Sterlin Castle

Paul Reed · 26-05-2008, 07:47 PM

Following our Italy trip last week, this is the first of some of the specifc threads relating to places we visited.

Sterling Castle is the name given to a small house at San Leonardo where Lt Mitchell Sterlin and his men of 16 platoon, Royal Canadian Regiment, held out against German counter-attacks on 9th December 1943. One accounts recalls:

The road from the coastal highway to San Leonardo is signed today as Royal Canadian Avenue. In amongst a group of houses barely 500 metres from the battalion start line, there remains a building known to RCR veterans as Sterlin Castle. It was here that Lieutenant Mitchell Sterlin and 11 men of 16 Platoon, A Co., RCR, held off repeated attacks and then withdrew in good order when the enemy was spent.

Overcoming The Moro: Army, Part 67 | Legion Magazine

This is the house today:

Paul Reed · 26-05-2008, 07:48 PM

This is the commemorative plaque at the site:

Paul Reed · 26-05-2008, 07:50 PM

This is Mitchell Sterlin, and his details:

Lieutenant Mitchell Sterlin of Montreal, Quebec, was killed in action on December 19, 1943. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches in the King’s New Year's Honors List in January 1945. Enlisting in the army at the outbreak of hostilities, he graduated in August 1942 from the Officers’ Training Centre at Gordon Head, British Columbia, where he received his commission. He went overseas the following March. On Yom Kippur Day, 1943, he landed in Italy. Attached to the British Eighth Army in Italy, Lieutenant Sterlin was killed in action (Casualty List No. 415, Jan. 27, 1944). Only two days before a sniper’s bullet ended his life, Lieutenant Sterlin led an attack by 11 men that smashed a Nazi counter-attack, killing 40 Nazis and forcing the remainder to retreat. He led the defence, although urged to retreat from a strong point on the Ortona front, which in regimental records bears the name of “Sterlin House.” Lieutenant Sterlin participated in the battles of Ridge Hill, Campobasso, Oritino, Castropignano, Malise, Juronia, the Moro River and Ortona. After the fighting in Sicily, he had been placed in command of a Sicilian town.

Source: CJC

Paul Reed · 26-05-2008, 07:52 PM

His grave at Moro River war Cemetery, a superb inscription on it:

Gotthard Heinrici · 27-05-2008, 11:50 AM

Fantastic thread Paul. A true hero indeed.

Owen · 27-05-2008, 12:01 PM

More info on the fighting here.
"The Moro," Italy, by Captain A. Condy, B.E.M.

Owen · 12-06-2008, 10:55 AM

Google Earth Co-ords.
42°19'38.62"N
14°24'44.35"E

26-05-2008, 07:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Paul Reed Ubique Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: UK/France Posts: 3,142	Sterlin Castle Following our Italy trip last week, this is the first of some of the specifc threads relating to places we visited. Sterling Castle is the name given to a small house at San Leonardo where Lt Mitchell Sterlin and his men of 16 platoon, Royal Canadian Regiment, held out against German counter-attacks on 9th December 1943. One accounts recalls: The road from the coastal highway to San Leonardo is signed today as Royal Canadian Avenue. In amongst a group of houses barely 500 metres from the battalion start line, there remains a building known to RCR veterans as Sterlin Castle. It was here that Lieutenant Mitchell Sterlin and 11 men of 16 Platoon, A Co., RCR, held off repeated attacks and then withdrew in good order when the enemy was spent. Overcoming The Moro: Army, Part 67 \| Legion Magazine This is the house today: __________________ The WW2 Society: Remembering those from Britain & The Commonwealth who served 1939-45 - http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ww2_society.htm

26-05-2008, 07:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
Paul Reed Ubique Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: UK/France Posts: 3,142	This is the commemorative plaque at the site: __________________ The WW2 Society: Remembering those from Britain & The Commonwealth who served 1939-45 - http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ww2_society.htm

26-05-2008, 07:50 PM	#3 (permalink)
Paul Reed Ubique Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: UK/France Posts: 3,142	This is Mitchell Sterlin, and his details: Lieutenant Mitchell Sterlin of Montreal, Quebec, was killed in action on December 19, 1943. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches in the King’s New Year's Honors List in January 1945. Enlisting in the army at the outbreak of hostilities, he graduated in August 1942 from the Officers’ Training Centre at Gordon Head, British Columbia, where he received his commission. He went overseas the following March. On Yom Kippur Day, 1943, he landed in Italy. Attached to the British Eighth Army in Italy, Lieutenant Sterlin was killed in action (Casualty List No. 415, Jan. 27, 1944). Only two days before a sniper’s bullet ended his life, Lieutenant Sterlin led an attack by 11 men that smashed a Nazi counter-attack, killing 40 Nazis and forcing the remainder to retreat. He led the defence, although urged to retreat from a strong point on the Ortona front, which in regimental records bears the name of “Sterlin House.” Lieutenant Sterlin participated in the battles of Ridge Hill, Campobasso, Oritino, Castropignano, Malise, Juronia, the Moro River and Ortona. After the fighting in Sicily, he had been placed in command of a Sicilian town. Source: CJC __________________ The WW2 Society: Remembering those from Britain & The Commonwealth who served 1939-45 - http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ww2_society.htm

26-05-2008, 07:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
Paul Reed Ubique Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: UK/France Posts: 3,142	His grave at Moro River war Cemetery, a superb inscription on it: __________________ The WW2 Society: Remembering those from Britain & The Commonwealth who served 1939-45 - http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ww2_society.htm

27-05-2008, 11:50 AM	#5 (permalink)
Gotthard Heinrici Ostfront is where its at! Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 3,699	Fantastic thread Paul. A true hero indeed. __________________ *"The Eastern front is like a house of cards. If the front is broken through at one point all the rest will collapse."* - General Heinz Guderian "With amazement and disappointment, we discovered in late October and early November that the beaten Russians seemed quite unaware that as a military force they had almost ceased to exist." - General Blumentritt "In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen me fight so hard." Lieutenant General Wilhelm Bittrich - Commander of II SS Panzer Korps - (Commenting on the British Paratroopers at Arnhem) - September 1944 "Had Clark given more heed to Juin's views...the savage battles of Cassino would probably never have been fought and the venerable house of St Benedict would have been unscathed" Rudolf Böhmler - 1st Fallschirmjäger Division - 1944 (After the bombing of Monte Cassino)

27-05-2008, 12:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
Owen Top Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 9,065	More info on the fighting here. "The Moro," Italy, by Captain A. Condy, B.E.M.

12-06-2008, 10:55 AM	#7 (permalink)
Owen Top Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 9,065	Google Earth Co-ords. 42°19'38.62"N 14°24'44.35"E

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