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The Somme and Vimy Ridge

A Nation Born. The Somme and Vimy Ridge. In order to take pressure off the French at Verdun, the British planned an assault on the German lines in the Somme river valley. The attack was a disaster from the beginning The British lost 57,000 men the first day

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The Somme and Vimy Ridge

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  1. A Nation Born The Somme and Vimy Ridge

  2. In order to take pressure off the French at Verdun, the British planned an assault on the German lines in the Somme river valley. The attack was a disaster from the beginning The British lost 57,000 men the first day The one and only regiment from Newfoundland was sent in in the first hours and was completely destroyed Over 700 men were lost in a unit of 900 The Somme Offensive

  3. The Somme Offensive lasted for almost 5 month and in the end little was accomplished and 1.5 million men were lost This was the bloodiest battle in the war and the largest battle in human history Canadian soldiers, who had performed well at Ypres and other battles were called in to assist in the battle Although Canadians fought well, we lost 24,000 men Canadians at the somme

  4. 1917: The British and French try another massive attack The Canadians were given the job of taking a small sector called Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge was a cliff-like mountain and one of the strongest positions in the German lines Both the French and the British had failed in their attempts to take it Canadians sent to Vimy Ridge

  5. Currie was the commander of the 1st Canadian Division and planned the attack Currie witnessed the disaster at the Somme and realized that new ideas were needed in order to break through the trenches Sir Arthur Currie

  6. Currie issued maps to every soldier (first commander to do so) Huge models of the Ridge were built so that the soldiers could practice and learn all the important features of battlefield Finally, Currie used “The Creeping Barrage”; soldiers would walk at an exact pace and cannon fire would move forward slowly, acting like a rolling sheild The Battle Plan

  7. The Canadians took the Ridge in just a few hours This was the greatest victory of any army in the war so far, accomplished completely by Canadians Currie was Knighted and four Canadians won medals of Valour The Result

  8. Vimy Ridge was the first time all four Canadian divisions fought together as one army After this, Canadians became the “shock troops” of the British Army and were called in to do the toughest jobs and lead major assaults Most importantly, Canadians back home were amazed by the victory and a new national pride developed. We were no longer British subjects, we became proud Canadians Many say that Canada was truly born at Vimy A Nation Born

  9. Somme was the bloodiest battle of the war NFLD regiment was destroyed Sir Arthur Currie use new strategies to win at Vimy (maps, models, creeping barrage) Canadians felt pride in their country for the first time after Vimy Canada was born! Key Points

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