SECTION 1Fact sheets

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT']»li - i 9 i s ANATIONBORN

BACKGROUNDER TO THEWAR: DIPLOMATIC HISTORY

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, in the Bosniantown of Sarajevo, nineteen-year old stu-dent Gavrilo Princip fired the shots whichkilled the heir to the Austrian throne,Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and hiswife Sophie. No one could have foreseenthat this act would unleash upon theworld the devastation of the First WorldWar - the Great War, as it came to beknown. No one could have foreseen the

events which, by war's end in 1918, wipedancient empires and kingdoms from themap, overturned social systems and sawpolitical and military power shift fromEurope to the United States of America.Certainly no one could have foreseen thedeath of more than 81/2 million men onthe bloody batdefields of the war, nor thewounding of 20 million others and thewholesale destruction which ravagedcities and their civilian populations as thewar progressed.

The reasons which led the nations of

Europe and later the world to go to warin 1914 ai-e complex, and it is not possibleto point to one single cause. Rather, thereare a number of reasons, originating inthe early 19th century, that allowedPrincip's action in Sarajevo to triggera series of events which by August 4thengulfed most of Europe.

In the early 19th century Germany hadbeen a collection of competing smallstates. By 1871, however. Otto vanBismarck had created the German

Empire,%hich stretched from theborders of France to the borders of Russiaand was dominated by Prussia. In theprocess, Prussia had fought three wars -against Denmark, Austria and France.Each war added territory to the Empire,and the last of the three, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, left Francehumiliated and bitter.

In 1879, Austria - with only the Balkansinto which to expand after her defeat byPrussia, and fearful that this would bringan inevitable clash with Russia - allied

with Germany in the Dual Alliance.For Germany, this was a welcome movein case of a war of revenge by France.Bismarck further isolated France within

Europe when he encouraged her to seizeTunisia in North Africa, well aware thatItaly coveted it. As a result, Italy joinedGermany and Austria in 1882 to form theTriple Alliance.

In 1890 the German ruler, KaiserWilhelm II, dismissed his Chancellor(Bismarck) when they disagreed over theissue of colonial expansion and sea power.For years Bismarck had kept Germanyout of the scramble for overseas colonies,realizing that this would inevitably leadto conflict with Britain as naval rivalryensued. Bismarck had also pursued poli-cies which did not alienate Russia. KaiserWilhelm not only wanted colonies and anavy to rival that of Britain, but also wasvery anti-Russian. It was not surprisingtherefore that France and Russia, feelingthreatened by the powerful GermanEmpire, concluded an Entente in 1894.

11

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

A NATION BORN 11 i 4 - l 9 i 8

R

Britain, a traditional enemy of France,had until now pursued a policy of "splendidisolation, " not getting too closely involvedwith European affairs, preferring to supportTurkey as a means of keeping the Russiansout of the Mediterranean, where Britain

had important trading and strategicinterests. In 1885, however, British policychanged after a series of massacres bythe Turks. German influence began toincrease in the Turkish Empire with theprovision of economic aid and the buildingof railways. Britain, meanwhile, wasexperiencing a loss of industrial and com-mercial supremacy in the world with therise of the United States of America and

Germany, and was unpopular becauseof the South African war (Boer War).In 1904, therefore, the old enemies -France and Britain - signed the EntenteCordiale, settling their differences overEgypt and North Africa. In 1906 Britainguaranteed support for France in theevent of a German naval attack, and

began military staff talks. In 1907 Britainand Russia signed an Entente, thus creatingthe Triple Entente. Now two power blocsexisted in Europe, formed for protectionagainst each other, but thereby makingthe likelihood of war greater.

It was in the Balkans that the ambitionsof Austria and Russia clashed. Both

nations had only the Balkans in which toexpand, following their defeats by Prussiaand Japan respectively. Unfortunately,Serbia lay direcdy in the path of Austrianexpansion, and Serbia had strongreligious and ethnic links with Russia.

With the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II

and his desire to have a navy whichwould rival that of Great Britain, therebegan a naval race which was to be amajor cause of the war. Admiral Tirpitzmade it clear that such a navy must oneday be equal to the task of challenging

Britain in the North Sea. From 1900 on,

both countries began building the newDreadnought class of battleships, whichmade all previous batdeships obsolete.Germany built the Kiel Canal to allowher fleet to move into the North Sea,

and fortified Heligoland as a naval base.Britain felt these moves threatened her

sea lanes, trade and security.

On land, France and Germany wereengaged in a competition in armaments.France constructed a series of strongfortresses along its border with Germanyand developed an offensive strategy basedon a fast mobile army designed to attack.Its equipment and strategy were, however,outdated and inferior to that of Germany.The latter's Schlieffen Plan, intended tobypass the French defences by swingingaround through neutral Belgium, wasbacked by a large and well-equipped armyNeither side, however, was prepared forthe trench warfare which followed.

Relations between the two opposingpower blocs were also bitter because oftrade and colonial rivalries. In the "scramble

for Africa," the African continent hadbeen divided up between the Europeanpowers, each wanting a greater share ofthe world's trade.

A series of crises, beginning in 1905, inwhich France annexed Morocco, Italyannexed Tripoli, and Austria took the Serbareas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, onlyserved to bring tension between theAlliance and Entente powers to a flash-point. Then the 1912-1913 Balkan Warsresulted in a more powerful Serbia block-ing any future Austrian expansion in theBalkans. In Bosnia there was violent agi-tation against Serbia. It was against thisbackground that the assassination tookplace at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

12

CANADA AND THE GREATi9i4 - i 9 i s A NATION BORN

A month later, on July 23, Austria pre-sented an ultimatum to Serbia designedto make her fight or be humiliated. Russiaagreed to come to Serbia's assistance ifattacked. On July 28 Austria, backedby Germany, declared war on Serbia.German military leaders were convincedthat 1914 would be the last year in whichthey could defeat Russia, having firsttaken care of France. It was on thispremise that their Schlieffen Plan hadbeen devised: the Plan called for a quickknock-out blow against France and theswitching of German armies by train tothe eastern front. On July 31 Russiamobilized. On August 1st Germanydeclared war on Russia and the followingday occupied Luxembourg. On August 3she declared war on France and on

August 4 invaded neutral Belgium,thereby violating an 1839 Treaty - theTreaty of London - which guaranteedthat neutrality.

On August 4 Britain declared war onGermany. With that declaration theBritish Empire, including Canada, wasalso at war. British trade dependedheavily on access to the ports ofFlanders:if these were in enemy hands, not onlytrade was threatened but also Britain

itself. Britain also felt that a treaty obliga-tion to Belgium should be upheld, andthere was a moral obligation to come tothe assistance of France. The interventionof the British Expeditionary Force heldup the German advance long enough todisrupt the Schlieffen Plan. Both sidesbecame bogged down and dug trenches.Germany was obliged to fight on twofronts, east and west, and for the nextfour years the bloodletdng was to con-tinue. It was into this carnage thatCanada was drawn.

CANADA IN 1914: WHYCANADA WENT TO WAR

In 1914, Canada as a nation was only47 years old and had a population of justover seven million. As a result ofgovern-ment policy, immigrants had poured intoCanada, attracted by the land available tothem in the West. Between 1900 and 1914,the population had increased by 40 per-cent, some one million of them British

immigrants. But not all of these newcomerswere welcome, and ethnic tensions werehigh in the immediate pre-War years, assome Canadians expressed anxiety aboutthe "threats to Anglo-Saxon culture."

Canada was still predominantly an agri-cultural country, although the populationshift to urban centres was under way.No city was larger than half a million(Montreal). Unemployment was rising,particularly as a result of a depressionwhich began in 1912. Recent developments,in particular the railways which nowlinked east and west, held hope for thefuture, while Canada's primary industries(processing our natural resources) werethe backbone of the economy. However,the development of secondary industries(manufacturing) was threatened by thedecline in foreign investment (mamlyBritish), and the economic outlook waspoor until recovery began with theadvent of war.

Militarily Canada had little, comparedwith the European powers. Other thansending a small contingent to fight inSouth Africa m the Boer War, the countryhad limited military experience. It hada small regular Army of 3, 110 men. Per-haps 65,000 to 70,000 others had receivedsome basic training in local militia units.There were few serviceable modern gunsand rifles, and other equipment wasalmost non-existent. There was also a

13

II

CANADIAN ENGAGEMENTS ON THE WESTERN FRONT

April 9-12 Vimy Ridge

April-May The Scarpe

August Hill 70 & Lens

April 1st Canadian Division arrives at Ypres.

April 22 Poison gas attack. Canadians help preventGerman breakthrough in battle known asSecond Ypres.

AprU 24 Batde of St Julien. Canadians hold the linein desperate conditions.

May-June Festubert & Givenchy

December 2nd Canadian Division arrives at the front,with some units of the 3rd Canadian Division.

Canadian Corps formed.

December First Canadian troops arrive inFrance (PPCLI)

Action near St Eloi

Octobcr-Nov Passchendaele

(SrdYpres)Cambrai

March-April St Eloi Craters

June Mount Son-el/Sanctuary Wood

July 1-Nov 4th Canadian Divisionarrives at the front.

Batde of the Somme

Beaumont-Hamel(Newfoundland Regiment)

Courcelette

Regina Trench

August-Nov Canada's "Hundred Days"

August 8-11 Batde of Amiens

Aug26-Sept3 Airas

Sept-Oct 11 Canal du Nord & Cambrai

Nov 1-2 Valenciennes/MountHouy/Mons

November 11 ARMISTICE

30

§^

CANADAANDTHE GREAT'

1914 - 1918 A NATION BORN

serious shortage of trained officers. Asfor the Navy, it possessed two ancientcruisers purchased from Britain, onlyone of which was seaworthy in 1914, anda total of 350 men.

Some modernization had taken placeunder the Defence Minister, Sir FrederickBorden, with the building of newarmouries and rifle ranges, the establish-ment of a military base at Petawawa andthe creation of a small general staff. Mostimportandy, a War Book of plans for everygovernment department in the event ofhostilities had been created and mobiliza-

tion arrangements were put in place.

When Britain declared war on Germanyon August 4, 1914, Canada was automa-tically at war too. As a member of theBritish Empire this was unquestioned.Sir Robert Borden, the Prime Minister,immediately offered assistance to Britainas he pledged "to put forth every effortand to make every sacrifice necessary toensure the integrity and maintain thehonour of our Empire. " Sir WilfridLaurier, the Leader of the Opposition,gave his support in the House ofCommons on August 19: "It will be seenby the world that Canada, a daughterof old England, intends to stand by her inthis great conflict. When the call comesour answer goes at once, and it goes in theclassical language of the British answer tothe call of duty: 'Ready, aye, ready. '"Even Henri Bourassa, the owner andpublisher of Le Devoir, which was knownfor its fiery language during the earlierNaval Service Bill debate, agreed: "It isher (Canada's) national duty to contributein the measure of her resources and bymeans of an appropriate action to thetriumph, and above all, to the enduranceof the combined efforts of France and

England."

Across Canada, newspaper editors andwriters, together with the majority ofCanadians, were of one voice in supportingentry into the war. Said the TorontoGlobe: "Canada must do her part as anintegral part of the Empire... When Britainis at war, Canada is at war. " Christian

newspapers such as the PresbyterianRecord argued that "War is never wrongwhen it is war against wrong. " NapoleonDrouin, the Mayor of Quebec City, said:All we can do to help the Empire in

money, arms and men should be done."The Mayor of Montreal, a fervent Quebecnationalist, told his compatriots: "If youare needed, it is your duty to fight."

There were some dissenting voices, it istrue, but for the majority of Canadians itwas a simple issue: the mother countrywas at war, so Canada was at war - that'sall there was to it. The close ties to "the

old country" and the monarchy, and asense of duty and patriotism were mixedwith a sense of excitement and adventure.

No country, not even Germany, was pre-pared for the nature of the war that wasto follow. There was a conviction that

the war would be short-lived: "over byChristmas" was the cry as men rushedto join the colours before they lost theiropportunity to participate in the action.From coast to coast, young Canadianswere swept up in a wave of patrioticfervour, unaware of the horrors thatawaited them.

SAM HUGHES

(a) His careerBorn in Durham, Ontario in 1853, SamHughes was throughout his life a contro-versial figure. After a short teaching careerhe purchased a newspaper, the LindsayWarder, which he used to voice his outspo-ken views. He became the ConservativeMember of Parliament for Victoria

15

CANADAA ND THE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - i 9 is

North and commanded the 45th Victoria

Regiment of the Canadian militia. Whenthe South African War broke out Hugheswent over the head of the senior staffofficer of the Canadian militia (a Britishofficer. Major General Hutton) and theCanadian Militia Minister, writingdirecdy to the Secretary of State for theColonies offering himself in command of aCanadian battalion which he would raise.

General Hutton refused to allow Hughesto go to South Africa, but after writingletters of apology, Hughes was permittedto accompany the Canadian contingent asa civilian. Once there, however, he wassoon in uniform, in defiance of orders tothe contrary.

Following Sir Robert Borden's electionvictory in 1911, Hughes was appointedto the Cabinet as Minister of Militia.

Although Hughes brought a great deal ofenergy to his Ministry, his order to cancelthe detailed plans made for mobilisationin the event of war created chaos as he

personally supervised the raising of a vol-unteer force. Only the artillery mobilisedaccording to plan. The volunteers assembledat Valcartier, near Quebec City, in a hugetented camp with four miles of bell tentsand a large artillery range. When warbegan there was nothing at Valcartier, butby early September the camp was ready.

(b) RecruitingThere was no shortage of men to volunteer.Motivated by duty and patriotism, orbecause they were unemployed or wearyof sod breaking in the prairies, by the endof 1914 more than 59,000 had joined theCanadian forces, including a number ofnursing sisters. Initially Borden hadpromised to send 25, 000 men to England'said. By January 1916 that number hadgrown to a commitment to send half amillion. In 1915 some 159,000 volunteered.

Many approaches were used in recruitingmen for the Canadian ExpeditionaryForce. The clergy and women were askedto help in persuading men into the ranks.In many cases, clergy preached sermonsdesigned to boost recruitment andallowed recruiters to use churches fortheir work. Some women went overboard,

issuing white feathers to young men notin uniform on the (usually unfair)assumption that they were "cowards.'Posters appealed directly to women to usetheir influence to coerce their menfolk toenlist: "Do you realize that the one word'GO' from you may send another man tofight for our King and Country? Whenthe war is over and someone asks yourhusband or your son what he did in theGreat War, is he to hang his head becauseyou would not let him go - Won t youhelp and send a man to enlist today?(See also the Letter to Nova Scotia childrenin the Appendices.)

The original mobilization plans had madecareful provision for French Canadianunits to be part of the First Contingent.Hughes resisted the idea that they shouldform their own units and those who didvolunteer had to join English-speakingunits. The only successful exception tomake it overseas was the 22 Battalion (the

"Vandoos"), whose fine war record showswhat might have been achieved with adifferent approach. Such attitudes didmuch to alienate many Quebecers whowere already concerned about attacks onFrench language education in Ontario,Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In anyevent, Quebecers generally did not havethe close ties with France which recentlyarrived British immigrants had withtheir mother country.

There were volunteers aplenty in 1914.Given rudimentary training at Valcartier,the First Contingent of 31, 200 (of whom

16

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'l 9 l .1 - i9ia ANATION BORN

65 percent were British born) embarkedin thirty ships from Quebec City onOctober 3, 1914. Their second stage traln-ing and preparation for batde was to takeplace in England under the command ofthe British General Alderson. When theyarrived they were placed on SalisburyPlain, where in one of the worst winters

on record it rained every day except oneuntil Christmas - then it snowed. Flu and

spinal meningitis took a toll, and the con-ditions delayed the dispatch of a SecondContingent (20,000 strong) from Canadauntil the spring of 1915. But training pro-ceeded for the soldiers on Salisbury plain,and they were outfitted with new equip-ment in place of some of the inadequateequipment with which they had leftCanada. The Canadian Division, as theywere now known, was considered readyto move to France in January 1915. Whenthe Second Division moved to France in

September 1915, the two divisions formedthe CANADIAN CORPS. The ThirdDivision was created in December 1915,and the Fourth crossed to France in

August 1916. All four divisions servedtogether as the Canadian Corps after theBattle of the Somme in 1916.

Sam Hughes, who had preceded the FirstContingent to England on a fast liner, hadalready met with Lord Kitchener at theBritish War Office and had refused to

have the Canadian troops divided upamong the British regiments. Accordingto Hughes himself, Kitchener said: "Youhave your orders, carry them out. " Towhich Hughes replied: "I'll be damned ifI will" and walked out. Kitchener's planwas abandoned (more likely because Bordenhad obtained a legal opinion from hisMinister of Justice that as militiamen onactive service abroad they should righdyremain under Canadian control). This isperhaps something that the Canadianshad to thank Hughes for. They were soon

to have a reason to be less thankful: theRoss rifle with which he had insisted on

equipping them.

c) The Ross rifle scandalDuring the South African War of 1899-1902, the Canadian government had expe-rienced serious problems in obtainingweapons from Britain, on whom it reliedfor its supplies. In particular the .303 Lee-Enfield rifle was unavailable, and effortsto persuade Birmingham Small ArmsCompany to set up a branch factory inCanada to manufacture the rifle were

unsuccessful. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, thenthe Prime Minister, was persuaded by hisMilitia Minister, Sir Frederick Borden,that Canada would have to make its

own rifle. A new rifle, developed by SirCharles Ross, had recently appeared on themarket. It was a fine target and sportingweapon. Ross came to Ottawa and metwith a committee set up to evaluate hisrifle. One of the committee members was

Sam Hughes, who immediately liked theweapon. It was put through a series oftests, including comparison tests with theLee-Enfield. In spite of the fact that theRoss jammed and often misfired, thecommittee recommended its adoptionand manufacture in Canada. What "small

problems" there were, Sir Charles Rossassured them, could be eliminated withthe appropriate modifications. SamHughes steadfastly defended the Rossrifle in the House of Commons and was

opposed to replacing it. Events were toshow that he was tragically wrong.

In trench conditions, surrounded by mudand filth, and when it was essential tohave a reliable weapon, the Ross wasdefinitely out of place. It had a longbarrel and was difficult to use in the

trench's confined spaces, and it frequentlyjammed. It was indeed a fine weapon - ona firing range under controlled conditions.

17

CANADA ANDTHE GREATANATIONBORN 1914 - i9i8

But the First Division's stand at Ypres inthe face of a gas attack, Canadian soldiersthrew away their Ross rifles in despairand frustration, and picked up Lee-Enfields from dead British soldiers on

the battlefield.

In spite of this, the Second Division wentto France with Ross rifles and again theresults were much the same, with soldiersthrowing away jammed weapons. ByJuly 1916 Sir Douglas Haig, the newCommander-in-Chief, had ordered thereplacement of all Ross rifles by the Lee-Enfield, then becoming widely available.To the end, Hughes refused to accept thatthere were problems with the Ross, and ittook the intervention of many influentialpeople to persuade him otherwise.

In November 1916, Hughes resigned,after Sir Robert Borden's decision to

appoint a Minister of Overseas Forces.He died in 1921 at the age of 69.

THE NATURE OF THEWAR ON LAND

The American Civil War (1861-1865) hadshown clearly that troops who held astrong defensive position had a tremendoussuperiority over any attackers. Hundredsof thousands died in that conflict, advancingin massed ranks against heavy fire. By 1914litde had changed tactically, but weaponryhad improved to the point where defensiveweapons had a clear advantage overoffensive weapons. Modern technologyhad produced the means to mobilize andarm the great citizen armies of the FirstWorld War, and move them to the batde-field. However, moving these armies onthe batdefield itself remained almost

impossible. After the German armieswere checked at the Battle of the Marne

and the first Batde ofYpres, both sidesentrenched. A complex trench system

known as the Western Front stretched

from the Belgian coast to Switzerland,some 600 miles (960 kilometres) in all.Between the forward trenches of the

armies was the deserted and dangerousNo Man's Land, which in places was aswide as half a mile; in others it was a

mere 20 or 30 yards (22-33 metres.)During the entire war, the lines oftrenches never varied by more than a fewmiles. In the face of artillery bombard-ment, machine gun and rifle fire andmassive barbed wire entanglements, thou-sands died for gains of sometimes only afew metres. This static warfare produceda stalemate in which neither side could

achieve a breakthrough.

Three solutions to break this stalemate

were tried, the first of which was theuse of artillery. All armies used massedartillery, preceding infantry attacks bymassive bombardments. Opposingtrenches were pulverized, but when thebombardment ended the troops came outof their deep underground shelters andwere waiting with their machine guns tomow down the advancing attackers. Thebombardment often made the barbed wireentanglements «ven more impassable; pro-duced thousands of shell holes which made

advance difficult, especially in wet andmuddy conditions; and sacrificed anychance of a surprise attack. Moreover,many of the shells were defective andfailed to explode. Casualties were enor-mous, but commanders contmued to usethe same tactics, convinced that in a warof attrition they would eventually win.The bloodbaths which resulted in suchbattles as those on the Somme and at

Passchendaele proved how terribly farthey were willing to go to prove it.

A second solution attempted was theuse of poisonous gas. First used by theGermans on a large scale during the

18

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'

i9]4 - 1918 A NATION BORN

Second Battle ofYpres in April 1915, itwas successful locally because of the sur-prise factor and because the Allies had noantidote available. If the amount of gasused had been sufficient and the wind

had been favourable the Germans mighthave achieved a breakthrough, but theyfailed to exploit their advantage becausethey had too few reserves available andbecause the Canadians put up strongresistance.

In rime, various types of gas were intro-duced by both sides, including mustardgas, which could do terrible damage toa soldier's lungs before he died in excruci-ating pain, often four to five weeks later.Chlorine and phosgene gas also broughtparticularly horrific death. Anti-gasclothing was developed which enabledmen to remain in their positions, althoughin great discomfort. Overall, gas warfareonly impeded the infantry even moreand slowed things down.

Tanks were introduced as a third possiblesolution. Made possible by the developmentof the internal combustion engine, tankswere introduced at Courcelette in 1916.

They were capable of advancing againstand destroying machine guns and barbedwire, enabling infantry to assault heavilydefended positions. But mechanical prob-lems, communication problems and a lackof sufficient numbers of troops to exploita breakthrough meant that the tanks werenever used to their full potential.

(For more on conditions see "Life in theTrenches" in this section; for more onweaponry see "Military Organization"in appendices.)

THE SECOND BATTLE OFYPRES/ST. JULIEN(April - May 1915)

After several months of training onSalisbury Plain in England, enduringsome of the coldest and wettest winter

weather in living memory, the CanadianFirst Division was sent to France.

It arrived at St. Noisier on 16 February1915 and moved immediately to Flanders.Here the troops settled into the routine oftrench life, ill-equipped for the dismalwinter weather that greeted them.

In April 1915 the Canadian First Divisionwas occupying a sector of the Allied frontline close to the city ofYpres. On theCanadian right were British divisions;to the left a French (Algerian) division.On April 22 after a heavy bombardment,the Germans released 5,730 cylinders ofchlorine gas in an attempt to effect abreakthrough. Allied commanders haddismissed reports that gas was about to beused, so the men were totally unprotectedagainst the deadly, choking gas cloudsrolling over the front line. The Algeriansfled in panic, leaving a great hole fourmiles wide in the Allied defences and the

flank exposed. The Canadians, many ofthem with their Ross rifles jammed, heldon and fought to close the gap. In a seriesof counter-attacks the Canadians suffered

heavy casualties, but their efforts gave theAllies time to save the situation.

Two days later on April 24, the Germansagain attacked, this time releasing gasagainst the Canadians, who had only cottonbandoliers with which to cover their mouths

for protection. German shell fire raineddown on the Canadian positions. Somehowthey held on, except for those at St. Julien,who were overrun, those not killed beingcaptured. They were to remain as prisonersof war until the Armistice in 1918.

19

CANADAA ND THE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - i 9 i a

R

The fighting continued for another threeweeks, in the course of which the PrincessPatricia's Canadian Light Infantry distin-guished itself, losing 400 of its 550 menin a successful attempt to hold off anenemy attack. The Canadians in theirfirst engagement had proved themselvesworthy, four of them earning the VictoriaCross, but one in three had become casu-allies. In 48 hours 6,035 had been lost(only a few dying from the effects of gas).In all there were more than 59,000 casual-ties for the sake of positions that had littlestrategic value. It was an ominous portentof what was to occur many times duringthe next four years, as troops went for-ward to attack powerful enemy defencestime after time and casualty figures roseever higher in a wasteful war of attrition.

It was after this battle that Lieutenant-

Colonel ]ohn McCrae composed hisimmortal poem In Flanders Fields andSir John French, the British Commander-in-Chief, said of the Canadians: "Thesesplendid troops averted a disaster.

FESTUBER-T'ANEreF^ENCHY

Reinforced by menjtorffthe CavalryBrigade^tb«-F^stJ>ivt^o=aiarched southto totn-ttiS^. llied-offensive. On May 23and 24-At-Festubert the Canadians attacked

acfess-epeiTground in thgJaee-OfheavyGerman machine-gun fire, and were cutdown^aslKsauveFe^'ntangleetlTt uncut

barbed wire ipJfOfifbf the German posi-tions^468were killed or wounded. OnJljiie-t5"5FCSwnchy a Can^dSh attackagain ran intodyjeb-barbed wire. Some

366 men/w re lost in a matter of minutes.

THE CAWTDIAN CO^PS

In September 1915/th^'Canadian SecondDivision moyedto France, andthe^

Cana^istfCorpfrwa?"formgd-ilfider the

command of LieutefKint-General Sir

Edwin AldgFs6n, who had previouslycommaiiSed the First Division. It was

t^insisteiice-eftfiejEdnadian govern-"menTwhich retight this nadonal forceinto beii

The~ean33Tan Corps spent yMlutumnand winter in atrociojisfohditions on theFlanders fronj^-ilftrenches which werelitde moi^thaiLX»»d-fitR3^it6h s, often

standmgm thigh-degp^ater, plagued bytrench feet, rats^lice and pneumonia.ConstagA^teet, snow and biting windsincreased the Canadiau&Lims^i

ST. ELOI CRAJESCS (April 1916)

From Septgmber 1915 through the earlymonies of 1916 the Canadians were

invSlved-ia-the-ConstantpatrpUflng andraiding in No Man's^anfTthat was afeature of thisjaeflod of the war. In the

processj±i ^anadians gained a solidreDrftatioiLjMrt-stFSfained neavy^esses

(5,452 casualties; 1,234 f^tal^Tunnellersfrom both the AJUcdand German sidesdug their^urinels ever deeper under thefront Ifffe positionssfjjieu-cxppapents inattemptstoBlow up enemy^tt^nches.

explodedthe German

i.any of'AS the British

lan surybuirs-naa&ned

ited the captureof three ojLA^craters formed by theexploitions^Seffaatt-arriitery'pouTpd a hailof shells onto the area,^ji4-ofithe nightof April 3-4^heiTtIie Canadian SecondDiv}siolftroops relieved them there were

20

?ANADAANDTHE GREAT UMS.1911 - i9i» A NATION BORN

few survivors of th^erflginal attackingforce. The Canadians were wearing thenewly intr9(idced steel helny

the cratersthe Canadiaj

shell holes

attacks. Qff April 6every^etater exa

?r battle c

me sitiafl71akesmddled ifyfnud-filled

fough^dfF Germanenemy regained

'one. For 13 days a^-

SANCTU^(June 191

T^e pSnadian Tbtfd Division moved in

ie front lip<<to occupy ajiifl in the"pres sali§irf known as Knmt Sorrel,

almost^lfe only high^f-ound retained bythe/dlies from d^e^previous^ear. Because

"its strategic^tiiportan^it was a keytarget for Germap< On the morningof June 1916 a §dfious boigMrdmentwa§, yrfleashed^6ainst the^Canadian

ftions, apd simultapt 'busly four hugemines wyfe explode^under Mount .Sorrel.Trends and th^ defenders vajBffshed,

lose wh^iirvived offerjzd virtuallyresistancp/co the Germ^if infantry as

they atta^ed. Of 702 1961 in thp^thCanadian Mounted fles, only^6 survivedunwbunded; the ^incess Patricia's

Canadian Li^iftnfanty^lost 400 menin Sanctuary WoodfTnexplicably, the

German atta$k1ialted at nigJ3.tfall, withthe captu^ofYpres witl>ifi their grasp.

Thjg/1iext morning^he Canadians

'ounter-attacl^ea to try to re^a^tureMount Sor^l and Hills and 62. Withlittle arpttery suppoi^ihd in the face ofheayymachine fgx6 fire, the Canadianswere beaten (6k. On June 6 theJSermansexplodedj&^ur more mines yader theCanac^in positions at I-^06ge.

he British coulpKpare noj^dops, butHaig was ah)e/rto provi^fi^rtillery^fofasecond a^tdmpt to rapture t^t^liighgrour^ Byng g^?e the ta?if of launchingty^second QBfdnter-atKtck to ArthurCurrie, general yyfiose abilit

alr^Sf becom^ipparent. pfirrie carefullyprepared hj^troops, reji^arsing themprior to^Re attack <^f9 familiarising themwit^/fhe groun<^-6ver which^dfey wouldbe attackingy^le also dey^ed a somewhatdifferent^rftillery pl^df designed t^catch

Fourtimes the bomja&'dment bujk^o a crescendo

IS

heavyins opene^k'up agam.

after an

rdmen^Ae previou?-e^ening,^gained all

positions Iprf on Juqe^F. The cost washeavy, witl><ome S^'3'0 casualties.

Many valual^essons had \^h learned,which wye to be put tojg6od use in the,attacj^n Vimy Ridg^m April 191;Canadians bad^fn a victory, jxff aheadof them was the Battle of th^Somme.

THE SOMME(July - November 1916)

In 1916 the Allies planned offensiveson three fronts: the Western, Easternand Italian. These were to be massive,frontal attacks of the type which had

mann(

21

CANADA ANDTHE GREATANATIONBORN 1914 - is is

already cost so many thousands of lives.On the Western Front, the plan was fora joint British-French assault on theSomme in mid-1916.

This scheme was upset when the Germanslaunched an all-out attack on the Frenchfortress ofVerdun, which they knew theFrench would fight to the last man to holdon to. The attack began on February 21,1916 and lasted until December, by whichtime more than 800,000 men had died.Verdun made it very difficult for theFrench to participate in the Somme offen-sive. The British build-up went ahead,massing guns and men for what Haigtermed "the Big Push. " The Germans,long aware of the impending attack,waited in their well-prepared defensivepositions.

As had happened many rimes before, theintense bombardment of the enemy positionsprior to the attack switched to targets furtherback behind the enemy lines at the momentof their assault. The Germans came up fromtheir deep dug-outs and were waiting as the100,000 British troops climbed out of theirtrenches and Advanced against the Germantrenches in full daylight. It was July 1, 1916.

On that July day, almost 58,000 mefiwere killed, wounded or went missing.It was the biggest disaster in Britishmilitary history.

Taking part in the attack was the FirstNewfoundland Regiment, which had cometo France from the Gallipoli campaign.Newfoundland was not, of course, part ofCanada at i hat time. The 801 men of theRegiment who went into battle thatmorning at BEAUMONT-HAMEL,advanced over 250 yards of open groundbefore they even reached their own frontline. They did not waver as they advancedthrough a hail of fire, men falling at every

step, "instinctively (tucking) their chinsinto an advanced shoulder as they had sooften done when fighting their way homeagainst a blizzard in some little outportin far-off Newfoundland." Only 68 un-wounded men remained by. the end of theday: 14 officers and 219 other ranks werekilled or died of wounds; 12 officers and374 other ranks were wounded; 91 other

ranks were missing.

July 1 remains a day of mourning inNewfoundland.

At the entrance to Newfoundland Park atBeaumont-Hamel is inscribed an epitaphwritten by John Oxenham:

"Tread softly herd Go reverently and slow!Yea, let your soul go down upon its fences,And with bowed head, and hearts abased,

strive hard

To grasp the future gain in this sore hss!For not one foot of this danf^ sod but dranl^Its swfeit of the blood of gallant men,Who, for their faith, their hope-for Life

and Liberty -Here made the sacrifice, here gave their livesAnd gave right willingly, for you and me...

General Haig persisted in his strategy ofattrition, throwing forward massed for-mations of troops in the months whichfollowed. Casualty figures mounted,often as many as 4,000 in 24 hours. Intothis bloodbath came the Canadians inSeptember 1916, relieving the Australiansand New Zealanders who had struggledunsuccessfully to take Pozieres Ridge, along low-lying hill that Overlooked theBritish lines.

On September 15, supported by seventanks and a rolling barrage (artilleryfiring shells just ahead of the advancinginfantry so that the German defendershad no time to man their defences andweapons before the attack hit home), the

22

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'

i 9 i < - i9is A NATION BORN

Canadian Second Division attacked at

COURCELETTE. The advance quicklymoved forward two miles and the town

was entered. Desperate counter-attacks bythe Germans were fought off by Canadiansfrom New Brunswick,Nova ScotiaandQuebec (the 22e Battallion would be theRoyal 22nd Regiment). Meanwhile, theCanadian Tirst Division drove the enemyoffPozieres Ridge. Casualties were heavy

On the British left, the Canadian ThirdDivision attacked the strongly heldFabeck Trench, driving out the enemyafter two days of heavy fighting.

The Canadian First Division foughtthrough two German defensive lines butcould not break through the ReginaTrench line, secure behind huge barbedwire entanglements and bristling withmachine guns. Torrential rain turned thebatdefield and trenches into a quagmire.Burdened with their heavy equipment(weighing 65 pounds or more), some soldiersdrowned m the mud. The conditions have

been described as "a nightmare of thefoulest sort. " Over the next two months,attack after attack was made upon theRegina Trench, but the failure of artilleryto cut the barbed wire in front of German

positions, the scarcity of grenades, andpoorly trained reinforcements added tothe difficulties facing the Canadians.Nevertheless, the Canadian FourthDivision, captured Regina Trench onNovember 11, 1916, and a week latermade further advances against Germandefences. It was the last Canadian actionon the Somme, and the Fourth Divisionleft to join the Canadian Corps on theVimy front

Between July 1 and November, the frontline had advanced some six miles. TheAllies had suffered 623,907 dead andwounded; the Germans 465,525 at least.

On the British side, "Kitchener's Army"of volunteers largely formed in 1914-1915after the declaration of war-was all but

destroyed, and the flower of the oldGerman army was also no more. TheCanadians had sustained 24,029 casualties,but had earned for themselves a reputationas hard-hittmg attack troops.

By the end of 1916, more than 400,000men had gone overseas from Canada. Nocommunity remained unaffected by theconflict as casualty figures grew.

VIMY RIDGE (April 1917)

In the late autumn of 1916, the CanadianCorps was in the line just north ofArrason the edge of the Douai plain facingVuny Ridge - a strong point of the Germandefences in northern Europe. Reaching110 metres at its highest point, and eightkilometres long, the great Ridge held suchstrategic importance for the Germans thatthey had carefully fortified it over thethree years of the war. In fact, it was con-sidered impregnable behind three hugedefensive lines bristling with machineguns and barbed wire. Along it were fourextra-strong fortifications: Hill 135, Hill145, La Folie Farm and the "Pimple."Beneath the Ridge, large undergroundchambers (complete with electric lights)and deep dug-outs protected the defen-ders from the most intense shelling.Between 1914 and 1916 the Frenchand British had launched three massive

attacks against the German position andhad lost more than 150,000 men. TheRidge dominated this area of the WesternFront, allowing the Germans unrestrictedview of the Allied positions. Behind theRidge were captured French mines andfactories that the Germans used for theirwar effort. Of equal importance was thefact that the Ridge covered the junctionof the Hindenburg Line (the strong new

23

CANADAA ND THE GREATA NATION BORN 1914 - 1918

R

defences behind which the Germans hadwithdrawn in early 1917) and the Germandefence systems which ran north to theChannel coast.

For the Canadians, an attack on this posi-tion posed an incredible challenge. It wasalso their assigned task in the massiveoffensive planned by the Allies in early1917, in conjunction with the Britishwho were to attack on either side of theCanadians. If they were to have any hopeof success in attacking across open groundin the face of the German defences and

artillery, that hope lay in careful planningand preparation.

The Canadian Corps Commander,Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng,had four divisions who had spent fivemonths in the Vimy sector before theassault began. They were probably amongthe best trained and equipped troops onthe Western Front, and their experiencesto that time had welded them into aremarkably cohesive national force. Byngplanned an assault by all four divisions inline abreast, to be carried out in four stagesaccording to the German defensive positions.The German stronghold at the northernend of the Ridge (the "Pimple") was tobe attacked within the 24-hour periodfollowing the start of the main assault.

In January 1917 Byng had sent Major-General Arthur Currie as the Canadian

Corps representative to a conference atVerdun, where recently the FrenchCommander Nivelle had enjoyed somesuccess as a result of the introduction ofnew tactics. Currie returned to Byngwith a number of proposals that werethen incorporated into the Canadiantraining in preparation for the Vimyassault. Throughout the BritishExpeditionary Forces, change was beingforced on commanders after the blood-

baths of earlier years. At last lessonslearned were to be applied, and theCanadians were in the vanguard.

The preparations:PLATOON TACTICS

Earlier battles during the war had shownthat in the heat o? action it was very diffi-cult for officers to effectively commandmore than a platoon (consisting of anywherefrom 35 to 60 men and organized in fourrifle sections). Moreover, the launching ofwave after wave of closely packed soldiersagainst heavily defended enemy positionshad resulted in casualty rates which wereunacceptably high, even by 1914-1918standards. A further problem had beenthat the separation ofriflemen from spe-cialist soldiers, such as bombers andmachine gunners, in an attack had madeit impossible for proper support to begiven to the attackers.

In preparing for Vimy, the CanadianCorps reorganized so that each platoonhad rifle, rifle-grenade, bombing andLewis gun (light machine gun) sections.These platoons were trained to moveforward in loose formations, giving eachother covering fire, rather than in massedranks as before. This made it easier for theofficers to command, and provided greaterflexibility in responding to changingsituations as the batde developed.

MACHINE GUNS

By 1917 each Canadian Corps divisionhad 64 Vickers medium machine guns.These were extremely effective weapons(and in fact remained in service with theBridsh Army until 1968), capable of firing450 rounds per minute for hours at a timeat ranges of more than 5000 yards (almost5500 metres). Up until now these weaponshad been used mainly in a defensive roleand against direct targets.

24

CANADAAND THE GREATi .> 14 - i9i8 A NATION BORN

P L\A N

>.<'/'~'^. . -'

.Bniga .

.^

^ BRUSSELS

.;^ . F.TN I^l^^dB E, L G * u M

..";. [. ''?^)Tyr j;'-_^. ^?F<y^~J^^.)A

kTounui

..: 'i-;:(.-> l- L-

Vimy Memorial + / ;^» /^^t-/' / 1( , /<|DOUB * ^Vale«

A R TO I S.ft "

-'- . Beaumoat-HameI'.y Newfoundknd -^v ^

-.-«Si?SE%%-SSSSK'S&53^S!f.__

^ -4-'

N

F R ANC t* T»eai*l*rfy»nt A|iortf«»mT"%^l^"udGM^C .Ri.SiamIjwr, Hm^A^ril 1»|6» n»teKfc-of Mount Somi '

MS .lie W16E TteaiUuoftteSflww!.

*dy-Naw»»hCTl<»6f 1teBaB(MifVm>» (6ES. 12Atm»l»»^^&W5r^iMwav

tf<a*«iB»w» ' ,- _,1 achtfc.ffuuhadKte /

2»ecK*«r-ICNow«torl»P ' '-Tlte8uilctfAowm. lt. ll Aupai 1*1»

I ncB-fcofAna.2tAntMM-3Stpttmbti l»i<

N TlKtNutAiNnnt-miCmbnl.rStftonbCT-! 1 Oclobcr 1918

K ThtUpnmurvat. awuiH.MNowniberms ^---^

Courtesy of the Department of National Defei

25

CANADAA ND THE GREAT WAV.A NATION BORN l 9 i < - l 9 i 8

I

I

0

Iig

a

26

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT %191.1 - i9i8 ANATIONBOKN

Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond Brutinel,a Frenchman serving with the CanadianCorps, developed new tactical uses for theVickers machine guns, supplementingthe artillery. Day and night these weaponswere used for indirect fire, and poureda rain of bullets, as done with artillery,onto German positions, supply and com-munication lines and artillery batteries.By firing on predetermined fixed linesin the dark, the Canadians were able toprevent the enemy from making repairsto the barbed wire defences in front of

their positions. During the attack itselfthey - along with the artillery shelling -effectively forced the Germans to keeptheir heads down and stay below grounduntil the Canadian infantry were intotheir defences.

ARTDL.LERY

The artillery preparations and build-upfor the attack were massive: 45,760artillery personnel and 848 guns wereassembled (some 250 heavy guns andhowitzers and about 600 field guns andlight howitzers). New tramways (lightrailways) were constructed, existing trackwas repaired and miles of plank roadwere built to enable the bringing upof the huge amounts of ammunitionrequired to feed the guns (as well as othersupplies and the evacuation of casualties).When the bombardment of the enemypositions began on March 20, 1917, 2,500tons of ammunition were expended eachday. In the three weeks prior to the attackon April 9, one million shells were fired atthe Ridge. When the barrage intensifiedon April 2, there began for the Germanswhat they termed "the week of suffering."A further 42,000 tons of ammunitionwas stockpiled behind the lines for theattack itself.

Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew McNaughtonwas responsible, as Counter-Battery StaffOfficer to the Canadian Corps, for co-ordinating parts of the artillery fire plan,in particular for locating the Germanbatteries' positions so that they could beshelled and destroyed. It was only possibleto see the German rear areas, wherereserves and heavy artillery were located,by using observation balloons and recon-naissance aircraft. In spite of casualties,the Royal Flying Corps was able togive McNaughton accurate information,which - combined with geometric calcula-tions based on ground observations -enabled the Canadians to pinpoint theposition of more than 180 of the 212German artillery batteries behind theVimy front. Counter-battery fire took out80 percent of these positions before theycould be used against Canadian troops,and prevented many of the remainderfrom being used.

At the time of the attack, infantry andfield artillery were to work closely together,the infantry advancing behind a wall ofexploding shells just ahead of them (a"rolling barrage") at a rate of 100 yardsevery three minutes - a manoeuvre whichwas to be carefully rehearsed a number oftimes before the actual attack. This was toensure that the defenders remained in their

deep underground bunkers until theCanadians were within yards of the Germanpositions: in previous attacks, the artilleryfire had ceased even before the infantryclimbed out of their trenches Into No

Man's Land leaving the soldiers to face thedeadly fire of enemy machine guns. At thesame time, other artillery would concen-trate on German batteries, ammunition

dumps and communications centres.

A further important innovation was theintroduction of the instantaneous 106 fuse,which meant that instead of exploding in

27

CANADA AND THE GREATANATIONBORN ) 9 14 - i»r

28

the air or in the ground, the shells wouldexplode in the barbed wire in front of theenemy trenches, clearing paths throughwhich the infantry could advance. It was,of course, also necessary to have attackerscut wire, and men were specially detailedfor this purpose.

RAroiNG AND REHEARSING

In the period before the assault on theRidge, the Canadians carried out an inten-sive campaign of raids against the enemypositions. These raids were designed tohurt morale, but more importandy tolearn as much as possible about the enemydefences and the ground over which theCanadians would have to attack.

Not all of these raids were successful: one

raid in early March against Hill 145 wasnot preceded by the usual artillery bom-bardment or wire cutting, and 700Canadians were lost.

But the information gained during theraids was invaluable. Far behind the lines,

the infantry were rehearsed for their partin the upcoming attack, practising overground laid out to resemble as closely aspossible the German defences on theRidge. They carried the equipment whichthey would take into batde on April 9.Mounted officers rode ahead of themcarrying flags at the same pace as theartillery barrage which would precedethem as they attacked - the range lifting100 yards every three minutes.

At the Canadian Corps Headquarters arelief map of the Vimy sector was con-structed of plaster. Officers, sergeantsand even section leaders were broughtin to study the map so that they and theirmen would know exacdy what theirobjectives were. Every man knew his task,what lay ahead of him, and what wasexpected of him.

OTHER PREPARATIONS

Canadian and British engineers and minersdug deep tunnels and subways throughwhich troops could move up to their start-ing line protected from enemy shelling.These tunnels were fitted with water

supplies; electridty and telephones.

Mines were dug under German lines.

Careful preparations were made to treatand evacuafe rapidly those who becamecasualties, to move the dead and to remove

prisoners. Close to the front line there waseven an underground hospital.

More than 300 kilometres of telephonecables were buried two metres deep alongthe Corps front to ensure continuityof communication.

Portable bridges were constructed toallow easy passage over the trencheswhen the artillery was brought forwardas the attack progressed.

Finally, to puU the trams and carry supplies,more than 50,000 horses and mules werebrought into the area. To ensure a watersupply for them, reservoirs and pumpingstations had to be built, along with morethan 70 kilometres of piping. Litde wasleft to chance. Still, the German positionswere extremely strong and would only betaken with great sacrifice on the part ofthe Canadians.

THE ATTACK (April 9 - 12, 1917)

On the night of April 8, 1917 (EasterSunday) the strength of the CanadianCorps, including attached British troops,was 170,000 men.

At 5:28 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 9,machine guns opened up against theenemy lines, mines were exploded under

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

1BI4 - i»i8 ANATIONBORN

enemy positions and an enormous barragebegan, fired by the 850 guns assembled forthe purpose and supplemented by another280 guns of I British Corps on the left ofthe Canadians. A keen northwest winddrove snow and sleet into the faces of the

attackers. Behind the rolling barrage, theinfantry advanced.

Just before the attack went in, gas shellswere fired into the German rear areas,killing hundreds of horses and disruptingthe Germans ability to bring up ammuni-tion and move their artillery.

The leading companies were in the firstline of enemy trenches before defenderscould emerge from their deep dug-outs.Many prisoners were taken, 3,500 in thefirst rush. Moving forward according totheir timetable, Canadian troops ran intointense machine gun fire from the secondline of German defences, sustaining heavylosses. In spite of this, the Canadianstook one objective after another untUby midday the First, Second and ThirdDivisions were astride the Ridge onschedule. The "Pimple" and Hill 145,however, remained in German hands.

The Fourth Division had as its objectivethe heavily fortified Hill 145, the highestand most important point on the Ridge.The German defences here were particu-larly strong and the Canadians were heldup in their advance, coming under heavyfire from the "Pimple. " Further attackshad to be put in without artillery support,and it was not until the morning of April10 that Hill 145 was taken. That afternoon

a final assault cleared out the remainingpockets of resistance and the Ridge was inCanadian hands, the German defenderspulling back to new defensive positions onthe Douai plain beyond Lens.

At 5 a.m. on April 12 the Fourth Divisionlaunched an attack on the Pimple,"which had been reinforced with fresh

troops on the previous day. As on April 9a heavy artillery bombardment supportedthem, but this time it was not so easy tomove just behind the rolling barrage dueto the difficult terrain. The weather was

again cold, with driving snow and sleet,and heavy enemy fire took its toll onthe attackers. But by mid-afternoon, thestorm had abated and the Canadians

were in control of the "Pimple."

In all, the Canadians had sustained justover 10,500 casualties. Of these 3,598 werefatal. They had also captured VimyRidge, taken more than 4,000 prisonersand many guns, and achieved one of thegreatest victories of the war up to thattime. It is said that Vimy was whereCanada was born as an independentnation. In the attack, four Victoria

Crosses had been won: by Captain ThainWendell MacDowell; Private WilliamJohnstone Milne; Lance-Sergeant EllisWellwood Sifton; and Private JohnGeorge Pattison. Major-General ArthurCurrie was knighted on the batdefield byKing George V. Later that summer, Curriewas promoted, to Lieutenant-General andassumed command of the Canadian Corps- its first Canadian commander.

Around the world the international presshaUed the Canadian victory. The NewYork Tribune carried an editorial entided"Well Done Canada" and stated "no

praise of the Canadian achievement canbe excessive." Banner headlines in Britain

proclaimed "CANADIANS SWEEPVIMY RIDGE."

Yet the victory at Vimy was not decisive.The Allies were unable to exploit theirsuccess and the Germans were able to

build a new, strong defensive line. How29

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

ANATIONBORN l » i 4 - 1918

different it might have been had the Alliesbeen able to bring their artillery forwardimmediately to continue the bombardmentof the enemy. The British were exhausted,however, and unable to exploit the success.When the French put in their attack onApril 16 to the south between Soissonsand Reims it was a complete and costlyfailure, and a further 25,000 men werelost in the space of five days. Nivelle wasremoved, and there were widespreadmutinies in the French Army. The Vimyoffensive had not led to the major break-through always hoped for, but Canadianscould be justifiably proud of their achieve-ment. The memorial which stands todayatop the Ridge is wkness to that achieve-ment and an eloquent testimony to thesacrifice made at Easter 1917.

LIEUTENANT^THE HOTSIRJI^lANBJ

RAL<LE

[r Julian By^g^ssujided command of theCanadi^iKorps c^ May 28, J^7 Priorto c9^Sfig to F^nce hejid3 p^rSonallyco^manded/fhe British evaAation at

?allipoli, J<Ke oi^brigh^pot in a wastefuland un^cf^sful camgafgn. He had achievedthe eyicj^tion without loss of life.

F/6m the begihning<<his/fareful, level-headed an^experiencerf soldier made it

clear t4af hi^riori^was training andcarefjiA stafF wor^whic]y^^u\d save lives.Siy^p^ngly, hfis Br^h istocrat andc^alry offi^r e^ieteare^himselfto theCanadiao'6. H<<had li^fle time fgr, the

pompySttK^eremo^y upon yfiic]A so manyhigty!rr^i<king Byfish ofi^ers insisted. One

officer who se^ed wydi hinybbserved

that Byng wfAi\d^ turn s^Kites as/s^ell ashe could wikhydt takins/&is haa^s out of

his pockets. Such an q^prpffch wentdown well with Cana^igA soldiers. Hewas also a cool and effective commander

in the field^as^is handing of the Vimyattack^pfoved.

ter Vimy, Byng^nd Currie had a numberofdifferences/e(ver the issi^^trench raids,Currie insisting that^wpdld not sacrificelives ung^cessaij

Canadian

,'ond doubt,

Third Armywar,

JanacXs

'1926. Heconstityfional crisis in

Minister King srequest to dissolve j^rliam^Rt^As alwayshe acted honestl^and^^lieyfelt, correctly.Most constitu^ten^Cxper^today agreethat he was ckpfect, butyKe left Canadaunder a shadow. His hievements duringthe war remain undiminished.

GENERALSIR ARTHURJSTORIE

Arthur QaSfrie, a rea^estate dealer fromVictpifa, British Columbia, began the war

no militar/experience othei^han thatgained in thy^Militia., whej^ft^Ka. d servedas comma^aer ofth^-5(TthJ?fighlanders.On Sep^mber^29^191^Ke was appointedcomm^nder^of ^ the Second Canadian

Infantry Briga^e/and wasj^go on to servein all the mg^6r actiarfs^oCAe Canadianforces durfngjAf^war..

On Se'pfember 13^1915 Currie took overcommand of tb^ First Ca'dadian Division:

he succeede^Byng^»<iCoj<Amander of theCanadiaq/CorR^m Jup^ 9, 1917. In thatsame m^ntl^fie wa^nighted in^f^kldby Kin^-George Y<- and al^f5ced/hesurfacing of a p^rsonal^filiancial scandal

from his pre-wit-da^s which, fortunately,he was able to survive.

30

:ANADAA NDTHE GREAT'ri4 - is i8 ANATIONBORN

Sir Arthur Currie yfs to prove a leader ofgreat courage, aSlness, skill and ability,with a fine >dnse of tactics. He"never

believe^/diat his men's lyf s were expend-able^One officer sai^iThim: "Of all the

irly four yea}y6n thethink Cuptfe was the

man who telbk the mosfcare of his men...

again a^afl again h^-fiearly brought hiscare^fto an en^by refusing to do things

lich he wja6 certain woul(i? result in loss

of life without compen^a'fing advantage."Curr^had clashed yfth Sir Sam Hughes

(ler in the war^hen he presided over a>ard of Inquj^y which cond^Blned the

Ross rifle, ajzfl later whence refused togive conyfiand of the^rst CanadianInfynyfy Brigade ^Hughes's son Garnet.

Htt^hes used }y^ power to ensure.theappolntmei^nonetheless. As p6mmander

of the C^tfiadian Corps, Cy<fie disagreedfreqi^fidy with the BriQsKHigh Command,

(sting on careful^eparations andframing for attapKs in ord§t^o save the

'to agree to plans»famendig^them to his own

and refusing toto be broken

ra. cohesive,much

never well liked bysought to protect

up, insistu^that it:unified j^iit. Not achariafha, Currie

men, whos< heas far as pos $le.

, the BUoyd^eorge,considered Currycommander"theGercoming^rfto the line they^fepared

ish Prime Minister,a briUiant milit

inever

lan Corpjsieyja»fepared to/

I stated

the vwfrst. " Sir Robert JBbrden desct'ibed

hii^as "the ablest C^rps Comnyfhder inie British forced Most histoyfans

that Currie vf^s "an extraopetlnarily suc-cessful/fi^ld'commandej/ih a war that pro-duced'Tew successful generals." During

the final Og^<Hundred Days, as the warcame to^a/conclusion, Curr^'leadershipwas "its finest.

;urrie returnecj/fb a disappointingly coolofficial weloofhe in Ottawa. Wifhin aweek ofjafs return Sir SagyIIushes rosein the'-House of Comca6hs to launch an

att<(ck on Currie s^cord, accusing him of:ing a coward, unworthy of association

with his fell<(w-men and^omen. " OtherM. P.s defended thep6rps Commander's

fine .service. In g/«dbsequent Ubel^a(tionCurrie was -yirfdicated.

Curri$/<vent on to sery</as Inspector-(eral of the Cao^dian Militia Fo^es

(a post he foun^disappoindng) rfd lateras Vice Chap6ellor of McGil^University,a positioo/<vhich he held^yith distinctionuntil his death in 1933.

LENS AND HILL 70(August-September 1917)

Sir Arthur Currie, who had clearlyemerged as one of the best of Canadiangenerals, was given the task by FieldMarshal Haig of holding down Germandivisions in the Arras area to preventthem interfering with a British offensiveplanned in Flanders. The Canadians hadas their objective the town of Lens, whichwas dominated by two hills, Sallauminesand Hill 70. Field Marshal Haig hadinsisted that any ground captured by theAllies must be held, but Currie realisedthat this policy would lead to heavy casu-allies. Instead, a vigorous programme ofraids against enemy strong points wasimplemented. There were casualties, butthe Germans were forced to withdraw to

new defensive positions. It was a clearexample of Canadians exhibiting a degreeof independence which was pstifled bytheir recent Vimy triumph.

31

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - I 9 l s

R

To Currie it did not make sense to captureLens, only to have his troops subjected tofire from Hill 70 and Sallaumines. A

more effective strategy, he argued withHaig, was to take Hill 70. This wasapproved. It would not be easy for theCanadians. The Hill was a rabbit warren

of cellars, trenches and tunnels, withstrongly defended emplacements in theformer miners' cottages on its slopes. Tofend off German counter-attacks, shouldthe Canadians succeed in taking the Hill,Carrie proposed that machine gunnerswould move into these positions behindthe assaulting troops, and in conjunctionwith the artillery, catch the Germans inthe open. As before, careful preparationsand rehearsals were carried out. However,Currie did not have as much artillerysupport as had been available at Vimy,and his men would be facing two newGerman terror weapons - mustard gasand flame-throwers.

At dawn on August 15, Canadian troopsmoved to attack, advancing behind a wallof exploding shells. A diversionary attackby the Fourth Division and a heavysmokescreen from 500 barrels of blazingoil distracted the German defenders and

made it difficult for them to see, but theirmachine guns caused many casualties.

In twenty minutes the leading Canadiantroops were on top of Hill 70, but it wasnot until the morning of August 16 thatall the attackers had gained their objec-tives, overcoming stiff enemy resistance.By 9 a.m. on August 16 the first of 21German counter-attacks began. Thesedesperate attacks were to last until August18, driven off by Canadian troops in hand-to-hand fighting and in the face offlame-throwers and grenades. Allied artilleryobservers used wireless for the first time

to bring their guns to bear on the massedranks of the attacking enemy. Canadian

artillery suffered many casualties frommustard gas fired into their positions, butmanaged somehow to keep their gunsfiring. In the fighting for the Hill fiveCanadians won the Victoria Cross.

In capturing the Hill the Canadians hadlost 3,527 men; another 2316 casualties weresustained in fending off German counter-attacks. On August 18 fresh attacks werelaunched against German-held villagesand strong points around Lens.

The 44th Battalion (from Manitoba)was cut to pieces in the fighting arounda slag heap known as Green Grassier.The objective was not taken, but muchground was gained. Neither was Lenstaken; it remained in German hands,although now dominated by the Canadiansfrom the heights of Hill 70. In all, thefighting around Lens cost the CanadianCorps 9,198 casualties.

The Canadians had succeeded in keepingthe Germans from Flanders and had

inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.Currie considered the battle the hardest

in which his troops had been involved,but worse lay ahead in the muddy wastesof Passchendaele.

PASSCHENDAELE(October-November 1917)

After a preliminary attack at Messines inJune, the main attack at Passchendaele(also known as the Third Batde ofYpres)was begun on July 31, 1917. Field MarshalDouglas Halg's objective was to achieve abreakthrough which would result in thecapture of the German submarine baseson the Belgian coast. (By 1917 the subma-rine campaign had reached its peak, andships were being sent to the bottom inalarming numbers, seriously threateningBritain's ability to continue the war.)

32

CANADAAND THE GREAT '1 a I 4 - 1918 A NATION BORN

The artillery bombardment which precededthe attack saw four million shells rain down

on ground that was reclaimed bogland.Drainage systems were destroyed andthe heavy summer rains, which beganat the same time as the attack, turnedthe ground into an impassable muddyswamp into which men were sucked anddrowned. Tanks could not be used. Theoffensive was doomed from the start, andBritish units suffered appalling casualtiesas German machine guns in concrete pillboxes cut them down as they struggled toadvance. The German positions were onslightly higher, drier ground, and theirartillery was able to fire on any and everypart of the area occupi ed by the British.

Over the next four months virtually noadvance was made. Haig insisted on con-tinuing the attack. By October his Britishtroops were exhausted and none of themain objectives had been achieved. Tospearhead one more attack, the Canadianswere called upon to take die place of theAustralian Corps and capture Passchendaele.Currie protested, after an inspection ofthe muddy battlefield, that the task wasextremely risky and that many lives wouldbe sacrificed, perhaps as many as 16,000.He was overruled. Currie insisted on ade-quate time for preparation and planning.

By the time the Canadians came into the

line the batdefield was a vast muddy bog.They had been here before - in almost theidentical place - before the gas attack in1915. The landscape was now uhrecogniz-able. Everywhere there was the wreck- ageof war - guns, tanks, equipment - stickingup out of the mud and water. And over theentire area lay the stench of death, as thou-sands ofunbyried men and horses and

mules rotted in the mud. Trenches, if theycould be so described, were litde morethan water-filled shell holes in which mencrouched for some protection.

The Canadians took over the Australianartillery, because of the extreme difficultiesinvolved in moving heavy, guns in suchconditions. Some they could not find;others were unusable, and replacementguns had to be brought in. The CanadianCorps Chief Engineer, Brigadier-GeneralLindsay, co-ordinated the huge task ofrebuilding roads, constructing gun plat-forms, improving drainage and bringingforward the supplies which would beneeded for the attack. Overhead, Germanaircraft bombed the area constandy, andheavy shellfire often destroyed theCanadians' work. Moving up to the frontwas a nightmare for the troops. If a manfell off the wooden duckboards (plankroadways) into the mud he risked sinkinginto the ooze under the weight of hismud-caked equipment. A wounded manhad litde chance of surviving, and therewere many casualties - almost 1,500before the main attack went in.

Currie's strategy was to make a seriesof limited advances, each supported byartillery. At each stage the troops wouldconsolidate their positions and the heavyartillery would be moved up to cover thenext advance. Troops in the assault wereto be brought forward two days before anattack so that they could recover from theexhaustion of struggling through theglutinous mud.

At 5:40 a.m. on October 26, behind cover-ing artillery fire, the Canadians moved toattack. The artillery barrage was not asheavy as usual because only those gunsstanding on the newly-constructed plat-forms could be fired. The men struggledforward through a sea of mud, and for48 hours tried to overrun the German

positions. The defences were too strong,and although some gains were made anda foothold gained on higher and drier

33

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

A NATION BORN l s l 4 - is is

R

ground, the objectives were not secured:2,481 men had been lost.

On October 30 a second attack was

launched with a more intense artillerybarrage, and the infantry managed tomove forward almost a thousand yards.The men of the Third and Fourth

Divisions had performed heroically, losinganother 1,321 dead and wounded. Nowthey were relieved by their colleagues inthe First and Second Divisions, whomoved forward on November 6 in a final

assault on Passchendaele Ridge. By noon,in spite of strong resistance from theGermans, the main strong points hadbeen taken. On November 10 the

summit of the Ridge was captured as afinal assault went in, led by the 7th and8th Battalions. The troops held on indifficult conditions, repulsing strongGerman counter-attacks and enduringheavy shelling.

On November 14 the Canadians were

relieved by British forces and withdrewfrom Passchendaele to return to the Lens-

Vimy sector. They had won nine VictoriaCrosses in the fighting, and had suffered15,654 casualties. Currie s predictions hadbeen proven correct. One (admittedlyunproven) story describes a high-rankingofficer from the British Headquarterswho visited the battlefield four monthslater and saw the awful mud sea in which

men had fought and died. He burst intotears saying: " Good God, did we reallysend men to fight in that?" Two squaremiles of mud had been won at an overall

cost to the Allies of 500,000 men.The Germans lost about 270,000 men.

Once again the Canadians had shownthat, even in impossible conditions, theycould do the job when called upon. Theirnation could be proud of them.

On the Memorial Arch at the Menin Gate

on the east side of the city ofYpres, areinscribed the names of almost 55,000 deadof the armies of the Bridsh Commonwealth,

most of whom died in the Ypres salient,but whose final resting place is "knownonly to God." Of these, 6,940 are Canadians.

To this day, every evening at sunset thedead are remembered in a simple ceremonywhich takes place at the Menin Gate,which leads out of the east side ofYpresto the batdefields ofFlanders. All traffic

is stopped and buglers play the Last Post.It is a fitting tribute to the thousands ofmen who marched along this road to thetrenches: many thousands to their death.An anonymous poet has written the linesto the verse found on the first page of thisdocument, a ghosdy tribute to the millionmen who served in the hellish Ypressalient during the Great War.

CAMBRAI (Noypmber 1917)

In October 1?17, Haig gave or^frs forByng's Tjaird Army to laur^eK an attackopposite Cambrai, an aprfck whichG^rferal Currie had^Cen advopating forfame time. ByngJ-fad wanted to use theCanadian Coj^s for tl^e^assault, but Haigdecided ofyQivisioo^from the Third

Army/tfwas ajarilliandy succps^ulassault, a prpdirsor ofwl^tfwas to comein the See6nd World 3»Var. On November

20 aj>6:20 a.m., wjtKout the i^sdal preUmi-try bombar^trient, huncl^&ls of British

aircraft b9»rfbed enemy/positions and 378tanks fffoved forwyfl over thyGerma.n

lenburg Ly»^, crossmg^renches andflattening th^forests of^tarbed wireentang4fle(Ents. A th(?fisaAd guns fire^^nenemy targets wi^fhigh explosivegas shells. Th$/Germans were^iEken bysurprise is^Ke infantry adytfhced, andlarge numbers surren^rfed. That day the

34

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

i»i4 - i9i8 ANATIONBORN

I

British advance vs^as nearly four miles,punching a six-rqdle-wide hole in theGerman defences. It appeared that abreakthroughhad come at last.(. .. JIn this advance the Newfoundland

effor

Regin^nt foug^fBray^ly to take andhol^/the vill^e of^tasnieres, earningth^titlp^Royal"/ih the process, a uniquehonour; Agaii/Canadians distinguishedthemselves^ cavalry charge led byLieutenant Harcus Stcachan of the Fort

Garry^Horse aga^agf a ^Ferman artillerybattgfy earned^him g/Victoria Cross. The

lckiqg-fbrce w^, however, cut topieces by Gern^h machine gun fire.

The hoped/for breakthrough was not tobe. The $3ermans foyghf^ick fiercely,knock}rfg out haj^OFthe/Brirish tank force,and jAere wefe no res<<rves. There were

no UietTreinforc^Aents avaUable either,

too many men fy^d died in the mud ofPasschendaelg<The cajxured territorycould not b^ held^a^rydould the advan-

tage be p'^plo^t^S. It^as now the turn ofthe BjAi^tr&id C^dadians to endure heavyshejijH^ and ae^fal attack. In three daysmost of the ground gained in the initialassault had/Been lost. Alo^r^th it, a fur-ther 44,000 casuald^yfiad ly/en sustainedby the^British,/(Ke Gern^hs lost 41.,000.

The Canadian Corjz6 had remained on

the Arras front coring the Canabraiattack, with d^exceRtidn gf some unitsattached to tKeB^fish foyf.es in a

support rqfc,

1917 had not endpd on a high note for theAllies. AlthousK'the United States of

America hadytiow enliered^he war, theirtroops wer?<slow^ arriving in Europe.The Rus^an^ad agree^to an armisticewith GAlfany after thj^ Revolution over-threw the Russian C^4r and his govern-ment. Germany cou/d now concentrate its

restern Front. However,sea had been

Hundreds of

were starvmg inlies could no

its, the GermanEO wm a yictory

Ery of the AmsHCSns turnedthe tide against them.

THE GERMAN SPRINGOFFENSF^E (March-^18)

As the German generals/prepared tothrow their armies ainst the Allies,using elite troogyin massed formations,supported by/drtillery.Aft^-poison gas, theI^ritish \iyfs^fef being tended inorder to'^ssist the Frejadi to the south.

On March 21 d^Germans began a finaloffensive toj»feak through the Alliedfront ancj/^nd the wgjy-Thje plan was tosepa.ry thej^lti d armip^. In three daysthe 6a6frffT ega.med ajrfiost all of the

ground lost during/the Somme batdes.British regimei)^ were wiped out. Itseemed that/tf Paris were_threatened, theFrench wo&kLaoTcome to t^e aid of the

British, and German foic^ were alreadywithin 42 miles of th^6ity. Haig hur-riedly arranged a 90fiference at whichsupreme comniytfid of the Allied armieswas given to^tfie French General Foch.Now the crisis cQuleHSe'Betfer met.

It was not this actiqB^however, which

saved the day. Tphe British Army wasbloodied bu><inbeaten, and on March 286 British/<fivisionsJtahe3^13 (German

divisions along the Scarpe^River. Theheavy casualties sustained by the Germanstormtroopers ^ad the sheer war weari-ness of the Q6-man Army had finallytaken thei^tQlL-Oa-ApfU 5, the offensiveended. The cost in casL(alties was stagger-ing: 77,000 French; 163,500 British; and239, 000 German. The Canadian Corps

35

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1911 - ills

had been sp^fe^/fhe slaughter. Americantroops^ere lyfw arnyulg^t the front. On

.8 an.

grrftfnd lost duruBy early Septeradvancing in every sector}heading many attacks.

'6unte/-attack on theof successful

retaken theian offensive.

lies were

^spear-

CANADA'S HUNDRED DAY(August 4 - November 11, 1918)

In May 1918, the Canadian Corps wasbrought out of the line to prepare for theupcoming offensive. A Canadian tankbattalion was formed (which never saw

action) and machine gun battalions ineach Division were expanded. Specialistpioneer, bridging and engineering unitswere formed. The infantry were to begiven the chance to concentrate on theirmain task as these units ensured a speedyadvance. The latest in tactics were rehearsed

as the troops prepared. The days of statictrench warfare had passed. The final monthsof the war were to see fast-moving, openwarfare on a scale never seen before, a

precursor to the fast-moving fronts of theSecond World War 21 years later. It wasthe Canadians and Australians who would

spearhead this drive.

In addition to the Canadian Corps itself,there were many Canadians serving outsidethe Corps and under British command.Tunnelling companies, medical units,railway and forestry troops all played avitally important role in the British effort.

AMIENS (August 1918)

The G^sfnan s^ient^Amiens was targetedusinlfthe me(hod^4^veloperf}at Cambrai.

ie terratri y^as yfeaUcfr taofcs andie

w<

secrecKmenani

1th the utmostmoved

36

lequipnat night into forward positTons. Vthousand

guns and 100,000 tons-ofgrhmunition wereassembled: t<ptksmoved into the line, the

soundpffheir engiffes disguised by low-aircraft.

'/'

/It was essential toJseCp theCanadianpres^fice^seCret frc^nthe enemy, as thiswould forewarn/tfiem that an attack was

imminent. eCordingly, a mock attackaround jfi^tfas wasjtfep^ired, the Canadiansbeing niuoved'south atfnight at the verylast moment to tfe ir attack positions atAmiens. Theywere to be, as Currie said:

"the spearj^ad, the centre of the attack."On eith^f side ofAeinwereyfiritish,AustraKarTSnd French fo^es. Not even apreparatory bombardjn'ent was to be used.

At 4:20 a.m. on August 8, a crushingbombardmerttlbegan and the infantry,

420 tanksrtiISyfed forward

to attack.(Sufprise was cofnplete, as theenemy had not ex^eeCed the attack tocome so soon: Carman defences wereoverrun, al^hOugh not without casualties.Three Caiiadiajis-^on a^Victoria CrossthEtt^y^B^evening/tfie Canadians had

advanced eight rpiles, the Australiansseven, the Frprfch five and the Britishless than a/6iile. The Corps had lost1,036 d^d and 2^S-Wm^ded.^ "c-^-;^-On August 9 vidgM^fighting developedas the Germanyfushed in new divisions

to plug thegSps in their defences.Machine unjue-nifttSte^further heavycasualties on the Corp<asmen foughttheir way forwsssdfsevy^i of them winninga Victori^Cross asfhey attacked machinegunemplacpB lents. ^aiOng/tKe VC winners

that d,the fnd Battalipff(now"Vandoos")ffmQ

'Seuten^at Jean Brillant of; the

to led two

platoonsand a German five-

the attack. At day's end the Canadianshad advanced a further four^fiiles at a

captured/A^ machiin, He

ns

in

Car

CANADAANDTHE GREAT

i s i 4 - Kit A NATION BORN

Russia

When the Russian revolution occurredand Russia withdrew from the war in1917, France and Britain determined thatGermany should not have access to vitalRussian resources for their war effort.

Accordingly, troops were sent to southern,northern and eastern Russia. At the portofBaku, Canadian troops helped defendagainst Turkish attack and preventedGermany gaining access to oil supplies. Inthe north, at Archangel, the 16th BrigadeCanadian Field Artillery was active.Other Canadians trained anti-Bolshevikforces at Murmansk.

The largest Canadian contingent was sentto Siberia on the eastern flank, embarkingfor Vladivostok in October 1918. Thefighting in this theatre took place inextremely harsh winter conditions, butCanadian casualties were few (8 dead and16 wounded). When the Armistice came,the fighting petered out and the force waswithdrawn in April 1919.

LIFE IN THE TRENCHES

The conditions

The opposing armies faced each otheracross the desolate, deserted and danger-ous wastes of No Man's Land. The frontlines consisted of a warren of communica-tion trenches, support trenches, advancedtrenches and observation posts, in whichmen faced appalling conditions surroundedby dirt, disease and death. The war vet-eran and writer Robert Graves said of the

Western Front that it was "known amongits embittered inhabitants as the SausageMachine, because it was fed with livemen, churned out corpses, and remainedfirmly screwed in place. " For theCanadians the front line advanced onlyone mile in two years, and casualty figuresfor the British forces as a whole (includ-

ing Canadian) were incredibly high. Overthe course of the war on the WesternFront, 118,941 officers and 2,571,113 menbecame casualties: a quarter of these werekilled. On July 1, 1916 alone, the Britishlost nearly 58,000 men. The RoyalNewfoundland Regiment attacked atBeaumont-Hamel on that day and suf-fered 91 percent casualties: of the 801 whowent into the attack 684 were killed orwounded in 40 minutes.

In the winter the ground was frozenunder a layer of snow and ice: men hadextreme cold to add to their fear and theirhunger, the noise of artillery bombard-ments and the stench in which they livedconstandy. When spring came so did therain, and the trenches and No Man'sLand turned into a quagmire. In thisvast sea of mud, men could - and diddrown, especially if they were wounded.Movement became almost impossible, andtroops lived continually in water, whicheven in the better trenches could averagea depth of two feet. Many thousands ofmen as a result suffered from trench foot,which if not treated could lead to amputa-tion. Always there were the millions ofrats, the lice, the flies and disease. RobertGraves said after the war: "The familiartrench smell still haunts my nostrUs: com-pounded of stagnant mud, latrine buckets,chloride of lime, unburied or half-buriedcorpses, rotting sandbags, stale humansweat, fumes ofcordite... Rats becamea menace almost as unnerving as theenemy... They fed on unburied corpsesthat surrounded us and sometimes filledthe trenches. " George Coppard, whoserved as a machine gunner, described howheavy shelling would "churn up the deadin bits and pieces. Every square yard ofground seemed to be layered with corpsesat varying depths, producing a sickeningstench. " This stench could be smelled

41

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT UAA NATION BORN 1914 - i » i a

several miles away. It is not surprisingthat so many of the dead have no knowngrave - more than 70,000 from the BridshEmpire alone.

Lice caused continual itching and discom-fort. Breeding in the warmth ofunder-clothing, they plagued the men and nodelousing methods proved effective.They also bred disease, as did the millionsof flies that swarmed around the livingand the dead alike. Official statistics showhow more than three and a half millionmen succumbed to illness because of theterrible conditions in the trenches.

In this world of stealth and strangesounds, millions of men tried to survive

trench life. They faced the continual dan-ger of artillery bombardment, snipers,trench raids and going "over the topto attack the enemy. Often they wouldnot see the enemy for weeks at a time,although he was close by, trying to survivejust as they were. They felt isolated fromthe real world, Canadian and German

alike, and in their unreal world they cameto have litde in common with civilians

back home, for whom they often devel-oped feelings of contempt.

Officially, troops were supposed to receivethe following daily ration: 1 1/4 Ib. freshor frozen meat, or I Ib. preserved or saltmeat; 1 1/4 Ib. bread, or 1 Ib. biscuit orflour; 4 oz. bacon; 3 oz. cheese; 5/8 oz. tea;

4 oz. )am; 3 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz. salt; 1/36 oz.pepper; 1/20 oz. mustard; 8 oz. fresh or2 oz. dried vegetables; 1/10 gill lime juiceif fresh vegetables not issued; 1/2 gill rum(at the discretion of the CommandingGeneral); not exceeding 2 oz. tobacco perweek. In reality, men frequendy receivedless than what was officially prescribed.In the front lines food was poor, almostalways cold even in the winter. Facilidesfor heating it were limited. Usually the

fare consisted of bread, bully beef andhard biscuits. During battle, food oftencould not be brought up to the forwardtrenches. Water was brought forward inempty gasoline cans and tasted of gasolineand chloride of lime, which was alwaysadded. Sometimes only water from mud-filled shell holes was available.

Troops did not spend all of their time infront line trenches. In theory, a strictschedule of rotating them through for-ward and support trenches, as well asrest areas behind the lines, was supposedto be adhered to. According to this sched-ule, men were given two eight-day toursof duty in the front line, one eight-daytour in a support area, and then eightdays in a rest area, where they might beable to enjoy the local estaminets (cafts)or perhaps be entertained by such concertparties as the Dumbells. For some thiswas the case, but often it was not possibleto maintain the rotation and men could

sometimes spend three to four weeks inthe line. Even in rest areas they werelikely to be shelled. Moving into the lineat night, men carried heavy loads ofequipment (60-80 pounds in weight) andin wet conditions their greatcoats couldadd another 50 pounds. Struggling alongnarrow trenches in pitch darkness was anightmare for most men, and to stumbleinto the mud could prove fatal.

Once in the forward trenches, life settledinto a routine which allowed very littlerest: indeed, lack of sleep became one ofthe biggest problems with which troopshad to contend. The bustle of the dailyroutine meant that even for those restingthere was no opportunity for quiet. Justbefore dawn, and again just before dusk,every man "stood to": that is, made readyin case of an enemy attack. After break-fast various inspections would be carriedout by the officers, training would be

42

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'

1» 1 4 - 19] A NATION BORN

provided, trenches improved andrepaired. Lunch would be followed bymore of the same until dinner and

evening "stand to. " After a final officers'inspection, about a third of the menwould be assigned to sentry duty, abouta third to rest and the remaining thirdwould be engaged in "fatigues, " bringingup stores and rations, erecting or repair-ing barbed wire entanglements inNo Man's Land, or taking part in raidson enemy trenches. During the day greatcare would have to be exercised in shal-

lower trenches in particular because ofthe danger posed by enemy sniper fire,and always there was the threat ofbom-bardment which could bring large num-bers of shells crashing down on a smallarea. At that time, battle exhaustion(shellshock) had not been recognized forwhat it was and men could be harshlytreated if their nerves went to pieces.

Artillery fire was a daily event, particu-larly in reserve and rest areas behind thelines. Soldiers in the front lines were oftenshelled by their own side, sometimesbecause of errors, but more often becauseof defective shells. During the war theBritish alone fired more than 5 milliontons of shells, some 170 million shells.

It was not often that men "went over thetop (got out of their trenches to attackthe enemy). Attacks took much planningand preparation. It was bad enough tohave to get out of the comparative safetyof a trench at night to go on a raid. It wasquite horrifying to climb up over thetrench parapet in daylight and advanceagainst a well-entrenched enemy whosemachine guns mowed down men in theirhundreds. Tactics had changed little sincethe 19th century, and the frontal assaultsof American Civil War days often contin-ued to be used by First World War com-manders, with appalling results for the

attackers. Often, few men got throughthe barbed wire in front of their owntrenches. As one song, full ofdisillusion-ment and disgust, put it: "If you want tofind the old battalion... They're hangingon the old barbed wire. " Training manu-als issued by the War Office, particularlyat the beginning of the war, bore littlerelationship to the realities faced by themen in the trenches and were written inthe main by officers who had never seena trench.

Care of the wounded

If a soldier sustained a wound, his firstproblem was to get attention. Prior to anattack men were given strict orders not tostop to assist comrades who were hit.The unfortunate soldier had to wait forstretcher bearers to arrive, with litde morethan the field dressing with which he hadbeen issued to stop the blood flowing fromhis wound(s). Often a long wait ensued:while the firing was still going on it wassometimes impossible for medical person-nel to move into No Man's Land. In

many cases men died before being reached,and for those who were reached a pain-wracked journey lasting several hours wasoften their fate as stretcher bearers strug-gled through the mud to carry them to aRegimental Aid Post.

The Report of the Ministry of Defence:Overseas Military Forces of Canada (1918)sets out in some detail how soldiers were

supposed to be treated once they hadbeen wounded. After the first attentionbeing given by the stretcher bearers, thewounded man, unless he were "walkingwounded," would be carried to aRegimental Aid Post where a MedicalOfficer would give whatever additionalinitial treatment was needed beyond thatgiven by the stretcher bearers. As quicklyas possible the casualty would then bemoved, usually by horse ambulance, to

43

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT W^S.A NATION BORN 1911 - l s i a

the Advanced Dressing Station for FieldAmbulances, some one or two miles tothe rear of the trenches. Here further

treatment was given, and the man washurried by motor ambulance or light rail-way to the main Dressing Station of theField Ambulance, and thence to theCasualty Clearing Station. It was not untilarrival at the Casualty Clearing Stationthat whatever operations were necessarywere performed, apart from controllinghemorrhage, removing utterly destroyedlimbs, treating shock and giving initialtreatment for men who had been gassed.

From here the wounded man was taken

in a specially equipped hospital train,staffed by Medical Officers and NursingSisters, to a General Hospital where hecontinued to receive treatment until con-

sidered well enough to proceed to a con-valescent camp in France or a hospital inEngland for further treatment. If he didproceed to England he travelled on aspecially equipped Hospital Ship.

For any man who was wounded, his hopewas that it would be a "a Blighty one" -in other words, the wound would be seri-ous enough for him to have to go back toEngland, but not serious enough to affecthim for the rest of his life. For many ofthose wounded, death awaited.

During the war, as a result of having todeal with the terrible wounds inflicted byweapons developed to kill, doctors madesignificant advances in medical techniquesand healing.

Trench slangSoldiers of the First World War, facedwith tremendous adversities, developed anumber of ways of coping with their situ-ation, one of which was humour. This

humour is evident in many of the songswhich they sang (see section in this guide,Songs of the Great War) as well as in theunique trench language which they used.A few examples are given below.

Biscuits

Blanket drill

Bombardier Fritz

Bone orchard

Cold meat ticket

Devil-dodger

Dug-out King

Fly-catcherFunk-hole

Gorblimey

Gunfire

Hairy (a)

Landowner

Pneumatic cavalry

Pull-throughSawmill

Tickler

Toothpick

Zeppelin in a cloud

Zigzag

small squaremattresses

an afternoon nap

chips (i.e. French fries)

cemetery

identity disc

a chaplain

an officer who took

advantage of his rankto stay in his dug-outwhen under fire

a fast fighter aircraft

a dug-out

a soft Field Service

Captea served in the

morning before thefirst parade

a mule

one who was killed

troops in cyclist unitsa tail, thin soldier

a hospital operatingtheatre

jam

a bayonet

sausage and mashedpotato

intoxicated

For more on life on the front lines, see

letters, diaries and newspapers inSection 5, Appendices.

44

CANADAANDTHE GREAT'1914 - 1918 ANATIONBORN

SOME CANADIANS WHOWERE AWARDED THEVICTORIA CROSS

The Victoria Cross, the highest decorationfor bravery and gallantry during battle, isnamed after Queen Victoria. She reignedfrom 1837 to 1901. The Crimean Warwith Russia, which began in 1854, led toconsideration being given to the creationof a new award for bravery to be availablefor all ranks, from generals to private sol-diers. The result was the Victoria Cross, asimple cross of bronze on a crimson ribbon,with the words "For Valour" inscribedbelow the royal crest and a lion. On thereverse side is the date when the act of

bravery occurred. The cross is attached tothe mounting bar by a V-lug. The mount-ing bar is ornamented with a sprig oflau-rel, a token of victory, and on its reverseside are inscribed the name, rank and regi-ment of the individual winner. The medals

were made from the bronze of Russian gunscaptured during the Crimean War, and thefirst were presented by the Queen in 1857.

During the First World War, 70 menserving with the Canadian forces orCanadians serving with other forces wereawarded a Victoria Cross. Of this number29 were Canadian born: 11 from Ontario;6 from Quebec; 6 from Manitoba; 3 fromNova Scotia and 3 from New Brunswick.Twenty-six of the winners died in actionor from their wounds. Incredibly, threeVictoria Cross recipients came from thesame street in Winnipeg, which today isnamed Valour Road (until 1925 it wasPine Street) in their honour. The threewere Leo Clarke, Fred Hall and RobertShankland, of whom only Shanklandsurvived the war. The exploits of the fivemen below are representative of the out-standing heroism shown by all the recipi-ents of the V.C. Their selection does notimply that they are more worthy of note

than others; simply that space does notpermit coverage of all of them. It shouldbe noted also that it has often been saidthat there were many, many others whoshowed bravery and courage of a highorder who were never recognized by anaward. The following citations of WilliamBarker, Billy Bishop, Jean Brillant, LeoClarke and Thain MacDowell speak forthemselves.

Captain Waiiam George BARKER,D.S.O., M.C.*201 Squadron, Royal Air Force

"On the morning of the 27th October,1918, this officer observed an enemytwo-seater over the Foret de Mornal. Heattacked this machine and after a shortburst it broke up in the air. At the sametime a Fokker bi-plane attacked him andhe was wounded in the right thigh butmanaged, despite this, to shoot downthe enemy aeroplane in flames. He thenfound himself in the middle of a largeformation ofFokkers who attacked

him from all directions and was againseverely wounded in the left thigh butsucceeded in driving down two of theenemy in a spin. He lost consciousnessafter this and his machine fell out ofcon-

trol. On recovery he found himself beingagain attacked heavily by a large forma-tion and singling out one machine hedeliberately charged and drove it downin flames. During this fight, his leftelbow was shattered and he again faintedand on regaining consciousness, he foundhimself still being attacked, but notwithstanding that he was now severelywounded in both legs and his left armshattered, he dived on the nearestmachine and shot it down in flames.

Being greatly exhausted, he dived out ofthe fight to regain our lines but was met

* D.S.O. stands for Distinguished Service Order; M.C.for the Military Cross

45

CANADAANDTHE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - ills

46

by another formation which attacked andendeavoured to cut him off, but after a

hard fight, he succeeded in breaking upthis formation and reaching our lineswhere he crashed on landing. This com-bat in which Major Barker destroyedfour enemy machines (three of them inflames) brought his total successes up tofifty enemy machines destroyed, and is anotable example of the exceptional brav-ery and disregard of danger which thisvery gallant officer has always displayedthroughout his distinguished career.

Dates of Act of BraveryLondon Gazette27th October, 191830th November, 1918

Captain WiUiam Avery BISHOP,D.S.O., M.C.Canadian Cavalry and Royal Flying Corps

"For most conspicuous bravery, determi-nation and skill. Captain Bishop, whohad been sent out to work independently,flew first of all to an enemy aerodrome.Finding no machines about he flew onto another aerodrome about three milessouth-east, which was at least twelvemiles the other side of the line. Seven

machines, some with their engines running,were on the ground. He attacked thesefrom about 50 feet and a mechanic who

was starting one of the engines was seento fall. One of the machines got off theground but at a height of 60 feet CaptainBishop fired 15 rounds into it at very closerange and it crashed to the ground. Asecond machine got off the ground intowhich he fired 30 rounds at 150 yardsrange and it fell into a tree. Two moremachines then rose from the aerodrome,one of these he engaged from a heightof 1,000 feet, emptying the rest of thedrum of ammunition, this machinecrashed 300 yards from the aerodrome,after which Captain Bishop emptied a

whole drum into the fourth hostilemachine and then flew back to his station.Four hostile scouts were about 1,000 feetabove him for about a mile of his return

journey but they would not attack. Hismachine was very badly shot about bymachine-gun fire from the ground.

Date of Act of BraveryLondon Gazette

Flying Servicesllth August, 1917

Lieutenant Jean BRILLANT, M.C.22nd Battalion, Quebec Regiment

"For most conspicuous bravery and out-standing devotion to duty when in chargeof a company which he led in attack duringtwo days, with absolute fearlessness andextraordinary ability and initiative, theextent of the advance being 12 miles. Onthe first day of operations, shordy after theattack had begun, his company's left flankwas held up by an enemy machine gun.Lieutenant Brillant rushed and capturedthe machine gun personally, killing two ofthe enemy crew. Whilst doing this, he waswounded but refused to leave his command.Later on, the same day, his company washeld up by heavy machine-gun fire.He reconnoitred the ground personally,organized a party of two platoons, andrushed straight for the machine-gun nest.Here, 150 enemy and 15 machine gunswere captured, Lieutenant Brillant person-ally killing five of the enemy and beingwounded a second time. He had thiswound dressed immediately, and againrefused to leave his company. Subsequendy,this gallant officer detected a field gun fir-ing on his men over open sights. He imme-diately organized and led a 'rushing partytowards the enemy. After progressingabout 600 yards, he was again seriouslywounded. In spite of this third wound, hecontinued to advance for some 200 yards

CANADAANDTHE GREAT WARi»i4 - 1918 ANATION BORN

more, when he fell unconscious fromexhaustion and loss of blood. LieutenantBrillant's wonderful example throughoutthe day inspired his men with an enthusiasmand dash which largely contributedtowards the success of the operations."

Dates of Act ofBravei-yLondon Gazette

8th and 9th August, 191827th September, 1918

Corporal Lionel (Leo) BeaumauriceCLARKE

2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion,Eastern Ontario Regiment

For most conspicuous bravery. He wasdetailed with his section of bombers to

clear the continuation of a newly-capturedtrench and cover the construction of a

block. ' After most of his party hadbecome casualdes, he was building ablock' when about twenty of the enemywith two officers counter-attacked. Heboldly advanced against them, emptied hisrevolver into them, and afterwards two

enemy rifles which he had picked up inthe trench. One of the officers then attackedhim with a bayonet, wounding him in theleg, but he shot him dead. The enemythen ran away, pursued by Acting CorporalClarke, who shot four more and captureda fifth. Later he was ordered to the dressing-station, but returned next day to duty."

Dates of Act of BraveryLondon Gazette

9th September, 191626th October, 1916

Captain Thain WendeUMACDOWELL, D.S.O.38th Canadian Infantry Battalion

For most conspicuous bravery andindomitable resolution in face of heavymachine-gun and shell fire. By his inidative

and courage this officer with the assistanceof two runners was enabled in the face ofgreat difficulties to capture two machineguns besides two officers and seventy-fivemen. Although wounded in the hand, hecontinued for five days to hold the posi-tion gained in spite of heavy shell fireuntil eventually relieved by his battalion.By his bravery and prompt action heundoubtedly succeeded in founding up avery strong enemy machine post."

Dates of Act of BraveryLondon Gazette

9th and 13th April, 19178th June, 1917

THE WAR AT SEA

When war began, Canada had virtuallyno Navy to speak of, no sound naval planor place, and only 350 sailors and 250Reserves. In 1910 Canada had taken

delivery of two cruisers previously part ofthe British Royal Navy. HMCS Niobe,commissioned in 1897, was a cruiser of11,000 tons; HMCS Rainbow was smallerand older. Plans to build more ships didnot materialize before the outbreak of

war: however, on the day that war wasdeclared, Canada did acquire two newsubmarines which had been built in

Seatde for the Chilean Navy. In a strangetwist, payment for the submarines wasmade with a cheque from the governmentof British Columbia because of delays get-ting approval from Naval Headquarters.

On the West Coast, HMCS Rainbow wentto sea with no high explosive ammunitionfor her larger guns, and would have beenno match for the German cruisers in thePacific had they met. Rainbow was tospend most of the war involved in thework of blockading Germany andpatrolling. On May 31, 1916 the Battle ofJutland was fought in the North Sea off

47

CANADA"" THE GREAT MRA NATION BORN 111.1 - I s i»

the coast of Denmark, the only majornaval engagement between the GermanHigh Seas Fleet and the British GrandFleet. Although the British suffered thegreater losses, after Jutland the Germannavy never ventured to sea again in forceand instead turned to submarine warfare.It was in meeting this threat that theRCN was to be involved off the EastCoast throughout the war.

After initial service blockading Germanships and intercepting surface raiders,HMCS Niobe became the RCN's depotship in Halifax, helping to oversee themain task of coastal protection, portinspection, shipping movement directionand other work for the British Admiralty.The U-boat menace became increasinglyserious, as enormous numbers of shipswere torpedoed and sent to the bottom ofthe sea, among them many off the coast ofNorth America.

By 1918 the RON had 112 ships in itsPatrol Service, overseeing the assembly ofall convoys leaving Halifax and Sydney,providing local escort and escort for oceanconvoys for the first few days at sea. Inaddition the RCN was responsible forminesweeping, keeping harbour approachesand sea lanes clear, and patrolling the Gulfof the St. Lawrence. This work was car-ried out by a force of some 5,500 officersand men.

Perhaps a more important contributionwas the construction in Canadian ship-

yards of many ships for the Royal Navy.Although the shipbuilding industry wasin its infancy when war began, more than700 small naval vessels of all types hadbeen built by 1918, including some forFrance. In addition, large numbers ofmen were recruited by the RCN for ser-vice with the Royal Navy, among thempilots (for the Royal Naval Air Service),

doctors and mechanics. An unknownnumber of men also enlisted directly inthe Royal Navy.

THE WAR IN THE AIR

When the war began Canada had no airforce of its own, and aircraft were in theirinfancy. The British Royal Flying Corpsand Royal Naval Air Service were respec-lively elements of the British Army andthe Royal Navy. It was only five yearssince the first airplane flight had beenmade in Canada, at Baddeck, NovaScotia, and few could have foreseen therapid technological advances that wouldbe made between 1914 and 1918, makingthe airplane a potent military weapon.

By 1918 about 25, 000 Canadians hadserved in the air service - a quarter of theRFC's strength - and had made a veryimportant contribution to its success.Canadians who wanted to fly had to enlistdirectly into the RFC or request transfersinto it from the Canadian Army. Theyserved as pilots, observers and mechanics.They exhibited a flair and daring whichresulted in more than 800 decorations forheroism: 1,600 of them also paid withtheir lives, for combat flying (as well astraining itself) was extremely hazardous.During the worst period, in April 1917, afighter pilot could expect to live for onlythree weeks on average once he hadreached the front.

Initially, aircraft were used for reconnais-sance purposes, to observe the movementof enemy forces and spot artillery, and alsoto take photographs of enemy positions.As the war progressed, bomber andfighter aircraft were developed.Increasingly accurate target informationcame to be provided for Canadian artilleryfrom aerial reconnaissance, and bombersroamed into enemy territory to hit targets

48

CANADA AND THE GREAT1 V 1 4 - 1918 ANATION BORN

beyond the range of artillery and to dis-rupt enemy troop movements and sup-plies. Fighter aircraft were used to supportground attacks by infantry, and "dogfights" between individual fighter aircraftor squadrons became a feature of theaction over the Western Front.

Canadian airmen established a reputationsecond to none as fighter pilots. A pilotwho shot down five enemy aircraft wastermed an "ace. " Of the top 27 aces in theRoyal Air Force, 10 were Canadian. Thetop dozen aces together destroyed 757 air-craft; the four Canadians among them(Billy Bishop, Raymond Collishaw,Donald MacLaren and William Barker)bagged 247 of them. Bishop and Barkerwere awarded the Victoria Cross for

gallantry, as was 18-year-old SecondLieutenant A.A. McLeod, who displayedgreat heroism while on a bombing mis-sion in March 1918. Barker was decorated

six times. Another Canadian, Roy Brown,shot down the legendary "Red Baron,"German pilot Baron Manfred vanRichthofen, though there is some contro-versy around this today. RaymondCollishaw's leadership of the "BlackFlight" of the Royal Naval Air Service(which flew Sopwith Triplanes) was out-standing, and caused consternationamong the German "Flying Circuses"that opposed them. Five of the pilots inthis Flight were Canadians.

Canadian airmen also took part in thedefence of Britain against German airattacks and in convoy escort duties.Others served as observers suspended inbaskets beneath balloons floating highover the front lines, a tempting target forenemy gunfire and fighters alike. Canadamade two further very important contri-butions to the progress of the air war.In 1917 the first of six bases for flyingtraining was opened at Camp Borden,

Ontario, north of Toronto, the forerunnerof the British Commonwealth AirTraining Plan of the Second World War.Also, Canadian Airplanes Limited ofToronto built more than 1,300 CurtissJN-4 aircraft for training purposes. Inall the Imperial Munitions Board, whichsupervised war production in Canada,produced 2,600 Curtiss JN-4 trainersand 30 F-5 flying boats.

THE CONSCRIPTION CRISIS1917

(Conscription: a call-up to compulsorymilitary service.)

As the War began in 1914 party leadersrose in the House of Commons to pledgesupport for the cause. Sir Wilfnd Laurier,the Leader of the Opposition, said: "It isour duty to let Great Britain know that allCanadians stand behind the mother coun-

try. There was a spirit of national unityas Prime Minister Robert Borden spoke ofthe need "to uphold the principles oflib-erty. There were enthusiastic crowds inAugust 1914 in Quebec and Montreal, aswell as in Toronto and other cities. EvenHenri Bourassa, the acknowledged leaderof the Nationalists in French Canadareturned from Europe to state that thewar could "unite us all perhaps in a greatnational crusade. " This apparent unitywas not to last, however, as old antago-nisms flared up between Liberals andConservatives, between French andEnglish and between urban and ruralCanada. In the early stages of the warthere was no need for any compulsoryservice, as men came forward in their

thousands to volunteer. By July 1915 theauthorized strength of the Canadian armywas set at 150,000 men. By November 1915Borden had raised this to 250,000 menand by lanuary 1, 1916 to 500,000 men.In this lay part of the problem that was

49

CANADA AND THE GREATA NATION BORN 1914 - i»r

to eventually divide the country. Themounting casualties being sustained onthe Western Front made it increasinglydifficult to attract recruits.

In the summer of 1916 recruitment beganto decline sharply. In March 1916 enlist-ments were 34, 913. By July this figure hadfallen to 8,389 and by December 1916 to5,200. It was taking almost four months toreplace the casualties sustained in onemonth. Throughout this period the majornewspapers in both English and FrenchCanada, with the exception of Le Devoir,did their best to encourage enlistment ineditorials and articles, publishing exten-sive war news.

As early as January 1917 some Englishlanguage newspapers had begun to attackQuebec, accusing it of not doing enoughto support the war. Historically therewere not the same close ties with Francethat people of British descent had withEngland. Moreover, other than the morerecently arrived Anglo-Canadians, whomade up the bulk of the early volunteers,many in English Canada were less thanenthusiastic about the war, and felt thatCanada's contribution to the war wasalready too great. Quebecers were alsoangry at the attack on the French lan-guage represented by Ontario's SchoolRegulation #17, and official indifferenceto the fine record of such units as the22nd Battalion raised entirely in Quebec.Henri Bourassa as the extreme spokesmanfor French Canada had been opposed toconscription from the start of the war, andas newspapers began more and more todiscuss the desirability of conscription hisutterances became increasingly virulent.As the mood grew more violent both inthe streets (riots in Quebec City) and inthe press, Borden was faced with thenecessity to take action.

He had visited England and the WesternFront early in 1917 and had becomeacutely aware of the need for reinforce-ments. Just before he had left Canada,Borden had assured the powerful French-Canadian Bishop Bruchesi that thegovernment would not introduce con-scription. He returned, however, con-vinced that conscription was necessary.He approached Laurier, asking himto join a coalition government thatwould introduce conscription. Laurierrefused. He declared: "All my life I havefought coercion.

On June 11, 1917 Borden introduced theMilitary Service Bill into the House ofCommons and began a debate which wasto split the Opposition Liberal Party.Events in Quebec grew more violent aslarge crowds gathered to listen to extremenationalist speakers denouncing conscrip-tion. In Ontario, extremist members ofthe Orange Lodge vowed to march onQuebec to put down this opposition.The Bill passed easily, with more than20 Liberals voting with Borden sConservatives. Under its terms, all malesbetween 18 and 45 were eligible for com-pulsory military service. Exemptions werepossible for conscientious objectors; per-sons working in essential war production;those doing work for which they had spe-cialist qualifications; and those for whommilitary service would cause special hard-ship. A Coalition cabinet was formed, andthe government prepared to go to a GeneralElection (it had to be held before the endof 1917, as the life of Parliament hadexpired) in which the, issue was conscnp-tion. As the bloody, battle at Passchendaelewas being fought, a bitter and divisivecampaign got under way. in Canada.

The Conservatives could not be certain

of victory. On October 12, 1917 Borden'scoalition cabinet of 10 Liberals and

50

CANADA WD THE GREAT '1914 - i!) is ANATIONBORN

13 Conservatives had established a Uniongovernment. It was supported by almostall M. Rs except those from Quebec. Tohelp ensure that they would win the elec-tion, the government had forced throughtwo pieces of legislation. The first of these,the Military Voters Act (August 29, 1917),granted the vote to all British subjects serv-ing in the Canadian armed forces and setout provisions to conduct voting overseas.More importantly, instead of voting for acandidate in his own electoral district, asoldier could have his vote applied to anyelectoral district in Canada - especiallywhere a government candidate might bedefeated. Service voting overseas wasspread over 27 days.

The second Act, the Wartime ElectionAct (September 14, 1917), gave the vote towomen: not all women, but only to femalerelatives of soldiers, who could be expectedto vote for conscription. The Act also tookaway the vote from those of "enemy" birth;those of European birth who spoke the"enemy tongue"; and conscientious objectors.Thus the vote was removed from a greatmany immigrants who had become natu-ralized Canadians. Ironically, many of thesehad been brought to Canada under Laurier'sgovernment and might well have supportedthe Liberals. Clifford Sifton, who hadheaded Laurier's drive to attract immi-

grants, spoke out forcefully, warning ofthe consequences of a victory for Laurier.

The pro- and anti-conscription argumentsbecame increasingly vehement during theelection campaign. The mainly Englishpro-conscription views stressed that

Canada had a moral and legal duty to doeverythirig in its power to help Britainwin the war; that Borden had givenCanada's word that she would keep fourdivisions at the Front and our Allies were

counting on us; that without reinforcementsthose who had already died would havedied in vain; and that French-Canadianshad not been volunteering at the samerate as English-Canadians - conscriptlonwould force them to do their share. The

anti-conscnption arguments (mainlyFrench) stated that Canada's first obligationwas to itself: Britain had chosen to getinto the war; let Britain fight it. Moreover,Canada had already done more than itsshare; enough blood had been shed andthe remaining troops should be broughthome. French-Canadians, they argued,felt no more obligation to France than toBritain. They were already a minorityand did not wish to sacrifice future

generations by forcing their sons to fighta British war.

When the results of the election campaignwere in, the Unionists had won a sweepingvictory with 153 seats to the Liberals' 82.The soldiers' votes had been used in14 ridings to change the result. Ahnostone in every two English-speakingCanadians had voted against conscription,as had most of Quebec. The issue ofconscription had divided the nation.The Liberals won 62 of the 65 seats inQuebec; only 2 of 57 seats in WesternCanada; and 8 of 82 in Ontario. The"Khaki Election" of December 1917had won the day for conscription.

The authorities did not find it easy toenforce the Military Service Act. Of thefirst draft of 404,000 single men, 381,000applied for exemption and well over two-thirds of these were allowed. Many menrefused to report and authorities had toresort to harsh measures to apprehendthem. Some 30,000 defaulters were caught.Riots in Quebec destroyed records toprevent men from being summoned

51

CANADAA ND THE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - I 9 i 8

for service, and there was great hostilitywhen Borden cancelled the promisedexemptions for farmers' sons. Farmerswere ranged against city dwellers; soldiersagainst civilians; and French-Canadiansagainst English-Canadians. Overall, theMilitary Service Act pulled in only some60,000 "recruits. " Whether or not it was

successful and achieved its purpose is stilla subject of heated debate. All that is cer-tain is that according to military records,24, 132 men of the 47,509 who went over-

seas actually ended up as members ofunits serving in France. By the time theyarrived, the war was entering its final phasesand they had litde if any impact on theoutcome. The conscription issue itself andall that flowed from it continues to have

an impact on modem Canadian politics.

SIR ROBERT BORDEN

Sir Robert Borden's actions throughoutthe Conscription Crisis had been consis-tent with his view that a successful war

effort would result in greater autonomyfor Canada. Even before the outbreak of

the war Borden had given Canada's sup-port to Britain: "we stand shoulder toshoulder with Britain and the other

British dominions in this quarrel. " Herealised from the outset that he had tomobilise the nation for war and, more

importantly, once committed to the War,ensure that Canada had a voice in its

leadership and direction. As early as July1915 he challenged Britain's assumptionthat she had the right to unquestionedleadership. In 1916 he went further:"Is this war being waged by the UnitedKingdom alone, or is it a war waged bythe whole Empire?... why do the states-men of the British Isles arrogate to them-selves solely the methods by which it shallbe carried on?"

The Dominions had frequendy complainedabout the lack of consultation in matters

that concerned the troops they were com-mitting to action. South Africa in particu-lar followed Canada's lead, refusing to bedictated to by Britain. As a result, afterLloyd George became Britain's PrimeMinister, there was greater consultation,resulting in the setting up of the ImperialWar Cabinet, which met for the first timein March 1917. At this meeting Bordeninsisted that the Prune Ministers who sat

on this body were responsible solely totheir own parliaments and nothing thatBritain did could impinge on this.

This assertion of equal status with Britaincarried with it responsibilities, one ofwhich was to maintain the commitment

to send troops to keep up the strength ofthe Canadian Corps. Borden never oncesaw Canada as subordinate to Britain in

the war: Canada was fighting in her ownright. Her future and interests wereclosely involved in the outcome of thewar. As a result of her military achieve-ments, Canada was to sign the PeaceTreaties separately and have her own seatat the League of Nations.

HENRI BOURASSA

Henri Boura;

promisingbeco;

opposedyBritai

alist^over-comm:

that her fii

Is a stern and uncom-and orator who had

;rned about the

fon on QuebecFrom his early days

^ domination byrsaw himself as a nation-

should not' the war effort, and

t, not to

>urassaBritain. A^Srmer

had broken with

Laurier, over the issue ofCanadibs-ufvolve-ment in the South African war. Laurier is

52

CANADAANDTHE GREAT WhK.i»i4 . ills ANATIONBORN

considered tp-htiv^/been "the politicalarchitepf^Fmo^rn Canada" who had

tr.afisform^eTthe dominion into a

fwentied^entury in^vrgCn^. state, " butBoura§((a consi^efed Layrier's actionsover gputh-Africa, ai^Tlater over the issue

of the Naval Servj^Bill, nothing otherthan imperiali;

fpdnded the influential

'newspaper Le Devoir^fdefeatu^Zaurier and

momy. In thebrought Robert

issa and Borden

uneasy alliancehed in 16 additional

in that province. Thet, as^ensions grew

language in theEgulation 17) and

election campaign of\9y? upfi^lded^ourassa found himself,aldng withj^urj^vilified in the Englishlanguag^rps<^oss Cana^

Bor^ifan^'Bour^Ei w^both nadonalists,albeit O^L dijKrent l^d. For Borden,Canyfiap^ihdepep'dence^ould be wonwitffifT the frsiVifewQf^ yf the British

empire. Boyfas^ oiyfhe other hand, con-sidered t^t^d-ue i^aependence could onlybe achieved without impeeial commit-

ments and res^onsiBilities. fTo grasp thisfact is to understand their actions duringthe conscription crisis.

THE HOME FRONT:INDUSTRY ANDAGRICULTURE

As the war began, Canada was essentiallyan agricultural nation with very littleindustry. There was no munitionsindustry in Canada, other than onesmall factory in Quebec, and hardlyany skilled workers.

By 1917 there were 600 factories inCanada producing munitions, employingclose to 300,000 workers, almost 35,000 ofthem women. Orders worth $2 million aday were being filled. Shells, propellants,casings and fuses, cordite, gun cotton,TNT and other items were being pro-duced in bulk and shipped across theAdantic. Up to 800,000 shells a monthwere leaving Canada for the front. In all,with the associated industries necessary toproduce munitions, some 1,500 factoriesin more than 90 Canadian cities were

working full out. It was a remarkableeffort. A British War Cabinet Reportin the last year of the war stressed theimportance of Canada's contribution.she has manufactured nearly every type

of shell from the small 18-pounder to thehuge 9.2 inch. All told, she has supplied60 million shells, or roughly one-third ofthe total used by the British forces duringthe last three years of the war. In additionCanada has contributed ... aluminum,nickel, airplane parts, ships, agriculturalmachinery, timber... large quantities ofrailway materials."

By 1918, the Imperial Munitions Board hadalso set up a shipbuilding department andhad built more than 100 steel and wooden

vessels. Canadian aeroplanes limited grewout of the small Curtiss factory and by theend of the war had produced more than2,600 training aircraft and 30 flying boats.

The exploitation of Canada's naturalresources was an essential part of thisindustrial growth. The wartime demandfor metals led to the setting up of refineriesto process Canadian ores, which had beenexported mainly to the USA for refmingprior to 1914. Copper, zinc and lead re-fmeries were built. In 1916 a large nickelrefinery was built at Port Colborne.

53

CANADAANDTHE GREAT

ANATIONBORN l » i .1 - i»i8

Textile production increased as demandgrew for khaki serge (for uniforms), flan-nel (for hospital sheets) and canvas. Paperand woodpulp output and automobileproduction also saw huge increases.

In addition, agriculture benefitted fromthe war. With the world shortage offood that developed and some sea routesthreatened by German submarine activity,Canadian meat and dairy producerswere able to profit from assured markets,which had been all but closed to thembefore the war. By the end of 1917, porkexports had increased by 535 percent andbeef exports seven-fold. Meat packingplants were in full production. Ontariowas the greatest beneficiary of improvedtimes, as cheese, pork and beans, andbully beef were packed and exported. By1915 on the prairies, farmers had almostdoubled the acreage under crop, particu-larly wheat. By late 1915 a bumper crophad been produced. Thereafter produc-tion fell, as did exports, although farmersenjoyed high prices.

THE HOME FRONT:THE IMPACT OF THE WARON CIVILIANS

In Canada, the mood changed from oneof excited, patriotic fervour to one oftense, grim determination as the reality ofthe western front became known. By 1916one out of every four Canadian familieshad relatives serving overseas. Those fam-ilies who kept men at home, even for veryvalid reasons, found themselves severelycriticized and many friendships weredestroyed. In the main the war broughtout the best in people. However, therewere also those who set out to profit byhoarding, supplying inferior equipmentor overcharging in order to make exorbi-tant profits.

Civilians might be many miles away fromthe fighting, but they found their livesimpacted in many ways by governmentaction and regulation. Almost every activ-ity of daily life was regulated to someextent. Wherever they turned they foundposters and advertisements urging themto assist the war effort. The CanadianFood Controller exhorted civilians to"shift (their) consumption as much aspracticable from wheat, flour, beef andbacon, to other foods. The other foodsare just as wholesome ... but are notas suitable for shipment overseas inwartime. " Recommended guidelines forfood consumption were issued, togetherwith suggested recipes. Compared withBritain, the guidelines were very generousand could not be said to have producedany hardship.

Government regulations prohibited themaking of certain types of food (forexample some breads and pastries) andstipulated the sugar content of manyitems. People were urged to eat fishrather than meat, and fishermen did theirpart by doubling the size of their landedcatch. The average annual consumptionof fish rose from 29 pounds per person to125 pounds over the course of the war. Ongovernment instructions, gardens wereturned into allotments to grow vegetables,and there were penalties which could beimposed for wasting food.

In 1918 the government introduced day -light saving time as a means of conservingelectricity. It remains with us today, asdoes another innovation which came into

being in 1917 as a "temporary measure":income tax. Taxes were also placed onmany items, such as tea, coffee, liquor,tobacco and luxury goods, in order toraise money for the war.

54

CANADA-WDTHE GREAT14-1 is ANATIONBOKN

All were urged to help pay for the wareffort. People could give to the CanadianPatriotic Fund (to help support the wivesand families of soldiers who were over-

seas); they could buy Savings Bonds,Victory Bonds or Thrift Stamps; and theycould donate money, food and goods tosuch organizations as the Canadian RedCross. In 1915 $100 million was raisedby borrowing from the public; there were24,862 subscribers. By 1918 this total hadgrown to $660 million from 1,067, 879subscribers. The money was certainlyneeded, as by 1918 the war was costingCanada more than one million dollars a day.

Even Canadian youth were asked to playtheir part. Boys aged 15 and above wereput to work on farms to help meet the severelabour shortage. Voluntary groups such asthe Boy Scouts were organized to performa number of tasks, such as providing freelabour in local communities, tending tothe gardens of men who had gone off tothe war, and helping to care for the sickand wounded.

THE HOME FRONT:PROPAGANDA

From the beginning of the war the primarysources of information for civilians on the

Home Front were the Press and the gov-eminent. The government, through wartimelegislation, exercised tight control over thePress, prohibiting the publication of anymilitary information which could con-ceivably be of use to the enemy. Targetshit, losses, damage and casualties were care-fully "sanitized" prior to printmg.

In the early stages of the war, propagandawas the principal means by which menwere encouraged to volunteer. War wasglamourized, those who volunteered madeto appear heroic and patriotic, the natureof war distorted. This distortion through-out the war was one of the main reasons

why civilians never understood thesoldiers' war experience. Posters andadvertisements used crude images andstereotypes, urged women to persuadetheir men to enlist and openly shamedmen into volunteering. One famous poster,for example, showed two small childrenwith their father, one of them asking himthe question: "Daddy, what did YOU doin the Great War?" Another boldly stated:You said you would go when you were

needed. You are needed now."

Newspapers were full of stories, particu-larly atrocity stories, which had no basisin fact. In Britain, for example, a widelypublished story concerned the mutilationand murder of a nurse by the Germans inBelgium. What was not reported was thatsubsequently the nurse in question wasfound to be living in northern England andhad never been to Belgium! The story,however, served to denigrate the enemy.

It is easy to see why popular opinionturned so easily against the so-calledaliens" in Canada.

In one famous example of how a storycould be embellished and spread, a reportpublished in a German newspaper thatstated: When the fall ofAntwerp becameknown (i. e. in Germany), the church bellswere rung" became, in a Paris newspapershordy afterwards: "According to infor-mation to the Corriere della Sera from

Cologne via London, it is confirmed thatthe barbaric conquerors of Antwerp pun-ished the unfortunate Belgian priests fortheir heroic refusal to ring the churchbells by hangmg them as living clappersto the bells with their heads down." Suchstories were widely believed and wereused to persuade civilian populations tocontinue to support the fighting. The factthat there was no truth in the stories wasof no consequence.

55

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

ANATIONBORN l 914 - l»is

Many stories were absurd, such as thewholesale rape of Belgian nuns and themutilation of children by cutting off handsand feet, but they contained enough near-truth to be believed. Some stories were

silly, such as Russian soldiers landing inEngland with snow from Russia still ontheir boots. The depiction of the enemy asa murderous beast, waging a cruel warunder the leadership of the Kaiser, con-trasted sharply with the posters showingthe heroic Canadian Nurse caring for thewounded, or the men in uniform standingproudly beneath a Canadian flag, and theyappealed to the public's general mood.

Children's comics on both sides of theAdantic were used for much the same

purpose. Some picture stories depicted theGermans as stupid and inept, poking funat them. Others portrayed them as brutaland evil; for example, in a comic pub-lished in July 1915 there is the line:"Everywhere he looked he could seenothing but the scowling, hideous visagesof pallid Germans. " Many comics carriedcollectors' items such as coloured picturesof the uniforms of Allied armies.

THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION(DECEMBER 6, 1917)

Thursday, December 6, 1917 dawnedcrisp and bright in Halifax, Nova Scotia.In the inner harbour of Bedford Basin aconvoy waited to set out across the NorthAdantic. Steaming slowly to join theconvoy was the French munitions shipMont Blanc, laden with 35 tons ofbenzol,200 tons ofTNT, 2,300 tons of wet anddry picric acid and 10 tons of gun cottonthe ingredients which were to cause thebiggest man-made explosion prior to thetesting of the atomic bomb during theSecond World War. As the Mont Blancmoved into the Narrows, the mile-longstretch of water which joins Bedford

Basin with Halifax Harbour, the

Norwegian tramp steamer Imo was set-ting out from the Basin for New York.Shordy after 8:30 a.m. the Imo collidedwith the Mont Blanc, ploughing deep intoits side. As the two ships pulled apart,sparks ignited a fire on the deck of theMont Blanc. Many people in Halifax hadless than an hour to live.

As a huge column of black smoke roseinto the air, crowds gathered on the shoreto Watch, not knowing that they were interrible danger. Only some two or threenaval officers, other than the crew of theMont Blanc, knew the nature of the ships

cargo. The crew abandoned ship, rowingfor the shore in a desperate effort to reachsafety. The ship drifted slowly across theharbour, grounding herself near Pier 6,next to the dry dock, perilously closeto the north end of Halifax. The Imosteamed over to the Dartmouth sideof the harbour, where she too grounded.

The naval tugHilford, with LieutenantCommander James Murray on board,gave the alarm to the dockyard area,but it was too late to save those who had

gathered to watch along the shoreline.A sailor sent by Lt. Commander Murraygave a warning to the staff of the railwaydispatch office, just 200 yards from wherethe Mont Blanc was burning, and VincentColeman remained at his post to tap outa message on his Morse key to warn in-coming trains of the danger. It was to behis last message. A pinnace containingseven men from HMCS Niobe reachedthe side of the burning ship at 9:05 a.m. ina last futile attempt to put out the fire. At9:06 a.m., with a huge roar, the Mont Blancblew up. The blast was felt 60 nules awayin Truro, 125 miles away in Prince EdwardIsland and 200 miles away in Sydney,Nova Scotia. The ship itself was tornapart, its half-ton anchor being hurled

56

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'

I»14 - i9i» ANATIONBORN

two miles inland and buried in St. PaulsAnglican Church.

A huge wave swept across the harbour,destroying wharves and tearing shipsfrom their moorings to toss them ashore.Almost all the buildings in the harbourarea were wrecked and the dry dock wasput out of service. The railway trackswere swept away, together with hundredsof freight cars. The north end of the cityof Halifax was flattened over an area oftwo square miles. The air was filled withmillions of glass fragments. Woodenhouses began to burn, trapping many oftheir occupants. Thousands of pieces ofhot metal rained down on the helplesscity: 1,963 people were dead or would dieof their injuries. Many consider that thedeath toll was probably more than 3,000in all. Nine thousand were injured,some 200 of them blinded by flying glass.Sixteen hundred buildings had beentotally destroyed, including 600 homes,and within a 16-mile radius another12,000 homes were damaged, most of thembeyond repair. Twenty-five thousandfound themselves without food or shelter,and that night, December 6, one of theworst blizzards in years hit the area,adding to the misery of the survivors.Estimates of damage costs vary between$35 million and $50 million.

Help began arriving from many quarters.By the evening of December 7, medicalparries had reached Halifax from variouscities and towns in the Maritimes. An

American naval hospital ship was sent toHalifax, and a train packed with medicalsupplies and personnel set out from Boston.Clothing and building supplies, food andmoney soon reached the devastated city.Eventually, more than $28 million wouldbe donated from around the world. To

manage these relief funds and deal withclaims, as well as to oversee reconstruction,

the Halifax Relief Commission was set up.It was to continue its work until 1976, andthere are still a few people receiving pen-sions (most of them blinded by glass at thetime of the explosion).

Rebuilding had to begin at once and theport of Halifax restored as quickly aspossible, because it was from Halifax thatarmed forces personnel and war materialswere sent to the war effort in Europe.With the winter having only just begun,this was far from easy.

After burying its dead - some 200 ofwhom were never identified - Halifaxslowly recovered and rebuilt. Few fami-lies had not suffered loss.

The Supreme Court of Canada wassubsequendy to rule that both the Imoand the Mont Blanc were to blame forthe disaster.

CANADIAN WOMENAND WAR

The war brought about many changes,not least in the roles which women were

able to assume within society. Not all ofthe changes were to be permanent, butthe important contribution made bywomen to the war effort was later recog-nized in granting them the vote, and inthe enactment of industrial legislationthat was a direct result of their involve-

ment in wartime industry.

First and foremost, as in any society atwar, women provided crucial support aswives, mothers and sweethearts of themen who had gone to fight. They alsoplayed an important part in the campaignto recruit more men - indeed, a specialappeal was made to women by the gov-ernment, seeking their assistance in thistask. More importantly, women were vitalin maintaining a strong wartime economy

57

CANADA AND THE GREATA NATION BORN i » i 4 - l 9 i »

and keeping public morale high. It waswomen who responded to the govern-merit's call to practice restraint in foodconsumption and household spending. Itwas women who, as volunteers, workedin service organizations and raised fundsfor soldiers' relief and comforts.

They worked for the Red Cross, rollingbandages, knitting sweaters and socks,and packing the food parcels that were soimportant to the morale of the men in thetrenches and prisoner of war camps inEurope. Some went overseas with theCanadian Field Comforts Commission.

As honorary lieutenants they worked inEngland, distributing the gifts andsupplies sent to soldiers from Canada.

Almost 3,000 women served with theCanadian Army Medical Corps asNursing Sisters. Commissioned as officers,they saw duty overseas in England, France,Belgium and in the Mediterranean. (Ofall the Allied nations, Canadian womenwere the only nurses who received therank and pay of officers. ) They were welltrained and had an excellent reputation,regarded as "sympathetic women andbrave soldiers." Known as the "bluebirds'by the soldiers for whom they cared(because of their blue cotton dresses andwhite veils) the women lived and workedin conditions which called for great staminaand courage, often within the sound ofthe guns. They served in base hospitals,clearing stations, ambulance trains andhospital ships. One Nursing Sister wrotein a letter home of assisting, with twoother nurses, at 291 operations in 10 nightsat a hospital 12 miles behind the front lines.Forty-seven of them lost their lives toshelling, bombing, submarine attack ordisease contracted from patients. One ofthose killed during a German air raid ona hospital base was Edith Cavell, who wasburied with full military honours.

More than 300 Canadian women servedoverseas as ambulance drivers and volun-teers, and many more served on theHome Front in the military's supportservices, particularly clerical work,thus freeing able-bodied men to fight.Some 1,000 women were employed byBritain's Royal Air Force in Canada ona wide range of duties such as motortransport work and maintenance.

War enabled women to assume manynon-traditional roles. By 1916 casualtieswere mounting on the Western Front andlabour shortages developed in Canada asmen were required in increasing numbersfor service at the front. It was cruciallyimportant to maintain and increase levelsof production for the war effort, andBritain had placed many orders withCanadian industry for war materials.The Imperial Munitions Board took onthe task of encouraging the training andemployment of women in munitionsfactories. Most of the women who wererecruited for this work were unmarried.

A booklet issued by the ImperialMunitions Board in 1916 stated: "It has

been clearly demonstrated that womenunder the guidance of trained tool-mak-ers, are efficient and useful... Especiallyhave the women astonished engineers intheir aptitude for the handling of millingmachines. " Given the opportunity womenperformed equally as well as men, andexcelled at doing precision work. By 1917there were at least 35,000 women workingin munitions plants in Montreal andthroughout Ontario. Soldering caps onfuses, overhauling aircraft engines, aircraftproduction, working on railways, in steeland cement companies and in shipbuild-ing - these were all jobs performed exclu-sively by men prior to the war. Few maletrades in industry were closed to womenby 1918, when Massey Ferguson could

58

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT'

] 9 il - 1918 ANATIONBORN

report that "women are engaged indrilling plates, bending metal sheets,sharpening mower blades and collectinggoods for shipment."

Women put in the same long workingdays of 10 to 16 hours, but received lesspay than men. War did not bring equalpay. Unions attempted to secure equalityfor women, but were unsuccessful.Employers were willing on occasionto provide more rest periods, lunchrooms and even limited day care, but the23 cents to 45 cents an hour that women

received was not increased. Even thoughthe war was breaking down the old-fashioned notion that women did not goout to work after marriage, female labourwas still regarded as only a temporaryphenomenon, "a necessary act of patrio-tism" which would end with the cessationof hostilities.

Women were not accepted so readily byagriculture, farmers being reluctant forsome reason to accept women land work-ers. Women did, however, assume a num-ber of traditional agriculture tasks, suchas harvesting and fruit picking, althoughunlike in industry, many women found itdifficult to get guarantees of steady work.In time, farmers did come to acknowl-

edge that women workers were as goodas men.

On the Home Front, other women took

advantage of the expansion ofemploy-ment opportunities to work in the CivilService, some 5,000 to 6,000 in all beingemployed in war-related work. On street-cars and trains, women worked as con-ductors. Employers were very pleasedwith their performance, but still main-tained a distinction between the sexes in

matters of pay and uniforms.

A few women went as far as buying uni-forms, drilling and learning to fire rifles,but these had gone too far in the view ofthe public and activities such as these soonceased. They did, nevertheless, indicatethe intense patriotism and enthusiasmof the time.

Two of the artists who received commis-

sions from the War Records Office duringthe First World War were women: Frances

Loring and Florence Wyle. Much of theirwork is in the form of sculptures depict-ing women engaged in industrial warwork, for example the bronze The ShellFinisher. Other women artists included

H. Mabel May and Florence Carlyle, whoalso painted scenes of the Home Front.Mary Riter Hamilton toured the WesternFront immediately after the war and pro-duced some very powerful paintings ofthe battlefields where Canadians had

fought and died.

Women from every social level did some-thing, gave something or helped in someway. A grateful government in 1918extended the vote to all Canadian women

in federal elections. Much progress had beenmade by women during the war years.Society would never be the same again.

ABORIGINAL SOLDIERS

During the course of the First World WarAboriginal Canadians made many signifi-cant contributions. They volunteered inlarge numbers - more than 4,000 - andgave thousands of dollars to the war effort.

The precise number of Aboriginals whoserved in the Canadian forces is not known,krgely because there are no accurate records.The Department of Indian Affairs rarelyincluded information about Metis or Inuit

or non-Status Indians. The Canadian

government had not anticipated the rush

59

CANADAA ND THE GREAT

A NATION BORN 1914 - i »l a

to volunteer and initially would not allowAboriginal people to serve overseas, evenattempting to discourage them fromenlisting. Increasing casualty figuresbrought a reversal of this policy. Notall Native communities supported thewar effort, and in early 1918 Nativeswere excluded from the provisions ofConscription. Yet there was no shortageof volunteers and many Natives jour-neyed hundreds of miles to enlist: oneof them, John Campbell, travelled3,000 miles by trail, canoe and riversteamer to Join up in Vancouver.

The Iroquois Six Nations Reserve pro-vided most of the native manpower forthe 14th Canadian Infantry Battalion, andtogether with Natives from other parts ofCanada, these men went overseas in 1916.On arrival they provided badly neededreinforcements for other battalions.

Several hundred Aboriginals from theprairies served as pioneers and engineers.

They volunteered for many of the samereasons as other Canadians. Some volun-

teered because of long ties to the BritishCrown or because of tradition. Others

wanted to escape life on the reserveor sought to do something of importance.Approximately 35 percent of all eligibleAboriginals enlisted for active service.Some reserves were almost depleted oftheir young men. In British Columbia,every eligible man between 20 and 35 inthe Head of the Lake Band volunteered.

Many of those who joined up were deco-rated for bravery.

Most Aboriginals who served were ininfantry units within the CanadianExpeditionary Force. As skilled snipersand reconnaissance scouts they earned anenviable reputation at the Front.

Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa fromParry Island, Ontario, was the mosthighly decorated Native soldier of thewar, being awarded the Military Medaland two bars for bravery. A skilled sniper,he survived the war. Another sniper was aMetis from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta,Henry Norwest. He also earned a MilitaryMedal and one bar for bravery, the firstdecoration being gained during the attackon Vimy Ridge in 1917. He was a well-liked member of the 50th Battalion, andwas killed by a sniper's bullet just threemonths before the war ended.

Alexander George Smith and his brotherCharles Denton Smith, sons of the SixNations Cayuga Chief, served as officers,both attaining the rank of Captain. Bothwent on to earn the Military Cross forgallantry. Private George McLeanfrom the Okanagan district of BritishColumbia earned the DistinguishedConduct Medal for launching a solo attackagainst a group of enemy soldiers during theassault on Vimy Ridge. Another winner ofa Distinguished Conduct Medal was SamGlode, a Micmac from Nova Scotia who,just as the war had ended, personally removed450 demolition charges in Belgium.

A number of Native soldiers served with

the famous 22nd Battalion (Quebec's"Vandoos"). Among them were PrivateWilliam Cleary, a Montagnais fromPointe-Bleue, Quebec and Private JosephRoussin, a Mohawk from Quebec'sKanesatake Band. Both won a MilitaryMedal, the former at Lens in February1918, the latter at Hill 70 in August 1917.Roussin was a scout, and was wounded

nine times during his service at the Front.Both survived the war.

Tom Longboat, an Onondaga from theSix Nations Grand River Reserve, was afamous world champion long-distance

60

CANADAA N°THE GREAT

1914 - 1918 ANATIONBORN

^

runner before the war. He enlisted in

February 1916 and served on the WesternFront carrying messages and ordersbetween units. He was wounded twice,but survived to return to Canada afterthe war. Lieutenant James Moses ofOhsweken on the Six Nations Reservewas an observer in an aircraft when he

was shot down and reported missingin 1918. In 1915 Lieutenant Cameron

Brant was 28 years old when he waskilled leading his platoon in an attack onenemy trenches near Ypres. He was oneof 88 Native soldiers from the Six

Nations Reserve who gave their livesduring the war.

Edith Anderson, also from the SixNations Reserve, was a registered nursewho enlisted in the U.S. Medical Corps in1917. With 19 other nurses, 14 of themCanadian, she served in France at Buffalo

Base Hospital, Vittel, treating soldierswho had been shot or gassed. Nativewomen, like other Canadian women, alsomade their share of sacrifices and contri-

butions during the war. At home, in additionto donations to various relief and patrioticfunds, they were active in Canadian RedCross societies and other charity groupsand collected clothes, money and food forshipment overseas to men at the Front.

During the war, some 300 CanadianAboriginal soldiers paid the supremesacrifice. Others died as a result of illnessand disease, particularly tuberculosis.

In the Department of Indian Affairs'1918-1919 Annual Report, Duncan Scottwrote: In this year of peace, the Indiansof Canada may look with just pride uponthe part played by them in the great warboth at home and on the field ofbatde.

They have well and nobly upheld theloyal traditions of their gallant ancestorswho rendered invaluable service to the

Bridsh cause in 1776 and in 1812, and haveadded thereto a heritage ofdeathless honourwhich is an example and an inspirationfor their descendants."

"ENEMY ALIENS": THETREATMENT OF GERMANSAND UKRAINIANS INCANADA DURING THEFIRST WORLD WAR

At the end of the 19th century, thousandsof immigrants had poured into Canada,attracted by the offer of land in the unde-veloped West. These people had come inthe main from countries that were part ofthe Austro-Hungarian Empire, where theyhad laboured without hope on small plotsof land under despotic conditions. Canadaoffered hope, and Clifford Sifton's agentshad roamed far and wide in Europe, seek-ing families who could open up Canada'sWest. The immigrants had flooded in andhad worked in the harshest and most dif-ficult of weathers on the prairies to con-vert them into what was to become "thebread basket of the world. " In 1914 there

were also significant Ukrainian communi-ties in Ontario and Quebec, workmg intimber and mining industries as well asconstruction and manufacturing. Otherimmigrants had come to Canada's cities,where they found themselves often inslum areas, without work and resented byother Canadians, an easy target for preju-dice and hostility.

When war broke out in 1914 there wereabout half a million immigrants from theformer Austro-Hungarian Empire settledin Canada. These had not yet becomeBritish subjects. There were also manypeople of German descent, who had cometo Canada since the 1850s and had setded

in such areas as Renfrew County andKitchener (then Berlin).

61

CANADAA ND THE GREATA NATION BORN 191 4 - i 9 i .

Under the terms of the War Measures Act(1914) the government gave itself powersto restrict civil rights and arrest and detainwithout due process of law. Taking theview that these Ukrainian nationals("enemy aliens") posed a threat to Canada'ssecurity, by the end of 1914 some 6,000males of military age had been interned insome of the 24 internment camps set up

across the country, usually in remote areas.Many of these young men were internedsimply because they were unemployed, oras a result of anti-immigrant attitudesor wartime hysteria. In all 8,579 enemyaliens" were interned during the war, aswere many prisoners of war brought infrom Europe. Canada was not alone inher policies. In Australia the WarPrecautions Act (1914) interned Germansliving in Australia. They were detainedmainly in a camp at Liverpool in NewSouth Wales and later deported. InBritain, people of German descent wereinterned on the Isle of Man.

Following the Bolshevik Revolution inRussia in 1917, the government's fear thatradicals and revolutionaries were respon-sible for labour unrest, resulted in Orders-in-Council forbidding strikes andlockouts, prohibiting the public use of"foreign languages" such as German,Czech and Ukranian, and suppressingforeign language newspapers. In this thegovernment found much support fromthe Canadian population which, as thewar progressed, became increasinglyhostile to "foreigners, " especially thoseof German descent.

There was in fact no question of the loy-ally of Ukrainian Canadians to Canadaand Britain. They pined the Canadianarmy in large numbers, often beingobliged to change their name or falsifytheir country of birth. Corporal FilipKonowal of the 47th Battalion was to win

the Victoria Cross at Hill 70. Others,whose nationality was discovered, foundthemselves discharged and then interned.

By 1914 there were about a half a millionCanadians of German origin. They hadsettled in such places as Victoria, BritishColumbia, and in Ontario. In 1874 LordDufferin the Governor-General had paidtribute to settlers of German origin: I,in common with all your other Britishfellow-subjects, am prepared to recognizeyou as fellow-citizens with the utmostcordiality and affection... the Canadianpeople... all recognize in the Germanelement, a contribution of strength toour national Constitution, and a popula-tion who, by their thrifty habits, by theirindustry, sobriety and general good con-duct, are likely to aid most powerfullyin furthering the prosperity of our com-man country.

Like their Ukrainian colleagues,Canadians of German descent enlisted inlarge numbers in the Canadian forces andsome sacrificed their lives.

THE WAR ENDS:DEMOBILIZATION

In the summer of 1915 the Canadian gov-eminent began its preparations for thereturn and reintegration of its overseastroops by setting up the Military HospitalsCommission. Further preparations weremade in 1917, and in February 1918 thegovernment set up its Department ofSoldiers' Civil Re-establishment (a fore-runner of Veterans Affairs Canada). Thuswas created the framework within whichservicemen would be demobilized andresetded into civilian society after theend of the war.

The government in Canada was anxiousto rehabilitate men and women who had

62

CANADAANDTHE GREAT'I » I 4 - 1 IS A NATION BORN

served; the troops were anxious to gethome. In spite of some delays, demobi-lization in Canada went smoothly. Afterofficial welcomes, men handed in theirweapons and equipment, received theirdischarge papers, a transport warrant,$35 to purchase civilian clothing (theycould keep their greatcoat if they wished)and a War Service Gratuity which aver-aged $240.

The Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment, faced with a flood of menwilling and eager to take their places incivilian life again, urged private businessesto provide jobs for returned veterans, andthe government gave priority to veterans,in hiring for the civil service. Veterans'hospitals were built to care for the criti-cally wounded and the sick. The MilitaryHospitals Commission, in addition to pro-viding medical care for those who neededit, set up a vocational training scheme toretrain men who could not return to their

pre-war occupations. Training was pro-vided in more than 190 difFerent occupa-tions. Some 70,000 men returned fromthe war disabled. Of these, 3,461 wereamputees, 2,000 were insane and 127were blind. By the end of 1920 more than108,000 men had been treated in Canadianhospitals for a variety of illnesses andinjuries. Most veterans who requiredtreatment suffered from diseases such astuberculosis rather than from wounds.

Disability pensions were made availableon a scale that was more generous thanmost other countries. All veterans quali-fied for free medical treatment for oneyear and, under a government-backedscheme, could access life insurance with-out a medical examination.

The Soldier Land Settlement Act was

introduced to enable veterans to qualifyfor free land and for low interest loans in

order to get established in farming. Inreality there was no free land left, but sol-diers who could prove that they wereable-bodied and had some farming expe-rience could borrow up to $7,500 at fivepercent interest to buy land, livestock andbuildings. A Soldiers' Setdement Boardoversaw the process and by the end of1920 nearly 61,000 veterans had applied.

Some war veterans, however, felt that allof these measures taken together were aninadequate reward for their sacrificesduring the war. Many who returnedfound that their old jobs were no longeravailable. Professional men such as doc-tors and lawyers found that their practiceshad disappeared. Many businessmen hadnothing to which to return, and through-out the war years the pay of servicemenhad not kept pace with the wages ofworkers on the home front.

It is not, therefore, surprising that therewas some hostility back in Canada. Suchwas the background to the WinnipegGeneral Strike of 1919 and the years oflabour unrest which followed.

THE TREATS OFVERSAILLES (1919) AND THEATTITUDE OF THE VICTORS

As the war ended and the work ofmak-

ing the peace began, it was evident thatthis task would not be an easy one. Theleaders who met at Versailles represented32 victorious countries. Canada was pre-sent as a separate nation, Prime MinisterRobert Borden having demanded thisright after Canada's efforts during thewar. The peace talks were, however,dominated by France, Britain and theUnited States of America. GeorgesClemenceau, the Premier of France, wasdetermined that Germany should becrushed by the terms of the Treaty that

63

CANADA ANDTHE GREATA NATION BORN I 9 I l . i s I 8

R

64

would be imposed upon her. Clemenceauhad witnessed the Franco-Prussian Warof 1870 as well as the First World War.France had been the scene of much of the

fighting and had suffered great damage.Now Clemenceau s overriding motivationwas to punish Germany and ensure thatit would never again be in a position toattack France.

President Woodrow Wilson of the United

States had come to Versailles seeking afair peace. His country had gained manyadvantages from the war and had emergedas a new world economic giant. Havingcome late into the war, the U.S. had suf-fered less than most. He wanted a peacetreaty that would treat the defeatednations fairly so that they would not seeka war of revenge in the future. Amongthe "Fourteen Points" that he brought asa basis for discussion were proposals fordisarmament, free trade and the establish-ment of a League of Nations where dis-putes between countries could be resolvedwithout the need to resort to war.

David Lloyd George, the British PrimeMinister, came to Versailles havingpromised his people that Germany wouldbe made to pay. Many British lives hadbeen lost in the struggle. However, LloydGeorge adopted a "middle of the road"position and was responsible for many ofthe compromises which led to the Treaty.

In all, there were 440 articles and numer-ous annexes contained in the Treaty ofVersailles that was imposed uponGermany and her defeated allies. Thesecovered everything from the return ofcaptured works of art to military mattersand the creation of new nations.

Germany lost all of her pre-war overseascolonies, which were given to the victoriouspowers. All German property overseas,whether government or private, was con-fiscated by the Allies. All pre-war trading

agreements were declared null and void.Territory taken from France - Alsace-Lorraine - for example, was restored. Theformer Austro-Hungarian Empire wasabolished and four new independentnations were created: Czechoslovakia,Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Austriabecame independent but was reduced insize. The Russian Empire was also brokenup, with Finland, Estonia, Latvia andLithuania being given independence.Other Russian territory was lost as part ofthe new nations created from the former

Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was hopedthat these new nations would helpprevent the spread of Russian Bolshevism(communism) westward. Germany wasforbidden to have fortifications on theFranco-German border, had the size ofher army and navy restricted (no sub-marines were allowed), and was to haveno military air force.

Some articles in the dictated Treaty causeddeep resentment in Germany and helpedcreate the conditions from which the

Second World War originated. In parricu-lar, Article 45 required Germany to turnover the coal mines in the Saar Basin to

France for 15 years, to pay for the destruc-tion of coal mines in northern France.

This represented some 16 percent ofGermany's coal production. Article 231(the "war guilt clause") required Germanyto accept responsibility for causing all theloss and damage that the Allies and theircitizens had suffered. Article 232 requiredGermany to pay for all wartime damagesto the civilian population and the propertyof the Allied powers (reparation payments).To ensure compliance with the Treaty'sterms, an army of occupation was tobe maintained for 15 years west of theRhine River.

The First World War had altered drasti-

cally the balance between Europe and theUnited States. After 1919 Europe was no

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT ^l»i4 - i9i« ANATIONBORN

A SOLDIER'S DIARY

Diary extracts of Captain GeorgeDowney (by kind permission ofMr. Robert Alexander Saunders of

Nepean, Ontario)

This unique day-to-a-page diary, writtenin a meticulous hand, was kept byCaptain George A. Downey, M.C. whoserved with the Canadian Field Artilleryfrom December 1915 until March 1919. Inthis capacity he witnessed a great deal ofthe war in the front line, including actionat the Somme, Vimy Ridge andPasschendaele. He has left a fascinatingrecord of his experiences.

Note: The writer often makes reference

to going up to the O.P. " (ObservationPost, also known as the "Old Pip, " closerto the front line) and the "W.L." (Thewagon lines, to the rear).

George Downey survived the war tobecome a successful Civil Engineer andbusinessman. He died in Toronto in 1964.

99

(^

I0rt

< §

I!

^'3Q^uG-^

<<h..

^

i

^ i

<3i

ttff-

';-'5<i

ul^;lillt^^l!

' 1ft

^

H

t,

A

it

/.

I

e

^Sls^ bj liipJ ^ U^i^S^-S^^^?tl.

S^ffi^ P^§sy^^s^ \'^^§

I^S!SP^&^1^£ft^'l.^yi'^N£

^^^s

jiyl A^iAuN^iijsls^il1W%N%

T»M);tl<!UAV IS OCTdKKR OUWIidt KMBAV is

/YffC <aw/y 0, -s^ne ff/we^ c?//f/^es^ 8f6ff /-ot/M^s o/i

rspe^c^, efw/ .^M* ;/-% ^GW j^ewef Wo^V.

/w ey G£r/t/e o/? ^^w-S , s/x c<grs^/^W9. c/eses;

e^s /w, /si^/fcA , a^sse-e^Sf^lVTWS fy^/tc/ ff^gfAw 00, a//^. 3^> <^-/iwr/'/» /stwisfi<r/(e /W» /ttz/fe/',/9« ef^ss /6 ^<yy /^ c/w/n'^

M»t ^^y. ' ffe/ ^e^\ey^.. ^s.30 f/fe ^ew6/v^

^<?^ ^0^ ^^<y^/ev/Of^ t^/X -^0 /e/y/^e^^iA/tf^ f^P^r 6. /9. <6^/ /?0^eof wa A/yeiif MVV (?'n^ y/7fQ ^' t/S Qt^ %6e/f /t^c/« -ftfie s »t /^ /99^^/v-s

t^wsffr, ^6we/y /e-^y.

/4/ 0^ off f^es/ M ^roff/ ef^ ^/e^n't S^fep sff 0,,

~A?s/ f/f^ft/, / ^ 0&a<^ffeQfi a»K/ \ }^wsww/ 4e"/&/-eCe/. esvs sy/e/e/f ce eyywt-sf

SS Cw-^fffQQ^ ^C^' /& '0/E> <%^6/<'^/CW-/ /fo/ m^/e^t c/o//ig/~ ^3/. 6/? estf^er/vpoy? ^ Wo^/-tf^E?j^e</ Ay . 7&/siwwv ^7.^6.,?^., ^<M^ .y^^

t/fffy w*^ h^Wf/ /fe ^ee/N^ss^<ey"

tort *A»tni »AV 2S

'^*t *;'. , (>A rf/t</ /V^

y<"if>»Kp 0@TOB»t

^y-S^M M^ /Vew&w/'n /W-S/) WD^/<S^ M 0^/-/VwSf <os^e/ /efw^f/ j^ef' ffv^fy /////vaeA«y ff^^y , C^-'. f^^Wf/-U //^^//^s /e> ^wCjs/. /yy wAff/ //jyot/n'a^o/) //w^' wcy j^^y ^9^//-y.

S/0/'/e</ /re»vy sAe^uvQw M/f^^CM^y ^W M'/f^i/

^^F^. ^W_ ®^m^/ /oS>^? '<w/- Ao^ses ':

^. ^eew/ A^/^^)Aft^wf ^//<- ,o<s«^»<ffWMWf///^/- ffy/. ^^sf ma^Wfff/, ^fie ^ay ^e, /»^

9S ^//yef wsiCey*s '^W w /9<« ^nd. /*

?/-^?</ ^yffMf ^wgowt /n ^CffW «f ^^y^s^^we, '" -^fev/ -^ /x/vh Of,^

5^^ew^ t6. 'w/9Aif ^f^ 9./A>4/^;tf/ //, 2 ^^y."

^ow home QM^ QlS^. e^S.^M V^ry ffeveyf /Ws/f, WCV/M ^ .

SbMil. AY W

ff/ff ft >^ ^f'm!^

l$tb

C^t O^eur GQ'c/e^, Sfle»/ ^M.6/SwM/^q e^f &/i^ wwvhwQrowiff 'ekffft, ^. \f/. ^.Cf/Are/ t^/^s /fvws <S/W*VM^,/t>^ ^sy. ^y'af /w^. ^60^

Q/aefvt/ton Off/ef ^/-tS^Wf /<t <s^^/ TSes^ir/tflw/%e"/- ft4-r/n'/^:/f<t ). ^/%s>/w<?^/ /e ^^^ /<y ^.,'?^fy^'. £^fpw^ fywns '^Mie/l>Vv^/f^af ^t/ e^c/ffo'e// . //ffwvi

/S'^'s) ff// /W.m<»/iyj \wy 'c/ese &f/^ ^e

^o'm'otie £fe/i . ^o/i/brot/yh/- ^x»c<r e/&^ ^ wyco/ef , foe/C //, 'ej^f £meft^^ fe/fy wy \C^sf <fw//f^^ r'f9rM /e ^ee/.

fffwy . _^-0ff/f^ /h /)wmpf^/y/^h^ <^w,sv9f/ ^ojf

. ^¥& Qfi Qf/e/ist/w.5r/5 /s SAec/Q^'s Aw^~

^tey-kls

101

ZOI

^-puffl^, -^.^^^(y^~"-*f^^t

yw^^y -^'y'^f^^

/^^ff 'ftt{W ^eyA^a -y^%^

\^

r-AT^S-^Xsy/Csysy .

~ey <f,» . /sva^iff^^^sf *s^^ ^(^)9y<*t/ s^s/f/^i '^^/

*

" ^sr^yy^ jwt's^jf ^/^o y/ffif Asyy

/i//^ 's ^^ ' s^e/ /«/^<~/^ <<W *^-r^ e^.^ ^^Sf //^y ' ^»ef s'or /ssv^ sa^r

/.f? / f

wi9/'wske^Wffy '^cy ff^^ iWyW -^^" tft^^f ^6f£t

* »^>J?<6>^«%AS^ 9t6T'eW 9/fftM//^»^ -f^'fyf «W^ t/MQ/ 9t^

fy /W9flf / '-Stwwf Mfts><wiy/w-/^y> /S1'^*/-

«' s/^ '. sww^ 9V/ ^t3»t/wyy y 9w£y9//s? ^y/ uy

.w<y/<^o ^ ;»</' >&^iey /<w^/^S^'SytWy A9^f£ MSW '^Wt/

-Jbyty ^Mf^u/^ ywe? ^Mff/ff/yyW, «/ya<y »f// e/^/ sf/f^f / s^

?r<. . ~'\< '^.. f'^ A< .. /IT

h:./r>i*, /;i '.»<{

fy y^'A

t^ ,9«/»*:« ~f

^y^/tyr^sw^

>'.v

, ^1fe»^ Wf^y,. . JSf^'^ «t/f*^^f '¥^W ^ * (gWMOjV

,) wef -^ -/s^iff /ysyt4\, '<f-^p ^^yt^t^fit JEfSkA/999J ' S'fify/f9^

yo ^9//7 /ft<W ^^yff^ !t/t//^'^^/t's -/^fi '/

^'A^9Wy ^ '^^<r<s^5>^e>/ ^ ft/^fii

' -y^^ A^i y^f/^»<?y ft^eeitffy y^^y iW/yo^ yr^i&^w? ,A<^ ^wff ay^/w^ ywy^ ^ffo^ ^^ . f^^ft 'A^^ <{5^

s ' /9e ^@i/a/ //s^f f S'^yff^yyJs-^i

i ^ ^^i /s-^/^^^y /wyi 'Mi/& />o«»^<s> a^jpsy ^<

^>»W^A^y^ jTj^ *^/o ^w/y0^»^ yo"^^ ,y^

j .//fs> y^s--/^ . -y/-0/ /.A^y7

.. '"><.( >».!»<> )IYK

aiii - r i c i NSOa NOUVN v

J.V3^0 3HJ.<^VdVNV3

.

^ §^ 2

IilI!o Eg:? =

^5

3

NS

I

1

a

:^ i^ii%%¥l>

j^ ^ 1^.!'^:H^sli

!N1?2^^' & ^ " ">. ^ s \,

^h^y' ^i^

^y;^;^M^^yl%

^

1 ^ . lllllNI:I !i!i 1X11%! .SP, ®i^Wl

.^

1^ ^ ^&

ss TX^'!' S§ g $^y1 ^^¥ l^ ?^-^ ^1 %

^ I 9

^

I.0 =

§":s'=<§

I!

&

^.L. -i. '-A, .. ;. f^ 10 .^|^^S^<§^'"..

^; §^ S . ^ l"t. t^te^^'

hl^l^^i§T'<^:' i

lllp^i^i'^W

1

I^

<e

A 1'h^ ^;y^i?r^j

I

>^.aNM .1.

j^^yi^iT'Os. ^c i

^ lit ^1

Iffffij^SW "^.^ S^ 9 - ^ ^ <

s

It is interesting that in late September1916, when this letter was written, therewas still the expectation that the "GreatPush" was going to succeed and the warwould become one of movement ratherthan the stalemate of the trenches. As weknow, this was not to be the case.

CANADAA ND THE GREAT %\Ri .> i 4 - 1918 ANATION BORN

The end of the letter is somewhat con-fused, but it would appear that Haroldis upset that his chum has been sent toanother platoon, and replaced by someonewho is a drinker - of which Haroldclearly does not approve.

/

:^ On Active Service

^. - .- 'Y- -^ '^^.......... i:--^ ........... :..£l^. ^.. ./~f . -, /.. .. \ '/' -'/..;-- // *;,.... , ,- t- '.. :.i^;:....£... t-y,............,.... j L'. .. -. [ \, :; ^: -^

.1. V.. Jt ,^J>t*...^A^2,...,...... "3%" ^

:^,. "/y^. -:.^^y i .....,. "..... ',. .^.....4. -^...^^.^/7 K ^L

^M. c^'^y . - .hif ^

\'^ 7

^' ^-c. ^ s ^r-^/,

^^ :" t r

y' - ' . ^' ' -, '. - ^^.^

'-^. l/^/^ -->' . ^- ,1^

z

Y st«.../ C^f^ ^-',^...... ^......... 2^'-:^.

< f^ ^^.. -.^/^. ^/^^ll^ ^ .,...;- rf/ ^\^(^4fy ^<....... ;.. -.<. . >'.-^ /<i^7^

-"^ ...... . f~^^K,... . ... . ,-;, - .f^: .:.': .",,...., _;'"l-. v. :-.-.. -.. -:;.... . -.. ":. -:'........ :. ;,. ;......._

.. "9- '"<* -1- ".- ' W. . *' - ' ' ^ ^-^y ^\vs.

-y- Z^^\'^ - A"'^/ , ". ^

". -ffl?^^/.^

123

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT MRA NATION BORN 1911 - i 9 i 8

PostscriptCorporal Harold Tomlinson was laterkilled in action, his body never recovered.His mother received her last letter fromhim after she had received news that he

was listed as "missing. " In this letter werethe following verses:

Visions of My Dear MotherWritten at midnight, in my dug-out, bythe light of a dimly-burning candle.

When darkness doses about me,At the end of a weaiy day,I sit in my dug out alongside the trench,And fancy you not far away.

"Dear Son, " you call to me softly,The days are so far apart,

The hours seem a year, as I wait for you here,And I fray for you with all my heart."

As the night rolls on and shadows deepen,/ think, of you once again.In the candle light I see you to-nightAs a queen of a simple domain.

"Dear Mother, " I call to you softly,You Itster^to^tht 'souna 1gj r'_my voice,My heart seems aflame at the sound of

your name,

When I loo^ at your face I rejoice.

Dear Mother, I call to you softly,Dear Son, the words that you say,

Then the candle bums low, bums lowerand lower

Burning my visions away.

Corporal Harold Tomlinson was 22 yearsof age when he was killed.

MILITARY ORGANIZATION

It is often confusing for the ordinaryreader who has litde knowledge ofmilitary matters to encounter terms thatmean very litde. Throughout this Guide

124

there have been many references to theCanadian Corps and to Divisions. Thedescription and chart below gives anoverview of the overall organizationand how the various elements fit together.

By the spring of 1916 there were fourBritish ARMIES on the Western Front.The CANADIAN DIVISIONS werepart of them.

An ARMY was composed of many differ-ent elements that could be varied: in fact

an ARMY is really only an administra-tive organization, commanded by a fullGeneral. A CORPS was part of an Armyand was also an administrative structure

whose component parts could vary. ACORPS was commanded by aLieutenant-General.

Each CORPS was made up of a numberofDFVISIONS, each commanded by aMajor-General, each self-contained (i. e.responsible for its own infantry, artillery,engineers, signallers, etc.). A DIVISIONwas an organizational structure which didnot change.

Each DIVISION was composed of threeBRIGADES, commanded by a Brigadier-General. Each BRIGADE in turn con-

tained four BATTALIONS, each com-manded by a Lieutenant-Colonel.

At full strength a BATTALION had36 officers and 1,000 men, although inbattle conditions there were rarely morethan 800 men. Each BATTALION wasdivided into four Rifle COMPANIES.

A COMPANY was commanded by aMajor and had 6 officers and 240 men.In turn, a COMPANY was divided intofour PLATOONS under the command

of a Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant

and consisting of 60 men divided intofour SECTIONS commanded by a Non-commissioned Officer (NCO).

CANADA ANDTHE GREAT WARA NATION BORN 1914 - l 9 i »

Sept 24, 1916. Letter from Harold Tomlinson tohis brother Alfred

Harold, writing to his brother, congratu-lates him on "attesting. " By mld-1915 inBritain (as in Canada) the number ofrecruits had fallen dramatically. Thegovernment therefore introduced theNational Registration Bill, which allowedit to collect accurate information on the

number of men available for military ser-vice. Men attested to their willingness toenlist - hence the reference In this letter.

It was a step towards conscription, whichwas to cause controversy in Canada,Britain and Australia.

A third brother, Jack, is already in theArmed Forces.

"T

I

On Active Service

1

...«s«.siw«>s

^-»

-.-;'.

.;^' ^'-«"^t»'.tif/,*. -«i2,''M!'>';^-t^...

i'"v^::^ ?%-:_«.»"-*"..

'. <:.. :. ...:^:^f^/~

"... ^^'/-.......... . .. /.. :.ff. -. ... »..... - "s-

.-, .. ^ . , ., -.. ,. < /..?.,.. :..: -"^......... .

\:^, ^-^. '?'. 1 .... ^f.. '...... »t».,.. _. - ^

/.... t:'^''^t ^-/ ^"'M. ^. /.^. >

... '. w^f*^";' '"-"- -.. Ki. V-. Y'--^ i'::-. ^ - .'.. . . '- ..;;'.»>.. \...... ;^:':^:..... ......' ...,.,.,. - ^.. . -; ' . .... .,., ^.,..

.f.^.-:.,^--e"/- -^^... :.... -....-... y^'

^...... .>«,

<l/i».

.. -^-. .... -ff ^(<.

^""*

..»-<y....... ^ . ^

f

^... /^ ^ '. :.."./ s^. . . ~t; , ... ,

-^>

^. ^........... ^^i\.. . '-^c-^...,^-,/"

^

*"- --"" '" * . ' " "'.^ 'r^''_ ^"-> *'"'».»

'.^

.. J?-a

^ -^~. v

s- '../."."-<-... v'-/;--/

-: fic. vy

^"

.-.t-

*.

» <

s,

\' \

~. s^t. :^..

122

'.''^yfKtMff&^a. '*<^

"'.i-

^......^y^r--&<!&.

^fVT^ !-^-... j.... ^^... ^S-^Si.... 'Sk -^Mi... £f^^. :'^^^,........ S.......... -'Sts^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^.^^ *<- .<?*...<-^s &4.. ^.. . ^i^aM ^..... ... ;..:^*.

.d^fe^. '' -^y. ....-zfeu&-..j'«i^*&^-.-....?^.'3*^6S. ?~ '^^e^ :.e '^wi-^ .-&4*.. .. ^v-xr

,, »X< *x>A~ &<*»<* 'm.&f^ / Sli^fly-,^'sSt^ie^ "¥&. ' ^Vt^B^ -..

-' ... 'v^e^c -wy A >j*^ -^ -<%*^ -<

.A^, 4»t'^ ^'-* 4»-/<^-^<-'. ^'Ate&af '-ew^- ^-s^ <s% &»u,A<. .aa.^/

|,.a^ ^S^ m^ 'a^r r^ .. i2<«^»,. ;<<^B '^t'nuito-i^s. '~i8ftv~ ~^. :..^y ^j

W*^ TBt^C . 1^4' iSai^Siti,^1^.,... :"^^^-*«.*<_ '^*"A. -Aa^h^ . ..-

CANADAA NDTHE GREAT

l » i 4 - 1918 A NATTON BORN

^-A^ -^-^ -a6^ ^- ^+ ^

.^-^ say eftw^ -^-^iffy£>-<^'.^ 'WMS^ 4^ v^t'a^}i "*^f»^^ ^^f^ ^Ak y^r^. ^^y '^E.,, ^ TpWt si,^w ^<

we ^^ -^A. t^K ^&y:^ii ^fryt-t. itavfw . Sftvy ~&liA^i yk^Wfy^

> /- '' - * / ' ^' .. '', "*<A fy C^;} -UK^vsr- A -^ii^e. v^..f-^Wh. . -t^jt^t,, A. .£^e£S. ^w^- -&6SM»^

. l^f/ -K^ I1X»^S - e^. ^Gy^ '^r yi sn,

t/ v *. ' "~ / ' t,

E*ift?<2^~ .Vv^- *?£&»<<^ ~ iwMiw ~ffi\ tt.fi.

j ffiu^. riw^ %-' *^- ^^^.,'-ew^^&f d. t&^f^s - '^wi HC <».«<>»-

, '^SA. f -TO"- »^h^~ ~¥-^- .y^i^S'i^./^A& y&Qw^- L^si^e^ ^y -^M^-^fk. -{tt£MJK. ^h. -vk^ais^ »ft^ 'W»'r--9^Sft\

j <;%j£ su^w^w *&r -ft/tfWH. yr » <MaWlt.,

-iffi,....... 'fwae^fy.. .AM}.. .... &V.. .S*M-£^. } . :?^ ..'wu-s^...22^...... @E«-l.<.w....-!«^..... -^^/-..... !@<^*-*«^J^%^^

E/ >/ ~ " ^

.... -^. .-Si£i&e .T^-UL .-iee^se^. ...... s^^. i/. Mhe-.. '.a^L -*A*A&^^-tf ^^e,...... is&Ksa^.. -^1

-^&^~ -^SSMM&f. ...yt$A, _,.%'" '-A'aift..

is&. ^. ^i. ft&ay.. .'^^. '^'... -^... -.S^i'-^^^.. :...^^.... -&*6f...... <^t^..... ^^^ .. » 'Nil-^^^. iei".<,^,.. '^<rf,. ^^<<^ cat^s, t^EMyCs,... :.......i^y ' y^e^... . fiy^. ^w^.. :1^.. A.... .1^ .. :"iafe^^ \. ^. y^.,... ^,,..,. t&^... ''?»« ^.. aty ..

\<f»e^ . :..A^ '-^s.. .«WfWf^. .c&tt^ <.r. *|E®?> &»4... ^^-... ^ ^us. ta^ihu. tt^r"- .^j^....... '-&^... ..-S^tfeoatS^, . ^r^y... . .... ^Of

^^e-^...... -&'e3!^. .................

l'Q^... '/^w-<M»r'....... . .

i...

y c&ii....^

yS; ?w»«t. P. i'. i^-

121