WORLD WAR I BATTLESYpres

The SommeVimy Ridge

Passchendaele

The Battle of Ypres (2nd)

The Canadian Division reached the Western Front in February 1915

2 months later, the Germans began using a new and deadly weapon - “mustard gas” – also known as green gas or chlorine gas

The Canadian soldiers joined the Algerians (part of the French force) in order to defend the last part of Belgium not taken by the Germans

The Entente trenches surrounded the Germans on 3 sides, BUT… on April 22, 1915 the Germans launched a gas attack

- the Entente was not prepared for this type

of weapon- the Algerians fled in terror- soldiers were blinded and began to

choke and suffocate

One form of protection, before gas masks arrived, was to cover your mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in urine

The Canadians fought back for 3 days before being relieved by British troops

- ½ of the force was already dead

The Battle of the Somme

British commander Douglas Haig decided to take the offensive in

the war and try and break through the German lines

Unfortunately, on the banks of the Somme River, tens of thousands of Entente soldiers would die in a series of poorly planned and executed battles

Before the British attacked, Haig decided to launch 1.5 million shells and bombs at the German trench line over a 5 day period

Haig’s theory? That the bombardment would destroy the German line and kill everyone

The British and Canadians would simply walk across no man’s land and take over the German line

BUT… the Germans had simply dug deeper into the earth to save themselves…and they survived the bombardment

A week of bombing had also created enormous craters in no man’s land which made it difficult for the infantry and cavalry to charge the German line

AND…when the bombing stopped, the Germans knew that the British were about to attack, so they climbed out of their trenches and began to fire their machine guns

1st Battle of the Somme – July 1, 1916- 600, 000 killed in 3 months- 2/3 of Newfoundland Regiment

killed in the first hour of the battle

2nd Battle of the Somme – September 15, 1916

- 2 Canadian battalions from Quebec reached

their objective but lost 24,000 men

Haig finally stopped the advance after 141 days

The Battle of Vimy Ridge

On the battlefield, Canadian soldiers were known and respected for their endurance, efficiency and courage

Vimy Ridge is often regarded as Canada’s greatest military victory

Vimy Ridge gave the Germans a perfect view of any attacking Entente soldiers and the valley below – heavily fortified and of great strategic importance; the Germans had built a labyrinth of trenches and tunnels

French and British soldiers had tried numerous times to take the ridge but there had been too much German artillery

SO… taking the ridge became the job of the Canadians

GB General Julian Byng and Canadian General Arthur Currie were named to lead Cdns into battle

The offensive left nothing to chance and each stage of the battle was carefully planned and practiced ; every soldier was given a map of the battle attack plan

The Canadians used many new strategies at Vimy:

- “creeping barrage” (rolling thunder) – bombardment ahead of the soldiers

- “Vimy glide” – timed forward movement to coordinate with the bombardment

- aerial photographs of German trenches

- tanks All of this planning worked, and by noon

on April 9, 1917 (Easter Sunday), the Canadians had taken the ridge

Passchendaele

British commander Julian Byng was promoted after Vimy and replaced with General Arthur Currie

- Currie became the 1st

Commander of the Canadian Corps.

In late 1917, Currie and the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were called upon to take Passchendaele Ridge in Belgium

unlike Vimy, the ridge had little strategic value…but British General Douglas Haig was determined to retake it.

Haig’s earlier assaults on Passchendaele had left massive craters in the earth… which heavy rains had turned into a muddy quagmire

- some soldiers drowned or disappeared in the mud; horses drowned and carts and artillery became hopelessly stuck in mud

Currie warned Haig that casualties would be extremely high…but Haig would not change his mind…and Currie was right.

The Entente soldiers, led by the Canadians, won the battle at Passchendaele, but it cost over 15,000 Canadian lives and nearly 500,000 soldiers on both sides of the battle.