WorldWar I
FallenSoldiers - RockwoodCenotaph
Page 14
TheBattleofAmiens,
August 1918, marked the beginning of the end for theGerman armies and
it wouldprove to be one of most successful battles of thewar for theAllies.
After the failureof theGerman offensives during the spring of 1918, theAllies regroupedand
counterattacked along theWesternFront. It was prepared in secret, with amajor counter-
intelligence operation todeceive theGermans as to the real location of Canadian andAustralian
troopswhowere to spearhead the assault atAmiens. The assault was based upon a combined
army approach towar with the infantry attacking behind a creeping artillery barrage, supported by
tanks, cavalry, armoured cars, and tactical airpower.
On 8August, theCanadians advanced 13 kilometres through theGermandefences, themost
successful day of combat for theAllies along theWesternFront, but theGermans rushed
reinforcements to the battlefield toprevent the hoped forAllied breakthrough. Subsequently,
fighting became farmore difficult and costly, especially since theattacking forcesweremoving
beyond the range of their own artillery. By the night of 11August, most offensive operations had
ground toahalt. The battle hadbeen exceedingly costly and theCanadians sufferedmore than
11,800 casualties in total, includingnearly 4,000 on8August alone.
TheBattleofAmienswas called the ‘black day’ by one of theGermanArmy commanders. It shook
German faith in the outcome of thewar and raised themorale of theAllies. Previously, mostAllied
commanders had predicted thewar would continuewell into 1919 and possibly into1920. Amiens
demonstrated that theGerman armywasweakening under the strain of four years of warfare and
was closer to defeat than anyone had predicted.
TheBattlesof Festubert Givenchy,
June 1915. Following theBattle of Ypres, the decimated
units of the 1st CanadianDivisionwere reinforcedwith volunteers from theCavalryBrigade
beforemarching south to join in theAllied offensiveswhichwere already under way. They joined
the fighting at Festubert inMay 1915 andGivenchy in June. These battles followed the grim
patternof using a frontal assault against powerful enemy defences. Although theCanadians
achieved some of their objectives, the gainswere negligible and the loss of lifewas extremely
highwith2,468 casualties at Festubert and a further 400 at Givenchy.
SeePeterWilsonPick’sbiography.
