Transcript The Major Battles of World War I

Ypres
The Somme
Vimy Ridge
Passchendaele
 April – May, 1915
 Ypres, Belgium
 Surprise attack by the Germans.
 The attack on Ypres was intended to
achieve two objectives, the first
being to divert allied focus from the
Eastern Front and the second being
to test the new gas weapons.
 Germans released 5 730 cylinders of
chlorine gas
 Unprepared, the French division
fled, leaving the Canadians to fight.
 Despite many Canadian casualties,
the Allies saved the situation
 2 days later, the Germans released
gas on the Canadians. Those in St.
Julien were overrun; the Candians in
Ypres held on
 Fighting continued for 3
weeks.
 In the attempt to hold off
the enemy attack, over
59 000 were lost for the
sake of positions that
had little strategic value.
 It was after this battle
that Lieutenant-Colonel
John McCrae composed
“In Flanders’ Fields”
 Allied victory.
 For the first time a former colonial force (the 1st
Canadian Division) defeated a European power
(theGerman Empire) on European soil, in the Battle of
St. Julien and the Battle of Kitcheners' Wood.
 It marked the first mass use by Germany of poison
gas on the Western Front.
 Development of gas protection was instituted with the
issue of improvised respirators. But the respirator
made little difference due to lack of training.
 July – November, 1916
 Somme, France
 The plan was for a joint
British-French assault on the
Somme (Western Front)
 Many French were killed
protecting the French fortress
of Verdun in February,
making it difficult to
participate in the Somme
offensive.
 The British went ahead with
their “Big Push”
 The Germans were waiting as
100 000 British troops
advanced from the trenches
in full daylight.
 In one day, almost 58 000
were killed, wounded or
missing. It was the biggest
disaster in British military
history.
 Troops came to help
from the First
Newfoundland
Regiment, and soldiered
on bravely.
 The Canadians entered
the “bloodbath” in
September, fighting
through many German
defensive lines
 The Canadians finally
managed to capture
Regina Trench on
November 11, despite the
mud and deaths in the
thousands.
 Somme River – 100,000 Allied troops directed to
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advance across no man’s land in broad daylight, in
direct fire
57, 000 British soldiers killed in single day
790 Newfoundlanders went over the top that day, only
68 answered roll call following morning
Half million men lost in 3 months
Less at battle than it was a meat grinder
 Why was the battle fought?
 For a number of months the French had been taking
severe losses at Verdun – to the east of Paris. To relieve
the French, the Allied High Command decided to
attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore
requiring the Germans to move some of their men
away from the Verdun battlefield thus relieving the
French. After the war, Sir William Robertson, Chief of
the Imperial General Staff, explained what this
strategy was:
 Remembering the dissatisfaction by ministers at
the end of 1915, because the operations had not
come up to their expectations, the General Staff
took the precaution to make quite clear
beforehand the nature of success which the
Somme campaign might yield. The necessity of
relieving pressure on the French Army at Verdun
remains, and is more urgent than ever. This is,
therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the
combined British and French offensive. The
second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as
possible upon the German armies.
 The battle at the Somme started with a
weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines. 1,738,000
shells were fired at the Germans. The logic behind this was so
that the artillery guns would destroy the German trenches and
barbed wire placed in front of the trenches. The use of artillery
was heavily supported by Field Marshall Haig:
 The enemy's position to be attacked was of a very
considerable character, situated on high, undulating tract
of ground. (They had) deep trenches....bomb proof
shelters......wire entanglements forty yards broad often as
thick as a man's finger. Defences of this nature could only
be attacked with the prospect of success after careful
artillery preparation
 In fact, the Germans had deep dugouts for their men and all they
had to do when the bombardment started was to move these
men into the relative safety of the deep dugouts. When the
bombardment stopped, the Germans would have known that
this would have been the signal for an infantry advance. They
moved from the safety of their dugouts and manned their
machine guns to face the British and French.
 The British soldiers advanced across a 25-mile front.
 By the end of the battle, in November 1916, the British had lost
420,000, the French lost nearly 200,000 men and the Germans
500,000. The Allied forces had advanced along a thirty-mile strip
that was seven miles deep at its maximum.
 For many years those who led the British campaign
received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the
Somme was fought – especially Douglas Haig. This
criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures
suffered by the British and the French. By the end of
the battle, the British Army had
suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on
the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and
the Germans nearly 500,000.
 April 9-12, 1917
 The battle began at
 Douai Plains, Nord-Pas-
5:28am on Easter
Monday, April 9.
 The Canadians took one
objective after another,
in spite of heavy
machine gun fire
 The Canadians took over
4 000 prisoners and
achieved one of the
greatest victories in the
war up to that time
de-Calais region, France
 Strategic place for
Germans, had fortified it
for 3 years
 Battle for key High Ground in Northern France
 Germans were well established – tunnels, artillery,
phone lines, rail line for munitions
 200,000 French and British troops lost in failed
attempts to take this stronghold
 Canadians built mock hill – trained using mock
environment
 Canadian troops learned how to load and use
German artillery so that they could turn captured
guns against their enemy
 Andrew McNaughton – learned how to pinpoint
enemy fire based on sound and flash – able to identify
key positions
 Easter Monday, April 9, 1917 – All four divisions of
Canadian Corps advanced together for first time
 In cold, wet winds and driving snow and took the hill
and swept the Germans from the Ridge
 Called “the most perfectly organized and most
successful battle of the whole war”.
 Considered a nation-making moment
 3,600 Canadians died taking the Ridge – after
battle Canadian soldiers set apart as Storm
Troopers
 Arther Currie – key strategist behind Vimy Ridge –
one of the greatest General of the war – German
officer later remarked that without Currie, the
Germans would have won the War
 Oct – Nov, 1917
 The objective was to
 Passchedaele, near Ypres,
capture German
submarine bases on the
Belgian coast.
 The Germans’ position
was firm, and the British
suffered appalling
casualties.
 The Canadians were
called to lead one more
attack.
Belgium
 The Canadians at Passchendaele
 Early in October, the Canadians were sent to relieve the battered ANZAC forces
and take part in the push to capture Passchendaele. Canadian commander
Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie inspected the battlefield and was shocked at
the conditions. He tried to avoid having his men fight there but was overruled.
As at Vimy, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps would see action.
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 took the time to carefully prepare as much as possible and on October
26, the Canadian offensive began. Success was made possible due to acts of
great individual heroism to get past spots of heavy enemy resistance.
Advancing through the mud and enemy fire was slow and there were heavy
losses. Despite the adversity, the Canadians reached the outskirts of
Passchendaele by the end of a second attack on October 30 during a driving
rainstorm.
 On November 6, the Canadians and British launched the assault to capture the
ruined village of Passchendaele itself. In heavy fighting, the attack went
according to plan. The task of actually capturing the “infamous” village fell to
the “City of Winnipeg” 27thBattalion and they took it that day. After weathering
fierce enemy counterattacks, the last phase of the battle saw the Canadians
attack on November 10 and clear the Germans from the eastern edge of
Passchendaele Ridge. Canadian soldiers succeeded in the face of almost
unbelievable challenges.
 The attack at Passchendaele was Sir Douglas
Haig's attempt to break through Flanders. Haig had
thought about a similar attack in 1916, but the Battle of
the Somme occupied his time in that year. However,
one year later, Haig felt able to launch such an attack.
His main aim was a breakthrough to the coast of
Belgium so that German submarine pens could be
destroyed.
 The battlefield was a
muddy bog, and brought
back memories of Ypres.
 Attempts to rebuild
roads , gun platforms,
etc. were slowed by
German aircraft bombs.
 At 5:40am on Oct. 26,
the Canadians attacked,
but could not secure the
area.
 Attacks during late
October and early
November brought much
suffering, but led to the
Canadians securing
many German strong
points.
 Robert Borden responding to British PM:
 “Mr. Prime Minister, I want to tell you that, if ever
there is a repetition of the Battle of Passchendaele, not
a single Canadian soldier will leave the shores of
Canada again . . .”