Canada's Role In The Second Battle Of Ypres

1935 Words8 Pages
Canadians in the Second Battle of Ypres Sean Chia Wei Hsiung Social Studies 11 2-4 Mr. Schroeder November 4th Canada was dragged into an irrelevant war by Britain after its declaration of independence in 1867 against Germany due to its unchanged foreign policy. Canada played an essential role for Great Britain in many battles in World War I (WWI). The most important battle was the second battle of Ypres. In order to support its mother country, Canada shipped large amount of soldiers and volunteers to Britain, and provided numerous weapons and ammunition, which resulted in the success of the second battle of Ypres. Canadian forces saw their first engagement of WWI as part at the second battle of Ypres, showing their valour in the battle of Gravenstafel, Kitchener’s Woods, and Saint Julien. In general, the Canadian forces in the second battle of Ypres took on a critical position in reinforcing the British and French army. They were also appointed to the front line to avoid unnecessary British and French casualties. Canadians’ job was to “supply artillery fire along their entire front and be ready to advance in the event of a breakthrough” (Cassar 73). Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) played a significant role in the battle of Gravenstafel. The 1st Canadian Division consisted of 30,000 amateur soldiers, who were badly trained in Valcartier Camp in Quebec and poorly equipped with Ross Rifle, Sam Hughes the minister of militia’s favourite weapon (Dancocks 5). On April 17th, 1915, the Canadian troops were sent to the salient of Ypres to reinforce the Allied Forces (Cassar 54). However, Canadians did not expect a new deadly weapon introduced by Germany. The first warfare and the first use of gas attack were shown in the battle of Gravenstafel. On April 22nd, Germany released 5730 cylinders of chlorine gas to French front line at 5A.M. (Granatstein & Morton
Open Document