Major Battles: Recap Ypres, Somme, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele

Ypres: April – May, 1915 Modern warfare was born at Ypres, Belgium Germany released more than 5,700 cylinders of chlorine gas into the wind… The French troops broke and ran… Canadian troops rushed, closing the gap, and the German advance was checked…. Two days later, 2 nd Gas attack aimed directly at the Canadian forces, but the Canadians stood their ground… Later the Germans introduced Mustard Gas (the worst kind…) More then 6,000 Canadians dead, missing, or wounded… John McCrae wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields” about the horrors he saw around him. He was deeply impacted by seeing his good friend being buried (this poem is recited across the world in memory of WWI)…

Ypres, Belgium in 1915…

John McCrae McCrae’s Grave in France…He died Jan of pneumonia

Somme: July - November, 1916 Known as “The Blood Bath” British High Command ordered 100,000 Allied troops to leave their trenches and advance across no man’s land in broad daylight and directly into German fire…. A slaughter resulted 57, 000 British soldiers killed, wounded, or missing… At Beaumont-Hamel, the 1 st Newfoundland Regiment was all but annihilated, cut down as they attempted to cross 200 meters of mud under point-blank fire from German machine guns… Of the 790 Newfoundlanders who went over the top, only 68 answered role call the next morning…

Vimy Ridge: March – April, 1917 A strategic ridge located in northeastern France… Gave Germans a clear view of the battlefields below… Unsuccessful French and British attempts…prior to 1917… General Currie requested that the attack force be comprised of Canadian troops

Precursors to Battle Canadian reputation in previous WWI battles… Germans recognized Canadian front line position… Few Canadian officers prior to 1917… Canadian Arthur Currie is promoted to General based on Canadian contributions to war by the start of 1917…

General Arthur Currie:

View from Vimy Ridge (2006)

Currie Prepares Canadian Troops Currie Prepares Canadian Troops properly trained and prepared soldiers… built a life size replica of the ridge behind lines… drills on the mock ridge … full scale rehearsals of the battle… each unit told of its objective and strategy… Combined artillery with advancing troops: “creeping barrage…” Aerial reconnaissance provided valuable information about the location of German troops and artillery… Fighter aircraft prevented the Germans from spying on Canadians…

Actual soldier’s map from April (1917) Actual soldier’s map from April (1917)

The Battle for Vimy Ridge March 20: massive artillery barrage (constant bombing) on Vimy Ridge begins… More than 600 pieces of field artillery are involved in barrage or one for every 10 metres of battle front… Artillery fire stops on April 2 after more than a million shells have been fired on the Germans… Due to aerial surveillance and targeting, few German guns survive the attack…

Spent shell casings at Vimy Ridge Spent shell casings at Vimy Ridge

Over the Top Easter Monday April 9, 1917 Canadian ‘Sappers’ (soldiers who dug tunnels between trenches and under enemy lines) set off massive explosives at the base of the ridge artillery hit German front lines as Canadian soldiers rushed over the top and charged the German lines… By night fall the ridge was in Canadian hands… 10,602 Canadian soldiers were either killed or wounded in the battle…

Troops heading over the top

Creeping Barrage

Canadian Machine Gunners

Vimy Ridge wounded

Vimy Significance little impact on the course of the war… a morale boost to the French and English soldiers… Canadians now seen as professional troops… first total Canadian victory… Canadian troops under Canadian leadership… significant step in the growth of Canadian pride and nationalism… lead to Canada being recognized as a nation…

Vimy Ridge (August, 2006)

Vimy Ridge Tunnels

Restoration of Vimy Ridge

Canadian Trenches

Vimy Ridge Landscape

Vimy Cemetery

Passchendaele: October to November (1917) Known as the “Mud Bath” Marshland in Belgium… After a month of carnage, British High Command sent for Arthur Currie and his Canadians … Currie was appalled, and said it would cost ~16,000 men… British high command insisted, and on Oct. 26 the Canadians made their first of several attacks… Currie’s prediction was accurate, 15, 654 casualties to capture 5 square kilometers of mud…

The Significance? The war turned out to be far different than advertised…how? War in Europe collides with life in Canada…explain? What do you think happens to enlistments after major battles such as these?...why? By late-1916 the concept of “total war” is adopted…what’s that? Our government has to respond as Canada starts taking a more important role in the war effort…