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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (62506)	11/11/2014 4:38:17 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 69300

OK, I will quit now! It was a joint effort by all. (And may it never happen again--but it will.) As the war progressed, Canada’s successes in battles like those at Vimy Ridge, France and Passchendaele, Belgium, had earned its army the reputation for being the best-attacking Allied troops on the Western Front. When the Allies planned the offensives that would ultimately win the war, Canada’s soldiers were given the responsibility of being at the forefront of the attacks. The Canadian Corps’ reputation was such that the mere presence of Canadians on a section of the front would warn the enemy that an attack was coming. This meant that great secrecy would be involved in the movements of the Canadian Corps. A large offensive was planned in France in August 1918 and Canadian troops were shifted north to Ypres, Belgium. This made the Germans think a major attack was coming there before the Canadians secretly hurried back to the Amiens sector for the real attack. On August 8, Canada led the way in an offensive that saw them advance 20 kilometres in three days. This offensive was launched without a long preliminary artillery bombardment as was usually done (which also warned the enemy that an attack was coming) and the Germans were taken totally by surprise. This breakthrough was a remarkable development and dashed enemy morale, with the German high commander calling it “the black day of the German Army.” With Allied leaders’ hopes now high for an end to the war in 1918, they kept up the pressure on the Germans. There would be little rest for the victorious Canadians. They were moved back north to the Arras sector and tasked with helping break the Hindenburg Line—now the enemy’s main defensive line. After a week of fierce fighting against some of Germany’s finest troops, in terrain that gave the enemy the advantage, the Canadians broke the Drocourt-Quéant Line in front of the Hindenburg Line by September 2. Next up was the Canal du Nord, which formed part of the main Hindenburg Line. The partially-completed canal’s earthworks made it a tough position to attack, but Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie came up with a daring plan. His men, along with a British division, would cross a 2,500 metre-wide dry section of the canal. However, this was a bottleneck that could cause Allied troops and equipment to bunch up and become easy targets. To cover the advance, Currie unleashed the heaviest single-day bombardment of the entire war and the September 27 attack was a stunning success. The Canadians broke through three lines of German defence and pressed on to capture Bourlon Wood. Combined with other successes along the British front, the Hindenburg Line was now breached. The German army may have been retreating but that did not mean they stopped resisting. After further heavy fighting, Canadians helped capture the town of Cambrai and by October 11 the Corps had reached the Canal de la Sensée. This was the last action taken by the Corps as a whole but the individual Canadian divisions continued to fight, overcoming stiff German resistance and helping capture Mont Houy and Valenciennes by the beginning of November. With German resistance crumbling, the armistice was finally signed on November 11, 1918. Canadians fought to the very end with the war’s last Canadian combat death—Private George Lawrence Price—happening just two minutes before the fighting officially ended. That day saw our soldiers in Mons, Belgium—a place of great symbolic meaning, as this was where the British Army had its first significant battle against the invading Germans in the summer of 1914. The war was finally over. The Canadian Corps’ accomplishments from August 8 to November 11 were truly impressive—more than 100,000 Canadians advanced 130 kilometres and captured approximately 32,000 prisoners and nearly 3,800 artillery pieces, machine guns and mortars.