www.ns.legion.ca 67 continued ... The 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion "Nova Scotia Highlanders" the Canadian left flank with devastating machine gun fire. As the overall success of the day’s assault hung in the balance, Canadian commanders hastily discussed their options. Late in the afternoon, they selected the 85th Battalion’s "C" and "D" to execute a direct assault on the strategic German position. At 6:45 p.m., the two companies advanced up the ridge without artillery cover, in the face of relentless machine gun fire. Dwindling German supplies and lack of reinforcements, combined with the determination of the assaulting troops, resulted in the position's capture and solidified the Canadian Corps’ hold on the ridge. Two decades later, the Canadian government erected the Canadian War Memorial atop the exact location where the 85th’s soldiers made their battlefield debut. The entire 85th Battalion remained "in the line" on the newly captured ridge until relieved on April 14. Their first combat experience under their belts, the unit was permanently assigned to the 4th Canadian Division’s 12th Brigade, where it served alongside the 38th (Ottawa), 72nd (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada) and 78th (Winnipeg Grenadiers) Battalions for the remainder of the war. 85th Battalion's colours. The 85th’s soldiers served a regular rotation in the trenches near Lens throughout the spring and summer of 1917. In October 1917, the battalion joined other Canadian personnel in Belgium’s treacherous Ypres Salient as the Canadian Corps prepared for its second major assault of the year—an attack on German positions along Passchendaele ridge. The 85th’s soldiers participated in the third phase of the attack, carried out from October 28 to November 2, 1917. Prior to the advance, ”D” Company, consisting of Cape Breton recruits, responded to an enemy counter-attack. On the night of October 28, German infantry launched an assault during relief operations and seized a strategic portion of the front line. The 85th’s ”D” Company—the relieving unit— succeeded in recapturing the trench at a decisive point in the fighting, thus preserving the existing line. Two days later, the 85th’s “A”, “B” and “C” Companies participated in the advance on Passchendaele village. “D” Company remained in support, entering the fight at a crucial moment and turning the tide in favour of the attacking forces. While the 85th succeeded in securing its objectives, the costs were considerable. Of the 26 Officers who entered the line at Passchendaele, 12 were killed and eight wounded, while 371 of the 662 OR who entered the trenches on October 28 were casualties by the time the battalion retired from the line on the night of October 31/November 1. Its Passchendaele statistics represent the 85th’s greatest “single tour” losses of the entire war. Several months after the November 1918 Armistice, a group of its soldiers returned to the battlefield where so many of their comrades were killed or wounded and erected a monument in their memory. The structure remains there to this day, its plaque engraved with the names of the soldiers killed in action during the Passchendaele tour.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==