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The Somme |
Beaumont-Hamel |
Canadian Corp |
September Attack |
Regina Trench
The Canadians were
sent from Flanders into the line near the village of
Courcelette to prepare for an attack. They suffered
heavy causalities in July while preparing for the
attack.
The Canadian attack
was to begin on September 15th and it was to be a part
of another larger attack by the British forces. This was
however the first time that the Canadian forces were to
fight as a corp. This attack was to be aided by two new
innovations which would grow to play a large role in
later successful attacks. The first was the creeping
barrage which was a bombardment that started on the
first line of German defenders and as the Canadians
emerged form their trenches and began the advance into
the destroyed and disorganized enemy defences, the
barrage would also start to move further into the German
lines. This was intended to deny the Germans an
opportunity to recover form the barrage and re-establish
their defences. The second innovation or invention was the
tank. The Canadian's were given 6 of these newly
produced machines and it was hoped they would lead an
advance right through the German lines.
The appearance of the
tanks threw the Germans into a panic and regardless of
the fact that the tanks soon broke down and were out of
commission, they had helped the Canadians to achieve
their objective and the capture of Courcelette. They
repulsed several German counterattacks and the
lines
once again became frozen in the mud of the Somme basin.
The next objective for the 3 Canadian
divisions became a defensive line known as the Regina
trench.
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