THE BATTLE OF SOMME
• Wave upon wave of troops were ordered across open fields.• They were almost immediately mowed down by
German machine guns.• 85% of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, over
700 men including all officers, were killed or wounded with in half an hour.• When the battle ended, there were over 1 million
casualties; Canada had 24,000 casualties
BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE
• April 9-12, 1917: over 40,000 Canadian soldiers involved• Hill 145 at Vimy Ridge was the highest point in
this region of France.• Germany had controlled Vimy Ridge since 1914; it
was a strategically important area in Northern France.• The French tried 3 times to regain Vimy but were
unsuccessful.
VIMY RIDGE
• German occupation of Vimy Ridge was a major threat to any advance in the Somme region in 1917. Therefore the decision was taken to take Vimy Ridge and the task was given to the Canadians.
• Canadian assault was under the command of General Julian Byng (who was later appointed Governor General of Canada)
• Byng developed new strategies and rehearsed his movements thoroughly
EASTER MONDAY APRIL 1917
BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE• April 1917, Easter Monday, Canadian troops moved into
attack position (5am)
Underground mines were exploded, gas shells fell onto German positions and transportation routes, artillery began to hit ; Over 11,000 guns (including British pieces) opened up on the ridge.
• The Canadians followed their plans. and by early afternoon, 3/5 of their objectives were taken. Thousands of Germans were taken prisoner and many thousands more had been killed.
• .
• The cost of war was high: over 3500 men killed, over 7000 seriously wounded.
• However, this was significantly fewer than in any previous allied offensive.
• The victory marked a Canadian milestone.
PASSCHENDAELE(THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES)
• Byng was promoted for his role at Vimy Ridge
• He was replaced by a Canadian, General Arthur Currie, the first Canadian ever appointed to command Canada’s troops (Currie worked with Byng at Vimy)
Currie brought an increasingly independent Canadian point of view to the British war effort.Open to new strategies; Currie still took orders from General Haig
PASSCHENDAELE
• In 1917, Currie and the CEF were called upon ti retake Passchendaele Ridge in Belgium.
• Haig’s earlier assault on Passchendaele left massive craters in the ground; many soldiers and horses drowned in these conditions.
• However, the mud, flat terrain, and relative lack of preparation time and artillery support would make Passchendaele a far different battlefield than the one the Canadians encountered at Vimy Ridge.
• Currie warned that casualties would be high by Haig and the British command did not listen to Currie’s protest .
• In a muddy corner of Belgium, Canadians overcame almost unimaginable hardships to capture this ruined village in 1917.
• 4,000 Canadians died in the Battle of Passchendaele and almost 12,000 were wounded.
• Canada’s success there added to our nation’s reputation as the best offensive fighting force on the Western Front
• More than 650,000 Canadians who served in uniform during the First World War.
TRENCH WARFARE
• A form of defense, 100’s of miles of ‘dug in’ trenches protected by barbed wire. Also protecting the trenches were machine guns and heavy artillery.
• Before, wars were fought by moving around; maneuvers.• Often were ordered to cross “No-man’s land” using
bayonets to try to break down the enemy barbed wire…..• Easy to see the enemy on the unprotected open field…
killing with machine guns!!• WWI becomes a War of Attrition … attacks, deaths….just
wearing the other side down…not getting anywhere.
STALEMATE
• Military deadlock: the war raged on but trench lines moved very little.
• No man’s land: the area of land between two enemy trenches that neither side wishes to openly move on or take control of due to fear of being attacked by the enemy in the process.
• War of Attrition: the act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse, or attack
ASSIGNMENT
• World War I Text book assignmentRead pages 762-769 and answer questions 2, 3, and 5 (page769)
• 2. Explain why governments often use
propaganda during wartime.• 3. Describe the trenches that both the Western
Front and Eastern Front used during WWI.• 5. What methods did governments use to counter
the loss of enthusiasm and opposition to the war at home?
