Battle of Ypres

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Battle of Ypres

• also known as the Battle of Flanders

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• Ypres is located in Belgium
• last major battle of the first year of World War
  I
• October 19th, 1914 to November 22nd, 1914
• first time the French and Canadian troops
  experienced chemical warfare

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Chemical Warfare at Ypres

• the military use of chemical warfare had been
  banned by international agreement since 1899
• Germans released the gas and attacked

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Canadian Role

• Canadian forces, although lacking protection and
  preparation from the chemical warfare, stood
  strong
• they were able to hold back the major force of
  the Germans
• marked the first Canadian victory of the war
• still, 6 000 Canadians were killed, wounded or
  captured

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Battle of the Somme
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sky view of Somme
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• Allied forces tried to break through the German
  lines along the 40 km front of the River Somme
• River Somme is in Northern France

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• one of the largest battles of World War 1
• over a million casualties
• one of the bloodiest battles in human history
• by the end of the battle, many lessons had been
  learned about the modern warfare
• fought in France from July to November 1916

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• first time that tanks were used in battle
• yet, they were bogged down in the mud and were
  virtually ineffective during the battle

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Battle of Verdun

• one of the reasons for the Battle of the Somme
  was to draw away German troops from this battle
• critical battle of World War I between the German
  and French between February and December 1916 in
  Northeast France
• longest battle in World War
• to France and Germany it came to represent the
  horrors of war like the Somme did to the British
  and its Commonwealth

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July 1st, 1916

• British suffered over 57 000 casualties
  (including over 19 000 dead)
• making it the bloodiest day in the history of the
  British army

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aftermath in a German trench
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General Sir Douglas Haig

• commander of the British forces in France
• veteran of calvary warfare
• strategy to have troops try to smash through the
  enemys trench lines and then have the mounted
  soldiers charge past

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Royal Newfoundland Regiment

• 91 of their regiment was destroyed by the first
  half hour (79 out of 840 survived to the
  following morning)
• soldiers ordered to charge at the German machine
  guns in broad daylight
• if soldiers were lucky to survive through No
  Mans Land they still had to face people in the
  enemy trenches, and still the enemy support
  trenches

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Canada

• suffered 24 000 casualties
• criticized by the Prime Minister (Borden) back
  home
• wanted Canada and other British empires to have
  more say in the way that the war would be
  conducted
• Britain invited allies to join the Imperial War
  Cabinet

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Results

• no breakthrough for five months
• over a MILLION Allied Entente casualties
• General Haig claimed victory
• they had only gained eight kilometres of mud

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The End

• The Germans made a strategic withdrawal to the
  prepared fortifications of their Hindenburg Line
• German commanders did not believe that they could
  endure the constant battles like the Somme
• one of the most costly battles in World War I
• Somme. The whole history of the world cannot
  contain a more ghastly word

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