![]() ![]() ![]() 8 “the black day.” The Germans had launched huge attacks against the Allies between March and June, but now, after Amiens, there was no longer hope of resuming the offensive. Erich Ludendorff, the Germans’ chief strategist, called Aug. Open warfare did not mean fewer casualties-fighting in the face of machine guns inevitably took a heavy toll-but at least there were genuine gains. The hard slogging for small patches of shell-torn ground won at a very high cost had been replaced by rapid advances and combined arms warfare-infantry, artillery, armour, engineers rapidly bridging streams, good communications and the Royal Air Force overhead strafing enemy positions. RELATED: The forgotten Chinese labourers of the First World Warįor the Allied soldiers who had fought the war in the trenches, open warfare really must have seemed like a dream. Open country with no trenches or barbed wire, and no artillery fire cavalry dashing all over the place rounding up the parties of Hun and armoured cars rushing about.” Ian Sinclair of the 13th Battalion wrote that his unit cleared a wood but then faced heavy fire from a trench where “a large party of Huns held out, using rifle grenades and bombs effectively.” Two Canadian mortars “assisted in quickly reducing the garrison, who put up white flags.” By noon, John Scratcherd, a young artillery officer said, “it had developed into the kind of war that I have always dreamt about. The Germans, stunned by the artillery barrage and the tanks, initially offered little resistance as the infantry advanced. Without the tanks, I’m afraid it would have been a hopeless task.” Ken Foster of the 2nd Battalion said, “the tanks soon put them out of action, provided of course, that an anti-tank shell did not get them first. Scott wrote, played a critical role, shooting up German machine-gun posts. The tanks, “creeping down the slope like huge great beetles,” as Padre F.G. READ MORE: The lifespan of a Canadian First World War pilot was ten weeksįlanked by Australian and French formations, the Canadians went into action in the early morning, the infantry, accompanied by tanks, following the heavy artillery barrage closely, keeping pace as the gunfire moved ahead in one-kilometre increments. The staff officers planning the Amiens attack had to draft their orders in a hurry. ![]() Soldiers were ordered, “Keep your mouth shut!” Disinformation tactics were aimed to persuade the Germans that the Canadians would attack on the Arras front. From their positions near Arras, 65 km to the north, the 100,000 Canadians and all their equipment, trucks, guns, horses, food and ammunition had to be moved quietly at night by road, rail and on foot. Getting the Corps to Amiens had to be accomplished in secret, and this was no simple task. The Canadians had established a record as “shock troops” at Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and Passchendaele and, whenever the Germans knew Currie was going to attack, they prepared for the worst. The attack at Amiens, France, set the Allies on the road to victory, and the Canadian Corps, led by Lt.-Gen. It was the first of Canada’s Hundred Days that ended the Great War. at 800 yards and in three hours, the enemy was out of our range (6,500 yards).” I never heard anything like it in my life … We fired our first shot at 4:20 a.m. “Every gun shot together,” wrote Gunner Bertie Cox, “and the thing was off. Granatstein to tell the story of Canada’s renowned final push to the end of the war, known as the Hundred Days. In commemoration of its 100th anniversary, Maclean’s asked renowned historian J.L. ![]()
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