The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by Nels. The card has a divided back.
Nels
Nels of Brussels, Belgium was a publishing house founded by Edward Nels in 1898. Their goal was to spread geographic knowledge while producing maps, guide books, and photographic and printed souvenirs.
They soon became the largest producer of postcards in Belgium, and they also published many cards of the Congo and of Luxembourg.
Though they produced a variety of card types, most were as collotypes, many of which were hand colored in a dull palette.
Ernest Thill, who had ben the manager of the firm took over from Nels in 1913 and added his name to the company.
In the 1960’s to 1975 they were purchased by a French firm, but they are now publishing postcards under their own name again, though for the most part the cards are now printed in Italy.
The Hill 62 Memorial
The Canadian Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Memorial is a war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Canadian Corps in defending the southern stretches of the Ypres Salient between April and August 1916. Their actions included fighting at the St Eloi Craters, Hill 62, Mount Sorrel and Sanctuary Wood.
These battles marked the first occasion in which Canadian divisions engaged in planned offensive operations during the Great War. In those actions the Canadians re-conquered vital high-ground positions that denied the Germans a commanding view of the town of Ypres itself.
The monument is for the Canadian participation in the Defence of Ypres between April and August, 1916 and commemoration of the Canadian dead of that period.
The Memorial's inscription reads:
"Here at Mount Sorrel and on the
Line from Hooge to St. Eloi the
Canadian Corps fought in the
defence of Ypres April - August 1916"
Interestingly, the inscription is factually incorrect, as the memorial actually sits on Hill 62, also known as Torr Top. Mount Sorrel is a different hill, which is actually about 850 metres south-southeast of the memorial, and can be seen from the memorial park.
Historical Background
Actions at St. Eloi Craters
On the 3rd. April 1916 the Canadian Corps, including the newly formed and inexperienced 2nd. & 3rd. Canadian Divisions was dispatched to a stretch of the front south of Ypres at the St. Eloi Craters.
There they found themselves in a wasteland, in places waist-deep in water and mud, with six large mine craters and few trench defences under the full view of the German forces on higher ground.
Three days later, the Germans launched a series of attacks that went on for ten days in miserable rainy weather during which the Canadians' weak defensive positions, poor understanding of the situation, poor communication and poor leadership led to them being forced off of several key positions despite several attempts at counter-attack.
In 13 days of fighting at St. Eloi, some 1,375 Canadians became casualties, including some men who were felled by their own artillery fire due to poor understanding of the battlefield. This proved to be the Canadians' only significant, lasting defeat of the Great War.
Battles of Mount Sorrel, Hill 62 & Sanctuary Wood
After their withdrawal from the St. Eloi sector, the Canadians were redeployed into frontline trenches about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to the northeast, at the opposite end of the same ridgeline. Here, the Allies still held the heights atop Mount Sorrel, Hill 61 and Hill 62.
Again, shortly after the Canadians had inherited their trenches, from the 2nd. June to the 6th., the Germans mounted an attack aimed to knock the 3rd. Division out of their positions on the high ground.
In the fiercest bombardment that had been experienced by Canadian troops up to that point in the war, entire sections of trench were obliterated, and the soldiers defending them annihilated, with many being buried alive.
As men were literally blown from their positions, the 3rd. Division fought desperately until overwhelmed by the ensuing enemy infantry advance.
The Canadians attempted counter-attacks, but the Germans exploded four mines underneath the Canadian lines, and renewed their attack again on the 6th. June and captured the remaining high ground, most of Sanctuary Wood and even advanced onto the plain beyond.
The newly-appointed Commander of the Canadian Corps, Lt-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, was determined to win back the high ground on Mount Sorrel and Hill 62, and gave orders for the 1st. Canadian Division, under the Command of Major-General Arthur Currie, to plan and execute the counter-attack.
Following a vicious three-day artillery bombardment, the Canadian infantry attacked up the slopes in darkness at 1:30a.m. on the 13th. June, and in the ensuing battle re-took the heights lost between the 2nd. and 6th. of June.
The British Official History recorded:
“The first Canadian deliberately planned
attack of any force resulted in an unqualified
success.”
However, the cost of the victory was steep; June 1916 saw the Canadians suffer over 8,400 casualties.
The Canadians re-secured their positions, and held the critical high ground they had re-taken until they were withdrawn from the sector to participate at the Battle of the Somme in August.
The Monument
Site Selection
At the end of the Great War, The Imperial War Graves Commission granted Canada eight sites - five in France and three in Belgium - on which to erect memorials. Each site represented a significant Canadian engagement in the war, and for this reason it was originally decided that each battlefield would be treated equally and graced with identical monuments.
The Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission was formed in November 1920, and decided that a competition would be held to select the design of the memorial that would be used at the eight European sites.
In October 1922, the submission of Toronto sculptor and designer Walter Seymour Allward was selected as the winner of the competition, and the submission of Frederick Chapman Clemesha placed second.
The commission decided that Allward's monumental design would be used at Vimy Ridge in France as it was the most dramatic location. Despite a consideration that Allward's monument at Vimy could stand alone as the sole monument to the Canadian efforts in Europe, Clemesha's 'Brooding Soldier' design was selected for the remaining seven sites, but was later, for a number of reasons, erected only at St. Julien in Belgium.
The remaining six memorials were built on sites at Hill 62, Passchendaele in Belgium, Bourlon Wood, Courcelette, Dury and Le Quesnel in France. They were built to a modest design under the supervision of architect and advisor to the Battlefield Memorials Commission, Percy Erskine Nobbs.
Situated on key points of the battlefield they memorialise, the central feature of the memorials was a 13 tonne cube-shaped block of white-grey granite quarried near Stanstead, Quebec.
The blocks are essentially identical, carved with wreaths on two opposing sides and inscribed with the following phrase around the base:
"Honour to the Canadians who on the
fields of Flanders and France fought in
the cause of the Allies with sacrifice and
devotion".
Though uniform in design, they are differentiated in the brief English and French descriptions of the battle they commemorate inscribed on their sides. The small parks that surround the memorial blocks also vary in shape and layout.
At the encouragement of General Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission competition jury that chose Walter Allward's monument design had originally envisioned Allward's edifice being built atop Hill 62, as Currie believed it had been the site of the Canadian Corps' first offensive success during the war.
When they appeared before the committee, Parkdale M.P. Herbert Mowat and Victoria Cross recipient Cy Peck expressed a preference for a distinct memorial at the Vimy Ridge. Ultimately, Hill 62 received the standard 'granite block' memorial instead of Allward's towering white pylons.
Location and Design
The Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Memorial site is located on the top of a hill known to British Great War soldiers as 'Torr Top', the top of which stands 62 metres above sea level (hence its other name 'Hill 62') and about 30 metres above the surrounding plateau, which offers a clear and commanding view of the surrounding area including Ypres, just over three kilometres (1.86 miles) away.
The vantage point clearly illustrates the strategic significance of the position, and thereby the importance of the Canadian Corps' accomplishment in wresting it and the territories surrounding it from the German Army in June 1916.
The entrance to the memorial is at the end of the Canadalaan (Canada Lane) which runs south from the N8/Meenseweg road running from Ypres to Menen.
The memorial park is made up of a series of three terraced gardens leading up the hillside to the manicured lawns at the summit where the grey granite block monument sits in a grassed circle on a low flagstone terrace.
