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When World War I broke out in 1914, all Dominions of the British Empire, including Canada, were called upon by Great Britain to fight on her behalf. Canada's sacrifices and contributions to the war changed its history and enabled it to become more independent, while opening a deep rift between the French and English speaking populations. For the first time in its history, Canadian forces fought as a distinct unit under a Canadian-born commander. Battles such as Vimy Ridge, Second Battle of Passchendaele and the Battle of the Somme are still remembered today by Anglophones as part of Canada's founding myth, to both its identity and culture. Canada's total casualties stood at 67, 000 killed and 173, 000 wounded. These figures are disproportionately high considering Canada's total population of 11 million on the eve of WWI.

Contents

Outbreak of the war

Preparations

Participation

Opening Battles: 1915 to 1916

Neuve Chapelle

Second Battle of Ypres

The Battle of the Somme

Canada's Baptism by Fire: 1917 to 1918

The Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Passchendaele

Canada's Hundred Days: 1918

French and English Canada

See also

References

External links

Outbreak of the war

When Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, Canada and the other members of the British Empire were automatically involved; they had not been consulted beforehand. On August 5, 1914, the Governor General declared a war between Canada and Germany. Canadians of British descent--the majority--gave widespread support arguing that that Canadians had a duty to fight on behalf of their Motherland. Indeed, Sir Wilfrid Laurier spoke for the majority of Canadians when he proclaimed: "It is our duty to let Great Britain know and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain know that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart and that all Canadians are behind the Mother Country." [1] Prime Minister Robert Borden offered assistance to Great Britain, which was quickly accepted.

Preparations

Prior to the war, Canada had a small standing army and a much larger Canadian militia. Sam Hughes, the minister of militia, was ordered by Robert Borden to train and recruit an army for overseas service. At the time, Canada had a regular army of only 3110 men and a fledgling navy. [2] However, within a mere two months, Canada could boast of an army of over 32,000 men as men flocked to recruiting stations. Most of the militia trained at CFB Valcartier, just north of Quebec City and within two months the First Contingent, Canadian Expeditionary Force, was on its way to England in the largest convoy ever to cross the Atlantic.

Participation

As well as military men, three thousand Canadian women went overseas, as part of the Canadian Army Nursing Service. In general, non-whites were not welcomed into the military. When fifty blacks from Sydney, Nova Scotia volunteered their services, they were told, "This is not for you fellows, this is a white man's war." "History of the Canadian Peoples, 1867-Present," Alvin Finkel & Margaret Conrad, 1998 Nonetheless, some segregated units were formed. In 1915, Aboriginal Canadians were allowed to enlist and accepted into a 114th battalion as well as others. In total, about 3,500 Aboriginal Canadians would serve with the Canadian Forces. The Canadian Japanese Association in British Columbia put forward a volunteer reserve force of 227 men, some of whom were later admitted into the military. The Number 2 Construction Battalion included black people from both Canada and the United States, the latter having crossed into Canada in order to participate. The over one thousand Black Canadians who served would continue to be segregated during their tour, both on ships and in camps.

Opening Battles: 1915 to 1916

Neuve Chapelle

The headquarters of the Canadian 2nd Brigade at Fleurbrix, Neuve Chapelle.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force saw their first battle of World War I in the French town of Neuve Chapelle. After arriving from Salisbury Plain, the Canadian forces were instructed to prevent the Germans from reinforcing the sector of Neuve Chapelle. This would allow the British 1st Army, under General Douglas Haig, to successfully push through German lines and establish a new Allied front line on conquered territory. In the subsequent Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the Canadian forces suffered 100 casualties.
Although the British were unable to exploit their advantage due to poor communication, it taught Canadians that artillery bombardment was too light to suppress the enemy trenches; that better artillery observation points were necessary; that reserves were too few to follow up success quickly; and most importantly, that the procedure of transmitting information and sending orders to the advanced troops was slow and difficult, and that the systems of communication were much too vulnerable. [3]

Second Battle of Ypres

Canadian painter Alfred Bastien's impression of Canadian soldiers. This painting can be seen at the Canadian War Museum.

In the first week of April 1915, the soldiers of the 1st Canadian Division were moved to reinforce the Ypres salient where the British and Allied line pushed into the German line in a concave bend. On April 22, the Germans sought to eliminate this salient by using poison gas. Following an intensive artillery bombardment, they released 160 tons of chlorine gas from cylinders dug into the forward edge of their trenches into a light northeast wind. As thick clouds of yellow-green chlorine drifted over their trenches the French colonial defences and British colonial forces on either side of the Canadians crumbled, and the troops, completely bemused by this terrible weapon, died or broke and fled, leaving a gaping four-mile hole in the Allied line. A soldier in the Canadian lines discovered the neutrilisation of the chlorine gas was possible by pressing urine soaked rags over their noses and mouths. The Canadians were the only division that were able to hold the line. [4]
All through the night, the Canadians fought to close this gap. On April 24, the Germans launched another poison gas attack, this time at the Canadian line. In those forty-eight hours of battle, the Canadians suffered over 6,000 casualties, one man in every three, of whom more than 2,000 died. Canadians gained a reputation as a formidable fighting force. Moreover, it was the first time that a colonial force caused a major European power to retreat.

The Battle of the Somme

The next area where Canadians fought was at the Battle of the Somme from mid-September to mid-November. Initially launched as a campaign to relieve pressure from the beleaguered French forces at the Battle of Verdun, the Allied casualties actually exceeded those at Verdun. On July 1, 1916, the British launched the assault which resulted in the largest massacre of British forces - over 57,550 dead in one day. Among them were 255 men from the 1st Newfoundland Regiment ; of the 801 men of the Newfoundland Regiment, only 68 men answered the regimental role call after the attack. 255 were dead, 386 were wounded, and 91 were listed as missing. Every officer who had gone over the top was either wounded or dead. On the day that the British forces suffered their worst losses in history, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment also suffered its worst loss in its history.
As the fighting continued, the Canadians (with the support of a new 4th Canadian Division) were asked to secure the town of Courcelette. In the major offensive which began at dawn on September 15 the Canadian Corps, on the extreme left of the attack, assaulted on a 2,200 yard sector west of the village of Courcelette. By November 11th, the 4th Canadian Division finally secured most of the German trenches in Courcelette and then rejoined the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge.
The Battle of the Somme claimed 24,029 Canadian casualties. But it also gave Canadian units the reputation of a formidable assault force. As Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote, "The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward 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." [5]

Canada's Baptism by Fire: 1917 to 1918

The Battle of Vimy Ridge

The battle plan for Battle of Vimy Ridge.

In early 1917, a massive assault was planned with a French attack in the south and a British diversion at Arras. Here, the Canadian Corps were given the responsibility of assaulting and taking Vimy Ridge—the only significant height of land in northeastern France. Since Vimy Ridge guarded most of the German coal production, the capture of Vimy Ridge would provide the Allies with a great military and resource advantage over the Germans.
On April 9, 1917 the Canadians begun their assault on Vimy Ridge. To reduce their casualties, the Canadian commanders created a plan where soldiers followed directly behind an artillery barrage (rolling barrage), a technique that was used in the Battle of the Somme. The area was simulated such that every man knew their role. As well, more photographs were distributed to show where the men would attack. By the end of the day, all four Canadians forces fought as one distinct unit and swept Vimy Ridge.
Although the Canadian Corps suffered heavy casualties (3598 Soldiers Died and 10,602 were wounded) out of a force 30,000 strong, the victory at Vimy Ridge is usually celebrated as one of the most important landmarks on the road to Canadian nationhood. Later in the summer, Arthur Currie, commander of the 1st Canadian Division was knighted and became (along with Australians Sir John Monash and Sir Harry Chauvel; and South Africans General Louis Botha and Field Marshal Jan Smuts) the only non-British soldiers to achieve corps command in the British Army. Four Victoria Crosses were also awarded as a consequence of fighting at Vimy Ridge: to Private William Milne, Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton, Captain Thaine MacDowell and Private John Pattison.

The Battle of Passchendaele

Canadian nurses helping the wounded at the battle of Passchendaele.

Following the Canadian success at Vimy, Douglas Haig launched his controversial drive in Flanders to seize strategic rail heads and capture the German submarine bases on the Belgian coast. On October 30th, the Canadian forces were ordered to relieve the decimated ANZAC forces in the Ypres sector. General Arthur Currie argued that the milieu was too muddy and protested that the operation was impossible without a heavy cost, but he was overruled. Currie estimated that the Canadian forces would suffer 16,000 casualties in the taking of Passchendaele, an estimation that turned out to be accurate (the Canadian forces suffered 15,654 casualties).
The battle started with an initial barrage of Allied artillery which warned the Germans that the Allies were about to attack and also created a mass of craters, potholes and dust in the battlefield. Heavy rains then turned the field into a bog of thick mud that severely limited mobility; holes made by artillery couldn’t even be used for cover after being filled with rainwater, making the battle even more dangerous. Haig elected to send troops regardless of the battlefield hazards, however. The New Zealand, British, and Australian forces fought for months, made little advances and had about 100,000 casualties. The Canadians were called in to help on October 26, and on October 30 the Canadians began the attack on Passchendaele itself, in co-operation with two British divisions. By November 6, when reinforcements arrived, the village of Passchendaele was taken.

Canada's Hundred Days: 1918

Throughout these three final months, the Canadian troops saw action in several areas. The first was near the salient of Amiens on August 8th where the Canadian Corps (along with the New Zealanders, Australians, French and British) was charged with the task of spearheading the assault on the German forces in Amiens. In the subsequent battle, the morale of the German forces was badly shaken. In Ludendorff's words, the battle of Arras was a "black day for the German army." After their breakthrough at Amiens, the Canadians were shifted back to Arras and given the task of cracking the Hindenburg Line in the Arras area.
Between August 26 and September 2nd, the Canadian Corp launched multiple attacks near the German front at Canal du Nord. On September 27, 1918, the Canadian Forces broke through the Hindenburg Line by smashing through a dry section of the Canal du Nord. The operation ended in triumph on October 11, 1918, when the Canadian forces drove the Germans out of their main distribution centre in Battle of Cambrai.
In the final one hundred days of the war, the Canadian Corps marched successfully to Mons. However, during this period, the Canadian Corps suffered 46,000 casualties. The last Canadian to be killed was George Lawrence Price, 2 minutes before the armistice took effect at 11 a.m. on November 11. He is traditionally recognized as being the last soldier killed during the entire war.

French and English Canada

Main articles: Conscription Crisis of 1917

The underlying tension between French and English Canada exploded during World War I. Prior to the war, the French Canadians did not see themselves obliged to serve the British interests.
The issue reached its zenith when Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden introduced the Canadian Military Service Act of 1917. Although some farmers and factory workers opposed the legislation, it was in Quebec where conscription was most vociferously denounced. Leading the campaign against conscription was Quebec nationalist Henri Bourassa and Sir Wilfrid Laurier who argued that the war pitted Canadians against each other. In the subsequent election, Robert Borden was able to convince enough English speaking Liberals to vote for him. In the Canadian Federal Election of 1917, the Union government won 153 seats, nearly all from English Canada. The Liberals won 82 seats. Although the Union government won a large majority of seats, the Union government won only 3 seats in Quebec.
Of the 120,000 conscripts raised during the war, only 47,000 actually went overseas. Despite this, the rift between French and English-speaking Canadians was indelible and would last for many years to come.

See also

★ Military history of Canada

★ List of Canadian soldiers executed during World War I

References

★ ''The Dictionary of Canadian Biography''(1966-2006), thousands of scholarly biographies of those who died by 1930

★ Brown R. C. ''Robert Laird Borden: A Biography''. 2 vols. Toronto: Macmillan, 1975, 1980.

★ Brown R. C., and Ramsay Cook. ''Canada, 1896-1921''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974. standard survey

★ Desmond Morton and J. L. Granatstein. ''Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919'' (1989)

★ Jonathan F. Vance, ''Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War'' (1997) cultural history

★ Oral Histories of the First World War: Veterans 1914-1918 at Library and Archives Canada

External links

★ Canada and the First World War: 1914-1918 at Library and Archives Canada

★ Canada and WWI - Canada and WWI.

★ Canada in the First World War and the Road to Vimy Ridge