THE ROYALS MARKED 100 YEARS SINCE PASSCHENDAELE AT A SERVICE IN BELGIUM MONDAY WHERE COMMONWEALTH SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR BATTLE WERE HONOURED. MORE ON THE CANADIAN HEROES.
Passchendaele, one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, began on July 31, 1917. By November, when Canadian troops seized the town, the battle had claimed almost 500,000 casualties. Nine Canadians were awarded Victoria Crosses. Mitchell Thompson reports on the heroes.
PRIVATE TOMMY HOLMES
As reported by the London Gazette, Jan. 11, 1918: Thomas William Holmes was born in Montreal in August 1897 but was raised in Owen Sound, Ont. He served with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, Expeditionary Force, which fought, on the right flank, in the Oct. 26 opening assault. The flank was stopped by heavy machine gunfire from German concrete forts called “pillboxes.” Alone, Holmes took out two enemy machine gun crews with grenades, under heavy fire. He returned and hurled another grenade at the entrance of a third pillbox, prompting its nineteen occupants to surrender.
CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER O’KELLY
O’Kelly, from Winnipeg, led his company of the 52 Battalion one kilometre into enemy positions on Bellevue Spur. They captured six pillbox fortifications, 10 machine guns and 100 prisoners. The battalion then dug in, held its position against enemy counterattacks and captured a raiding party of 11 soldiers.
SERGEANT GEORGE MULLIN
Mullin was born in Portland, Ore., but moved to Moosomin, Sask., at age two. He served in the scout and sniper section at Vimy Ridge and received the Military Medal. On Oct. 30, 1917, Mullin crawled atop a German pillbox as its crews fired on other Canadian soldiers. He took out an enemy sniper and killed two German machine gunners from above with his revolver. The other 10 pillbox occupants then surrendered, allowing the Canadian forces to advance.
MAJOR GEORGE PEARKES
Born in Watford, England, Pearkes came to Canada in 1906 and joined the RCMP before enlisting in the expeditionary force in 1915. By 1917, he was commanding the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. On Oct. 30 and 31 1917, he captured a German strong point threatening the advance and, despite a wound in his thigh, held the position with a small number of men. He went on to fight in the Second World War and later served four terms as a Progressive Conservative member of Parliament. He also served as prime minister John Diefenbaker’s minister of national defence, from 1957 to 1960.
PRIVATE JAMES ROBERTSON
During the final assault on Passchendaele on Nov. 6, Robertson hurried to an opening on a German flank and rushed at the gun while his platoon was caught in barbed wire. Robertson, from Pictou, N.S., killed four crew members in the struggle for the gun. His platoon advanced as he fired the captured gun at the retreating forces. Robertson later died on the field, after being hit by a bursting shell while trying to carry a wounded sniper trapped in front of a trench.
CORPORAL COLIN BARRON
Barron, from Scotland, moved to Canada in 1910 and enlisted in the army in 1914. He served with the third infantry battalion and, on Nov. 6 rushed at pillbox machine guns at Goldberg Spur and fired on the crew, alone and at point-blank range. He killed four and drove the remaining to surrender before he captured their gun and inflicted heavy casualties on the retreating troops.
PRIVATE CECIL KINROSS
On Oct. 30, Kinross’s company came under intense German machine gun fire. Alone, he stripped off all his equipment, save his rifle, and charged across the field, in broad daylight, at the guns. He killed the six-man crew and destroyed their gun. Though severely wounded, he allowed the company to advance 300 metres.
LIEUTENANT HUGH MCKENZIE
McKenzie, formerly from Liverpool, England, rallied a hesitant battalion, under fire already, to attack a pillbox from both flanks and the front. He was killed while leading the frontal attack.
LIEUTENANT ROBERT SHANKLAND
Shankland, who emigrated from Scotland to Winnipeg, rallied the remnants of his own platoon to successfully storm ahead at German guns before crushing a counter attack from enemy troops as they retreated.