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Canadians’ First Major Battle

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1914: Canada joins Britain and

other Allies World War I

April 1915: Second Battle of

Ypres

July 1, 1916: Battle of the

Somme

April 1917: Battle of

Vimy Ridge

November 11, 1918:

World War I ends

November 1917: Battle of

Passchendaele

1918: The Hundred

Days

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First major battle fought by Canadian troops – April 22 through May 25, 1915. Canadians distinguished as determined fighting force. Resisted first large-scale poison gas attack in modern

history; held frontline until reinforcements could be brought in. More than 6,500 Canadians killed, wounded or captured

in battle. Men of First Canadian Division – farmers, lumberjacks,

lawyers, factory workers, business owners, teachers and doctors – among first to volunteer for service.

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5 minutes

Chemical weapons outlawed by international treaties before WWI.

Germany decides to test chlorine gas on Ypres salient on April 22 –160 tonnes released from thousands of canisters.

Heaviest part of gas cloud hits Algerians, burning throats and causing lungs to fill with foam and mucus – drowning soldiers in their own fluids.

Suffocating Algerians break from the lines – leaving six-kilometre hole on Canadians’ left flank.

German forces move from behind gas cloud toward now-empty trenches as Canadian and British battalions – including gassed soldiers – move to plug hole.

After hours of desperate fighting, enemystopped from encircling First Canadian Division inside salient and marching on Ypres.

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Canadian and British launch counterattacks and fight series of chaotic engagements – holding lines outside Ypres.

Second gas attack on April 24 hits Canadians head-on –none of the troops have gas masks.

Some flee, many seek refuge by lying face-down in crevices of trenches, where gas found and killed them.

Others survive by holding urine-soaked cloths and handkerchiefs over mouths and noses.

Attack opens up serious gaps in Canadian lines, forcing retreat of several battalions.

Overall, however, battered First Division holds ground until fresh French and British troops can be brought in.

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“[The gas] came up and went over the trenches and it stayed, not as high as a person, all the way across. Two fellows, one on my right and one on my left, dropped. And eventually they got them to hospital, but they both died […] as soon as I saw that gas coming, I tied a handkerchief over my nose and mouth. That saved my life.”

~ Lester Stevens, a member of the Eighth Battalion from Winnipeg.

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After four days of intense fighting, Canadians mostly relieved on April 25. Battle continues for another month, fought largely by British

units and battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Control of salient re-established. For holding the line amid the gas attacks of the first critical four

days of the battle, Canadians praised for courage and tenacity –a reputation that grows as the war continues. Price is high – British forces lose 59,000 men – dead, wounded

or captured – In the month-long battle. Over 6,500 casualties Canadian, including more than 2,000

dead.

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“I do not know how I came to be alive today. It is more than I can explain.”

~ Private Albert Roscoe of Ontario, in a letter home to his mother

weeks after the battle.

Also among those deeply affected by the horror of the fighting was John McCrae, a Canadian Army Medical Corps officer, who wrote a famous poem in May 1915 just north of Ypres, in the midst of the battle …