How Canadian valour helped end the Great War

It was the beginning of the end. And it could not have come sooner for a world bloodied and sickened by one of history’s most horrific wars.

Exactly 100 years ago this week — from Aug. 8 to Aug. 11, 1918 — Canadian soldiers spearheaded a massive attack that stunned their German opponents in France and helped turn the tide in the First World War.

The signal victory those young Canadians achieved after several days of brutal combat in what became known as the Battle of Amiens was incredible in its own right.

But it was also the start of what became known as the “Hundred Days,” the three-month Allied offensive, in which the 100,000-strong Canada Corps was also instrumental and which drove the German army out of France to pave the way for peace.

The 100th anniversary of Amiens should not be forgotten in Canada. Not this week. Not ever.

In August 1918, the First World War — known then as the Great War — had raged for four years. Great armies had clashed across Europe, the Middle East and Africa while great navies had fought it out on the high seas. More than 16 million people had died — soldiers, sailors and aircrew as well as civilians.

By then, Germany had knocked Russia out of the war. The Americans, in their hundreds of thousands, had recently arrived to join the Allied cause. And in the spring of that year the Germans, hoping to prevail before the Americans could make a difference, launched three massive offensives that nearly led to Allied defeat.

But those offensives petered out. And in August, it was the turn of Britain, France, Canada and Australia to attack.

At Amiens, new tactics carried the day. The British sent in 800 warplanes and waves of a relatively novel weapon known as the tank. Undetected by the enemy until it was too late, Canadian and Australian infantry rushed forward over a misty no man’s land in support.

For the German commander, Gen. Erich Ludendorff, Aug. 8, 1918, became “the black day” for his country’s army.

For the Allies, it was the turning point, the breakout that ended four years of grinding, static trench warfare on the Western front.

For the Canadians, it was a moment of triumph and pride but also a time to mourn. Victory at Amiens came with the cost of 1,036 Canadians killed and 2,803 wounded. And 45,000 more Canadians would be killed or injured in the next three months of combat that ended in Germany’s defeat and, on Nov. 11, 1918, the end of fighting.

When Canadians today remember that long-ago war, they most often think of Vimy Ridge, the epic battle of April 1917. Vimy was arguably the first true Allied offensive victory in the war. And it was won mainly by Canadians.

But far from ending the war, Vimy Ridge was one part of a larger Allied offensive known as the Battle of Arras, which accomplished next to nothing for the Allied cause.

Amiens and the “Hundred Days” were different. And the role played by Canadian soldiers in bringing the war to a close helped convince Canadian leaders that they deserved a greater voice in negotiating the peace and greater independence for their country, which was still part of the British Empire.

There is much talk today of Canadian values and how Canada should project them in this uneasy world.

The Canadians at Amiens believed they were defending many of those values, especially the willingness to stand up against aggression and tyranny.