Canada's Hundred Days

Canada's Hundred Days refers to the last 96 days of World War I, from August 8 to November 11 of 1918. It is called Canada's Hundred Days because the Canadians had been a major factor in causing the German retreat and eventual defeat. Though generally referred to as the 'Hundred Days' in the english-speaking world outside of Canada, the period is more frequently recognized in Belgium and France - particularly in the areas in which the Canadian fought - as "les cent jours du Canada" [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offensive_des_Cent-Jours] During this time, the Canadian Corps fought at Amiens, the Hindenburg Line, the Canal du Nord, Bourlon Wood, Denain, Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of the First World War.

Background

The German offensives on the Western Front beginning with Operation Michael in March 1918 had petered out by July. The Germans, recognising their untenable position, withdrew from the Marne towards the north. At this time, Ferdinand Foch ordered the Allies to return to the offensive, as the Americans were in France, increasing the morale of the Allies. The British Army had also been reinforced by large numbers of troops returning from battles in Palestine and Italy. In addition, they received large numbers of replacements previously held back in Britain by Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Foch agreed on a proposal by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to strike on the Somme, east of Amiens and southwest of the 1916 battlefield of the Battle of the Somme. The Somme was chosen as a suitable site for the offensive for several reasons. As in 1916, it marked the boundary between the BEF and the French armies, in this case defined by the Amiens-Roye road, allowing the two armies to cooperate. The Canadians were chosen to help spearhead the attack, along with the Australians.

Battles

Battle of Amiens

The Battle of Amiens opened on 8 August 1918, with an attack spearheaded by the Australian and Canadian divisions along with British and French forces on the flanks. These divisions also had more than 500 tanks, which helped to cut the numerous barbed wire defences employed by the Germans. Through careful preparations and modifying past practices like eliminating the preparatoy artillery bombardment which gave away the fact that an attack was imminent, the Allies were able to achieve complete surprise. As the Germans had also learned to suspect an attack when they found the Canadians were moved into a new sector of the front lines, part of the surprise of the involved the concealing and misrepresentation of the Canadians position in on front. False radio traffic was created to indicate the Canadians were in Calais and a small unit was posted in the Ypres sector and made their presence there overtly recognizable. The majority of the Canadian Corps was marched to Amiens in secret and was even kept out of the sight of fellow Allied units to maintain the secrecy of their movements.

The first day of the attack was the most successful in the entire War, as the Australian Corps and Canadian Corps, broke through the German lines, pushing 8 miles. The tanks were very successful in this battle, as they attacked German rear positions, creating panic and confusion. The subsequent collapse in German morale led Erich Ludendorff to dub it "the Black Day of the German Army".

The advance continued for three more days but without the spectacular results of 8 August, since the rapid advance outran the supporting artillery. The Allies had managed to gain 12 miles in total, but the Germans were pouring in reinforcements.cite web
url=http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/firstwar/canada/canada15
title=Canada's Hundred Days
publisher=Veterans Affairs Canada
date=2004-07-29
accessdate=2008-08-07] On 10 August, the Germans had been forced to pull out of the salient that they had managed to occupy during Operation Michael in March, back towards the Hindenburg Line. After this, the Amiens operation was halted, and the Canadians moved back to where they were previously to attack the Hindenburg Line, holding Fouquescourt, Maucourt, Chilly and Hallu. [cite book
author=Livesay John Frederick Bligh
title=Canada's Hundred Days: with the Canadian Corps from Amiens to Mons, Aug. 8—Nov. 11, 1918
year=1919
pages=57
publisher=Thomas Allen
place=Toronto
url=http://www.archive.org/details/canada100days00liveuoft ]

Breaking the Hindenburg Line

In Arras, the Canadians attacked eastward, smashing the outer defence lines near the powerful Drocourt-Quéant line (part of the Siegfried section of the Hindenburg line), along the Arras-Cambrai road. On 2 September 1918, the Canadian Corps, smashed the Drocourt-Queant line, and broke its main support position, taking 5622 casualties, which brought the total losses of the Arras-Cambrai operation up to 11,423 casualties. After this, the Germans retreated across the Canal du Nord, which was almost completely flooded.

of combat engineers was effective, as it allowed the soldiers to have some rest, instead of working every day that they were not attacking.

The Canadians then broke the Hindenburg line a second time, this time during the Battle of Cambrai, (which with the Australian/British break further south at the Battle of St. Quentins Canal) resulted in a collapse of the German morale.

This collapse forced the German High Command to accept that the war had to be ended. The evidence of failing German morale also convinced many Allied commanders and political leaders that the war could be ended in 1918. (Previously, all efforts had been concentrated on building up forces to mount a decisive attack in 1919.) As the war neared its end, the Canadian Corps pressed on towards Germany, strengthening its reputation as one of the most feared and respected military formations of the war.

Memorial

Over this period, the Canadian Corps' four over-strength Divisions of 100 000 men, defeated and/or put to flight 34 German Divisions, roughly one quarter of the German forces fighting on the Western Front. [ [http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-ADFA/uploads/approved/adt-ADFA20051104.150943/public/02chapter1.pdf Tim Cook, "Canadian Official Historians and the Writing of the World Wars", 2005, University of New South Wales] ] The Canadian divisions were over-strength because the British had changed the size of the battalions in the middle of the war due to the shortage of men, [ [http://www.cda-cdai.ca/pdf/ontrack11n1.pdf "On Track"] ] but the Canadians did not have to, as they implemented conscription. Along with the battles of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, Canada's Hundred Days cemented the reputation of the Canadian Corps as a tough and professional fighting force amongst its allies and foes. Today, three war memorials stand in commemoration of the actions of the Canadians along the route they took to Mons during the Hundred Days Offensive. The Battle of Amiens is commemorated by the le Quesnel Memorial, the battle at the Drocourt-Quéant Line is commemorated by the Dury Memorial, and the crossing of the Canal du Nord and the Battle of Bourlon Wood is paid tribute by the Bourlon Wood Memorial.

References

Further reading

*cite book
author=Orgill Douglas
title=Armoured onslaught: 8th August 1918
year=1972
location=New York
publisher=Ballantine Books
isbn=034502608X
*cite book
author=Dancocks Daniel George
pages=294
isbn=0888303106
title=Spearhead to Victory—Canada and the Great War
publisher=Hurtig Publishers
year=1987
*cite book
title=For King and Empire, The Canadians at Arras, August - September 1918
publisher=CEF Books
year=1997
author=Christie Norm M
isbn=1-896979-432
*cite book
title=For King and Empire, The Canadians at Cambrai and the Canal du Nord, August - September 1918
publisher=CEF Books
year=1997
author=Christie Norm M
isbn=1896979-165
*cite journal
url=http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj/documents/vol_08/iss_2/CAJ_vol8.2_10_e.pdf
author=Conrad John D
title=Canadian Corps logistics during the Last Hundred Days, August-November 1918
author=Geddes MGSE
journal=Canadian Army Journal
volume=8.2
pages=86-98
year=2005
*cite book
author=Stanley GFG
title=Canada's Soldiers. The Military History of an Unmilitary People
location=Toronto
publisher=Macmillan
year=1960

See also

*List of Canadian battles during World War I
*Canadian Corps
*Hundred Days Offensive
*Passchendaele
*Vimy Ridge
*Arthur Currie