1. War Measures Act: 2. Subversives: 3. Internment Camps: 4. Mi'kmaw: 5. Conscription: 6. Heartland: 7. Conscientious. 8.

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1 Chapter 4: An Examination of the Canadian Experience 1. War Measures Act: 2. Subversives: 3. Internment Camps: 4. Mi'kmaw: 5. Conscription: 6. Heartland: 7. Conscientious 8. Objectors: 9. Women's Suffrage: 10. Autonomous: 11. Isolationism: 12. Statute of Westminster: 13. Nationalism: 14. Total War: 15. Industrialization: 16. Merchant Marine: 17. Demographics: Casualties: 18. Western Front: 19. U-Boats: 20. Convoys: 21. Reconnaissance 22. Missions: 23. Victory Bonds: WWI begins for Canada August 4, 1914 when Britain enters the war. Initially the war was met with tremendous optimism as hundreds of thousands eagerly volunteered for duty. 1

2 In the early phases of the war, all combatants launched offensives designed to win the war before Christmas. In the West, German troops crossed the Belgian border in the narrow gap between Holland and France. Strategic Situation in the Summer of For a couple of months, both sides attempted to outflank the other but were unable to achieve any lasting victory. After a few months these trenches had spread from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier. The front lines shown changed little between 1915 and In the West, the Germans decided that they must hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that they still occupied. They were ordered to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. 2

3 As the Germans were the first to decide where to stand fast and dig, they had been able to choose the best places to build their trenches. The possession of the higher ground not only gave the Germans a tactical advantage, but it forced the British and French to live in the worst conditions. This captured German trench was typical of those found on the Western Front. Generally better prepared than Allied trenches, the resilience of German trenches would frustrate Allied attacks throughout the war. Most of the area that the Allies were forced to build their trenches was rarely a few feet above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig down they would invariably find water two or three feet below the surface. Water-logged trenches were a constant problem for soldiers on the Western Front. The British Army worked on a 16 day timetable. Each soldier usually spent eight days in the front line and four days in the reserve trench. Another four days were spent in a rest camp that was built a few miles away from the fighting. However, when the army was short of men, soldiers had to spend far longer periods at the front. It was not uncommon for soldiers to be in the front line trenches for over thirty days at a time. Trenches on the Western Front were protected by thick barbed-wire entanglements. Barbed-wire was usually placed far enough from the trenches to prevent the enemy approaching close enough to lob grenades in. Sometimes barbed-wire entanglements were set up in order to channel attacking infantry into machine-gun fire. 3

4 No Man's Land is the term used by soldiers to describe the ground between the two opposing trenches. Its width along the Western Front could vary a great deal but generally averaged about meters. Artillery accounted for as many as 7 out of every 10 casualties suffered on the Western Front. Barrages by thousands of guns, delivering millions of shells was not uncommon in many battles. The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the Allies at the Second Battle of Ypres. The use of Chlorine gas was soon followed by more potent chemical weapons like Phosgene and Mustard Gas. One nurse described the death of one soldier who had been in the trenches during a chlorine gas attack. He was sitting on the bed, fighting for breath, his lips plum coloured. He was a magnificent young Canadian past all hope in the asphyxia of chlorine. I shall never forget the look in his eyes as he turned to me and gasped: I can t die! Is it possible that nothing can be done for me? Between 1914 and 1918, more than 91,000 men were killed as a result of poison gas. Gas casualties, however, accounted for almost 3,000,000 total casualties. 4

5 Apart from being cold, hungry and wet most of the time, soldiers in the trenches suffered from a variety of problems during the war. Rats, lice, dysentery, trench foot, and a host of other hardships made life in the trenches horrific and impossible to forget. Soldiers were also the victim of friendly fire on occasion. It has been estimated that about 75,000 British soldiers in the war were killed by British shells that had been intended for the Germans. Soldiers on the Western Front were very critical of the quantity and the quality of food they received. The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits. By the winter of 1916 flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried ground turnips. The main food was now a pea-soup with a few lumps of horsemeat. Dysentery is a disease involving the inflammation of the lining of the large intestines. The inflammation causes stomach pains and diarrhea and can be fatal if the body dehydrates. This disease struck the men in the trenches as there was no proper sanitation. Latrines in the trenches were pits four to five feet deep. When they were within one foot they were supposed to be filled in and the soldiers had the job of digging a new one. Sometimes there was not time for this and men used a nearby shell-hole. Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats. Corpses lay everywhere and were often in various stages of decay. With little time to bury the dead, the decomposing bodies of men would attract rats. With rats came disease. 5

6 Corpses Men in the trenches suffered from lice that left blotchy red bite marks all over the body. As well as causing frenzied scratching, lice also carried disease. This was known as trench fever. Although the disease did not kill, it did stop soldiers from fighting and accounted for about 15% of all cases of sickness in the British Army. This 1915 Punch magazine cartoon depicts the dehumanization process which results from service in the trenches. Rain and snow would transform the battlefield into a morass of heavy thick mud that made the lives of soldiers particularly difficult. Cold and wet conditions produced numerous medical problems for soldiers. Battles rarely let up during times of extreme weather conditions. Many soldiers fighting in the First World War suffered from trench foot. This was an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary conditions. In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. During the winter of , for example, over 20,000 men in the British Army were treated for trench foot. 6

7 By 1914 British doctors working in military hospitals noticed patients suffering from "shell shock". Early symptoms included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the frontline. Between 1914 and 1918 the British Army identified 80,000 men as suffering from shell-shock. Mines were built underneath the enemy s trench system. Explosives were placed, then detonated in order to create a breach. Counter tunnels were dug in order to intercept these attacks. There are still mines in France today! After four years of war 620,000 Canadians enlisted and fought in the war 67,000 were killed and 250, 000 wounded. 39% casualty rate. 67,000 Canadians died in World War I In the first week of April 1915 the soldiers of the 1st Canadian Division were moved to reinforce the salient where the British and Allied line pushed into the German line in a concave bend. On April 22, the Germans sought to eliminate this salient by using poison gas. Following an intensive artillery bombardment, they released 160 tons of chlorine gas from cylinders dug into the forward edge of their trenches into a light northeast wind the first use of chlorine gas in the war. 7

8 As thick clouds of yellow-green chlorine drifted over their trenches the French colonial defences and British colonial forces on either side of the Canadians crumbled, and the troops, completely overcome by this terrible weapon, died or broke and fled, leaving a gaping four-mile hole in the Allied line. The Canadians were the only division that were able to hold the line. All through the night, the Canadians fought to close this gap. On April 24, the Germans launched another poison gas attack, this time at the Canadian line. In those 48 hours of battle, the Canadians suffered over 6,000 casualties, one man in every three, of whom more than 2,000 died. The next area where Canadians fought was at the Battle of the Somme July to mid-november Initially launched as a campaign to relieve pressure from the beleaguered French forces at the Battle of Verdun, the Allied casualties actually exceeded those at Verdun. On July 1, 1916, the British launched the assault which resulted in the largest massacre of British forces - over 57,550 casualties in one day. Among them were 732 men from the 1st Newfoundland Regiment. Of the 801 men of that regiment, only 68 men answered the regimental roll call after the attack; 255 were dead, 386 were wounded, and 91 were listed as missing. Every officer who had gone over the top was either wounded or dead at the Battle of Beaumont Hammel. However, the Newfoundland Regiment was not a force fighting under the Canadians. This single battalion of soldiers came from the Dominion of Newfoundland. They fought with the British and at the time of the July 1st Drive, they were posted with the 29th Division. It was the Newfoundland Soldiers that held proud their heritage that refused any attempt to combine them with the Canadian forces in late

9 03/04/2014 The Canadians' first taste of the Battle of the Somme occurred when they were asked to secure the town of Coucelette, France. In the major offensive which began at dawn on September 15 the Canadian Corps, on the extreme left of the attack, assaulted on a 2,200-yard sector west of the village of Courcelette. By November 11, the 4th Canadian Division finally secured most of the German trenches in Courcelette and then rejoined the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. Many historians and writers consider the Canadian victory at Vimy a defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from under the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of the stunning success. But it was a victory at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded. The Battle of the Somme claimed more than 24,000 Canadian casualties. But it also gave Canadian units the reputation of a formidable assault force. As British Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote, "The Canadians played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as shock troops; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst." 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. 9

10 In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery pounded the enemy positions on the ridge, killing and tormenting defenders. New artillery tactics allowed the gunners to first target, then destroy enemy positions. A nearly limitless supply of artillery shells and the new 106 fuse, which allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire. Attacking together for the first time, the four Canadian divisions stormed the ridge at 5:30am on 9 April More than 15,000 Canadian infantry overran the Germans all along the front. Incredible bravery and discipline allowed the infantry to continue moving forward under heavy fire, even when their officers were killed. There were countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadians single-handedly charged machinegun nests or forced the surrender of Germans in protective dugouts. had failed. But it was victory at a heavy cost: 3,598 Canadians were killed and another 7,000 wounded. The Canadian operation was an important success, even if the larger British and French offensive, of which it had been a part, 10

11 The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, "in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." Throughout these three final months, the Canadian troops saw action in several areas. The first was near the enemy salient on August 8 where the Canadian Corps (along with the New Zealanders, Australians, French and British) was charged with the task of spearheading the assault on the German forces in Amiens. In the subsequent battle, the morale of the German forces was badly shaken. In Ludendorff's (German General defending against the attack) words, the battle of Arras was a "black day for the German army." After their breakthrough at Amiens, the Canadians were shifted back to Arras and given the task of cracking the Hindenburg Line in the Arras area (a strong German trench system). 11

12 03/04/2014 Between August 26 and September 2, the Canadian Corps launched multiple attacks near the German front at Canal du Nord. On September 27, 1918, the Canadian Forces broke through the Hindenburg Line (pictured bottom left) by smashing through a dry section of the Canal du Nord. The operation ended in triumph on October 11, 1918, when the Canadian forces drove the Germans out of their main distribution centre in Battle of Cambrai. U-boats were a new threat to warfare on the oceans. Not only used to sink military ships, but effectively used against cargo ships carrying much needed war supplies to Europe. Main cargo: food, fuel, ammunition, weapons, troops. U-Boats relied upon sinking cargo ships with their main gun giving fair warning to the crew to Abandon ship before they sunk her. Much of the war at sea revolved Around U-boats and running the Gantlet. In the final one hundred days of the war, the Canadian Corps marched successfully to Mons. However, in this period, the Canadian Corps suffered 46,000 casualties. The last Canadian to be killed was George Lawrence Price, two minutes before the armistice took effect at 11 am. on November 11. He is traditionally recognized as being the last soldier killed in World War I. The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's Dreadnought, made such a strong impression on people's minds when it was launched in 1906 that similar battleships built subsequently were referred to generically as "dreadnoughts." The Dreadnought's design had three revolutionary features: 1. An "all-big-gun" armament scheme, with an unprecedented number of heavy-calibre guns. 2. Heavy armour 3. Steam turbine propulsion. 12

13 The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle fought by the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet (which also included ships from the Royal Canadian Navy) against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war. In the aftermath of the battle such high losses were suffered that there was not to be any more large scale engagements during the war. Britain 6,094 killed 674 wounded 177 captured 3 battle cruisers 3 armoured cruisers 8 destroyers (113,300 tons sunk) Germany 2,551 killed 507 wounded 1 battle cruiser 1 predreadnought 4 light cruisers 5 torpedo-boats (62,300 tons sunk) One aspect of the war which has come to be considered 'glamorous' is that of aerial combat. On both sides aircraft observed for artillery, and machine-gunned, bombed and gassed enemy troops. The Royal Flying Corps started the war as an unknown adjunct to the Army. After mixed fortunes it was built into a fighting force of men from every country in the British Empire. The RFC devised techniques of aerial observation, photoreconnaissance and ground support, offering the Army advantages which were not always quickly recognized. The Corps also fought in the skies over Britain during frequent German air-raids by airships and bombers which killed over 1,200 civilians.. 13

14 By the end of the war Britain had one of the world's most powerful and efficient air force with pilots capable of holding their own against their German counterparts. Flying without parachutes in flimsy machines called for great mettle and skill, but many hundreds of aircrew died, and No Man's Land was littered with crashed aircraft 80 Victories The most famous ace of the war, Manfred von Richthofen briefly served in the trenches before transferring to the German Air Force in A month after receiving his first Albatros, Richthofen had six victories against Allied aircraft. As his reputation grew, the "Red Knight of Germany" painted the fuselage of his Albatros D.III bright red to flaunt his prowess in the air. The British called him the jolly "Red Baron," to the French he was the "Red Devil." Bishop attended the Royal Military College before joining the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the war. After serving overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in December 1915 and received his pilot's certificate in Flying the Nieuport 17 "The Lone Hawk" was considered by some to be a mediocre pilot, but his extraordinary eyesight and consistent practice earned him a reputation as a crack shot. On the morning of 2 June 1917, his single-handed attack against a German aerodrome on the Arras front earned him the Victoria Cross, making Bishop the first Canadian flyer to receive this honor. 72 Victories 14

15 The Treaty of Versailles (French: Traité de Versailles) was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 15