In the final days of the First World War, up to one quarter of the German Army was running from Canadians

[cc]

Canada at its deadliest: The epic war-winning battle you've never heard of



Canadian memories of the First World War generally stick to Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge is the site of Canada's official First World War memorial, and it's the only battlefield that's made its way onto our currency and passports.



But while Vimy may have represented a rare victory in the war's darkest depths, historians, military commanders and First World War veterans themselves were more inclined to believe that Canada's greatest triumph would come at the war's end.



Below, a quick primer on the Last Hundred Days, the epic Canada-dominated finale to the Great War:



At one point, a quarter of the German Army was running from Canadians

The Last Hundred Days began on August 8, 1918 with an all-out attack on German positions in Amiens. By day's end, Canadian soldiers had obliterated German defences and advanced an incredible 13 kilometres.



It was the most jaw-dropping allied victory ever seen in the First World War up to that point.



For context, it had taken months of fighting and 500,000 dead to gain only eight kilometres of ground at Passchendaele. Up until this point, many First World War battles had followed a predictable pattern:



A lengthy artillery barrage followed by fixed-bayonet human wave attacks across no-man's-land. At Amiens, Canada rolled out a strategy that prioritized speed and unpredictability above all else: Tanks, motorized machine guns, cavalry, storm troopers and intricately timed artillery barrages all thrown at the enemy in a dizzying tidal wave of force. Erich Ludendorff, who by this time had become the effective military dictator of Germany, referred to August 8 as the "black day" of the German army.



As the Canadian breakout continued relentlessly into the autumn, Canadian Corps commander Arthur Currie would estimate that one quarter of all Germans on the Western Front were being shot at by Canadians.



A field of German guns captured by the Canadian Corps in the war's final days. Library and Archives Canada

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/somanyguns.jpg?w=640&quality=60&strip=all">



Germans may have explicitly avoided fighting Canadians until the very end

In the spring of 1918 Germany launched a last-ditch series of assaults designed to capture Paris and win the war before the United States army could show up in force. They devastated British lines to the Canadians' north and French lines to the Canadians' south, but the Canadians themselves eked out the offensive relatively untouched.



This may have been intentional: Canadian soldiers were so fanatically committed to killing Germans that it often creeped out their fellow Allies. The British and French may have shared bread and chocolates with German troops during the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, but as soon as Canadian troops joined the war in 1915 they pursued Germany with "a vendetta which did not end until the war ended," wrote the British war correspondent Philip Gibbs.



A tank used in the Battle of Amiens, the opening engagement of the Last Hundred Days.

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/tank.jpg?w=640&quality=60&strip=all">



 Instead of winning the war, Germany's "Spring Offensive" had cost them tens of thousands of their best troops and had the unintended consequence of leaving Canada as one of the strongest armies left standing on the Western Front.



 In the war's final months Canada would defeat 47 German divisions to the Americans' 46, despite suffering less than half the casualties.



https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-at-its-deadliest-the-epic-war-winning-battle-youve-never-heard-of">https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ca ... r-heard-of">https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-at-its-deadliest-the-epic-war-winning-battle-youve-never-heard-of

[Chuck Bronson]

Serbia started that war, so I don't even know what business Canada really had to go there and fight anyhow...



And what happened in WWI was essentially what caused WWII to happen...



Eastern Euro scum always causing problems...

[cc]

[Chuck Bronson]

Basically Serbia is responsible for the death of 6,000,000 of your people, CC.  NEVAR FORGET THAT!

[Anonymous]

Canada at its deadliest: The epic war-winning battle you've never heard of



Canadian memories of the First World War generally stick to Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge is the site of Canada's official First World War memorial, and it's the only battlefield that's made its way onto our currency and passports.



But while Vimy may have represented a rare victory in the war's darkest depths, historians, military commanders and First World War veterans themselves were more inclined to believe that Canada's greatest triumph would come at the war's end.



Below, a quick primer on the Last Hundred Days, the epic Canada-dominated finale to the Great War:



At one point, a quarter of the German Army was running from Canadians

The Last Hundred Days began on August 8, 1918 with an all-out attack on German positions in Amiens. By day's end, Canadian soldiers had obliterated German defences and advanced an incredible 13 kilometres.



It was the most jaw-dropping allied victory ever seen in the First World War up to that point.



For context, it had taken months of fighting and 500,000 dead to gain only eight kilometres of ground at Passchendaele. Up until this point, many First World War battles had followed a predictable pattern:



A lengthy artillery barrage followed by fixed-bayonet human wave attacks across no-man's-land. At Amiens, Canada rolled out a strategy that prioritized speed and unpredictability above all else: Tanks, motorized machine guns, cavalry, storm troopers and intricately timed artillery barrages all thrown at the enemy in a dizzying tidal wave of force. Erich Ludendorff, who by this time had become the effective military dictator of Germany, referred to August 8 as the "black day" of the German army.



As the Canadian breakout continued relentlessly into the autumn, Canadian Corps commander Arthur Currie would estimate that one quarter of all Germans on the Western Front were being shot at by Canadians.



A field of German guns captured by the Canadian Corps in the war's final days. Library and Archives Canada

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/somanyguns.jpg?w=640&quality=60&strip=all">



Germans may have explicitly avoided fighting Canadians until the very end

In the spring of 1918 Germany launched a last-ditch series of assaults designed to capture Paris and win the war before the United States army could show up in force. They devastated British lines to the Canadians' north and French lines to the Canadians' south, but the Canadians themselves eked out the offensive relatively untouched.



This may have been intentional: Canadian soldiers were so fanatically committed to killing Germans that it often creeped out their fellow Allies. The British and French may have shared bread and chocolates with German troops during the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, but as soon as Canadian troops joined the war in 1915 they pursued Germany with "a vendetta which did not end until the war ended," wrote the British war correspondent Philip Gibbs.



A tank used in the Battle of Amiens, the opening engagement of the Last Hundred Days.

https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/tank.jpg?w=640&quality=60&strip=all">



 Instead of winning the war, Germany's "Spring Offensive" had cost them tens of thousands of their best troops and had the unintended consequence of leaving Canada as one of the strongest armies left standing on the Western Front.



 In the war's final months Canada would defeat 47 German divisions to the Americans' 46, despite suffering less than half the casualties.



https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-at-its-deadliest-the-epic-war-winning-battle-youve-never-heard-of">https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ca ... r-heard-of">https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-at-its-deadliest-the-epic-war-winning-battle-youve-never-heard-of

Excellent thread cc.

 

Taiwan was part of Japan in world war one..



Tomorrow is  Remember Day..



Be sure to observe silence for fallen soldies.

[cc]

I have my grandfather's WW2 Flight Book Log on my desk



Open at the last page



It's very hard to read the last Operation Log Mission (Over Gardening) - the only entry not made by himself, rather by his Squadron Leader

[Anonymous]

I have my grandfather's WW2 Flight Book Log on my desk



Open at the last page



It's very hard to read the last Operation Log Mission  - the only entry not made by himself, rather by his Squadron Leader

 ac_crying

[cc]

Their "Halifax" fell short of its  home field in S. Yorkshire .. Buried in Can military place - Harrogate  S Yorkshire



Have been there



Ironically, his parents and he were  responsible for the 1/4 German in me (Prussian) ... and further,  one of the cities he bombed (noted in his log book) was where his grandparents were - Stuttgart

My grandmother told me how hard that was for him to do -

Being an Engineering grad, he was a natural for the position of Navigator

[Bricktop]

I had a relative die in the battle of Jutland. He was 19.

[Anonymous]

I had a great uncle who fought for the Austro-Hungarian side while my great grandfather fought for Imperial Russia in the WW2. The Russian revolution triggered more war in Ukraine after WW2 ended.

[Zetsu]

Unlike today, I keep forgetting that Canada once had a well respected military, not to mention during WWII the only armed forces that were ever there to defend Hong Kong from the full scale IJA invasion were the 2 battalion deployed from Canada.

[Anonymous]

Unlike today, I keep forgetting that Canada once had an well respected military, not to mention during WWII the only armed forces that were ever there to defend Hong Kong from the full scale IJA invasion were the 2 battalion deployed from Canada.

I didn't know that Zetsu?



Do you mean they remained after Imperial Japan conquered the colony of Hong Kong..



The Japanese would have either tortured them or slaughtered them.

[Zetsu]

Unlike today, I keep forgetting that Canada once had an well respected military, not to mention during WWII the only armed forces that were ever there to defend Hong Kong from the full scale IJA invasion were the 2 battalion deployed from Canada.

I didn't know that Zetsu?



Do you mean they remained after Imperial Japan conquered the colony of Hong Kong..



The Japanese would have either tortured them or slaughtered them.

Unfortunately many lost their lives, they were simply over whelmed... during that time the IJA beforehand already planned to use Hong Kong as one of the very few beachheads as a logistic point for the majority of their ground forces to enter into China.  

[Anonymous]

Unlike today, I keep forgetting that Canada once had an well respected military, not to mention during WWII the only armed forces that were ever there to defend Hong Kong from the full scale IJA invasion were the 2 battalion deployed from Canada.

I didn't know that Zetsu?



Do you mean they remained after Imperial Japan conquered the colony of Hong Kong..



The Japanese would have either tortured them or slaughtered them.

Unfortunately many lost their lives, they were simply over whelmed... during that time the IJA beforehand already planned to use Hong Kong as one of the very few beachheads as a logistic point for the majority of their ground forces to enter into China.  

Hong Kong was strategic to Imperial Japan..



I'd like to read more about this Zetsu.

[Anonymous]

Unlike today, I keep forgetting that Canada once had an well respected military, not to mention during WWII the only armed forces that were ever there to defend Hong Kong from the full scale IJA invasion were the 2 battalion deployed from Canada.

I didn't know that Zetsu?



Do you mean they remained after Imperial Japan conquered the colony of Hong Kong..



The Japanese would have either tortured them or slaughtered them.

Unfortunately many lost their lives, they were simply over whelmed... during that time the IJA beforehand already planned to use Hong Kong as one of the very few beachheads as a logistic point for the majority of their ground forces to enter into China.  

Canada used to have a first rate military before Pierre Trudeau. Thanks for reminding us about our glory days brother. ac_drinks