resting place for 2048 soldiers and airmen, mostly all Canadian. Killed in the days and weeks following the Allied D-Day invasion on 6 June 1944. Among the scores of maple leaf-etched headstones is that of Arthur Bouchard, a private from le Regiment de la Chaudiere, age 28. The inscription on his headstone, selected by his parents and wife read, “LE DERNIER CADEAU DE L’AMOUR SOUVENIR” (love’s last gift – remembrance). Simply stated, the inscription is a powerful reminder of the very least every Canadian should do – remember Private Bouchard and the more than 100,000 Canadians killed in the service of Canada, in war and in peace. But howwell dowe remember? With each passing year, the wars of living memory slip increasingly closer to the stuff of history books and the currency of historians. When you consider that the number of Canadian Second World War veterans is well below 30,000 now and decreasing rapidly with each By John Goheen HowWell DoWe Remember?
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passing month, the day will come when there are no more. Those comrades of Private Bouchard who came home and are still with is, have an average age of 95. The average age for the Korean War is 88. Anyone who attends, Remembrance Day ceremonies each 11 November can tell you that the ranks of old soldiers grow thin. BUT hOWWELL DOWE REMEMBER? Certainly there is no shortage of material available. Major First and Second World War anniversaries and commemorations abroad are widely covered by the media and attended by Canadians. The 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge in 2017 was attended by approximately 25,000 Canadians who made the trip overseas in what was the largest mass movement of Canadians in peacetime. Bookstores are full of recent and outstanding Canadian military histories and in recent years, the growing number of podcasts and webinars devoted to Canadian military history is astounding. In universities across Canada, Canadian military history, once virtually ignored, has enjoyed new life with exceptional programs offered across the country for the past few decades. A new generation of historians are now reexamining Canada’s wars with a newfound energy. All these indicators are hopeful and may bode well for the future – Canadians appear interested. But remembrance is more than an academic pursuit. Knowing our history is critical, but for remembrance to remain vital and meaningful, for our bond to Private Bouchard and all those who never came home, or came home never the same, it requires more than information. Remembrance must also come from the heart. I am encouraged by the strong attendance at yearly Remembrance Day ceremonies, especially the strong presence of young families. It does appear, that while the number of veterans decrease with each passing year, more and more citizens come out to remember. It must also be said that too many more Canadians are doing anything but remembering on 11 November. On the day, shopping malls are full of people chasing down those “Remembrance Day Sales.” I have heard of people who choose to work on Remembrance Day so they can get an extra day off at some other more Crowds gather at the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge.
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convenient time. “Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by?” asks the age-old scripture. While we sometimes struggle to preserve remembrance at home, it may be timely to consider how others remember Canada’s enormous sacrifices. Seventy-seven years ago, this fall, Canadians were fighting and dying in the Scheldt on their way to liberating the Netherlands from four years of Nazi oppression. The price for Dutch freedom was high and largely paid for by Canadians; ultimately more than 7600 Canadians were killed in the Netherlands. The Dutch remember If you visit the little town of Doetinchem in the Netherlands, a traveler will immediately notice something unusual about this otherwise usual Dutch town. In a gesture of remembrance for the Canadians who came this way many years before, the good citizens of Doetinchem changed the street names in their town to Canadian place names a couple of decades ago – Vancouverstraat, Toronotostraat and other similarly named streets are permanent and daily reminders to everyone that the Dutch remember well. About an hour’s drive north is the village of Holten and the nearby Holten Canadians War Cemetery. Set in the middle of a forest, this immaculately kept cemetery
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contains the 1381 burials of which 1355 are Canadian. Killed in the last months of the war, almost every unit in 1st Canadian Army is represented here – sad testimony to the bitter fighting even in the war’s final months. The people of Holten remember. Major ceremonies are held at the cemetery on our Remembrance Day in November, on Dutch Liberation Day on 4 May and perhaps most poignant of all, on Christmas Eve. It is this latter commemoration that shows how remembrance comes from the heart. Every Christmas Eve since 1991, when the tradition began, local school children come to Holten Cemetery to remember the Canadians laid to rest here in 1945. Born long after the war, these are children of Canada’s sacrifice and they are taught the meaning of remembrance. About 300 children participate in the ceremony that begins at dusk. The children go among the graves and place a lit candle at the base of each headstone. With snow on the ground and the dark surrounding forest, the cemetery is illuminated by the glow of 1381 candles. This beautiful and touching vigil lasts until midnight. This special tribute parallels the long-established Dutch tradition in the spring when children place flowers on all the graves throughout the country. The Dutch truly remember. In a country where most of its citizens were born long after the war, they make a determined effort to remember well. I doubt they will ever forgo their meaningful traditions of remembrance that purposely involve their children in favour of longer hours to shop or sleep in.
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The Dutch remember the Canadians with their minds and hearts. More Canadians should do the same. Not just on 11 November but always. How well do you remember? LE DERNIER CADEAU DE L’AMOUR SOUVENIR
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Once upon a time before COVID changed how and if we traveled, Canadians who came to Normandy in France to see where D-Day happened would typically visit sites along the ten-kilometer strip of coastline designated Juno Beach by Allied planners. Most plan their visit around the Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer; about 300,000 Canadians have visited the site since its opening in June 2003. Far less will go to the other actual landing sites just minutes away. Fewer still, a handful by comparison, will travel, or even know to travel, just a few kilometers inland where other lesser known but no less significant stories of Canada’s Normandy Campaign are found. One of these Canadian stories occurred not far from the Norman capital of Caen. Located near the villages of Authie and Buron, about a twenty-minute drive from the coast, is the Abbaye d’Ardenne. Built in the 11thcentury, the Abbaye was home to a religious order and over the centuries was subjected to sieges, lootings, and war. But perhaps the Abbaye’s darkest chapter is a much more recent one involving Canadians seventyseven years ago. On the morning of 6 June 1944, the largest seaborne invasion in history was launched along an eighty kilometer stretch of Norman coastline – D-Day. Within hours tens of thousands Canadian, British, and American soldiers were ashore and moving inland to form a bridgehead. The Canadian advance was made by the 3rd Infantry Division supported tanks of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. While new to battle, the Canadians in Normandy were well trained and equipped. In fact, they were the most powerful Allied formation to land on 6 June. As the Canadians gained their foothold in France, the Germans called in reserves to the counter the allied advance. By John Goheen The Garden
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In the last hours of 6 June, elements of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 12th SS Hitler Youth Division moved into the Canadian area of operations. Lead elements arrived at the Abbaye d’Ardenne and established their headquarters. They spent 6 June making their way to reach the invasion area and the Canadians. The 12th SS was a new but powerful formation with about 20,000 men with attached armour and artillery. Their ranks were comprised of fanatical young soldiers who had been indoctrinated in Nazi ideology as boys in the Hitler Jugend (Youth). Devoted to Hitler and contemptuous of their opponents, they were characterized by a “dangerous combination of selfrighteousness, brutality, patriotic fervor, sophisticated training, and simplistic ideology.” On the morning of the 7th, they prepared to counterattack the Canadians and “throw the little fish back into the sea.” Meanwhile, the Canadians had done well on D-Day; they advanced further inland than any other allied formation. While they did not reach their final D-Day objectives on 6 June, they prepared to continue their push inland push on the morning of the 7th. The Canadians spent a rather restless night after D-Day; one can only imagine how these young soldiers felt after that first time in battle and the preceding days of nervous anticipation. Then as night came, they awaited the German counterattack everyone expected. Many of these young men would have lost comrades that day too. Private Angus Kearns of the Canadian Scottish said, And that very first night we started burying our dead. When you start burying your buddies, you want to quit. You think what’s the use of going on? But we did. So much energy and effort had been put into the initial D-day assault, but the real challenges for the Canadians were only beginning. On the morning of the 7th, the anticipated German counter attacks still did not materialize. Resuming the advance on the Canadian left flank was the 9th Infantry Brigade supported by the 27th Armoured Regiment. On the morning of the 7th, they set off from a small village named Villons les Buissons towards their final objective, Carpiquet just seven kilometers away. At first things went well for the Canadians. However, standing in one of the Abbaye’s church towers watching the Canadian advance that morning was the commander of 25th Panzer Grenadier, Obersturmbannfuhrer Kurt Meyer. With a reputation for ruthlessness towards his enemy gained earlier on the Eastern Front, Meyer now readied his fanatical soldiers to hit the Canadians hard. Meyer ordered a massive counterattack for the afternoon. By midday, the Canadians observed alarming and increasing reports of German armour in the area; their concerns were soon realized and ferocious tank battles in the wheatfields on the flanks of the Canadian advance developed. Soon after Meyer ordered his counterattack. The severity and ferocity of the fighting that afternoon around Authie and Buron demonstrated the fanaticism of the SS soldiers; it also proved the toughness and resolve of the Canadians. Ultimately the German Buron and Authie 7 June.
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counterattack was broken but not before 110 Canadians were killed and 192 others wounded. Another 120 Canadians were taken prisoner. Some of the Canadians, mostly men from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, were trapped behind the German lines. As afternoon turned to evening, they began to emerge from the wheatfields, barns, and houses to surrender. Among those caught behind enemy lines was private Lorne Brown of the North Nova’s “A” company. exhausted and wounded, his left wrist was shattered and throbbing with pain, the war for this twenty-yearold form Springhill Nova Scotia was over after just thirty hours. As Brown struggled to get to his feet, a teenaged SS trooper approached him screaming at the top of his lungs. The fanatical SS soldier pointed his rifle at the wounded Brown and rushed up to the dazed Canadian. He prodded Brown with his bayonet until the wounded Canadian stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. At this moment this Hitler Youth soldier placed his boot on Brown’s neck and plunged his bayonet repeatedly into Brown’s chest. This reprehensible act violated all rules of war. It was the first act of murder committed by the 12th SS that would be repeated at least another 155 times in the hours and days to follow. Other horrific incidents transpired that evening in the area. Still some Canadians taken captive by the 12th SS were rounded up and sent to their headquarters at the Abbaye d’ Ardenne at about 7:30 in the evening of 7 June. Among them was Lt. TomWindsor, a tank commander wounded in those earlier armoured battles outside of Authie. As one of the few officers amongst the Canadian prisoners, Windsor was signaled out for interrogation; however, he would only give his name, rank, and regimental number. even after his captors punched him the face, Lt. Windsor refused to provide any details. The Germans then went amongst the prisoners and asked for volunteers. Of course, nobody responded at which point ten were randomly selected. After the bulk of the Canadian captives were moved out of the Abbaye at about eight o’clock. The ten Canadians selected by the Germans remained and were joined by an eleventh man – private Hollis McKeil of the North Novas – badly wounded in the fighting at Buron he was a stretcher case and unable to walk out with his comrades. The Canadians were then escorted over to the Chateau for further interrogation. They included: privates Ivan Crow and Charles Doucette, Corporal Joseph Macintyre, private Hollis McKeil, private James Moss all from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. As well, from the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, are Troopers James Bolt, George Gill, Thomas Henry, roger Lockhead, Harold philp, and Lieutenant Thomas Windsor
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Soon after the Canadians were told of their fate – they would be executed. One by one, each man was escorted towards a flight of stairs that led into the Abbaye’s garden. A SS NCO awaited them at the bottom of the steps and as they walked up another was positioned. Forensic evidence suggests that the first six were killed by “crushing blows to the head” – the last five, were shot. One can only imagine the horrific scene that awaited the last men as they entered the garden, not to mention the stretcher bound McKeil. The next day the 12th SS was involved in an assault on the Canadian 7th Brigade. One of the SS troopers in that battle was Jan Jesionek; his motorcycle was damaged by a mine in the morning’s battle and he was sent back to headquarters at the Abbaye to repair his machine. Not long after Jesionek observed seven more Canadians, all North Novas, brought into the Abbaye grounds at about noon. They were then marched to the Abbaye’s stable for interrogation. Kurt Meyer, noting the arrival of the Canadians, was heard to say by Jesionek, “What should we do with these prisoners? They only eat up our rations.” Meyer was then seen turning to another officer to whom he whispered something and then he announced, “In future no more prisoners!” At this time a SS soldier was posted at the entrance to the garden. Jesionek, who had been working on his motorcycle during this episode, was washing the grease off his hands in the Abbaye’s watering pool, and saw the Canadians escorted to the entrance of the garden. He witnessed a German officer interrogate of the Canadians. At each of the Canadians’ responses, the German officer laughed contemptuously. Jesionek witnessed one Canadian who started to cry- the men had obviously learned of their fate. In turn, each of the seven men’s name were called out – each shook hands with their remaining comrades and escorted up the stairs, their last moments on earth. Upon entering the garden, each was shot in the back of the head. The seven were Walter Doherty, Reginald Keeping, Hugh McDonald, George McNaughton, George Milar, Thomas Mont, and Raymond Moore. It is believed two more captured Canadians were murdered at the Abbaye later that month on 17 July.
Lieutenant Fred Williams and eighteen-year-old Lance Corporal George pollard of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders captured near Buron while on patrol. pollard’s body was never found and is still most likely concealed somewhere in the Abbaye’s grounds. In the wake of the battle for Normandy, the French began to return and rebuild their lives. Among them was Madame Vico who once lived near the Abbaye and tended its garden. In the early spring of 1945, Madame Vico noticed her snowdrops were beginning to bloom in an odd manner. Instead of the neat and orderly rows she had planted, the flowers grew in a disorganized manner. Madame Vico knew the Germans had disturbed her garden for some reason. After removing a few shovelfuls of soil, the grisly secret was revealed. A shallow grave containing the bodies of some of the murdered Canadians was discovered. Soon all but pollard were found. To honour the murdered Canadians’ memory, the Vico family placed a small shrine in the garden shortly after the discovery. Later, the Canadian government erected a more permanent memorial beside the original. As for the flower beds, they were reformed into the shape of teardrops and remain so to this day. The inscription on the memorial reads: “In memoriam: on the night of 7-8 June 1944, eighteen Canadian soldiers were murdered in this garden while being held here as prisoners of war. Two more prisoners died here, or nearby, on 17 June 1944. Lest we forget.” Although I suspect a few tourists who visit the Juno Beach Centre come to the garden at the Abbaye it is most regularly visited by French locals and Canadian pilgrims. They come to honour the memory of the murdered Canadians. Most leave with tears. Lest We Forget NORTH NOVA SCOTIAHIGHLANDERS private Ivan Crowe private Charles Doucette Corporal Joseph MacIntyre private reginald Keeping private James Moss private Walter Doherty private Hollis McKeil private Hugh MacDonald private George McNaughton private George Millar private Thomas Mont private raymond Moore THE 27THARMOURED REGIMENT (THE SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT) : Trooper James Bolt Trooper George Gill Trooper Thomas Henry Trooper roger Lockhead Trooper Harold philp Lieutenant Thomas Windsor private Walter Doherty private Hollis McKeil private Hugh MacDonald private George McNaughton private George Millar private Thomas Mont private raymond Moore THE STORMONT, DUNDAS, AND GLENGARRY HIGHLANDERS Lieutenant FrederickWilliams Lance Corporal George pollard
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