Battles of World War I: Ypres, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele

Battles of World War I: Ypres, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele

The Second Battle of Ypres

·  Fought outside of Ypres, Belgium in 1915

·  Germans trying to break west and south through the “Ypres salient”. A bulge jutting into German lines

·  Germans used Chlorine Gas, first use of Poison Gas in war

·  The chlorine burned the eyes, nose and throat and destroyed the lungs. Men drowned in their own bodies as their lungs filled with fluid

·  French troops, in the trenches beside CDNs were gassed first…they either died or ran – leaving a huge gap in the line

·  CDN troops, never in battle before and massively outnumbered, held their trenches

·  The CDN troops were also gassed but held on

·  As the story goes…a well educated CDN soldier recognized the smell of chlorine gas and realized that by urinating on a piece of cloth and wearing it over the mouth and nose, the chlorine would be neutralized by the ammonia in the urine

·  The CDN slowed the German attack which allowed British soldiers to arrive and completely stop the attack, (after furious fighting for a number of days)

·  In the end, over 6000 CDNs were killed in the 2nd Battle of Ypres

o  1 in 5 men were either killed, gassed, wounded or missing

·  The Canadians began to earn a reputation as being brave troops, who would fight hard under and conditions. (This would grow quickly as the war progressed)

The Battle of the Somme

Summer 1916

·  British forces had to do something to relieve the pressure on the French

o  make a large scale attack somewhere

·  Commander of all British forces, Sir Douglas Haig decided to attack along the Somme River

·  Plan was 5 day artillery Barrage (firing 1.5 Million shells), destroy the German defenses and kill the soldiers, then advance

o  also to use Tanks for the first time in warfare

Problems from the Start

·  things were rushed to help the French

·  most of the shells fired were Shrapnel Shells and did little damage to the defenses

o  German Soldiers were safe underground in bunkers

·  The shrapnel shells supposed to be used to destroy barbed wire defenses

The Battle Begins

o  British engineers explode large Mines dug under German positions

o  British soldiers “Go Over the Top” and form into lines to walk across No Man’s Land – expecting Germans to be dead or gone (can you see a problem here???)

o  Lines of men made easy targets for German machine gunners, who had been safe inside their dugouts during the Barrage

o  Some British units managed to take their objectives, others were shot to pieces

§  On July 1, 1916, the British Army suffered 57,000 casualties

§  (the worst single loss EVER in British history)

·  By November, the Battle ground to a halt

Gains / Losses
·  11km deep penetration into German line
·  Germans weakened enough that they can’t attack on a large scale until mid/late 1917
·  420,000 British and Empire Troops
·  200,000 French Troops / ·  450,000 German Troops
·  German Lines NEVER broken

·  Canadian Commanders were shocked at the careless and needless loss of their men (25,000)

·  Vowed that never again would Canada simply follow the British into battle

Battle of Vimy Ridge

·  The Canadian Corps / - First time all 4 CDN Divisions fought together
- used to spearhead nearly every major British offensive for the rest of the war – commanded for the rest of the war by General Currie
·  Tunnels and Railways / - miles of railway laid quickly transport men & equipments in preparation for battle
- “Subways” dug to hide the preparations & men in the hours before the attack (the Germans have the high ground and could see for miles)
·  Integrated Platoons / - EACH platoon would include riflemen, machine gunners and bombers (with grenades)
- the platoons have all the tools they need and can advance quickly (don’t have to wait for specialist troops to come up & help)
·  Rehearsals & Models / - troops practice on full scale models of the battlefield laid out with coloured tape * signs like a giant map (they know where they are to go and what defenses are in their area)
- troops could examine a detailed scale model of the battlefield to have a better sense of their jobs
·  Maps / - for one of the first times in war nearly all soldiers were issued a map of the battlefield, not just the officers
·  Take out Artillery / - location of nearly all German artillery is known BEFORE the battle and is destroyed in the opening Canadian barrage
·  The “Vimy Glide” / - version of the Creeping Barrage
- soldiers will advance 100 yards every 3 minutes while the artillery barrage advances to keep the Germans pinned down until the troops are on the German trenches
·  NATIONAL UNITY / - all of Canada shares in the victory of Vimy Ridge
- for the first time CDNs now have a common event in their history
- men from all the provinces and territories fought at Vimy Ridge together
- after the war, they all have the same unifying point in their lives – soldiers and civilians – a CANADIAN experience

Battle of Passchendaele

·  November, 1917

·  For months British General Haig had tried unsuccessfully to take Passchendaele Ridge in Belgium. He then passed the job along to Canadian General Arthur Currie

·  Heavy bombardments and rain had turned the landscape to mush. Currie warned Haig that these conditions would result in many casualties, but Haig was insistent

·  Many horses and soldiers actually drowned in flooded trenches and shell craters

·  Canadians took the low ridge and the nearby village in two weeks of hard fighting

·  Almost 16 000 CDN dead or wounded

Importance:

·  Passchendaele marked the first battle in which CDN troops were led by their own General instead of a British one

·  Afterwards, Gen. Currie reported to Canadian Prime Minister Borden his disgust for the battle conditions

·  Both Currie and Borden felt that the victory was not worth the human cost

·  The next time PM Borden met with the British PM he threatened that any repeat of Passchendaele would mean no more CDN troops would be sent to Europe