WW1 Battles

Canada officially entered the Great War on Aug. 5, 1914, but the nation already had pledged men and resources to Great Britain.  Canada had a permanent force of slightly more than 3,000 men and a militia.   When the official declaration was made, recruitment posts were swamped with 600,000 men, nurses, surgeons, engineers, veterans and others who wished to join.

The characters in Angel of Mercy are members of the 1^st Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.  The division trained in Valcartier Camp, Quebec, before leaving Canada in October 1914.  The recruits received additional training in the Salisbury Plain, England, and then were  moved to the front.  For most men, their introduction to war was the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.  Men with prior military experience, like Alfred, served in the Princess Patricia Regiment beginning in autumn 1914.  The regiment was later dissolved, and its members joined the Canadian Corps.

The 2^nd Division arrived in September 1915, the 3^rd Division in December 1915, and the 4^th Division in August 1916.  A 5^th Division was partially established before being broken up and its members distributed to other divisions.

These are the 1^st Division’s battles that appear in Angel of Mercy:

Race to the Sea

At the beginning of World War I, the predominate view was that the war would be over soon, even as early as Christmas. And perhaps it would have if events had gone differently.

In the autumn of 1914, the Allies had won the First Battle of the Marne, saving Paris from falling to the Germans, but Belgium was still occupied. The Allies were confident, however, that they could reach the German border in three months.

Unknown to the Allies, the Germans were fortifying their defenses near the Aisne River. The Allies discovered the fortifications only after they reached the Aisne. They attacked and managed to cross the river, but were unable to remove the Germans from the high ground. The Germans counterattacked, but that, too, was unsuccessful. Both sides dug trenches.

In the city of Reims, the French were under attack by the Germans, but held their ground.

Neither side was interested in stalemate or, worse, defeat. There weren’t many troops north of the Aisne, so both sides decided the best way to achieve victory was to outflank the other. The English Channel was seen as a prize of strategic importance. The Allies and Germans began moving troops to extend their lines.

Between mid-September and mid-October, several battles were fought as the armies clashed over territory. In each instance, trenches were dug as soldiers prepared for the long haul.  As the armies reached the North Sea, there failed to be a victor, so they tried to outflank each other to the south.

Eventually trenches would extend 440 miles from the North Sea to Switzerland. By Christmas, the death toll would be 240,000 Germans killed and 360,000 Belgians, British and French.

Second Battle of Ypres

The Second Battle of Ypres (pronounced ee-pruh) is the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s baptism by fire.  The CEF had been in Europe for about six months, and the majority of its men had never experienced combat.

Combat was an experience, many believed, that tested a man’s masculinity.

“Being under fire for the first time exists, as a psychological problem, only in the most shadowy form until the idiosyncrasies of the individual man have been taken into account,” a Vancouver Daily World’s medical correspondent said. “Under fire these men found a self hitherto unsuspected, that elusive quality which for want of a better title is called manhood.”

The battle took place April 22-May 25, 1915, near the town of Ypres in Belgium.  English speaking soldiers nicknamed the area Wipers.  Ypres was the final major Belgian city still in Allied hands.  The attack was meant to divert Allied attention from the Eastern Front.

The nations involved were Belgium, French colonial troops from Algeria and Morocco, the British Empire including the Dominion of Canada, and Germany.

• The Allies were on the defensive. Ypres was strategic for defense of the English Channel and French forts in the vicinity.
• The Germans released chlorine gas against the Algerian troops on April 22. Many died quickly, were taken prisoner, or broke ranks and retreated.
• Canadian troops filled the line and managed to keep it from falling into enemy hands.
• On April 24, the Canadians were gassed.
• Canadian medical officer John McCrae was inspired to write his famous poem “In Flanders Fields” after a friend was killed in the battle. The poem is why poppies are a symbol of remembrance on Memorial Day.
• Ypres was reduced to rubble.

Total casualties: 69,000 Allies, 35,000 Germans. The Canadians had nearly 6,000 casualties in their first major engagement of the war.

“But it is considered that the mourning in Canada today for husbands, sons or brothers who have given their lives for the empire should have, with as little reserve as military considerations allow, the rare and precious consolation which, in the agony of bereavement, the record of the valor of their dead must bring,” the Vancouver Daily World said.  “And indeed the mourning in Canada will be very widespread, for the battle which raged for so many days in the neighborhood of Ypres was bloody…”

Battle of Festubert

The Battle of Festubert took place May 15-25, 1915, in the Artois region of France, part of the Ypres Salient.  It involved Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and British India.

“The general plan of the main attack will be as follows,” the First Army Operation Order said.  “To continue pressing forward towards Violaines and Beau Puits, establish a defensive flank along the La Bassee road on the left and maintaining the right at Givenchy. The line to be established in the first instance if possible on the general line of the road Festubert – La Quinque Rue – La Tourelle.”

• 101,000 shells from 433 guns were used prior to the attack.
• The bombardment made the Germans retreat to the front of the village.
• Part of the battle was fought in heavy rain.
• The Canadians discovered their Ross rifles tended to jam.
• The battle was part of the larger Second Battle of Artois.
• France asked for assistance with the offensive.
• Festubert was captured, but the Allies won less than two miles of land.

Casualties for the British empire were more than 16,000 compared to approximately 5,000 for the Germans.  It highlighted problems with British artillery, in terms of both quality and quantity.

Battle of St Eloi

The Battle of St. Eloi was fought March 27 to April 16, 1916, near St. Eloi, Belgium. The Ypres salient was active throughout the war and the site of numerous attacks and counterattacks.

The nations involved were Canada, Great Britain and Germany.

“When day broke, the sights that met our gaze were so horrible and ghastly that they beggar description,” Private Donald Fraser said after the battle. “Heads, arms and legs were protruding from the mud at every yard and dear knows how many bodies the earth swallowed. Thirty corpses were at least showing in the crater and beneath its clayey waters other victims must be lying killed and drowned. A young, tall, slim English lieutenant lay stretched in death with a pleasant, peaceful look on his boyish face. Some mother’s son, gone to glory.”

• The Battle of St, Eloi marked the first major battle for Canada’s second division. The division was sent to the front without time to prepare.  It was to hold the line after the British attacked.
• The British fought in hand-to-hand combat until April 3 when the Canadians relieved them.
• Dozens of underground mines intended to destroy German positions also destroyed Allied trench networks and left the ground riddled with water-logged crater holes. This created a chaotic battlefield where soldiers could easily become confused, unable to recognize landmarks.
• Bodies littered the battlefield, and the Canadians were forced to walk on their dead British compatriots as they advanced. Meanwhile, the wounded were moved behind the lines, many of the men having been awake for four days.
• The Germans regained all the ground taken by the British.
• The Canadians became confused in the terrain just as the British had and were exposed to enemy fire.
• The Canadians attacked again, but communication between the front lines and command was cut off. Telephone lines were destroyed and carrier pigeons were dead.
• Aerial photography finally revealed the true nature of the battlefield and the counterattack was called off. Before the Canadians could retreat, they were attacked with tear gas.
• A downpour made the issue worse, clogging guns with mud.

The battle ended in a stalemate. No ground was won or lost by either side. Canada suffered 1,373 casualties and Germany 480.

Two craters still exist on the battlefield. They are used as swimming and fishing holes.

Battle of Mount Sorrel

The Battle of Mount Sorrel took place June 2-14, 1916, in the Ypres Salient.  It involved Germany, Canada and Great Britain.

“The first Canadian deliberately planned attack in any force had resulted in an unqualified success,” the British Official History of the war said.

• The initial German assault caught the Allies off-guard and resulted in the deaths of most of a Canadian battalion. One regiment had an 89 percent casualty rate. Two generals were killed.
• The Germans seized Mount Sorrel.
• The Canadians counter assaulted, but weather conditions made the assault unsuccessful. Ypres was nearly in German hands.
• The British provided one brigade for assistance.
• The Canadians launched a surprise attack and forced the Germans to their original position.
• The Allies were preparing for the Battle of the Somme. They wanted to keep the high ground in Allied hands because it overlooks the city of Ypres and an important road.
• Both the Canadians and Germans were simultaneously planning an attack to seize Hills 61 and 62.

Canada sustained more than 8,000 casualties while Germany sustained around 5,700.

“Here at Mount Sorrel and on the line from Hooge to St. Eloi, the Canadian Corps fought in the defence of Ypres April-August 1916,” reads a memorial by the Sanctuary Wood Museum near Ypres.

Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was fought July 1-November 18, 1916, near the Somme River in France.

The battle was part of a plan for attacks to be conducted simultaneously on the Western, Eastern and Italian fronts to distract the Central Powers.  In this case, the battle was intended to relieve the pressure placed on the French at Verdun, a battle that had begun months earlier.

The nations involved were Canada, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Bermuda, Southern Rhodesia and Germany.

• On the opening day many shells were duds, and the British artillery inadvertently left the infantry exposed. Many soldiers were fighting in their first battle.  As a consequence, July 1 is known as the bloodiest day in British history. Heavy casualties were not expected for the battle and the trip across No Man’s Land was expected to be easy.
• In the span of half an hour, one Newfoundland regiment lost all but 91 men. The regiment had started the battle with a strength of 801 men.
• Several smaller offensives were fought as part of the larger Somme Offensive.
• Tanks debuted at the offensive of Flers-Courcelette in September. The offensive also marked the arrival of the Canadians and New Zealanders to the battle.
• The battle ended when weather intervened and made fighting difficult.

The battle is considered one of the bloodiest in history. Casualties totaled 1.5 million.  Britain lost so many soldiers the death toll for the battle is higher than the Crimean War, the Boer War and the Korean War combined.

There was no clear victor and the battle was considered a stalemate. The most the Allies advanced was seven miles.

The battle, Encyclopedia Britannica says, was a “costly and largely unsuccessful Allied offensive on the Western Front during World War I. The horrific bloodshed on the first day of the battle became a metaphor for futile and indiscriminate slaughter.”

Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge took place April 9-12, 1917, near Arras, France. The nations involved were Canada, Great Britain and Germany.

• Learning from the mistake during the Battle of the Somme, troops were better trained and better informed than during previous battles. Many of these recommendations came from 1^st Division commander Arthur Currie.
• The battle began with an artillery barrage involving 1,000 guns.
• 15,000 of Canadian Corps’ nearly 100,000 men moved across No Man’s Land during cover from the barrage.
• The troops fought in snow and sleet.
• Most of the ridge was captured by the Canadians within an hour. The remainder of the ridge was captured on April 12.
• The attack was part of a larger offensive in the Arras region that also involved the British and the French. Only the Canadians would be successful.

The British and French had failed to capture the ridge. Those previous attempts resulted in more than 150,000 casualties.

The battle is attributed as being the first significant step for Canada to separate its foreign policy from Great Britain’s. It is often called Canada’s “coming of age.”

The battle marked the first time all four Canadian divisions fought together. It has gone down in history as a moment of great pride and nationalism, proof of what Canadians can achieve when they work together to reach a common goal.

Causalities for the Canadians were 10,600, but this number would have been much higher were it not for planning.   The Germans suffered 20,000 casualties.

Battle of Hill 70

 The Battle of Hill 70 was fought August 15-25, 1917, near Lens, France.  The attack relieved pressure on the Allies near Passchendaele. The idea was the attack on Hill 70 would divert German reinforcements.

The nations involved were Canada and Germany.

“Yet the critical battle of Hill 70, fought in August of 1917, and squeezed out between the victory at Vimy and the bog-fighting of Passchendaele, remains almost completely unknown to Canadians,” Legion magazine says. “Planned, orchestrated, and fought almost entirely by Canadians, it remains one of the most important Canadian battles of the Great War.”

• Canadian Corps was ordered to attack Lens. General Arthur Currie, however, convinced his superiors that an attack on Hill 70, north of the city, would be of more value strategically because occupying the higher ground would force the Germans to counterattack.
• The Corps achieved most of its goals and would fight off 21 German counterattacks over the course of four days.
• The Corps also tried unsuccessfully to attack Lens.
• The battle also saw the use of mustard gas.

The battle resulted in 9,000 Canadian and 25,000 German casualties.

Battle of Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was fought July 31-November 10, 1917, in Flanders, Belgium.

The goal of the attack was to gain Allied control of the ridges around the city of Ypres and to force the Germans to divert resources from the channel and their U-boat bases.

The nations involved were Canada, Germany, Newfoundland, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Belgium and France.

“Passchendaele was indeed one of the greatest disasters of the war,” British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said in War Memoirs. “No soldier of any intelligence now defends this senseless campaign.”

Lloyd George did not like the plan in 1917, but there were no other credible plans of attack.

• After months of fighting, the Allies failed to capture their objective.
• The weather was extremely rainy, turning dirt into mud and shell holes into ponds.
• Canadian Corps arrived to the battle in mid-October, relieving the Australians and New Zealanders. They were in nearly the same position the 1^st Division had been during the Second Battle of Ypres.
• Canadian Gen. Arthur Currie objected to the battle. The Canadians, however, were ordered to participate by Sir Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force.
• With no other choice but to participate, Currie began to prepare, hoping to save as many lives as possible.
• Under enemy fire, the Corps began repairing roads and tramlines, allowing for reinforcements to easily reach the front. It also prepared gun pits.
• The Canadian stage of the battle had four phases.
• The first phase began October 26, and the Corps captured its objectives.
• The final phase occurred November 10. The battle ended that day when the Canadians secured the heights.

The Battle of Passchendaele was controversial in 1917 and still is today because of the months of futile effort fighting in the mud.

The British Empire suffered 275,000 casualties. The Germans suffered 222,000.  For two weeks of fighting, the Canadians lost 15,654.  When the battle ended, morale for British Expeditionary Forces was at one of its lowest points in the entire war.

Battle of Oppy Wood

The Battle of Oppy was fought May 3 and June 28, 1917, in Arras, France. The nations involved were Canada, Great Britain and Germany.

The skirmishes were part of the large Battle of Arras.  Capturing the highlands was of strategic advantage, offering a view of the surround area.

“Two infantrymen stand to the left of the dug-out entrance, one of them on the firestep looking over the parapet into No Man’s Land,” Imperial War Museums describes John Nash’s painting of the battle. “There is a wood of shattered trees littered with corrugated iron and planks at ground level to the right of the composition. The sky stretches above in varying shades of blue with a spectacular cloud formation framing a clear space towards the top of the composition.”

• The May 3 attack had mixed results. The British were stopped by German resistance, but the 1^st Canadian Division captured the town of Fresnoy.
• The June 28 attack resulted in the British surprising the Germans and capturing Allied objectives.
• Casualties were less than 2,000.

Battle of Amiens

The Battle of Amiens was fought August 8-11, 1918, near Picardy, France.  It was part of an Allied counteroffensive after several German offensives failed in the spring.  The battle also is known as the Third Battle of Picardy. It is the first battle in what would later become known as the Hundred Days Offensive.

The nations involved were Canada, Great Britain, Australia, France and Germany.

“Amiens, called the ‘black day’ of the German army by one of its commanders, shook German faith in the outcome of the war and raised Allied morale,” Canadian War Museum says.

• Secrecy was needed to ensure the attack went as planned. To bluff the Germans, some soldiers and a casualty clearing station were sent to Ypres to serve as decoys while the rest of the Canadian Corps was moved.
• The attack involved the infantry, artillery, cavalry and air force. Nearly 600 tanks also were used.
• The British, French, Canadians and Australians attacked on August 8. The Germans were caught off guard, and Allied objectives were quickly met. The Canadians advanced the farthest — eight miles.
• After August 8, the Allies received more resistance, but still won the engagement easily.
• German morale was low. Nearly 20,000 German soldiers surrendered and were taken prisoner.
• The war was mobile for the first time since trench warfare began in 1914.

The Canadians’ August 8 push was the most successful day for the Allies in the entire war.

• It also is the first battle where Canadians and Australians attacked together.
• Allied officials believed the war would continue into 1919 and 1920. However, the battle proved the end was in sight.
• Canadian casualties totaled 11,800.

Canal du Nord

The Canal du Nord was fought September 27-October 1, 1918, in the Calais region, France.

The attack was part of an Allied offensive to prevent the Germans from regrouping and launching their own attack.

“On 27th September, 1918, the day after the start of the Meuse-Argonne offensive began, Allied forces attacked the German frontline at the Canal du Nord,” Spartacus Educational explains. “The marshlands on either side of the Arras-Cambrai road and the high German position, made it the most difficult sector of the Hindenburg Line to attack.”

The nations involved were Canada, New Zealand and Germany.

• Canal du Nord was an incomplete canal near Cambrai. Construction began in 1913, but work stopped when the war began.
• On Sept. 2, the Canadians and British broke the Drocourt-Queant Line, a system of defensive lines built by the Germans.
• The Canadians led the attack, crossing a dry canal, and clashing with the Germans.
• The Germans retreated to their fortifications on the Hindenburg Line.

Canadian casualties totaled 30,000.  Several Canadians received Victoria Crosses for their bravery.

The Capture of Mons

The capture of Mons, Belgium, took place November 11, 1918.  It was part of the Hundred Days Offensive, Allied attacks forcing the German Army into defeat.

The nations involved were Canada and Germany.

“The Germans had occupied the town for four years,” Encyclopedia Britannica says. “Mons was a regional centre for coal mining, and its resources had been used throughout the war to fuel Germany’s war effort. Recapturing Mons now, at the end of the war, was of huge symbolic importance to the Allies.”

• The Canadian Corps was ordered to take the city of Mons, which had been under German occupation for the entire war.
• The village of Valenciennes was taken on Nov. 9.
• The Canadians planned to take the city without destroying it; however, they were met with constant German machine gun fire.
• Within hours the city was liberated, and citizens poured out onto the streets to welcome their liberators.
• The city was captured on the same day as the Armistice. The majority of the fighting was over by the time the news reached the troops.

Canadian casualties totaled 280. The penultimate Allied soldier to die in the war was Canadian Private George Price. He was killed by a sniper at Mons two minutes before Armistice.

The Hundred Days Offensive

In the summer of 1918, the end of World War I was at hand. Military commanders previously were planning for the conflict to extend into 1919, or even 1920, but it was becoming increasingly clear to the Allies that victory was in sight.

The Central Powers, conversely, were facing humiliating defeat.

The period between August 8 and Armistice, November 11, 1918, is known as the Hundred Days Offensive. During this time, nearly 6.5 million Allied troops faced off against 3.5 million German troops.

Some of the battles fought during the Hundred Days Offensive include:

• Amiens
• The Second Battle of the Somme
• Mont Saint-Quentin
• Battle of the Scarpe
• Meuse-Argonne Offensive
• Canal du Nord

The Allies were advancing on the Hindenburg Line, a series of manmade defensives built by the German Army. The defensives were named after Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, the supreme leader of the German forces.

The Allies, however, gave it this name. The Germans called it the Siegfried Line.

It was located near the French-Belgian border and was 6,000 yards of concrete and barbed wire. The southern end of the fortification was its most vulnerable, and the Allies took advantage of this vulnerability.

By early autumn, the Allies had reached the Hindenburg Line, breaking through on Sept. 29.

The breakthrough sent the Germans into retreat. For them, the war was lost.

Return to the reader’s guide.