MARCH 1, 1917: Fourth Canadian Division launches a poison gas raid against German positions on Vimy Ridge. It ends in disaster as many of the Canadians are overcome by gas when the wind changes direction and when German artillery fire ruptures some of the gas cylinders.

MARCH 2, 1943: The Canadian budget introduces a pay-as-you-go income tax.

MARCH 3, 1915: First Canadian Division is now responsible for a large section of front near Fleurbaix, France, as part of the 4th British Army Corps.

MARCH 4, 1885: The first contingent of returning Nile voyageurs arrives in Halifax. Taken into service in 1884 to guide a British expeditionary force up the Nile River, the Canadian boatmen had a vital role assisting in the effort to relieve a besieged British garrison at Khartoum, Sudan.

MARCH 5, 1943: Canadian and British bombers begin a major offensive against Germany.

MARCH 6, 2002: Nearly 130 Canadian combat troops are sent to Afghanistan.

MARCH 7-10, 1945: Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds proceeds with Operation Blockbuster II, to capture Xanten. The German town is taken within three days.

MARCH 11, 1935: Established by an act of Parliament the previous year, the Bank of Canada officially begins operations and becomes Canada’s central bank.

MARCH 12, 2000: The Royal 22nd Regiment ends operations with United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor.

MARCH 13, 1964: Operation Snowgoose begins with Royal Canadian Air Force Yukon transport aircraft delivering troops and equipment to the newly created peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

MARCH 14, 1978: Israel launches a limited invasion of Lebanon.

MARCH 15, 1900: The Royal Canadian Regiment arrives in Bloemfontein after taking part in the British 9th Division drive to seize the Boer capital of the Orange Free State in South Africa.

MARCH 16, 1943: One of the worst convoy battles in the Battle of the Atlantic begins. The three-day battle ends with the sinking of several Allied merchant ships.

MARCH 17, 1945: His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Guysborough is torpedoed and sunk by U-878 while on minesweeping duty in the Bay of Biscay off France. Many of her 51 casualties die while awaiting rescue.

MARCH 18, 1892: Governor General Lord Stanley decides to donate a silver cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada.

MARCH 19, 1978: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is created.

MARCH 20, 1917: The preparatory artillery bombardment for the assault on Vimy Ridge begins.

MARCH 21, 1955: The Canadian government announces that a Distant Early Warning Line will be constructed in northern Canada. It will consist of different types of radar facilities to detect possible Soviet invasion.

MARCH 22, 1966: The United Nations India-Pakistan Observer Mission is disbanded. It was commanded by Canadian Major-General B.F. Macdonald.

MARCH 23, 1945: During initial bombardment in support of Operation Plunder, the crossing of the Rhine River, the first variable-timed or VT fused shells are fired. The fuse was invented by a team of Canadian and American scientists.

MARCH 24, 1999: Four CF-18 fighter aircraft hit targets in Kosovo. The attack, which involved other North Atlantic Treaty Organization aircraft, was part of Operation Allied Force. Its goal: to reduce resistance by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s forces.

MARCH 25, 1952: The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry is surrounded as the Chinese raid Hill 132. The Canadians provide strong resistance and hang on to the position until the Chinese withdraw.

MARCH 26, 1885: Métis insurgents under Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont meet and defeat a column of North West Mounted Police and Prince Albert volunteers near Duck Lake, Sask.

MARCH 27, 1916: Third British Division launches an attack against St-Eloi south of Ypres, Belgium,

by exploding a series of mines under German lines.

MARCH 28, 1961: The Royal Canadian Air Force takes delivery of the first CF-104 Starfighter.

MARCH 29, 1945: The Canadian frigate Teme is torpedoed in the English Channel by U-246, and is damaged beyond repair.

MARCH 30, 1951: Flight Lieutenant Omer Levesque shoots down a North Korean MiG-15 fighter while attached to the United States Air Force. He becomes the first Canadian pilot to score a jet-to-jet victory in the Korean War.

MARCH 31, 1945: The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is terminated. It total, the BCATP produced 131,553 pilots, navigators, bombardiers, wireless operators, air gunners and flight engineers, of which 72,835 are Canadian.

For ‘ON THIS DATE’ April Events, come back to legionmagazine.com on April 1st, 2011