The 4th Battalion,

Canadian Mounted Rifles Canadian Mounted Rifles was part of the designation of several mounted infantry units in Canada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Units of the Permanent Active Militia Units formed for the Second Boer War Independent squadrons of ...

was authorized on 7 November 1914 as the 4th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF and embarked for Britain on 18 July 1915. It disembarked in France on 24 October 1915, where it fought as part of the 2nd Brigade Canadian Mounted Rifles until 31 December 1915, when it was converted to infantry and allocated to the

8th Canadian Infantry Brigade The 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Canadian Army that saw active service during World War I and World War II as part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. The brigade fought on the Western Front during World War I ...

, 3rd Canadian Division. The regiment was redesignated the 4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF on 1 January 1916 and was disbanded on 6 November 1920.Canadian Forces Publication A-DH-267-003 Insignia and Lineages of the Canadian Forces. Volume 3: Combat Arms Regiments.

History

The battalion recruited in Militia District 2 in Ontario and was mobilized at Toronto, Ontario.Meek, John F. ''Over the Top! The Canadian Infantry in the First World War.'' Orangeville, Ont.: The Author, 1971. Most of their recruits came from the militia cavalry regiments from Militia District 2:

The Governor General's Body Guard The Governor General's Body Guard was royal guard regiment of the Canadian Army that formed part of the country's Household Division. The Body Guard was the senior regiment of the Canadian Army and the equivalent of the British Army's Life Guards ...

, the 2nd Dragoons, the 9th Mississauga Horse and the 25th Brant Dragoons. The battalion had four Officers Commanding: *Lt.-Col. S.F. Smith, 18 July 1915 – 6 March 1916 *Lt.-Col. J.F.H. Ussher, 6 March 1916 – 3 June 1916 *Lt.-Col. H.D.L. Gordon, DSO, 7 June 1916 – 27 May 1917 *Lt.-Col. W.R. Patterson, DSO, 28 May 1917-Demobilization

Victoria Cross

One member of the battalion, Pte

Thomas William Holmes Thomas William Holmes VC (14 October 1898 – 4 January 1950) was a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy ...

, won the Victoria Cross for his actions on 26 October, 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele. Pte Holmes, then 19, is Canada's youngest Victoria Cross winner.

Perpetuations

The 4th Battalion, Canadian mounted rifles is perpetuated by

The Governor General's Horse Guards The Governor General's Horse Guards is an armoured reconnaissance regiment in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 4th Canadian Division's 32 Canadian Brigade Group and is based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the most sen ...

Battle honours

The battalion was awarded the following battle honours: * MOUNT SORREL *

SOMME, 1916 The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

* FLERS-COURCELETTE *

Ancre heights The Ancre (; ) is a river of Picardy, France. Rising at Miraumont, a hamlet near the town of Albert, it flows into the Somme at Corbie. It is long. For most of its length it flows through the department of Somme. For a short stretch near P ...

ARRAS, 1917 The Battle of Arras (also known as the Second Battle of Arras) was a British offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the ...

, '18 *

VIMY, 1917 The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions o ...

Hill 70 The Battle of Hill 70 took place in the First World War between the Canadian Corps and five divisions of the German 6th Army. The battle took place along the Western Front on the outskirts of Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France ...

YPRES, 1917 The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

* PASSCHENDAELE *

AMIENS Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

* Scarpe, 1918 *

Hindenburg Line The Hindenburg Line (German: , Siegfried Position) was a German defensive position built during the winter of 1916–1917 on the Western Front during the First World War. The line ran from Arras to Laffaux, near Soissons on the Aisne. In 1916 ...

* Canal du Nord *

CAMBRAI, 1918 The Battle of Cambrai, 1918 (also known as the Second Battle of Cambrai) was a battle between troops of the British First, Third and Fourth Armies and German Empire forces during the Hundred Days Offensive of the First World War. The battle ...

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

* Sambre *

FRANCE and FLANDERS, 1915-18 The Western Front was one of the main Theatre (warfare), theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army (German Empire), German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and B ...

References

Works cited *''Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919'' by Col. G. W. L. Nicholson, CD, Queen's Printer, Ottawa, Ontario, 1962

History

Victoria Cross

Perpetuations

Battle honours

See Also

References

Further reading