The RCR Museum
The First World War 1914-1919
The First World War marked the "coming of age" of Canada. By the end of the "War to End All Wars", Canada had matured into an independent nation in its own right, throwing off the yolk of colonialism.
Shortly after the beginning of the war, The RCR was sent to garrison the island of Bermuda thus permitting a British regiment to be sent to the front. After 13 months in Bermuda, the Regiment returned to Halifax and soon thereafter sailed for England. The RCR arrived at the Western Front in November 1915 as part of the newly formed 3rd Canadian Division.
The Battle of the Somme, from July to November 1916, was the epitome of the bloody stalemate that prevailed in the mid-years of the war, with opposing armies relentlessly grinding at each other. The purpose of the offensive was to relieve German pressure on the French at Verdun. Densely packed waves of infantrymen were sent from the trenches into devastating rifle and machine gun fire, resulting in 60,000 British lost on the first day of fighting alone and only 10 kms gained in five months of fighting. In the end, the British had 400,000 casualties (killed or wounded), the Germans 500,000 and the French 200,000. The Canadians, as part of the British army, sustained more than 24,000 casualties.
The battle of Vimy Ridge has been remarked upon as the battle that bought Canada her independence. This was the first large-scale operation carried out completely by the Canadian Corps of four divisions. It was also the first offensive carried out by the Allies during the war that was truly a success. Easter Monday, 9 April 1917, Canadian troops began the "impossible", attacking Vimy Ridge - a feat the French army had lost 150,000 men trying to achieve. At 0503 hours, all four Canadian divisions stormed forward simultaneously. Within hours the 3rd Division had reached the far side of the slope; by 12 April the entire 11-kilometre ridge had been secured. While the Canadians sustained 10,000 casualties, the effort established the nation's soldiers as elite shock troops - specialists in the assault role - and was a defining moment in the development of Canada's national identity.
Lieutenant Milton F. Gregg, a platoon commander with The Royal Canadian Regiment, won the Victoria Cross "for most conspicuous bravery and initiative during the operation near Cambrai 22 September to 1 October 1918." Under heavy fire, Gregg took his men through a small gap in uncut wire and established a foothold, which was successfully expanded. In the days that followed, despite painful wounds, Gregg continued to lead his company in the attack across the Cambrai-Douai Road.
Constant tension, danger and hardship ruled life in a trench. Any moment could bring death from sudden bombardment or the deadly fire of a sniper. Every day greeted soldiers with cold, wet, mud, vermin, disease, and illness. But the troops survived, supported by the intense camaraderie of the trenches and a host of minor comforts from home and other diversions that helped to get them through the war. The RCR ended the war by being the first allied unit to re-enter the City of Mons in Belgium on 10 November 1918. Mons, as you may remember, is where the first armed clash had occurred in 1914.
What began as a lark for many young Canadians became literally years of tension, anxiety and seemingly never-ending vermin, in the trenches. The First World War trench re-creation attempts to instil within you a sense of what life would have been like. We have, as authentically as possible, reproduced the sounds as well as the images of the life the young soldiers would have endured. It depicts many of the difficulties that were the daily fare of the ordinary soldier in the trenches.
- Regimental History - The First World War
- Regimental Silver Memorial - The First World War
- Roll of Honour- The First World War
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