[Illustration: ON VIMY RIDGE, WHERE CANADA WON LAURELS
The Canadians took the important position of Vimy Ridge on Easter
Monday, April 9, 1917. They advanced with brilliance, having taken the
whole system of German front-line trenches between dawn and 6.30 A. M.
This shows squads of machine gunners operating from shell-craters in
support of the infantry on the plateau above the ridge.]
COMPLETE EDITION
HISTORY OF THE
WORLD WAR
An Authentic Narrative of
The World’s Greatest War
BY FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.
In Collaboration with
RICHARD J. BEAMISH
Special War Correspondent
and Military Analyst
With an Introduction
BY GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
With Exclusive Photographs by
JAMES H. HARE and DONALD THOMPSON
World-Famed War Photographers
and with Reproductions from the Official Photographs
of the United States, Canadian, British,
French and Italian Governments
MCMXIX
LESLIE-JUDGE COMPANY
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1918
FRANCIS A. MARCH
This history is an original work and is fully protected by the
copyright laws, including the right of translation. All persons are
warned against reproducing the text in whole or in part without the
permission of the publishers.
CONTENTS
VOLUME IV
PAGE
CHAPTER I. CANADA’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR
BY COL. GEORGE G. NASMITH, C. M. G.
Enthusiastic Response to the Call to Action--Valcartier
Camp a Splendid Example of the Driving Power of Sir Sam
Hughes--Thirty-three Liners Cross the Atlantic with First
Contingent of Men and Equipments--Largest Convoy
Ever Gathered Together--At the Front with the Princess
Pat’s--Red Cross--Financial Aid--Half a Million Soldiers
Overseas--Mons, the Last Stronghold of the Enemy, Won
by the Men from Canada--A Record of Glory 1
CHAPTER II. THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES
The Canadians in Action--Undismayed by the New Weapon of the
Enemy--Holding the Line Against Terrific Odds--Men From the
Dominion Fight Like Veterans 34
CHAPTER III. MURDERS AND MARTYRS
The Case of Edith Cavell--Nurse Who Befriended the Helpless
Dies at the Hands of the Germans--Captain Fryatt’s
Martyrdom--How Germany Sowed the Seeds of Disaster 45
CHAPTER IV. ZEPPELIN RAIDS ON FRANCE AND ENGLAND
First Zeppelin Attack Kills Twenty-eight and Injures
Forty-four--Part of Germany’s Policy of Frightfulness--Raids
by German Airplanes on Unfortified Towns--Killing of
Non-Combatants--The British Lion Awakes--Anti-Aircraft
Precautions and Protections--Policy of Terrorism Fails 53
CHAPTER V. RED REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA
Rasputin, the Mystic--The Cry for Bread--Rise of the Council
of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates--Rioting in Petrograd--The
Threatening Cloud of Disaster--Moderate Policy of the Duma
Fails--The Fatal Easter Week of 1917--Abdication of the
Czar--Last Tragic Moments of the Autocrat of All the
Russias--Grand Duke Issues Declaration Ending Power of Romanovs
in Russia--Release of Siberian Revolutionists--Free Russia 66
CHAPTER VI. THE DESCENT TO BOLSHEVISM
Russia Intoxicated with Freedom--Elihu Root and his
Mission--Last Brilliant Offensive in Galicia--The Great
Mutiny in the Army--The Battalion of Death--Kerensky’s
Skyrocket Career--Kornilov’s Revolt--Loss of Riga--Lenine,
the Dictator--The Impossible “Peace” of Brest-Litovsk 94
CHAPTER VII. GERMANY’S OBJECT LESSON TO THE UNITED STATES
Two Voyages of the Deutschland--U-53 German Submarine Reaches
Newport and Sinks Five British and Neutral Steamers off
Nantucket--Rescue of Survivors by United States
Warships--Anti-German Feeling in America Reaching a Climax 130
CHAPTER VIII. AMERICA TRANSFORMED BY WAR
The United States Enters the Conflict--The Efficiency of
Democracy--Six Months in an American Training Camp Equal to
Six Years of German Compulsory Service--American Soldiers and
their Resourcefulness on the Battlefield--Methods of Training
and their Results--The S. A. T. C. 142
CHAPTER IX. HOW FOOD WON THE WAR
The American Farmer a Potent Factor in Civilization’s
Victory--Scientific Studies of Food Production, Distribution
and Consumption--Hoover Lays Down the Law Regulating
Wholesalers and Grocers--Getting the Food Across--Feeding
Armies in the Field 167
CHAPTER X. THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN THE WAR
Increase from 58,000 Men to Approximately 500,000--Destroyer
Fleet Arrives in British Waters--“We are Ready Now”--The Hunt
of the U-Boats--Gunnery that is Unrivalled--Depth Charges and
Other New Inventions--The U-Boat Menace Removed--Surrender of
German Under-Sea Navy 178
CHAPTER XI. CHINA JOINS THE FIGHTING DEMOCRACIES
How the Germans Behaved in China Seventeen Years Before--The
Whirligig of Time Brings Its Own Revenge--The Far Eastern
Republic Joins Hands with the Allies--German Propaganda at
Work--Futile Attempt to Restore the Monarchy--Fear of
Japan--War--Thousands of Chinese Toil Behind the Battle Lines
in France--Siam with Its Eight Millions Defies the Germans--End
of Teuton Influence in the Orient 205
CHAPTER XII. THE DEFEAT AND RECOVERY OF ITALY
Subtle Socialist Gospel Preached by Enemy Plays Havoc with
Guileless Italians--Sudden Onslaught of Germans Drives Cadorna’s
Men from Heights--The Spectacular Retreat that Dismayed the
World--Glorious Stand of the Italians on the Piave--Rise of Diaz 214
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME IV
PAGE
ON VIMY RIDGE, WHERE CANADA WON LAURELS _Frontispiece_
FIELD-MARSHAL EARL KITCHENER 2
FIELD-MARSHAL SIR JOHN D. FRENCH 2
THE GALLANT DEFENSE OF “HILL 60” 14
“TIME’S UP! OVER YOU GO” 22
FORWARD WITH THE TANKS AGAINST BAPAUME 26
THE RED RUINS OF YPRES 34
A FIGHT IN A CLOUD OF GAS 42
NURSE EDITH CAVELL 46
CAPTAIN CHARLES A. FRYATT 46
GUARDING PARIS FROM THE HUN 58
THE WOMEN’S “BATTALION OF DEATH” IN NATIONAL DANCE 82
LANDING AT VLADIVOSTOK 94
THE CARGO SUBMARINE “DEUTSCHLAND” 130
A “SMOKE CURTAIN” VIEWED FROM BEHIND THE SCENES 182
“HAIL COLUMBIA” 186
THREE MESSENGERS OF DESTRUCTION FOR TRIESTE 214
THE WORLD WAR
CHAPTER I
CANADA’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR
BY COL. GEO. G. NASMITH, C. M. G., TORONTO
When, in August, 1914, war burst suddenly upon a peaceful world like
distant thunder in a cloudless summer sky, Canada, like the rest of the
British Empire, was profoundly startled. She had been a peace-loving,
non-military nation, satisfied to develop her great natural resources,
and live in harmony with her neighbors; taking little interest in
European affairs, Canadians, in fact, were a typical colonial people,
with little knowledge even of the strength of the ties that linked them
to the British Empire.
Upon declaration of war by Great Britain Canada immediately sprang to
arms. The love of country and empire which had been no obvious thing
burst forth in a patriotic fervor as deep as it was spontaneous and
genuine. The call to action was answered with an enthusiasm the like of
which had rarely, if ever, been seen in any British colony.
The Canadian Government called for 20,000 volunteers--enough for a
single division--as Canada’s contribution to the British army. In less
than a month 40,000 men had volunteered, and the Minister of Militia
was compelled to stop the further enrolment of recruits. From the gold
fields of the Yukon, from the slopes of the Rockies on the west to the
surf-beaten shores of the Atlantic on the east; from workshop and mine;
from farm, office and forest, Canada’s sons trooped to the colors.
It will be the everlasting glory of the men of the first Canadian
contingent, that they needed no spur, either of victory or defeat: they
volunteered because they were quick to perceive that the existence of
their Empire was threatened by the action of the most formidable
nation-in-arms that the world had ever seen. They had been stirred by
the deepest emotion of a race--the love of country.
[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL EARL KITCHENER
British Secretary for War, who built up the British army at the
beginning of the war.]
[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL SIR JOHN D. FRENCH
Commander-in-chief of the British forces in France and Belgium from
the beginning of the war to December, 1915.]
A site for a concentration camp was chosen at Valcartier, nestling
among the blue Laurentian hills, sixteen miles from Quebec, and
convenient to that point of embarkation. Within four days 6,000 men
had arrived at Valcartier; in another week there were 25,000 men. From
centers all over Canada troop trains, each carrying hundreds of embryo
soldiers, sped towards Valcartier and deposited their burdens on the
miles of sidings that had sprung up as though by magic.
The rapid evolution of that wild and wooded river valley into a model
military camp was a great tribute to the engineering skill and energy
of civilians who had never done the like before. One day an army of
woodmen were seen felling trees; the next day the stumps were torn out
and the hollows filled; on the third day long rows of tents in regular
camp formation covered the ground, and on the fourth day they were
occupied by civilian soldiers concentrated upon learning the rudiments
of the art and science of war.
Streets were laid out; miles of water pipes, sunk in machine-made
ditches, were connected to hundreds of taps and shower baths; electric
light was installed; three miles of rifle butts completed, and in two
weeks the camp was practically finished--the finest camp that the first
Canadians were destined to see. The building of Valcartier camp was
characteristic of the driving power, vision and genius of the Minister
of Militia, General Sir Sam Hughes.
Of the 33,000 men assembled at Valcartier, the great majority were
civilians without any previous training in warfare. About 7,000
Canadians had taken part in the South African war, fifteen years
before, and some of these, together with a few ex-regulars who had
seen active service, were formed into the Princess Patricia’s Light
Infantry. Otherwise, with the exception of the 3,000 regulars that
formed the standing army of Canada, the men and most of the officers
were amateurs.
It was therefore a feat that the Canadian people could well afford
to be proud of, that in the great crisis they were able, through
their aggressive Minister of Militia, not only to gather up these
forces so quickly but that they willingly and without delay converted
their industries to the manufacture of all necessary army equipment.
Factories all over the country immediately began turning out vast
quantities of khaki cloth, uniforms, boots, ammunition, harness,
wagons, and the thousand and one articles necessary for an army.
Before the end of September, 1914, the Canadian Expeditionary Force
had been roughly hewn into shape, battalions had been regrouped and
remodeled, officers transferred and re-transferred, intensive training
carried on, and all the necessary equipment assembled. On October 8,
1914, thirty-three Atlantic liners, carrying the contingent of 33,000
men, comprising infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers, signalers,
medical corps, army service supply and ammunition columns, together
with horses, guns, ammunition, wagons, motor lorries and other
essentials, sailed from Gaspé basin on the Quebec seaboard to the
battlefield of Europe.
It was probably the largest convoy that had ever been gathered
together. This modern armada in three long lines, each line one and
one-half miles apart, led by cruisers and with battleships on the
front, rear and either flank, presented a thrilling spectacle. The
voyage proved uneventful, and on October 14th, the convoy steamed into
Plymouth, receiving an extraordinary ovation by the sober English
people, who seemed temporarily to have gone wild with enthusiasm. Back
of that demonstration was the conviction that blood had proved thicker
than water and that the apparently flimsy ties that bound the colonies
to the empire were bonds that were unbreakable. The German conviction
that the British colonies would fall away and the British Empire
disintegrate upon the outbreak of a great war had proved fallacious.
It was, moreover, a great demonstration of how the much-vaunted German
navy had already been swept from the seas and rendered impotent by the
might of Britain’s fleet.
A few days later the Canadians had settled down on Salisbury Plain in
southern England for the further course of training necessary before
proceeding to France. There, for nearly four months in the cold and
the wet, in the fog and mud, in crowded, dripping tents and under
constantly dripping skies, they carried on and early gave evidence of
their powers of endurance and unquenchable spirit.
Lord Roberts made his last public appearance before this division and
addressing the men said in part: “Three months ago we found ourselves
involved in this war--a war not of our own seeking, but one which those
who have studied Germany’s literature and Germany’s aspirations, knew
was a war which we should inevitably have to deal with sooner or later.
The prompt resolve of Canada to give us such valuable assistance has
touched us deeply....
“We are fighting a nation which looks upon the British Empire as a
barrier to her development, and has in consequence, long contemplated
our overthrow and humiliation. To attain that end she has manufactured
a magnificent fighting machine, and is straining every nerve to gain
victory.... It is only by the most determined efforts that we can
defeat her.”
And this superb German military organization, created by years of
tireless effort, was that which Canadian civilians had volunteered to
fight. Was it any wonder that some of the most able leaders doubted
whether men and officers, no matter how brave and intelligent, could
ever equal the inspired barbarians who, even at that very moment, were
battling with the finest British and French regulars and pressing them
steadily towards Paris?
In a short chapter of this kind attempting to deal with Canada’s part
in the Great War it is obviously impossible to go into detail or give
more than the briefest of historical pictures. Consequently much that
is fascinating can be given but a passing glance: for greater detail
larger works must be consulted. Nevertheless it is well to try and view
in perspective events as they occurred, in order to obtain some idea of
their relative importance.
In February, 1915, the first Canadian division crossed the Channel to
France, and began to obtain front-line experiences in a section of the
line just north of Neuve Chapelle.
While the first division had been going through its course of training
in England a second division had been raised in Canada and arrived in
England shortly after the first left it.
During that period the conflict in Europe had passed through certain
preliminary phases--most of them fortunate for the Allies. The
unexpected holding up of the German armies by the Belgians had
prevented the enemy from gaining the channel ports of Calais and
Boulogne in the first rush. Later on the battle of the Marne had
resulted in the rolling back of the German waves until they had
subsided on a line roughly drawn through Dixmude, Ypres, Armentières,
La Bassée, Lens, and southward to the French border and the trench
phase of warfare had begun.
The British held the section of front between Ypres and La Bassée,
about thirty miles in length, the Germans, unfortunately, occupying all
the higher grounds.
Shortly after the arrival of the Canadian division the British,
concentrating the largest number of guns that had hitherto been
gathered together on the French front, made an attack on the Germans
at Neuve Chapelle. This attack, only partially successful in gains of
terrain, served to teach both belligerents several lessons. It showed
the British the need for huge quantities of high explosives with which
to blast away wire and trenches and, that in an attack, rifle fire, no
matter how accurate, was no match for an unlimited number of machine
guns.
It showed the enemy what could be done with concentrated artillery
fire--a lesson that he availed himself of with deadly effect a few
weeks later.
Though Canadian artillery took part in that bombardment the infantry
was not engaged in the battle of Neuve Chapelle; it received its
baptism of fire, however, under excellent conditions, and after a
month’s experience in trench warfare was taken out of the line for rest.
The division was at that time under the command of a British general
and the staff included several highly trained British staff officers.
Nevertheless the commands were practically all in the hands of
Canadians--lawyers, business men, real-estate agents, newspapermen and
other amateur soldiers, who, in civilian life as militiamen, had spent
more or less time in the study of the theory of warfare. This should
always be kept in mind in view of subsequent events, as well as the
fact that these amateur soldiers were faced by armies whose officers
and men--professionals in the art and science of warfare--regarded
themselves as invincible.
In mid-April the Canadians took over a sector some five thousand yards
long in the Ypres salient. On the left they joined up with French
colonial troops, and on their right with the British. Thus there were
Canadian and French colonial troops side by side.
Toward the end of April the Germans reverted to supreme barbarism and
used poison gas. Undismayed, though suffering terrible losses, the
heroic Canadians fought the second battle of Ypres and held the line in
the face of the most terrific assaults.
When the news of the second battle of Ypres reached Canada her
people were profoundly stirred. The blight of war had at last fallen
heavily, destroyed her first-born, but sorrow was mixed with pride
and exaltation that Canadian men had proved a match for the most
scientifically trained troops in Europe. As fighters Canadians had at
once leaped into front rank. British, Scotch and Irish blood, with
British traditions, had proved greater forces than the scientific
training and philosophic principles of the Huns. It was a glorious
illustration of the axiom “right is greater than might,” which the
German had in his pride reversed to read “might is right.” It was
prophetic of what the final issue of a contest based on such divergent
principles was to be. So in those days Canadian men and women held
their heads higher and carried on their war work with increased
determination, stimulated by the knowledge that they were contending
with an enemy more remorseless and implacable than those terrible
creatures which used to come to them in their childish dreams. It
was felt that, a nation which could scientifically and in cold blood
resort to poison gases--contrary to all accepted agreements of
civilized countries--to gain its object must be fought with all the
determination, resources and skill which it was possible to employ.
Canada’s heart had been steeled. She was now in the war with her last
dollar and her last man if need be. She had begun to realize that
failure in Europe would simply transfer the struggle with the German
fighting hordes to our Atlantic provinces and the eastern American
states.
The famous Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was originally
composed of soldiers who had actually seen service and were therefore
veterans. Incidentally they were older men and most of them were
married but the call of the Empire was insistent.
In the winter of 1914-15 the British line in Flanders was very thin and
the P. P. C. L. I.’s being a trained regiment was sent over to France
several weeks before the first Canadian division. It soon earned the
name of a regiment of extraordinarily hard-fighting qualities and was
all but wiped out before spring arrived. The immortal story of this
gallant unit must be read in detail if one wishes to obtain any clear
conception of their deeds of valor--of what it is possible for man to
go through and live. However, it was but one regiment whose exploits
were later equalled by other Canadian regiments and it would therefore
be invidious to select any one for special praise. After operating as a
separate regiment for nearly two years and having been recruited from
the regular Canadian depots in England, it became in composition like
other Canadian regiments and was finally incorporated in the third
Canadian division.
[Illustration: THE GALLANT DEFENSE OF “HILL 60”
Cut off from their supports, a handful of defenders under a lieutenant
made a gallant defense of this important position. “Hill 60” will ever
be famous for the heroic deeds of Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry
in 1915.]
In the spring of 1915, a Canadian cavalry brigade was formed in France
made up of Strathcona’s Horse, King Edward’s Horse, the Royal Canadian
Dragoons and Canadian Mounted Rifles.
After the second battle of Ypres, the Canadians after resting and
re-organization, were moved to a section of the line near La Bassée.
Here they fought the battle of Festubert--a series of infantry attacks
and artillery bombardments, which gained little ground.
Shortly afterwards they fought the battle of Givenchy, equally futile,
as far as material results were concerned. Both of these battles had
the double object of feeling out the strength of the German line and
of obtaining the Aubers Ridge, should the attacks prove successful.
In both battles the Canadians showed great aptitude for attack, and
tenacity in their hold of captured trenches. They also learned the
difficult lesson that if an objective is passed by the infantry
the latter enter the zone of their own artillery fire and suffer
accordingly.
In September, 1915, the Second Canadian Division arrived in Flanders
and took its place at the side of the First Canadian Division, then
occupying the Ploegsteert section in front of the Messines-Wytschaete
Ridge. The rest of the winter was spent more or less quietly by both
divisions in the usual trench warfare, and battling with mud, water and
weather.
It was here that the Canadians evolved the “trench raid,” a method of
cutting off a section of enemy trench, killing or taking prisoners all
the enemy inhabitants, destroying it and returning with little or no
loss to the attacking party. This method was quickly copied from one
end of the Franco-British line to the other; it proved a most valuable
method of gaining information, and served to keep the troops, during
the long cold winter months, stimulated and keen when otherwise life
would have proved most dull and uninteresting.
The Third Canadian Division was formed in January and February, 1916.
One infantry brigade was composed of regiments which had been acting
as Canadian corps troops, including the Princess Patricia’s Canadian
Light Infantry, and the Royal Canadian Regiment. The second infantry
brigade was made up of six Canadian mounted rifle regiments, which
had comprised part of the cavalry brigade. These two brigades, of the
Third Division, under the command of General Mercer of Toronto, almost
immediately began front-line work.
During this period, the Germans, making desperate efforts extending
over weeks of time, did their utmost to break through the French line
at Verdun and exhaust the French reserves. To offset these objects, a
fourth British army was assembled, which took over still more of the
French line, while a series of British attacks, intended to pin down
the German reserves all along the line, was inaugurated. One of these
developed into a fight for the craters--a terrible struggle at St.
Eloi, where, blasted from their muddy ditches, with rifles and machine
guns choked with mud and water; with communications lost and lack
of artillery support, the men of the Second Canadian Division fought
gamely from April 6th to April 20th, but were forced to yield the
craters and part of their front-line system to the enemy.
Notwithstanding this the men of the Second Canadian Division at St.
Eloi fought quite as nobly as had their brothers of the First Division
just a year before, at the glorious battle of Ypres, a few miles
farther north. But it was a bitter experience. The lesson of failure is
as necessary in the education of a nation as that of success.
On June 2d and 3d, the Third Canadian Division, which then occupied
part of the line in the Ypres salient, including Hooge and Sanctuary
Wood, was smothered by an artillery bombardment unprecedented in length
and intensity. Trenches melted into irregular heaps of splintered wood,
broken sand bags and mangled bodies. Fighting gallantly the men of this
division fell in large numbers, where they stood. The best infantry
in the world is powerless against avalanches of shells projected
from greatly superior numbers of guns. The Canadian trenches were
obliterated, not captured.
By this time Britain had thoroughly learned her lesson, and now
countless shells and guns were pouring into France from Great Britain
where thousands of factories, new and old, toiled night and day, under
the inspiring energy of Mr. Lloyd George.
On June 13th, in a terrific counter-attack, the Canadians in turn
blasted the Huns from the trenches taken from them a few days before.
The First Canadian Division recaptured and consolidated all the ground
and trench systems that had been lost. Thus ended the second year of
Canadian military operations in the Ypres salient. Each of the three
Canadian divisions had been tried by fire in that terrible region, from
which, it was said, no man ever returned the same as he entered it.
Beneath its torn and rifted surface, thousands of Canadians lie, mute
testimony to the fact that love of liberty is still one of the most
powerful, yet most intangible, things that man is swayed by.
A very distinguished French general, speaking of the part that Canada
was playing in the war, said, “Nothing in the history of the world
has ever been known quite like it. My countrymen are fighting within
fifty miles of Paris, to push back and chastise a vile and leprous
race, which has violated the chastity of beautiful France, but the
Australians at the Dardanelles and the Canadians at Ypres, fought with
supreme and absolute devotion for what to many must have seemed simple
abstractions, and that nation which will support for an abstraction the
horror of this war of all wars will ever hold the highest place in the
records of human valor.”
The Fourth Canadian Division reached the Ypres region in August, 1916,
just as the other three Canadian divisions were leaving for the Somme
battlefield farther south. For a while it occupied part of the line
near Kemmel, but soon followed the other divisions to the Somme, there
to complete the Canadian corps.
It may be stated here that though a fifth Canadian division was
formed and thoroughly trained in England, it never reached France.
Canada until the passing of the Military Service Act on July 6, 1917,
depended solely on voluntary enlistment. Up to that time Canada, with
a population of less than 9,000,000 had recruited 525,000 men by
voluntary methods. Of this number 356,986 had actually gone overseas.
Voluntary methods at last, however, failed to supply drafts in
sufficient numbers to keep up the strength of the depleted reserves
in England, and in consequence conscription was decided upon. By this
means, 56,000 men were drafted in Canada before the war ended. In
the meantime, through heavy fighting the demand for drafts became so
insistent that the Fifth Canadian Division in England had to be broken
up to reinforce the exhausted fighting divisions in France.
It would be an incomplete summary of Canada’s part in the war that did
not mention some of the men who have been responsible for the success
of Canadian arms. It is obviously impossible to mention all of those
responsible; it is even harder to select a few. But looking backward
one sees two figures that stand forth from all the rest--General Sir
Sam Hughes in Canada, and General Sir Arthur Currie, commander of the
Canadian corps.
To General Sir Sam Hughes must be given the credit of having foreseen
war with Germany and making such preparations as were possible in a
democracy like Canada. He it was of all others who galvanized Canada
into action; he it was whose enthusiasm and driving power were so
contagious that they affected not only his subordinates but the country
at large.
[Illustration: _Official Canadian War Records._
“TIME’S UP! OVER YOU GO!”
The word comes from the officer, watch in hand, “Time’s up! Over you
go!” and instantly the men from the Dominion begin to climb out of the
trench. The picture shows the departure of the first of the three or
more lines or “waves” that moves forward over “No Man’s Land” against
the enemy trenches.]
Sir Sam Hughes will be remembered for the building of Valcartier camp
and the dispatch of the first Canadian contingent. But he did things of
just as great importance. It was he who sought and obtained for Canada
huge orders for munitions from Great Britain and thereby made it
possible for Canada to weather the financial depression, pay her own
war expenditures and emerge from the war in better financial shape than
she was when the war broke out. It was easy to build up a business once
established but the chief credit must go to the man who established it.
Sir Sam Hughes was also responsible for the selection of the officers
who went overseas with the first Canadian contingent. Among those
officers who subsequently became divisional commanders were General Sir
Arthur Currie, General Sir Richard Turner, General Sir David Watson,
Generals Lipsett, Mercer and Hughes.
Of those generals, Sir Arthur Currie through sheer ability ultimately
became commander of the Canadian corps. This big, quiet man, whose
consideration, prudence and brilliancy had won the absolute confidence
of Canadian officers and men alike, welded the Canadian corps into a
fighting force of incomparable effectiveness--a force which was set
the most difficult tasks and, as events proved, not in vain.
When Canada entered the war she had a permanent force of 8,000
men. When hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918, Canada had sent
overseas 418,980 soldiers. In addition to this about 15,000 men had
joined the British Royal Air Service, several hundred physicians and
veterinarians, as well as 200 nurses, had been supplied to the British
army, while many hundreds of university men had received commissions in
the imperial army and navy.
In September, October and November, 1916, the Canadian corps of four
divisions, which had been welded by General Byng and General Currie
into an exceedingly efficient fighting machine, took its part in the
battle of the Somme--a battle in which the British army assumed the
heaviest share of the fighting and casualties, and shifted the greatest
burden of the struggle from the shoulders of the French to their own.
The British army had grown vastly in power and efficiency and in
growing had taken over more and more of the line from the French.
The battle of the Somme was long and involved. The Franco-British
forces were everywhere victorious and by hard and continuous fighting
forced the Hun back to the famous Hindenburg line. It was in this
battle that the tanks, evolved by the British, were used for the
first time, and played a most important part in breaking down wire
entanglements and rounding up the machine-gun nests. The part played in
this battle by the Canadian corps was conspicuous, and it especially
distinguished itself by the capture of Courcelette. Although the
battles which the Canadian corps took part in subsequently were almost
invariably both successful and important, they can be merely mentioned
here. The Canadian corps, now known everywhere to consist of shock
troops second to none on the western front, was frequently used as the
spearhead with which to pierce particularly tough parts of the enemy
defenses.
On April 9th to 13th, 1917, the Canadian corps, with some British
support, captured Vimy Ridge, a point which had hitherto proved
invulnerable. When a year later, the Germans, north and south, swept
the British line to one side in gigantic thrusts they were unable to
disturb this key point, Vimy Ridge, which served as an anchor to the
sagging line. The Canadian corps was engaged at Arleux and Fresnoy
in April and May and was effective in the operations around Lens in
June. Again on August 15th, it was engaged at Hill 70 and fought
with conspicuous success in that toughest, most difficult, and most
heart-breaking of all battles--Passchendaele.
In 1918, the Canadian Cavalry Brigade won distinction in the German
offensive of March and April. On August 12, 1918, the Canadian corps
was engaged in the brilliantly successful battle of Amiens, which
completely upset the German offensive plan. On August 26th to 28th the
Canadians captured Monchy-le-Preux, and, in one of the hammer blows
which Foch rained on the German front, were given the most difficult
piece of the whole line to pierce--the Queant-Drocourt line. This
section of the famous Hindenburg line was considered by the enemy to be
absolutely impregnable, but was captured by the Canadians on September
3d and 4th. With this line outflanked a vast German retreat began,
which ended on November 11th with the signing of the armistice.
[Illustration:© _Western Newspaper Union._ _British Official Photo_
FORWARD WITH THE TANKS AGAINST BAPAUME
This picture gives an excellent idea of the method of combined tank
and infantry attack. Behind a low ridge among artillery positions they
are forming their line. A company falls in behind one of the waddling
monsters that will break a way for it through all obstacles, while on
both sides of the road other detachments await the arrival of the tank
they are to accompany.]
To the Canadians fell the honors of breaking through the first
Hindenburg line by the capture of Cambrai, on October 1st to 9th. They
also took Douai on October 19th, and Dena on October 20th. On October
26th to November 2d they had the signal honor of capturing Valenciennes
thereby being the first troops to break through the fourth and last
Hindenburg line.
It surely was a curious coincidence that Mons, from which the original
British army--the best trained, it is said, that has taken the field
since the time of Caesar--began its retreat in 1914, should have been
the town which Canadian civilians were destined to recapture. The war
began for the professional British army--the Contemptibles--when it
began its retreat from Mons in 1914; the war ended for the British army
at the very same town four years and three months later, when on the
day the armistice was signed the men from Canada re-entered it. Was it
coincidence, or was it fate?
During the war Canadian troops had sustained 211,000 casualties,
152,000 had been wounded and more than 50,000 had made the supreme
sacrifice. Put into different language this means that the number of
Canadians killed was just a little greater than the total number of
infantrymen in their corps of four divisions.
The extent of the work involved in the care of the wounded and sick
of the Canadians overseas may be gathered from the fact that Canada
equipped and sent across the Atlantic, 7 general hospitals, 10
stationary hospitals, 16 field ambulances, 3 sanitary sections, 4
casualty clearing stations and advanced and base depots of medical
stores: The personnel of these medical units consisted of 1,612
officers, 1,994 nursing sisters and 12,382 of other ranks, or a total
of about 16,000. This will give some conception of the importance of
the task involved in the caring for the sick and wounded of about
90,000 fighting troops, some 60,000 auxiliary troops behind the lines
and the reserve depots in England.
[Illustration: FROM THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS TO YPRES
Map showing the Northeastern frontiers of France, and neutral Belgium
through which the German armies poured in 1914. The battle line held
straight from Belfort to Verdun, with the exception of the St. Mihiel
salient. Above Verdun the line veered to the west, north of Rheims,
making a wide curve toward St. Quentin and Arras and bending back to
Ypres, held by the Canadians throughout the war.]
The work of the Canadian Red Cross Society included the building and
equipping of auxiliary hospitals to those of the Canadian Army Medical
Corps; providing of extra and emergency stores of all kinds, recreation
huts, ambulances and lorries, drugs, serums and surgical equipment
calculated to make hospitals more efficient; the looking after the
comfort of patients in hospitals providing recreation and entertainment
to the wounded, and dispatching regularly to every Canadian prisoner
parcels of food, as well as clothes, books and other necessaries: The
Canadian Red Cross expended on goods for prisoners in 1917 nearly
$600,000.
In all the Canadian Red Cross distributed since the beginning of the
war to November 23, 1918, $7,631,100.
The approximate total of voluntary contributions from Canada for war
purposes was over $90,000,000.
The following figures, quoted from tables issued by the Department of
Public Information at Ottawa, show the exports in certain Canadian
commodities, having a direct bearing on the war for the last three
fiscal years before the war (1912-13-14), and for the last fiscal year
(1918); and illustrates the increase, during this period, in the value
of these articles exported:
VALUES
Average for
1912-1913-1914 1918
Foodstuffs $143,133,374 $617,515,690
Clothing, metals, leather, etc. 45,822,717 215,873,357
------------ ------------
Total $188,956,091 $833,389,047
As practically all of the increase of food and other materials went
to Great Britain, France and Italy, the extent of Canada’s effort in
upholding the allied cause is clearly evident and was by no means a
small one.
The trade of Canada for 1914 was one billion dollars; for the fiscal
year of 1917-18 it was two and one-half billion dollars.
Approximately 60,000,000 shells were made in Canada during the war.
Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities a shell committee was formed
in Canada to really act as an agent for the British war office in
placing contracts. The first shells were shipped in December, 1914,
and by the end of May, 1915, approximately 400 establishments were
manufacturing shells in Canada. By November, 1915, orders had been
placed by the Imperial Government to the value of $300,000,000, and an
Imperial Munitions Board, replacing the shell committee, was formed,
directly responsible to the Imperial Ministry of Munitions.
During the war period Canada purchased from her bank savings
$1,669,381,000 of Canadian war loans.
Estimates of expenditures for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1919,
demonstrated the thoroughness with which Canada went to war. They
follow:
Expenditure Expenditure Total
in Canada. Overseas. Expenditures.
Pay of 110,000 troops in
Canada and 290,000 in
England and France. $50,187,500 $70,312,500 $120,500,000
Assigned pay, overseas
troops 54,000,000 ........ 54,000,000
Separation allowances 21,750,000 6,000,000 27,750,000
Rations, Canada, 50
cents per day; England,
38½ cents per day 20,075,000 21,000,000 41,075,000
Clothing and necessaries 19,080,000 ........ 19,080,000
Outfit allowances,
officers and nurses 1,000,000 700,000 1,700,000
Equipment including
harness, vehicles,
tents, blankets, but
not rifles, machine
guns, etc. 20,000,000 ........ 20,000,000
Ordnance services ........ 1,800,000 1,800,000
Medical services 5,000,000 ........ 5,000,000
Ammunition 5,000,000 ........ 5,000,000
Machine guns 2,000,000 ........ 2,000,000
Ocean transport 4,612,500 ........ 4,612,500
Railway transport 11,062,500 450,000 11,512,500
Forage 450,000 ........ 450,000
Veterinary service,
remounts ........ 3,000,000 3,000,000
Engineer works, housing 2,750,000 1,250,000 4,000,000
Civilian employees 2,920,000 750,000 3,670,000
Sundries, including
recruiting, censors,
customs dues, etc. 3,000,000 ........ 3,000,000
Overseas printing and
stationery ........ 300,000 300,000
General expenses overseas ........ 1,800,000 1,800,000
Maintenance of troops
in France as 9_s._ 4_d._
each per day ........ 115,000,000 115,000,000
------------ ------------ ------------
Total $217,887,500 $225,162,500 $443,050,000