Canadian Military History Volume 28 Issue 1 Article 24 2019 Bridging the Gap: Canadian Engineer Operations at Canal du Nord–Bourlon Wood, 1918 Brian Pascas Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Pascas, Brian "Bridging the Gap: Canadian Engineer Operations at Canal du Nord–Bourlon Wood, 1918." Canadian Military History 28, 1 (2019) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Pascas: Bridging the Gap Bridging the Gap Canadian Engineer Operations at Canal du Nord–Bourlon Wood, 1918 BRIAN PASCAS Abstract : During the last hundred days of the Great War, the Allied armies swept eastward past the Hindenburg Line with hammer-blow offensive warfare. Performing their work under intense machine gun and shell fire, engineers erected bridges and constructed roads, allowing infantry and artillery units to pursue the retreating enemy. These combat engineers played a vital role in battle tactics and logistical services of open warfare. Their versatile formations contributed to the Canadian Corps’ rapid victories, which included the successful Canal du Nord crossing leading to the capture of Bourlon Wood in September 1918. The battle of Bourlon Wood was an engineers’ battle. The success of the whole operation depended on the speed with which the necessary crossings of the Canal du Nord were provided, and the way they were maintained and improved during the day, so as to enable the guns and infantry to be maintained in the positions which they had reached in their advance.1 AS THE BATTLE OF CANAL DU NORD—also referred to as WBourlon Wood (BW) in official documents—an engineers’ battle? Most battle narratives concentrate on infantry and artillery tactics; some analyse the war’s operational and strategic levels.