The Division\u2019s battlefield initiation came immediately at Mount Sorrel from June\u00a02\u00a0to\u00a013,\u00a01916.\u00a0Despite devastating early losses, including the near destruction of the\u00a04th\u00a0Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles\u00a0(89\u00a0per\u00a0cent casualties in the opening hours, leaving only\u00a076\u00a0unwounded). Troops from the Princess Patricia\u2019s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and others held key positions under intense fire. One isolated PPCLI company fought for\u00a018\u00a0hours against overwhelming odds. Canadian counterattacks, supported by the full Corps, reclaimed the ground and pushed the line forward\u00a01,000\u00a0yards.<\/p>\n
The cost was high, but the lesson was clear: the\u00a03rd\u00a0Division would never yield.<\/p>\n
Across the war, more than\u00a055,000\u00a0soldiers passed through the Division\u2019s ranks as it fought from Mount Sorrel through the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, the Scarpe and the final Pursuit to Mons, advancing through the mud, machine\u2011gun fire and artillery barrages that defined the Western Front.<\/p>\n
The Division carried that momentum into Flers\u2011Courcelette, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights in the Battle of the Somme (July\u2011November\u00a01916),\u00a0Vimy Ridge (April\u00a01917),\u00a0the Scarpe (August\u00a01917),\u00a0Passchendaele (October\u00a01917),\u00a0Amiens (August\u00a01918),\u00a0and the final Pursuit to Mons (August\u2011November\u00a01918).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Division\u2019s battlefield initiation came immediately at Mount Sorrel from June\u00a02\u00a0to\u00a013,\u00a01916.\u00a0Despite devastating early losses, including the near destruction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[41890,17,40154,6186],"class_list":["post-195791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-3rd-canadian-division","tag-canada","tag-first-world-war","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}