Parking nearby
This mortar has been traced back to a June 1918 Canadian Expeditionary Forces raid on trench positions held by the 10th Company, 3rd Battalion, 85th Regiment of 185 Regiment German army in the village of Neuville Vitasse, France.
The damaged mortar was moved across France, brought back to Canada and was displayed in Ridgeville since 1921.
It has been moved to this location recently. This particular piece of wartime machinery is of German origin. The “minenwerfer” was a short range artillery mortar used extensively by the Germans during the trench warfare during the First World War.
On June 24, 1918, the minenwerfer was captured by the Allied forces and eventually brought back to Pelham.
“This mortar was considered a war trophy,” “It was captured during a trench raid and given to the troops to take home.” Decades later, as the Second World War raged on, most of the reclaimed artillery and equipment from the First World War was melted down or repurposed for the use in the war effort.
The trench mortar in Pelham is one of the few that remain intact.
Cache is magnetic