HIST 203 Lecture Notes - Major Disaster, Battle Of Mont Sorrel, Canadian National Railway
5 Apr 2012
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Recap: canadians had just arrived in england, their weaponry was not very useful and it was now evident the war would not be over before christmas. Sam hughes was more or less in charge of the entire production. He did not want a professional army but a citizens militia. He wanted volunteers, men stepping forward, this is what he believed made superior soldiers. The first would see its first major action at the 2nd battle of ypres. They took to the trenches and five days later, a green/yellow cloud was seen rising from the german lines. Confusion set in amongst canadian and british generals. They held the line as long as possible but had to retreat two miles. After the second battle of ypres, the germans looked towards the east. At festubert in may they were mowed down by machine guns, 2500 dead. At givenchy-lez-la-basse in june, 350 canadians were killed.
