What was mouse holing world war 2

In some cases, a mouse-hole will be camouflaged with furniture, especially when they are created to aid a defending force or a clandestine operation. When used in defensive positions, mouse holes often join and combine with underground tunnels.

Mouse holes can be made in light interior walls by hand or with small arms. More substantial walls require the use of explosives such as a satchel charge , or a large caliber, vehicle-mounted cannon or tank gun. Wikimedia Foundation. Charles Fraser Comfort. Canadian War Museum CN Recoilless rifle — A recoilless gun or recoilless rifle RCL is a lightweight form of weapon that allows the firing of a heavier projectile than would be practical with a recoiling weapon. Each attack by a single battalion was thrown back with heavy casualties.

Drenching rain and falling temperatures added to the misery. Supported by seven Ontario Regiment tanks, this tiny force fought through fierce German resistance to win a farmhouse called Casa Berardi.

For four days, fighting raged around this small strongpoint before the Germans slunk away. For his valour, Triquet was awarded a Victoria Cross , the Commonwealth's highest award for military bravery. Unexpectedly, the German 1st Parachute Division only withdrew as far as Ortona. Suddenly, the Canadians were confronted with something for which they had no training — a street battle.

The Germans had started preparing to defend Ortona on 12 December by using explosives to blow many houses apart to create piles of rubble into which they dug deep fighting positions. Mines were scattered throughout the town. By 19 December, all side streets were clogged with rubble. Two large buildings were blown down to block a street called Corso Vittorio Emanuele, at the entrance to the square facing the town hall. At dawn on 21 December, German engineers most likely demolished the tower adjacent to the Cattedrale San Tomasso so that the falling structure cleaved the cathedral dome in half.

Its 60 men were reduced to 17 in mere minutes. These two infantry battalions and a single tank regiment would carry the fight through the deadly labyrinth of Ortona in eight days of unrelenting battle. Instead, they invented it out of need.

Explosives packed against the connecting wall of two buildings blasted an opening through which the soldiers chucked grenades and then followed through with a charge to clear any Germans on the other side. It was a deadly game. At times, the Germans responded by setting demolitions that triggered when the Canadians burst through their mousehole. Sometimes an entire structure would collapse, burying the soldiers within.

As the hand-to-hand struggle inside Ortona played out, two other Canadian brigades tried outflanking the town to the west. Success on this front would have forced the German paratroopers in Ortona to withdraw or be surrounded.

The flanking attacks gained some initial headway before being blocked by the Germans. Christmas Day brought no relief in the fighting either in Ortona or out on its western flank. On a western ridge, the 48th Highlanders were cut off and the supporting artillery officer could only save the situation by circling the Canadians within a ring of shellfire. To avoid sniper and machine gun fire, the Canadians fought house-to-house, staying indoors as much as possible.

They could then pass through the walls and secure the next house without having to go into the street and through the ground-level doors of buildings, which were booby-trapped or covered by small-arms fire. The fighting in Ortona allowed the Canadians to gain experience and practice techniques that were later studied by other Allied armies. Despite facing heavy resistance and booby traps left by the defenders, the Canadians secured the town, and the last Germans left on December However, victory came at a heavy cost: more than Canadians died during the fighting that took place in and around Ortona in December