The capture of Mons, Belgium, took place November 11, 1918. It was part of the Hundred Days Offensive, Allied attacks forcing the German Army into defeat. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever eBooks are sold.)
The nations involved were Canada and Germany.
“The Germans had occupied the town for four years,” Encyclopedia Britannica says. “Mons was a regional centre for coal mining, and its resources had been used throughout the war to fuel Germany’s war effort. Recapturing Mons now, at the end of the war, was of huge symbolic importance to the Allies.”
Major Battle Events
- The Canadian Corps was ordered to take the city of Mons, which had been under German occupation for the entire war.
- The village of Valenciennes was taken on Nov. 9.
- The Canadians planned to take the city without destroying it; however, they were met with constant German machine gun fire.
- Within hours the city was liberated, and citizens poured out onto the streets to welcome their liberators.
- The city was captured on the same day as the Armistice. The majority of the fighting was over by the time the news reached the troops.
End Result
Canadian casualties totaled 280.
The penultimate Allied soldier to die in the war was Canadian Private George Price. He was killed by a sniper at Mons two minutes before Armistice.
Join the mailing list to receive updates on new blog posts, book launches, video releases and more.
Updated: 26 October 2020
- Developing My Latest Works in Progress - September 23, 2021
- How to Create Fictional Characters - September 9, 2021
- Are My Characters Based on Real People? - August 26, 2021
