Unending Seige

The Citadel Falls

Valenciennes

5th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Western Cavalry), C.E.F., Valenciennes, 9 November 1918

Caption: 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Western Cavalry), C.E.F., Valenciennes, 9 November 1918

The Canadians' last major fight took place around Valenciennes on 1 and 2 November. The artillery under BrigadierGeneral A.W G. McNaughton, who would command the 1st Canadian Army in the Second World War, played a crucial role. Mont-Houy near Valenciennes was successfully taken with 2,140 tons of shells. This was an enormous output when one considers that the Boer War had required only 2,800 tons of shells in all - on both sides. At Valenciennes, 80 Canadians were killed and 300 wounded, compared to 1,000 Germans killed and 2,000 wounded.

At 11 am on 11 November, when the Armistice was struck, the Canadians had entered Mons, Belgium, where the Germans and British had faced off in 1914.