Signals Battlefield Tour May 08

• Overview and Itinerary

• WW I Sites in Flanders

• WW II Sites Dieppe and Normandy

Ypres

Vimy

Arras

DieppeSommes

Paris

Normandy

Passchendaele

1916 was as a blood bath for the Allies. Germany’s objective of having France “bleed itself white” was almost fully realized as 800,000 French casualties were counted at Verdun. To relieve the pressure, Field Marshall Haig had planned a British attack for July 1, 1916 along the Somme River.

Beaumont Hamel

Courcelette

The Somme, 1 July 1916

Albert

1 July

Nov

15 Sep

In six months of the Somme offensive the allies gained a mere 10 kms at a cost of 620,000 dead and wounded.

Canadians in two months on the Somme had taken 24,029 dead and wounded.

The Somme, 1915-16

Courcelette

Beaumont Hamel

Albert

ThiepvalBritish Memorial

Jack Thomson'sFather-in-Law Artillery Observer

5 Sep 1916:•Cdn 2nd Div attack at Courcelette. For the first time, supported by seven tanks and a rolling barrage•1st Div, replaced Australian & NZ regiments, attacked at Pozieres Ridge•3rd Division moved against the strongly defended Fabeck Trench• Regina trench was attacked for two months before the 4th Div was brought into action and it fell on Nov 11, 1916.

Regina Trench

Courcelette Cemetery War Stone, 1989

Of the nearly 2000 graves in this cemetery 783 are Canadian. They were killed in the 1916 Battles of the Somme that had been renewed in October. The Canadian objective was the Regina Trench.

Canadian Monument at Courcelette

Beaumont Hamel 1 July 1916

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment

Beaumont Hamel Park opened June 7, 1925, south of Arras

On July 1, 1916, British forces began the bloodiest day of their history; the objective of the day was to smash through

the German lines located in the Somme. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (as part of the British Army) was

assigned Beaumont-Hamel. It was their first battle in France, since they saw action in Gallipoli. Soon after the

attack began it was clear that the German machine guns

were not silenced and the barbed wire had not been destroyed.

Of the 801 Newfoundlanders who left their trenches on July 1, 1916 only 69 returned to answer the roll-call.

Ypres

Vimy

Arras

DieppeSommes

Paris

Normandy

Passchendaele

Vimy

Tunnel

New Zealand Quarrying Company, tunnelled 7 km to join up medieval chalk mines to form a 24 km network of tunnels that extended east of Arras and underneath no-man’s-land

Wellington QuarryTunnel EntranceArras

The tunnels provided a subterranean pathway towards the front lineand the facility to house up to 24 000 soldiers in safety.

Vimy Ridge

The high price of success paid on the Somme at Courcelette and Regina Trench would prove its worth the following spring at Vimy Ridge.

On 9 Apr 1917 the Canadian Corps attacked the German stronghold position at Vimy Ridge, 10 km north of Arras and south of the mines and factories of Lens and Lille. The Canadian Corps, with the Canadian 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divs united for the first time – over 100,000 men - was attempting to do what Britain and France had tried from 1914 to 1916.

Canada’s sons left their home as young colonials but returned as Canadians. Vimy is indeed the birthplace of Canadian Nationhood. The price: 10,500 casualties, including 3,598 dead.

Ypres

Vimy

Arras

DieppeSommes

Paris

Normandy

Passchendaele

The Cloth Hall of Ieper (Ypres)Home of the "In Flander's Fields Museum"

Built in the 13th century to demonstrate the wealth and power held by the merchants. Ieper was completely destroyed during the WW I. In 1934 the reconstructed belfry opened and the remainder of the hall slowly followed over 24 years.

Menin Gate is to the memory of 55,000 Commonwealth dead who fell in Belgium and have no known grave. 7000 are Canadian. The Last Post is played daily. Inscribed on the monument: Here, are recorded names of officers and men who fell in Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.

Canadians experienced their first sense of nationhood at Vimy Ridge, though at Ypres in 1915 we experienced a true sense of pride. When the Canadians advanced onto Kitchener's Wood and defended against the gas and overwhelming German numbers, they no longer were the young colonials looking up to the British.

John McCrae had it right! The torch was passed in the fields of Flanders, the Somme, Arras & Vimy and onto the German Zigfried line during 1918.

Apr 22 1915 the Germans released poison gas creating a gap 4 miles wide in the French line, threatening the Ypres Salient. Costly British and Canadian counter-attacks sealed the gap. On the 24th, gas was used again over the 1st Div. Men clamped water-soaked cotton bandoliers over their noses and mouths. The enemy overran the line and the Canadians relinquished St. Julien temporarily but blocked any further advance and by the end of April a new line had been stabilized.

St. Julien Memorial, 1988

The Canadian ordeal is commemorated by the moving St. Julien Memorial which reads:

German Cemetery Langemark

Over 44, 000 war deadburied near Langemark

PASSCHENDAELE

(Oct and Nov 1917)

When one ponders the waste, stupidity, mud and gross loss of human life during the Great War, it is usually the battle of Passchendaele that comes to mind. This brainchild of Field Marshal Douglas Haig – also called The Third Battle of Ypres -officially began on July 31, 1917.

Nov 14, 1917 the Canadians, having done what was asked of them, retired back to the Vimy region. 15,654 Canadian casualties had been counted (Currie had warned the British that victory would cause 16,000). 9 Canadians earned the Victoria Cross. Roughly 2 square miles had been taken.

Tyne Cot

Memorial to the Missing bears the names of over 35,000

Tyne Cot Cemetery

12,000 grave sites, most unkown

Ypres

Vimy

Arras

DieppeSommes

Paris

Normandy

Passchendaele

19Aug 42 will be remembered by Canadians and those who study the tragedy of war. “Operation Jubilee” was a raid on the port of Dieppe where its cliffs and high ground commanded the landing zone and stone beach impeded the movement of troops and tanks. Of the 5000 Canadians that attacked, 907 Canadians were killed while 1,946 were taken prisoner. There was an additional force of 1100 American Rangers and British Commandos. The R.A.F. lost 106 planes, the R.C.A.F. lost 13 in the worst single day of action.

Airborne Museum at Pegasus Bridge

St. Aubin-sur-merEast Flank of Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Batterie de Longues

Behind Gold Beach

Arromanches-les-Bains

US Memorial and Cemetery

Near Omaha and Utah

Juno Beach Centre

Lest We Forget