A Nation Born

 In order to take pressure off the French at Verdun, the British planned an assault on the German lines in the Somme river valley.  The attack was a disaster from the beginning  The British lost 57,000 men the first day  The one and only regiment from Newfoundland was sent in in the first hours and was completely destroyed  Over 700 men were lost in a unit of 900

 The Somme Offensive lasted for almost 5 month and in the end little was accomplished and 1.5 million men were lost  This was the bloodiest battle in the war and the largest battle in human history  Canadian soldiers, who had performed well at Ypres and other battles were called in to assist in the battle  Although Canadians fought well, we lost 24,000 men

 1917: The British and French try another massive attack  The Canadians were given the job of taking a small sector called Vimy Ridge  Vimy Ridge was a cliff-like mountain and one of the strongest positions in the German lines  Both the French and the British had failed in their attempts to take it

 Currie was the commander of the 1st Canadian Division and planned the attack  Currie witnessed the disaster at the Somme and realized that new ideas were needed in order to break through the trenches

 Currie issued maps to every soldier (first commander to do so)  Huge models of the Ridge were built so that the soldiers could practice and learn all the important features of battlefield  Finally, Currie used “The Creeping Barrage”; soldiers would walk at an exact pace and cannon fire would move forward slowly, acting like a rolling sheild

 The Canadians took the Ridge in just a few hours  This was the greatest victory of any army in the war so far, accomplished completely by Canadians  Currie was Knighted and four Canadians won medals of Valour

 Vimy Ridge was the first time all four Canadian divisions fought together as one army  After this, Canadians became the “shock troops” of the British Army and were called in to do the toughest jobs and lead major assaults  Most importantly, Canadians back home were amazed by the victory and a new national pride developed. We were no longer British subjects, we became proud Canadians  Many say that Canada was truly born at Vimy

 Somme was the bloodiest battle of the war  NFLD regiment was destroyed  Sir Arthur Currie use new strategies to win at Vimy (maps, models, creeping barrage)  Canadians felt pride in their country for the first time after Vimy  Canada was born!