Remembering the Royal Montreal Regiment's role in the liberation of northwest Europe

It's the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Leopold Canal, and the Royal Montreal Regiment is commemorating that turning point in the Second World War with a historical exhibit telling the story of those who fought and died while defeating the Germans.

The Canadian Army was at a disadvantage, fighting at the border of Belgium and the Netherlands, but it succeeded in triggering the liberation of northwestern Europe.

"It's sometimes hard for people to wrap their minds around a big strategic push like that, so we try to focus on the individual sacrifices made by soldiers, ordinary Canadians really achieving the extraordinary in some really, really trying circumstances," said Colin Robinson, a former commanding officer with the Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR). 

The RMR Museum's temporary exhibit, A Regiment's Sacrifice: Defeating Hitler's Army, shows how the RMR joined forces with the Regina Rifle Regiment in an unexpected swap to take part in the battle. 

By October 1944, the RMR had seen little action. The soldiers had been instead training in the United Kingdom, but an opportunity arose to swap places with a company of the Regina Rifle Regiment — a company that had seen plenty of action and was in much need of rest, according to Amynte Eygun, who curated the exhibit.

Because of that swap, the RMR company became attached to the Regina Rifles for the duration of the battle.

But the exhibit isn't just about the battle. It's about the men, said Eygun, who spent six months researching the regiment, the battle and each Canadian soldier who was there.

Once she nailed down the names, she looked up their service records and searched for them on Ancestry.ca, a website that helps shed light on family trees.

Eygun then went through the museum's online catalog, finding artifacts like photos, equipment and supplies linked to the battle. She took it a step further, locating photos of the young men when they were not in uniform in an effort to show that each one of them had lives beyond soldiering.

"The exhibit focuses really on the men and who they were outside of the war," said Eygun. "I think it really humanizes the story of the war."

She said it's easy, even for her, to envision soldiers as faceless figures who fight battles.

"But I think it's important to recognize that these men were all extremely young, most in their early 20s," she said. "They lived at home with their parents, went to school and worked part-time jobs."

Most who lost their lives in the battle are buried in Belgium, with many of their families never able to visit their graves, she said.

"Their stories aren't told. Their families don't really know about their lives because they were so young. They didn't have kids. They didn't get to live their lives," said Eygun. "So to show their names and photos, to show who they were, I think that's really important."