World War One was a vicious four yearlong conflict that left few survivors in its wake, and devastated the world’s economy. The war commenced after the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s ArchDuke, Franz Ferdinand, and brought all the major European countries such as Germany, Italy, Great Britain, France, Serbia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary into the war. This was due to a system of alliances that linked the countries together, which forced countries even outside of Europe to join a war they had no part in, further escalating the problem. World War One was divided into two major alliances that fought against each other. As a result of Great Britain’s involvement, Canada was led into war as well, where Canadians distinguished themselves in battles …show more content…
moved into a reserve position, nearer to the front. Pearkes and a select few from his unit went into the trenches and received instruction on how to live in the trenches. In the brigade, there were a few other units that lived with the 2nd C.M.R, this included Strathcona’s Horse, Royal Canadian Dragoons, and King Edward’s Horse. At first, life in the trenches was quite an exciting experience for Pearkes, who described it as ‘thrilling to finally be there.’ They were instructed not to sleep during the nighttime as work had to be done; draining the trenches, filling sandbags, and repairing things hit by bullet shells, but this did not phase Pearkes. Pearkes platoon commander was named Evans, and he came from the Okanagan Valley, and was very admired around the troops. By mid-October 1915, Pearkes became one of the Bombers, but was still part of the same regiment. His Bombing Officer was named Mickey Maguire; however, he was wounded shortly after Pearkes arrived in France. At this time, Pearkes main job was to help maintain the supply bombs, take part in bombing or scouting raids, and patrol the premises. The front lines did not have a lot of access to fresh food, and often ate bread with jam and cheese, and corned beef—with the absence of fresh fruit and vegetables, it was quite common for soldiers to get upset stomachs. In between the chores soldiers had to complete in the trenches during the day, there was some time for leisure, this …show more content…
On April 5th, 1917 the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles received their operation orders. Firstly, the 5th C.M.R. and its company (three more platoons) were in support at Vimy, located in the tunnels. The 5th C.M.R. was given the opportunity to watch construction of underground assembly positions, which were the tunnels at Vimy. It was different from the Somme as the artillery at Vimy had quickly obliterated German support trenches, whilst at the Somme they were often chastised for firing short and not cutting wire.
However, due to the astounding number of fatalities the troops were facing on both sides, Pearkes and his company were forced to go through the front line. This was much more exciting as the front line overlooked the Douai Plans and gave the troops the ability to see German positions. However, after a few weeks of battle at the front lines the 5th C.M.R found themselves back involved in trench warfare, for the rest of the summer of
Many of these soldiers weren’t sure how to use chlorine gas therefore, they had to be trained. Over 31,000 men had traveled to England as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. There were two major soldiers in the Second Battle of Ypres, Guy Melfort Drummond, and Russell Boyle. Guy Melfort Drummond was born into a rich family. He was raised first to be a citizen of the British Empire and secondly be a citizen of Canada.
Belknap commanded the left wing, which included a battalion of artillerymen fighting as infantry under Lt. Col. Thomas Childs, who held the center of the American position and was stationed to Captain Allen 's left. They were known as red-legged infantry because the legs of artillery uniforms always bore red stripes. Captain William Duncan 's battery of 6-pounders supported them. The 8th Infantry regiment under Capt. William Montgomery held the extreme left or eastern flank.
The Canadians also needed to prepare their soldiers for the upcoming battle. The Canadians created a full scale replica of the battle area. This of course was intelligence collected through aerial surveillance. The replica was laid out with reams of colored tape and flags behind the Canadian lines. Here
These poor weather conditions resulted in tanks getting stuck, artillery shells having little effect, and troops having to use duckboards to move forward, otherwise they’d drown. Canadian Corps’ was ordered into battle and given two weeks to prepare, despite Arthur Currie's protest and prediction that there may be 16000 casualties. Canadians began the attack on October 26th, 1917 and gained about 100 meters per day and by November 10th they had captured what was
Belgium. Realizing his mistake, General Eisenhower immediately gave the order to send the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and all other available units to the city of Werbomont, Belgium to stop the German offensive. By pure coincidence, the already battle weary 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, the first of its kind, was collocated with the 101st Division in Mourmelon, France on December 17th, while it awaited the 17th Airborne Division, with whom they were to be attached. Upon hearing that the Nazis were advancing on Belgium, LTC John T. Cooper, the commander of the 463rd, and his officers knowingly went against their orders and requested to help in Werbomont. Since the 101st already had a supporting field artillery unit, the
[Map] Situated in northern France, the heavily-fortified seven-kilometre ridge held a commanding view over the Allied lines. The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard since previous French attacks had failed with over 100,000 casualties. First World War - Vimy Ridge -naval 12 inch howitzer in action to capture this difficult position, the Canadians would carefully plan and rehearse their attack. To provide greater flexibility and firepower in battle, the infantry were given specialist roles as machine-gunners, rifle-men and grenade-throwers. These same soldiers underwent weeks of training behind the lines using models to represent the battlefield, and new maps crafted from aerial photographs to guide their way.
In the minutes before the attack Brigadier told the soldiers with him that he had to take his boot off, the other soldiers bracing for the Japanese attack strictly disagreed with the idea but Brigadier took off his left boot and sock anyway. Brigadier had contracted Trench foot. Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions, which causes the flesh to peel off the foot. After inspecting the damage to his foot, he put his boot on and began preparing for the Japanese attack. Brigadier showed courage as he continued to fight even with an injury while many others would have given up.
My unit was one of the last to leave, and we had many casualties. On October 21, we fought in the Battle of Balls Bluff. In May through July of 1862, we were part in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles near Richmond, Virginia. We were part of the First Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac.
In September at Cambrai, Banting got to experience what a great majority of of the soldier’s had to undergo which was being wounded while on the field. Shrapnel flew in the air after an attack from the enemy causing some of it to enter Banting 's body. This put him out of service as battalion officer and forced him to recover in England. He was shortly awarded with the Military Cross for his valour under fire after which he then returned to Canada in 1919. To outline one of Frederick Banting’s best moments in his life taking place in military service, he was very dedicated to the task at hand and to helping those in the war.
Although today these strategies would seem to be more common sense tactics, at the time these ideas were considered modern and unprecedented. Considered to be one of the most useful tactics, the Creeping Barrage was a way for the Canadian soldiers to advance closer towards the enemy, protecting themselves with a large amount of gunfire. This tactic allowed the Canadians to capture most of the ridge within seven hours. Another strategy that helped the Canadian forces neutralize the German forces in battle was the WWI fail-safes. Private soldiers were equipped with detailed information and instructions that would allow them to take the lead over troops whose leaders were lost in battle, making these soldiers backup leaders.
Vimy Ridge was considered Canada’s greatest victories. This is the time when the country came out from Britain’s shadow and was capable of doing great things as their own country. Canadian soldiers earned respect and a reputation of effectiveness and a tough army. On April 9th 1917 the Canadian army were ordered to attack Vimy Ridge which was located in Northern France in the pas-de-Calais region. Near the border of Belgium, is a village called Vimy which was equipped with Barbed wires and machine guns.
It may seem horrible to see when the soldiers were reduced to remove bandages from the dead for the wounded, but they repeatedly reused bandages because they had quickly run out of the fresh bandages as historian Robert Ferrell presented it in his book Five Days in October (30). It also true how both show off how carrier pigeons were used to transfer messages from the frontlines back to HQ when out of range from telegraph wire. Major Whittlesey did release his last homing bird named Cher Ami to tell HQ to stop the shelling. Despite the fact the pigeon was hit by multiple German bullets, it was able to reach the HQ and deliver the Whittlesey’s message.
During this unending onslaught, Australian soldiers were ordered to dig trenches at the front of the battlefields, to slowly advance towards the Turkish army. Soldiers would lie down and dig the trenches at the same time to avoid being shot. These soldiers would later become known as ‘Diggers’, some of the true heroes of Gallipoli. After hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, Australian soldiers were completely evacuated from Gallipoli over the course of a few days, in what is considered the biggest failure of the Allied Forces.
World War 1 was a historic event which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. This bloody conflict took the lives of more than 17 million people who were fighting for their countries. Being a British colony at the time, Canada was dragged into the war that did not impact the country in any way, yet thousands of Canadians volunteered to devote their lives for their nation. The first World War had the greatest impact on Canadian history during the 20th century, as this event helped Canada gain more independence from Britain, it helped introduce women in the workforce, and also introduced non-white Canadians in the army. For the longest time, Canada had been under British control, however, this changed a bit after World War 1 took place.
World War I This War was also known as the Great War because it was the first war involving most of the major countries. It started out as a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia but it quickly spread to Germany, Great Britain, Russia, and France. These countries were required to join this war because of pre-existing treaties.