The Last Hundred Days

Germany’s final offensive

Early in 1918, the situation looked grim for the Allies. Germany began launching a series of major offensives in March that pushed the Allied lines back, advancing to within 70 kilometres of Paris. But, this success on the battlefield could not be sustained – they had over-extended their army. After four years of war, their resources of men and supplies were depleted.

Meanwhile, the Allied forces were now being reinforced by American troops after the United States entered the war in 1917. The Allies regrouped and stopped the German advance, then set about to make their own major push to bring an end to the war.

The Canadian Corps

Decisive victories in battles like Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele had earned Canada’s army the reputation for being the best-attacking Allied troops on the Western Front. When the Allies planned the offensives that would ultimately win the war, Canada’s soldiers were given the responsibility of leading many of the attacks.

The Canadian Corps – now comprised of four divisions - had a fierce reputation. The mere presence of Canadians on a section of the front would warn the enemy that an attack was coming. To outwit German spies, the movements of the Canadian Corps in these final months of the war had to be made in great secrecy. A large offensive is planned for August and Canadian troops are shifted north toward Belgium to deceive the enemy. As a result, the Germans now believe a major attack will occur there. Once the Germans moved more troops north to Ypres, the Canadians secretly rushed back to the Amiens sector for the real attack.

Battle of Amiens

08 – 11 August 1918

On 8 August, Canada led an offensive that advanced 20 kilometres in three days. To fool the Germans, this offensive was launched without the long artillery bombardment, as was usually done before Allied forces advanced. The Germans were taken totally by surprise.

This breakthrough was a remarkable development and dashed enemy morale, with General Ludenhoff, the German high commander calling it “the bleakest day of the German Army in the history of the war.”

In just two weeks, the Canadian Corps had advanced 22 kilometres, liberated 27 villages and taken more than 9,000 Germans prisoner.

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Battle of the Scarpe

26 – 30 August 1918

General Arthur Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps, now made plans for an attack on either side of the Arras-Cambrai road. This offensive would be known as the Battle of the Scarpe.

On 26 August, the Canadian Corps advanced more than 5 kilometers and captured the towns of Monchy-le-Preux and Wancourt.

Heavy rains during the night made for slippery ground, which lead to difficulties in assembling troops and a late start. Combined with stiff resistance by the Germans entrenched in heavily defended positions, the Corps advanced only three kilometers on the second day of the battle.

After three days of intense fighting, the 2^nd and 3^rd Canadian Infantry Divisions reported over 5,500 casualties. But, they had captured more than 3,300 prisoners and had seized an important portion of the German’s strong Fresnes-Rouvroy defence system.

The 12 Victoria Cross recipients during August

• John Bernard Croak (8 August 1918)
• Herman James Good (8 August 1918)
• Harry Garnet Bedford Miner (8 August 1918)
• James Edward Tait (8 August 1918)
• Alexander Picton Brereton (9 August 1918)
• Jean Brillant (9 August 1918)
• Frederick George Coppins (9 August 1918)
• Raphael Louis Zengel (9 August 1918)
• Thomas Dinesen (12 August 1918)
• Robert Spall (13 August 1918)
• Charles Smith Rutherford (26 August 1918)
• William Hew Clark-Kennedy (28 August 1918)

Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line

02 – 03 September 1918

With Allied leaders’ hopes now high for victory and an end to the war in sight, they kept up the pressure on the Germans. There would be little rest for the victorious Canadians. They were moved back north to the Arras sector and tasked with helping break the infamous Hindenburg Line—a key element of the enemy’s defenses. There was a week of fierce fighting against some of Germany’s best soldiers, in terrain that gave the enemy the advantage. But, on 2 September the Canadians broke through the Drocourt-Quéant Line, positioned just in front of the Hindenburg Line.

The German High Command will send seven divisions at the Canadian Corps and the British Third Army to counter their advance. It doesn’t succeed. In their victory, the Canadian Corps capture approximately 6,000 prisoners.

12 Victoria Cross recipients during September

• Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson (2 September 1918)
• Arthur George Knight (2 September 1918)
• William Henry Metcalf (2 September 1918)
• Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney (2 September 1918)
• Cyrus Wesley Peck (2 September 1918)
• Walter Leigh Rayfield (2 September 1918)
• John Francis Young (2 September 1918)
• Graham Thomson Lyall (27 September 1918)
• Samuel Lewis Honey (27 September 1918)
• George Fraser Kerr (27 September 1918)
• Milton Fowler Gregg (28 September 1918)
• John MacGregor (29 September 1918)

Battle at the Canal du Nord

27 September – 02 October 1918

Next up was the Canal du Nord, which formed part of the main Hindenburg Line. The earthworks of the partially-completed canal made it a dangerous enemy position to attack, but General Currie came up with another daring plan. His men, along with a British division, would cross a 2,500 metre-wide dry section of the canal. The danger, however, was that this could cause Allied troops and equipment to bunch up and become easy targets.

To cover their advance, Currie unleashed the heaviest single-day bombardment of the entire war. As a result, the attack on 27 September was a stunning success.

The Canadians broke through three lines of German defences and pressed on to capture Bourlon Wood. Combined with other allied successes along the front, the Hindenburg Line had been breached. In exceedingly bitter fighting, the 1^st Canadian Division alone suffers more than 1,000 casualties, but the battle is won and another 7,000 prisoners are captured.

The beginning of the end – Battle of Cambrai

09 – 12 October 1918

The German army was retreating but they never stopped resisting. After further heavy fighting, the Canadians Corps helped capture the town of Cambrai. By 11 October the Corps had reached the Canal de la Sensée.

The Canadian Cavalry Brigade would see its last action of the war, and its first major role since the Battle of Amiens in August. The brigade, made up of the Fort Garry Horse, the Lord Strathcona’s Horse, the Royal Canadian Dragoons and a battery of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, advances close to 13 kilometers on a front more than four kilometers wide. They capture more than 400 prisoners and many weapons, and disrupt the enemy’s many attempts at demolition.

The brigade reports a total of 168 men and 171 horses killed, wounded and missing.

This would be the last action taken by the Canadian Corps as a whole, but individual divisions continued to fight, overcoming stiff German resistance and would help to capture Mont Houy and Valenciennes by the beginning of November.

On 19 October, the Canadian Corps liberates nearly 40 more communities, including the large industrial town of Denain. The day’s advance of almost 11 kilometers is the longest made by Canadians on any single day during the war.

On 30 October, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, kilometers behind the front lines and now in reserve, suffers its last battle casualty of the First World War. A shell from a German heavy gun explodes in a cook house, wounding Pte Ronald Courage.

On the same day, Turkey, a German ally during the war, signs an armistice and ends its involvement in the First World War.

The 5 Victoria Cross recipients during October

• William Merrifield (1 October 1918)
• Coulson Norman Mitchell (9 October 1918)
• Wallace Lloyd Algie (11 October 1918)
• Thomas Ricketts (14 October 1918)
• William George Barker (27 October 1918)

Battle for Valenciennes

Two days later, the Germans still control the city of Valenciennes and a strong position nearby in Marly, but the day for them is a disaster. The Canadian Corps captures roughly 1,800 enemy soldiers and more than 800 enemy dead are counted in the battle area. Canadian losses are far less; 80 killed and around 300 wounded.

Victoria Cross recipient during November

• Hugh Cairns (1 November 1918)

Victory

At 6:30 a.m. on 11 November 1918, a message reaches Canadian Corps Headquarters that an armistice will be declared at 11:00 a.m.

The advance of troops continues forward regardless, reaching almost eight kilometers to the northeast of Mons, when the armistice to end the First World War is signed and takes effect at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918.

Canadians fought to the very end with 40 men killed on this last day of the war. The last Canadian combat death—Private George Lawrence Price—happened in Mons, Belgium just two minutes before the fighting officially ended.

Legacy

The Canadian Corps’ accomplishments in the last hundred days from August through November was truly impressive. In a four-year war where neither side ever gained much territory, the more than 100,000 members of the Canadians Corps had advanced 130 kilometres and captured approximately 32,000 prisoners.

But, the triumphs came at a high price. More than 6,800 Canadians and Newfoundlanders were killed and approximately 39,000 wounded during the last three months of fighting.

Many of Canada’s soldiers would continue to serve with the occupation force that moved into Germany as part of the armistice. The occupation forces would remain there until 1930, but most of the Canadians would be sent home in 1919.