Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Memorial

The Hill 62 Canadian Memorial is a block of white Quebec granite weighing almost 15 tonnes, set in a large circle of green lawn at the top of three landscaped terraces, each ablaze with solid beds of roses in season. It bears the inscription:

HERE AT MOUNT SORREL ON THE LINE FROM HOOGE TO ST. ELOI, THE CANADIAN CORPS FOUGHT IN THE DEFENCE OF YPRES APRIL - AUGUST 1916

From the top of the steps leading up to the Hill 62 Memorial, the visitor, looking down past Sanctuary Wood and Maple Copse along the broad spur of Observatory Ridge, can see the church towers of Ypres, five kilometres to the west. A great many of the Canadian headstones in the Maple Copse and Hooge Crater Cemeteries nearby bear a date in June 1916.

Prelude to the Somme - 1916

The Memorial stands in tribute to the sacrifices and achievements of Canadian soldiers in bloody actions fought over a period of five months to keep a determined enemy from gaining possession of the last few square kilometres of Belgian territory still in Allied hands.

Before the Canadians joined the ill-fated operation of the Somme, they were engaged in local offensives in the southern part of the Ypres Salient - from St. Eloi to a point just northwest of Hoge (Hooge) on the Ypres-Menin road, offensives intended to keep the Germans occupied.

At the battle of St. Eloi the Canadian Corps' 2nd Division received its "baptism of fire" in a battlefield of water-filled craters and shell holes. The Canadians, wearing the new steel helmets that had just been introduced, suffered 1,375 casualties in 13 days of confused attacks and counter-attacks over six water-logged mine craters.

For the 3rd Division, the initiation to battle was even more devastating. On the morning of June 2, the Germans mounted an attack to dislodge the Allies from their positions at Mount Sorrel just north of the Ypres-Menin road. In the fiercest bombardment yet experienced by Canadian troops, whole sections of trench were obliterated and the defending garrisons annihilated. Human bodies and even the trees of Sanctuary Wood were hurled into the air by the explosions. As men were literally blown from their positions, the 3rd Division fought desperately until overwhelmed by enemy infantry. By evening, the enemy advance was checked, but the important vantage points of Mount Sorrel and Hills 61 and 62 were lost. A counter-attack by the Canadians the next morning failed; and on June 6, after exploding four mines on the Canadian front, the Germans assaulted again and captured Hooge on the Menin Road.

The newly appointed Commander of the Canadian Corps, Lt-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, determined to win back Mount Sorrel and Hill 62. He gave orders for a carefully planned attack, well supported by artillery, to be carried out by the 1st Canadian Division under the Command of Major-General Currie. Preceded by a vicious bombardment, the Canadian infantry attacked on June 13 at 1:30 a.m. in the darkness, wind and rain. Careful planning paid off and the heights lost on June 2 were retaken. "The first Canadian deliberately planned attack in any force," the British Official History was to record, "had resulted in an unqualified success." The positions regained by the Canadians would remain part of the Allied line in front of Ypres until the massive German offensives in the spring of 1918.

The cost was high. At Mount Sorrel Canadian troops suffered 8,430 casualties.