Remembering the chaos of liberated Europe

An item from the Legion Magazine.

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Remembering the chaos of liberated Europe

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Pierre Gauthier landed on D-Day with his Régiment de la Chaudière and fought through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands before a second wound ended his war.

His regiment lost 58 men killed on June 6, 1944, and 248 before the fighting ended 11 months later, but among the most unsettling images that remain burned in the veteran’s mind are those of the people they had liberated turning on each other and on those who had defeated them four or five years earlier.

The fighting after Hill 70

Story by Sharon Adams

The Battle for Hill 70 was an important victory for the Canadian Corps in August 1917, though it did not achieve its ultimate objective.

The Canadians had been ordered to capture the German stronghold at Lens, a French coal-mining centre.

But first, Hill 70 had to be taken. Taking the high ground, noted Brigadier-General Percy Radcliffe, would make “the enemy’s position in [Lens] untenable, and [force] him to evacuate it.” It also would take out guns that would otherwise target Canadians from above as they attacked the city.