battles

• The Halifax Explosion - December 6, 1917

  • Importance: Helped further research in children healthcare and eyecare
  • Brought ww1 to Canada
  • French ship Mont Blanc, collided with the Ino
  • Killed more than 2000 people, 9000 wounded, 25, 000 homeless
  • One of the worst disasters in Canada
  • 10m tsunami came after and took many bodies into the ocean
  • Boston came quickly to help the Halifax Explosion casualties
  • 2 cities who have a special connection together
• Battle of Ypres - April 1915

  • The first battle involving Canada
  • Germans used Mustard Gas (chlorine gas) for the first time
  • The first time the first Canadian division had seen action and the only force to hold the line in the face of a strong attack against the enemy
  • Marked Canadians as inventive and ingenious soldiers
  • Canadians lost 6000 men but successfully stopped the Germans from moving south into France
  • The battle where “In Flanders Fields” was written by Dr. John McCrae
• Battle of the Somme - July-November 1916

  • First battle where tanks were used by the allies
  • Canada was successful against the Germans but suffered 24,000 casualties
  • Half a million men were lost in 3 months
  • The bloodiest battle of WW1
• Battle of Vimy Ridge - April 1917

  • Canadian planned assault on the impenetrable German fortified ridge
  • First battle where the Canadian corps was lead by Canadian officers
  • Made sure everyone knew where they were going and they practiced behind the lines
  • Included new ways of spotting and destroying enemy artillery, a new bomb that destroyed barbed wire, and the creeping barrage
  • Canada gained their unofficial nation identity
• Battle of Passchendaele - October 1917

  • Allied offensive against the Germans
  • Intended to gain dryer land on higher ground for the winter
  • Gen. Haig forced Currie to lead his troops into battle against his wishes
  • Conditions were swamp like- soldiers often sunk into mud up to their waists
  • Heavy rains made it worse, guns and artillery disappeared and many soldiers had drowned (?)
  • Overall gain was just over 6 km of farmland and the cost of 460 000 casualties on both sides