1. The Canadian Battles of the
First World War

2. First Battle of Ypres: October-November 1914
German army en route to English Channel met French, British and Belgian troops near small Belgian town of Ypres.

3. First Battle of Ypres: October-November 1914
Losses:
Belgian: 18, German: 134,315
French: 50, ,265 missing
B.E.F.: 58, or POW
Result: Stalemate
Front lines drawn through Belgium
Ypres still held by the Entente
“Kindermord von Ypren”
The Massacre of the Innocents

4. Second Battle of Ypres: April 22-May 27, 1915
Where Canadians first see battle in WWI

5. German Plan Break stalemate by punching hole through Allied line
Try out poisonous chlorine gas
Around 6000 cylinders of the gas delivered
Weigh 90 lbs each
An 1899 treaty banned the use of gas in war

6. The Attack Germans shell Ypres with 2000 pound shells
Germans open canisters of gas, by hand, and use wind to blow gas to French-Algerian section of line.

7. First use of poisonous gas in the war
Algerians panic, flee clutching their throats
Leaves 4 mile wide gap in the line
Canadians fill in the gap
Outnumbered 5:1 (50,000 : 10,000)
Use urine soaked cloths to neutralize the effects of the gas
Somehow hold the line
First use of poisonous gas in the war

8. Results Canada: First major Battle of the Great War
Reputation of hard hitting “shock troops”
British saw it as “Exceptionally good performance for raw colonial troops”
Contrast from first view of soldiers when they arrived

9. Cost Canada: 6037 casualties (66 officers, 1784 killed)
B.E.F.: 59, 275
French: 10,000
Belgian: 1,530
German: 34,267

10. John McCrae In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie       In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow       In Flanders fields.

11. The Somme: July-November 1916
British Commander in Chief, Douglas Haig, decides to go on offensive and “smash” through enemy lines.
The offensive becomes known as the Battle of the Somme.

12. The Plan British and French launch 1.5 million rounds of ammunition.
Heavy artillery was supposed to break up German barbed wire and wipe out their lines
Germans just retreated to concrete reinforced bunkers, and used crater holes as machine gun nests
100 machine guns ready and waiting

13. “When we started firing we just had to load an reload. They went down
by the hundreds. You didn’t have to aim, we just fired into them.”
- German soldier on what he observed during the
early attacks at the Somme

14. Beaumont-Hamel: July 1st, 1916
Newfoundland Regiment
658 of 758 dead or injured in one day
Memorial set up in their honour (right)

15. Results of The Somme
600,000 allied soldiers killed or wounded in first three months
Over one million killed or wounded on both sides
Allied forces gained 12 kilometers
Germans referred to it as “das Blutbad”

16. Canadians at the Somme
The Somme had cost Canada 24,029 casualties, but it was here that the Canadians confirmed their reputation as hard-hitting shock troops.
"The Canadians", wrote Lloyd George, "played a part of such distinction that henceforward they were marked out as storm troops; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst."

17. The Somme
Debut of the tank
2 km/h
Easy target for artillery

18. Vimy Ridge, April 9th 1917
8 km stretch of high ground, occupied since 1914 by Germans
British and French tried to take ridge at a cost of 200,000 casualties
Ridge seen as invincible

19. German Advantage
German defenses could oversee a huge amount of territory – surprise was very difficult and it was easier to site their artillery
German troops had dug in – they had deep bunkers in the ridge designed to keep them safe from artillery

20. You and one or two other people, brainstorm and suggest – what ideas do you have that might help overcome the German advantages?
Some hints will be given in the course of your deliberations.
List them!

21. Canadian Corp, 1917
100,000 soldiers led by British General Julien Byng
Meticulous planning
Rehearsed for weeks and months
Gave each soldier a map
Trench raids at night
Gained information and terrorized
Dig 20 km of tunnels under the ridge
Blow out exits into no-man’s land
Blow up under German lines

22. Tunnels! Surprise!

23. Scale Trenches for Vimy Attack

24. Artillery bombardment – a million shells kept the German in their bunkers (and awake and hungry) for two weeks
Deadly night time raids gained intelligence

25. Silence the German Guns
Used audio equipment and triangulation to discover and silence the German guns on the day of the attack

26. Vimy: The Attack, April 9th
Heaviest barrage of war so far
983 artillery pieces, 150 machine guns
In 100 minutes, ¼ million shells and 7 million bullets fall onto ridge
Creeping Barrage (next slide)
Everything was timed. No stopping for injured
In eight hours, all objectives complete

27. Creeping Barrage
Guns fire at one spot for 5 minutes, and then fire 100 m further
Troops follow 100 meters behind
Do this until troops reach destination
Destroys barbed wire and enemy lines

28. Vimy: Canada Accomplished what French and British could not
National Pride
First and last time all 4 Canadian Divisions fight together
Byng promoted, Arthur Currie commands Canadian Corps
First Canadian to do so
Cost
Casualties: 10, 602
Killed: 3, 598
Germans said Canadians “Could go home in a Row Boat”???

29. Historical Significance?
An example of the value of preparation – learn lessons of the war and attempt to spend shells, money, time rather than men
A Nationalist FIRST – what had been a number of Canadian battalions attached to the British army was becoming a Canadian Army – soldiers from coast to coast in Canada fought for a single objective, and won, although at great cost in lives

30. Legacy: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

31. 1917: Passchendaele (July - November 1917)
Canadians move here after Vimy
Currie argued that it was too muddy but was ignored by Haig
Currie says attack will cost 16, casualties

32. Passchendaele: Results
15, 654 casualties: worst battle for Canada
Attack left little support for British tanks in Cambrai
By end of November, Germans regained ground
June, 1918, Borden furious at British Generals for their incompetence
Stormed at Lloyd George, who made his generals listen
Empire leaders sat down and mapped out, together, strategy to end war.

33. CHC2P Read 26-29 Question 1 and 2 pg 29
CHC2D Read pages question 1
King and Empire Vimy ridge