— Illustrations by Greg Stevenson — Years ago, I was lucky to begin writing about Canadian veterans who had served in Normandy while many were
As Canadian commanders planned to assault Mont Sorrel, Germany attacked. Two weeks and almost 9,000 casualties later, Canada recovered the lost ground On May 25, 1915,
In the fight for Festubert, combat for the “Canadian Orchard” cost 2,468 casualties. The Canadians emerged from the battle for Ypres, Belgium, in 1915 with
In the Battle of Frezenberg, the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry would give no ground
Of the 18,000 Canadian soldiers on strength for the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, roughly one third became casualties, including 1,672 killed in action and more than 1,000 as prisoners of war. When the Canadians were withdrawn from the front lines on May 3, four of the British divisions committed to the defence of the salient suffered even heavier casualties in futile attempts to recover ground.
On the third day of the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans unleashed another chlorine gas attack. Canadians were the target this time.
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An informative primer on Canada’s crucial role in the Normandy landing, June 6, 1944.
