Canada in World War I: Part 4 - The Somme

Moustaches did little to protect the soldiers, but nevertheless many
still grew them.

The Battle of the Somme embodies everything that was horrible about World War I. The purpose of the assault was little more than to push through the German ranks, breaking the trench war stalemate and thus relieving the French who were losing countless troops over in Verdun. Casualties built up incredibly fast throughout the campaign on both sides, pushing men to their limits in a bloody battle of endless shells and bullets. This sounds like regular WWI stuff here (as terrible as that sounds) but what makes the Somme unique is the grandness of the scope mixed with the ultimate futility of attacking just to wear down your opponent.

It had all the makings of a titanic battle before it even began. The Germans were well entrenched, having been there for two years and anticipating the attack well in advance. Their tunnel system was so vast it was more an underground city than a trench, and with the defensive advantage the Germans would hold on as long as they could to slaughter as many forces as possible. From the British perspective (it was a British and French assault coupled with those under British rule, Canada obviously included) they were planning to bomb the Germans out with sheer firepower and force of numbers. Up until that point it would be the largest British assault ever, and the numbers surely reflect that.

There was nothing necessarily wrong with the plan but it certainly lacked originality. To break the German defensive they would bomb it - but since it was well fortified and across a wide area, they had to compensate. The solution would be to bomb it harder. 1,732,873 shells (I'm a little confused how they had it counted to the shell) would bombard a nearly 25 kilometre length and 7 kilometre deep stretch. While it surely must have damaged the psyche of the German line as well as killing hundreds (perhaps thousands?), the bombing didn't have the desired effect. Barbed wire was still pretty well everywhere across the battlefield causing a delay in the assault. Typically a delay means that troops further back can be brought to the front to relieve those who had died in the shelling, and when the British troops charged a short time later it was nothing short of a catastrophe.

It's a good thing they have those bayonets as they'll
somehow find a use for them.

In what would prove to be the single highest total of losses for British troops in a day, 120,000 assaulted the far-from-weak German position. Barbed wire funneled troops into tight spaces for raking machine gun fire to cut them down quickly and effectively. The cost of only some slight gains was a stunning 38,000 wounded and 19,000 dead. That's in one day. To put that in perspective, Canada initially sent over 30,617 as their entire army. This was a monumental loss of life in exchange for such little damage on the other end.

A month later in September 1916 the Canadian forces linked up to begin the second major offensive in the Somme since the mess of the July 1st assault. Fortunately this time around their planning was a little stronger, introducing two new major changes to battlefield strategy; the creeping barrage and the tank. The former was created because the artillery and infantry rarely worked in conjunction with each other. The idea was to shoot just in front of the infantry, weakening the immediate space in front of them and then waiting to continue the barrage once they took the new territory. The guns would then clear out the next section after a short number of minutes so the Germans wouldn't have time to run up and meet them in the trenches after the last artillery shell landed (typically ninety metres every three minutes). The Canadians proved to be masters of this tactic. As for tanks, they weren't immediately very effective. Only fourty-nine were used in the Somme, seven of which were given to the Canadians. To make sure they held a place in the war and weren't just a massive heap of useless metal, they were used sparingly at first to gauge their effectiveness. Early on, they didn't help all that much either. The heat in the tanks rose to fourty degrees Celsius, exhaust built up in the interior, shells would destroy it, visibility was limited and mechanically they were fairly unreliable. However, when you see a giant, moving pile of high powered weaponry rolling towards you with seemingly no way to stop it there's a psychological element that comes into play. You know, if World War I wasn't yet terrifying enough.

Canada hired the best real estate agents to auction off the newly
taken land. "Craterview Road" was a tough sell.

When the second major assault commenced the Canadians were ordered to take the village of Courcelette. Calling it a village, however, was a flattering term; it was at this point in the war so completely destroyed by artillery shells one could hardly call it a village - not even a hamlet! There was little glory in this form of warfare; taking an already blown up village hardly seemed like a victory, and their orders in doing so were to take no prisoners until the objective was taken resulting in a number of callous executions. Nevertheless, the Canadians fought incredibly well through plenty of close-quarters bayonet battles. The Canadians then held their position against seventeen separate counter attacks, taking 7,230 casualties but securing their position in four days of defense. This assault was mostly a failure, but not from the Canadian perspective - they did their part. The German army listed the first and second Canadian divisions as two of the top eight in the entirety of the British Expeditionary Force.

How, by the way, were bayonets still used? At what point is it more effective to run up and stab someone rather than shoot them from a distance? This isn't a kung-fu movie where the weapons get kicked out of each everyone's hands and go flying across the room.

Anyways. The battle was far from over. Thiepval Ridge was next up on the list, a kilometre out of Courcelette. To soften it up the Canadians began a three-day artillery barrage. The battle raged back and forth, and quickly logistics became a serious issue for all sides. Humanity was getting a knack for technology, meaning they were exceptional at getting supplies, ammunition, shells and machines the thousands of kilometres from home to the front in a very timely manner. The problem was getting it that last couple of hundred metres from the back of the line up to the front, as it wasn't as easy as walking up and dropping it off on the doorstep. As a result the soldiers carried many of the supplies on their person, sometimes as much as sixty pounds worth. That's a shocking amount considering people were so tiny back then, the average soldier weighing in at a slim 120-140 pounds.

In addition to being a fierce fighting force at the Somme, the Canadians
still managed to look incredibly cool. I mean really. Look at those guys.

The next three days taking Thiepval Ridge were high in casualties on both sides. The Canadians continued their push, taking more ground as they went but lost 10,000 in that month at the Somme. The Germans lost 135,000. Sadly, their strongest trial lay ahead.

Named Regina Trench by the soldiers, presumably to give it a homey feel to a place of ceaseless bloodshed, their next target stretched three kilometres and was yet to budge in spite of previous assaults. Taking it would be a monumental task; located on the edge of a ridge, artillery had difficulty in hitting the target as it was easy to come up short or go beyond. Worse yet, the Germans had full strength divisions behind the lines as they had just shored up their reinforcements on the line. After bombing what they could, Canadians were able to take the trench but were unable to hold it. They took it again, but arrived at the same fate. On October 8th they tried again with casualties piling up. Finally, they decided they would fire as many shells as were needed until they found the sweet spot and hit the trench directly. The Germans began to be so worn down they no longer sent men to put up barbed wire. One defender describes it: "We hover more or less in danger of death, and have no longer any chance of getting out... May it all just come to an end: how, I don't care..."

On October 21st they take the trench after a great amount of artillery fire. By then there were hardly any defenses after having been bombed so hard it barely resembled a trench. After moving further and taking Desire Trench, it would be the end of the battle for the Canadian forces in the Somme. 24,000 casualties were Canadian, one of four in which were deaths. 84,000 Canadians fought. On November 19th the weather became so terrible the battle was called off in what seems like an unceremonious end to a battle that caused a shocking amount of death and destruction in what was essentially a battle of attrition. Over a million casualties occurred at the Somme Offensive.

Fortunately for Canada, they had learned a great number of lessons and the trial by fire of the Somme hardened them into an elite fighting force. Things get better from here on out.