1915: (Second Year of War- Stronghold at Ypres)

1915: (Second Year of War- Stronghold at Ypres)

Canadian Contributions

(Second Battle of Ypres)

1915: (second year of war- Stronghold at Ypres)

February-

  • Canadian contingent shipped to Ypres area in France.
  • Stationed in trenches between British and French Troops

April 15- “Second Battle of Ypres”

  • Canadians and French experience first German attack with secret weapon- Chlorine Gas (looks like a green cloud)
  • Panic stricken troops try and cover faces with handkerchiefs
  • French troops retreat, creates gap in lines
  • Germans try and take advantage of situation
  • Germans try and take the position. Canadians fend them off, stand their ground until reinforcements arrive.

Canadian Contributions

1916: (third year of war) “Year of the Trench”

  • War seems to enter a stalemate (no side has an advantage)
  • Both sides develop more permanent system of trenches
  • Trenches organized into:
  • Front-line trenches
  • Support trenches (contained latrines, medical areas, and rest areas)
  • Connected by communication lines
  • Problems for soldiers in trenches include:
  • Filling with sea water
  • Soldiers suffer “trench-foot”
  • Rats, Lice
  • Psychological challenges due to lack of sleep, stress (some suffer shell shock)

Essentially a battle would involve:

  1. intense shelling
  2. order for soldiers to go “over the top”
  3. Run for enemy trenches (while avoiding barbed wire and machine gun spray)
  4. Jump into enemy trench and engage in hand to hand combat
  5. Prepare for enemy counter-attack

This strategy resulted in thousands of casualties on both sides with little gain on either side. Other use of technology included chlorine/mustard gas, hand grenades and tanks, air planes and military battleships, U-Boats (German)

Canadian Contributions

(Battle of the Somme)

Battle of the Somme, 1916 (July to October)

Battle intended to be a French and British attack that smashed through German lines near French town of Albert

Badly planned and poorly executed

German positions

Bombarded for days before the attack

Germans went into their dugouts and waited out the barrage

Then they retook their positions after the bombing had stopped

They were ready for the attack

British thought Germans would be destroyed by the artillery so they walked over “no man’s land”

On the first day, 20,000 British killed

37,000 wounded(Br)

British cont’d to pour fresh troops into the attack

By the time the offensive is over British and French suffer 600,000 casualties (wounded and killed)

Canadians (part of the British soldiers) suffer:

•8,000 dead

•16,000 wounded

•All of this for a gain of 2.8 kilometres of territory

Canadian Contributions

Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 1917

First time Canadian soldiers commanded by Canadian officers

Cdns have 30,000 men commanded by Arthur Currie

Preparation for attack was intense

A) clay model of ridge was built and studied

B) full scale mock-up with German positions used to familiarize troops with objectives

C) RFC surveillance

photos studied to determine German troop positions

D) German artillery located using new sounding devices

E) tunnels dug from rear positions to the front line so Cdn

troops could move to the front without being seen

F) mines placed under German positions to be detonated when attack begins

G) creeping artillery barrage that would land ahead of the troops and be moved ahead 90 m every 5 minutes

Result is Cdn victory: but 10,602 casualties of which 3598 dead

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