Pursuit to Mons

pursuit-to-mons poursuite-vers-mons

First World War

Canadians marching through the streets of Mons on the morning of 11th November, 1918.
Credit: Canada. Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN no. 3522379)

Date

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Geographical parameters

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Context

A battle honour awarded to cover operations that took place during the last week of the war that cannot be perpetuated by a regiment which already holds either “Ypres, 1918”, “Courtrai”, “Selle”, “Valenciennes”, or “Sambre"Footnote 1

Description

The capture of the Belgian city of Mons on the last day of the war, 11 November, 1918, had great emotional significance to those connected with the conflict. Mons had been the site of the first engagement between the British and German armies on the Western Front in August 1914. The subsequent Retreat from Mons was an epic that still resonated within the armies of the British Empire. To have the locale of that original battle retaken by Canadians on the war's last day was a poignant and symbolic closing to the campaign on the Western Front. Not every unit engaged in the final leg of the campaign was eligible for a specific honour although all endured the privations and casualties that active soldiering brought about. To ensure that all received some recognition the honour “Pursuit to Mons” was created to recognise those units which did not qualify for any of the other above mentioned distinctions.

General Sir Arthur Currie, General Loomis and Officers in Grand Place, Mons, November 11th, 1918, taking the salute of the March past.
Credit: Canada. Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN no. 3522365)

Awarded to:

Currently serving unit

Units on the Supplementary Order of Battle

Disbanded Units

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