In the British official report of the engagement, it was stated that "the Canadians behaved with the utmost gallantry, counter-attacking successfully after a heavy and continued bombardment." The German losses were very heavy and a large number of dead were abandoned on the recaptured ground. Frederick Palmer, the noted war correspondent, said that for a thousand yards in the center of the line where the Germans secured lodgment the Canadians fired from positions in the rear and filled the ruined trenches with German dead.
It was announced by the War Office that Generals Mercer and Williams, who were inspecting the front trenches on June 2, during the German bombardment, were among the missing. Soon after it was found that General Mercer was severely wounded during the fight, and was taken to hospital at Boulogne, while General Williams, who was wounded less severely, was captured by the enemy. General Mercer was the commander of the Third Division of Canadian troops, which in this action had its first real test in hand-to-hand fighting, and came out of the trial like veterans with glory undimmed.
The two-days' fighting occurred around the famous Hill No. 60 and Sanctuary Wood, names destined to live in Canadian history. It was entirely a Canadian battle, and while the losses of the devoted troops from the Dominion probably reached the regrettable total of over 6,000, including a number of men captured by the Germans during the first day's attack, when they overran the front trenches, they doggedly bombed and bayoneted their way back to the wrecked trenches next day and regained nearly all their front. The commanding officers were especially pleased that the newer Canadian battalions had kept up the traditions of the first contingent, established in 1915 at St. Julien and elsewhere in France and Flanders, by immediately turning upon the Germans with a counter-attack which was carried out both coolly and skilfully.
The Ypres salient, thus successfully defended by the Canadians in one of the hottest of the minor battles of the war, was regarded by the British commander-in-chief as an important position which must be defended despite the heavy losses. General Gwatkin, Chief of Staff for Canada, stated that the German losses during the heavy fighting exceeded those of the Canadians.
Colonel Buller of the Princess Patricia Regiment was killed by shrapnel while leading his men at Sanctuary Wood.
The total enlistments in Canada up to June 10 exceeded 333,000 men.
GREAT DRIVE BY THE RUSSIANS.
The first week of June, 1916, saw the Russians successful in a great drive against the Austrian positions in Volhynia and Galicia, a movement that for awhile overshadowed the events on the western front. In the space of five days a new Russian commander, General Brusiloff, who had succeeded General Ivanhoff as Chief of the Russian Southwestern Armies, captured 1,143 Austrian officers and 64,714 men, recovered almost, four thousand square miles of fertile Volhyman soil, and recaptured the fortified town of Lutsk. He had the advantage of a most efficient artillery preparation, which blew the Austrian entanglements, trenches and earthworks into such a chaos that the bewildered occupants surrendered in thousands when the Russian infantry charged.
German reinforcements from the trenches north of the Pripet River tried to stay the Russian rush, but in vain, and many Germans were among the prisoners taken. At several points the Russian cavalry led the attack after the artillery had done its work. A division of young Russians, by an impetuous attack, captured a bridge-head on the Styr and took 2, German and Austrian troops and much rich booty. In Galicia the Russian armies crossed the Stripa and by June 10 were once more too near Lemberg for the comfort of the Austrian garrison. At that time the total number of prisoners taken in this drive was considerably over 100,000, while the booty in guns, rifles, ammunition and supplies of all conceivable kinds was enormous. The Allies were greatly heartened by these Russian successes on the eastern front, and on June 15 Germany was preparing to meet them by troop movements from the north, where Field Marshal von Hindenburgh was in command on Russian territory. The extent and rapidity of the Russian successes up to that time were without parallel in military history.
RUSSIA COMPELS AUSTRIAN RETREAT