Battle of Mont Sorrel

Battle of Mont Sorrel
Part of the Ypres Salient along the Western Front of World War I

Restored battlefield map of positions occupied on 4 June 1916
Date2–13 June 1916
Location
Mont Sorrel, east of Ypres, Belgium
50°49′38″N 02°56′31″E / 50.82722°N 2.94194°E / 50.82722; 2.94194
Result Inconclusive
Belligerents

 British Empire

 German Empire

Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Julian Byng German Empire Erich von Falkenhayn
Kingdom of Bavaria Crown Prince Rupprecht
Strength
2 Canadian divisions
1 British division
3 divisions
Casualties and losses
8,430 5,765[1]

The Battle of Mont Sorrel (Battle of Mount Sorrel) was a local operation in World War I by three divisions of the German 4th Army and three divisions of the British Second Army in the Ypres Salient, near Ypres in Belgium, from 2 to 13 June 1916.

To divert British resources from the build-up being observed on the Somme, the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps and the 117th Infantry Division attacked an arc of high ground defended by the Canadian Corps in Flanders. The German forces captured the heights at Mount Sorrel and Tor Top, before entrenching on the far slope of the ridge.

Following a number of attacks and counterattacks, two divisions of the Canadian Corps, supported by the 20th Light Division and Second Army siege and howitzer battery groups, recaptured the majority of their former positions.

  1. ^ Godefroy 2009, p. 175.