The Germans did not have the resources of the allies, mainly as they had no colonies and also the western allies had the tacit support of the Americans. By 1916, both sides had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and all the participants began to feel the strain of waging absolute war. Both sides dug in and they engaged in bloody attempts to seize each other trenches. After the Autumn of 1914, the war became a stalemate. The French army had saved Paris but its country was still under grave threat and much of northern France was under the control of the Germans. However, at the battle of Marne in 1914, the French were able to defend Paris and even managed to push the Germans back. It invaded France via Belgium and pressed onward towards Paris. The innovations and tactics suggested in his report would lay the groundwork for the victories to come.In 1914, Germany came close to repeating the success of the Franco-Prussian War. The human toll of the battle remains as controversial today as it was at the time.Īfter the battle, Canadian General Arthur Currie undertook a thorough review of the Somme campaign and the massive French battle at Verdun. The fighting at the Somme shifted the front lines only eight kilometres at a horrendous cost of more than 1 million casualties, including 24,000 dead and wounded Canadians. With both sides exhausted and winter setting in, the Battle of the Somme came to an end. Blistering artillery barrages eventually pounded Regina Trench into a smudge on the landscape before it was finally captured. They were withdrawn and British troops, along with the newly recruited 4th Canadian Division, arrived to again renew the attack. The fighting left the first three Canadian divisions exhausted. Massive barbed-wire entanglements made the German trench nearly impossible to take, and when the Canadians did reach it they were thrown back by extensive German counter-attacks. The main objective - a system of defences known simply as Regina Trench - remained in German hands. Despite repeated efforts, they gained possession of only the first of three main trenches. The French Canadian 22nd (“Van Doos” Battalion) and the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles) captured the objective and then held off 17 German counter-attacks through four days of extreme and bloody close-quarters fighting.īy September 26th the Canadians had launched a succession of new attacks against German trench systems running just beyond Courcelette. On September 15th, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division launched successful attacks toward the small French hamlet of Courcelette. By September, the Canadians were called to take their turn in a series of new attacks. It was the single worst day in the history of the British Army.ĭespite the high casualties, the Battle of the Somme continued through the summer and into the fall of 1916. The first day of the campaign saw more than 60,000 British casualties, including the near annihilation of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel, France. Canada's History Youth Committee MembersĬanadian troops had been lucky to avoid the bloodbath at the Somme that started on July 1st, 1916.The John Bragg Award for Atlantic Canada.Historical Thinking Community of Practice.
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