Sentances and paragraphs in quotation marks and a number beside them will have a link going to the bibliography for the location of the quotes on the internet.
The Battle of Somme was planned in 1915, as a joint French/British offence. Its original intention was to drain German reserves and gain more territory for the Entent allies. Unfortunately though, with the attack not even commenced, German forces invaded Verdun. Even with the French forces drained by previous battles, the French decided to divert many of their forces away from the Somme attack plans, and decided that they would use them towards the protection of there prized city. This was detrimental for the predominantly French lead attack at Somme.
Threatened by the recent invasion, the French persuaded the attack of Somme to be bumped up to an earlier date to distract some of the German troops away from Verdun. What was thought to be a completely secret attack actually was common knowledge for any and everyone involved, including the enemy. Ignorant of the danger that they had put themselves into, the troops that were to be stationed to fight against the Germans at Somme wrote about the plans to attack frequently to family and loved ones. Luckily though with the battle being pushed up to an earlier date, Canada's allies were able to recover some surprise for the attack.
7:20am
The battle didn't go right on schedule. A mine was ignited to early. Although hitting its intended target, it alerted the Germans of the incoming attack.
Click here to see the picture of the explosion
The rest of the battle plans were followed through just as they had intended. "On July 1 in broad daylight one hundred thousand men climbed out of their trenches and advanced shoulder to shoulder in line, both behind the other, across the crater-torn waste of No Man's Land. Weighed down with sixty-six pounds of equipment each, they advanced slowly towards the waiting German guns. The result was slaughter - 57,500 British soldiers killed, wounded or missing in one day - the heaviest day's loss ever suffered by a British army."<1> The Newfoundland Regiment, part of the 29th British Division slaughtered. In less than half an hour, as they slowly ascended into No-mans land the only way they knew how, the Germans had perfect aim against their foes with their machine guns. Out of 801 men who went into the battle only sixty-eight unwounded men answered roll call the next day.
To read more about this famous Newfoundland Regiment please visit:
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/beaumont/somme2.htm
~ Late August 1916 - More Canadian boys help the good fight.
? "The "Byng Boys" moved from Flanders to the Somme where they took over a section of the front line directly in front of the village of Courcelette. They ran into heavy fighting in this supposedly "quiet" sector and suffered some 2,600 casualties before the full-scale offensive even got underway."<2>
~ September 15 Dawn - A glimmer of hope.
The Canadian Corps assaulted on a 2,200 yard area in front of the village of Courcelette. Creeping towards the enemy, behind the new tactic the creeping barrage, the infantry was aided by the new weapon of war, the armoured tank, which threw the enemy into complete confusion. The attack went well. By 8 am, the main objective, a defence bastion known as the Sugar Factory, was taken, and the Canadians pushed ahead to Courcelette. In the days after, victories became few and far between, because the enemy brought up reinforcements.
~ Late October 1916
In less than two months the Canadians had suffered nearly 20, 0000 casualties. During the remaining weeks of October the first three Canadian Battalions were gradually replaced with the 4th Canadian Division, which was fighting as part of the British II Corps. Withdrawn from the Somme, they would be transferred to the battlefields at Souchez and Vimmy Ridge.
~ November 1916
"When the newly arrived 4th Division took its place in the line it faced an unbelievable ordeal of knee deep mud and violent, murderous, enemy resistance. However, despite the almost impenetrable curtain of fire, on November 11 the Division captured Regina Trench - to find it reduced to a mere depression in the chalk. A week later in the final attack at the Somme the Canadians advanced to Desire Trench - a remarkable feat of courage and endurance. The 4th Division then rejoined the Corps opposite Vimmy Ridge.
There were no further advances that year." <3>
~ November 18th 1916 - Finally an end to the madness.
"The autumn rains slowly turned the battlefield into a bog and the offensive staggered to a halt. The line had been moved forward only six miles; the Allies had suffered 600,000 casualties, and 236,000 Germans were killed. To this day Germans refer to the Battle of the Somme as das Blutbad - the blood bath."<4>
In many of the websites that we found, Canadian roles were clamed as British. In the time of WW1 though, Canada was not as we know it today, and many of the War heroes that are known as Canadian, were in fact living in provinces that had not joined confederation (ex. Newfoundland)