Canadian’s in Battle- WW1

1. Canadian’s in Battle- WW1 Plaque in Currie Hall, RMC

2. Ypres (April- May, 1915) • Somme (July- Nov 1916) • Vimy Ridge (9-12 April, 1917) • Passchendaele (July- Nov, 1917)

3. The Second Battle of Ypres • Attempt by Allies to regain control of strategic town in Western Belgium • It marked the first time that Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front • First time that a former colonial force (the 1st Canadian Division defeated a major European power (the German Empire) on European soil

5. Ruins of Ypres Market Square • Capt. Scrimger, 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance • Credited in some sources for having passed the order to use urine to counteract the gas • Captain Scrimger received a Victoria Cross for other actions on 25 April

6. Gas at Ypres Dusk was falling when from the German trenches in front of the French line rose that strange green cloud of death. The light north-easterly breeze wafted it toward them, and in a moment death had them by the throat. One cannot blame them that they broke and fled. In the gathering dark of that awful night they fought with the terror, running blindly in the gas-cloud, and dropping with breasts heaving in agony and the slow poison of suffocation mantling their dark faces. Hundreds of them fell and died; others lay helpless, froth upon their agonized lips and their racked bodies powerfully sick, with tearing nausea at short intervals. They too would die later – a slow and lingering death of agony unspeakable. The whole air was tainted with the acrid smell of chlorine that caught at the back of men's throats and filled their mouths with its metallic taste. —Captain Hugh Pollard, The Memoirs of a VC (1932)

7. The Somme • One of the largest battles of WW1 • 1 million + casualties- one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded. • 1 July 1916 saw the British Army suffer the worst day in its history, with nearly 60,000 casualties • 712 / 780 soldiers from the Dominion of Newfoundland died in the first day of battle • First use of the tank, machine gun was devastating. One machine gun = 60 rifles • Severe losses & failure to achieve territorial objective • Commanded by British General Sir Douglas Haig • Entente advanced 6 miles (9.7 km) into German occupied territory

9. Casualties in the Somme • United Kingdom 350,000+ • Canada 24,029 • Australia 23,000  • New Zealand 7,408  • South Africa 3,000+ • Newfoundland 2,000+ • Total British Empire 419,654 • French 204,253 • Total Allied 623,907 • Germany 465,000 Taken from the original estimates of casualties on the Somme, made at the Chantilly conference after the war

10. Vimy Ridge • Four divisions of the Canadian expeditionary Force vs. three divisions of the German Sixth Army • Objective- take the German-held high ground • History- the French had failed to take the ridge 3x, the British had been suffering heavy losses as they prepared • Canadians relieved British in October, 1916

11. General Arthur Currie was in Command of the C.E.F Currie was under the command of British General Byng

12. “Historians attribute the success of the Canadian Corps in capturing the ridge to a mixture of technical and tactical innovation, meticulous planning, powerful artillery support, and extensive training… The battle was the first occasion when all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together, and thus became a Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice” -Taken from Department of Foreign Affairs website

15. Passchendaele

16. July- Nov 1917

17. The Entente allies fought to gain control of Passchendaele village • Located near Ypres in Belgium • Led by GBR Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig • Haig’s plan was to capture the ridge then move to the Belgian coast • Unusually wet weather, which turned parts of the battlefield into a sea of mud churned by shell-fire • Entente Army captured Passchendaele in 5 months

18. Passchendaele Casualties • In the British Official History, Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds put Entente losses at 244,897 but claimed that German figures were not available. He estimated German losses at 400,000 • Arthur Currie had warned Haig that the battle would be a terrible error with large casualties. He predicted 16,000 Cdn. Casualties - actual number? 15,634. • Adolf Hitler fought in the Battle of Passchendaele as a member of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division and was injured on the night of 13 October 1917, when he was caught in a British gas attack.

19. Was Passchendaele worthwhile? • German General Staff publication of 1927 Theodor Jochim, first head of the Reichsarchiv's documents section wrote: "Germany had been brought near to certain destruction (sicheren untergang) by the Flanders battle of 1917.“ • German General von Kuhl said after the battle, "The sacrifices that the British made for the Entente were fully justified." • 1938 Lloyd George wrote, "Passchendaele was indeed one of the greatest disasters of the war.... No soldier of any intelligence now defends this senseless campaign...." • In 2008 J. P. Harris condemned Haig and the offensive, "For the troops taking part, however, some phases of Third Ypres had a quality more nightmarish than anything previously experienced.“

20. The 100 Days • More on these to come when we discuss the end of the war …