Canadian troops were some of the toughest troops in the Empire & were often used as shock troops. We remember the sacrifice they made in Britain & eternally grateful to the Canadian people 🇬🇧🇨🇦 Lest we forget

@raylocke282

Жыл бұрын

What made them so tough ?

@segurosincero4057

10 ай бұрын

@@raylocke282Cape Breton Highlanders. Tough coal miners. Scottish heritage. Scots are tough fighters.

@jjt1093

10 ай бұрын

The whole country and lifestyle did it @@raylocke282

I love when Norm Christie presents. The passion of the subject is clear in his voice and his preparation

I am an American living near the Can-Am highway. We often joust and mock Canadians and they us but its all in good fun. The reality is, Canadians are tough people when they need to be, polite most if the time, and most i really enjoy having as neighbors.

I am a huge admirer of General Arthur Currie,.. You read a speech he gave to his men praising their accomplishments and redeeming qualities. The Canadian Army of 1917 learned and inherited those victories and qualities from General Currie. It’s a sad shame that Currie and others like him don’t get the recognition and praise all Canadians owe him and his men. Many have (unbelievably) never heard of him or WWI. This should be taught in school history class.

Oh wow what a blast from the past, Norm Christie narrated a whole bunch of the documentaries my high school history teacher showed us

I know America is a mess, but I’m proud to have our Canadian brothers and sisters beside us. They’ve proven themselves to be kind to a fault until it’s time to fight. Then they become ferocious. Glad they’re on our side.

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

Cheers! We are damn glad to have the US on our side as well. Can't say the same for our supposed brothers, the British. They haven't had our backs for a long time, and are incapable of doing it now anyways. WWI was our finest moment, one few Canadians know the extent of today, besides those of us who are still intensely patriotic, have the utmost respect for our history, for our grandfathers and great-grandfathers honor, courage, and toughness, not only in daily life, but when called upon to cross an ocean and take part in two World Wars their country didn't start but they made damn sure to finish. We miss their presence, very few have the same character traits here today. We despise how far we have fallen in the eyes of the world due to our current clown of a PM and the way many of those act when it comes to maintaining our freedom and way of life. They'll give it all up everything for a little bit of so-called safety and security, when what it really is is tyranny. Being from the US, no doubt you know what I mean.

@stevewheatley243

Жыл бұрын

Liberalism destroys.

@petewarrell228

Жыл бұрын

Buddy whe world is a mess Canada is no country fair ..lots Problems ..borders are soooooo Fn importent sooo.. our countrys are being poisned..a generation will be week And thay know that a drug free generation of theres will take over.. Ond thats only a fn i peice of it.. You folks have a zombie we have a clown..but but as the great TED NUGENT said the pine trees are the same ...anyone one wanna decuse this more im more the happy to 🙏❤🇨🇦🇺🇸

@petewarrell228

Жыл бұрын

I need a beer now lol love to shere one one day✌😅

@mbmanra

Жыл бұрын

Canada is in America btw

Love watching documentaries like this

As a Canadian who loves history, I am a proud Canadian to know what my country fought and did during both world wars.

@tandemfandom1

10 ай бұрын

the creation and support of Israel, yeah

@sugarkane4830

9 ай бұрын

@@tandemfandom1So?

The Canadians and Australians were the shock troops of the allies and proved to be more than capable of being the tip of the spear

@DavidSmith-bd8dd

9 ай бұрын

Don't forget the Scottish reg the Germans nick named the devil's in skirts

@mgway4661

9 ай бұрын

They used the common wealth troops as fodder

It’s unbelievable what men can do to each other,

My Grandfather was a British miner at Ypres, one of his duties was to listen for the Germans tunnelling. He told a Canadian Officer that the Germans were below his trench, his response was to send my Grandfather away, 12 hours later the trench was blown up by a German mine planted under the trench. All the Canadians in the reach were killed.

@HiImSeanIPlayBass

Жыл бұрын

No he didn’t.

@marshaljones4118

Жыл бұрын

​@@HiImSeanIPlayBass yea no probably not

@marioborkowski5894

Жыл бұрын

How old are you?

@Sturmmann-um5qx

Жыл бұрын

I mean I'm 42 and my great great grandfather was killed at Neuve Chapelle in 1915.

@couchfort3934

Жыл бұрын

@@HiImSeanIPlayBassYou just watched a documentary confirming things like this happened and your immediate reaction is “No he didn’t”? Asinine response.

WWI overall was a Canadian victory, of that there is no doubt. The British stole so much thunder it's ridiculous, and did their best to minimize the Canadian effort, even doing things like being sure to be front and center during ceremonies and parades specifically honoring the Canadians or their commanding General that won the war, Sir Arthur Currie. Alternate history was written post-war as well. The German's were truly afraid of only ONE enemy, the Canadian Corps. Had the war gone on any longer, the King of England was ready to make Sir Gen. Currie commander of ALL British/Commonwealth forces. It's too bad it wasn't done earlier and saved some lives. Only the French properly honored the Canadian effort, with the greatest tribute of all, making a piece of of their own soil officially Canadian soil, and building one of the most impressive military monuments in history on it. Thank you. We do still appreciate it.

@jonnyh9388

Жыл бұрын

This is the problem with believing history that you have read in comic books.

@barbararice6650

Жыл бұрын

What would a rat like you know of men, Canadian, British, German or otherwise 👈😑

Friends the world over, know this..We Canadians are loyal friends, kind and compassionate, the Enemies of our friends know this..we fight like crazed dogs for those we love.

I stopped watching at 6.20 when the 'If you love history...' interruption came. Well done for breaking the concentration.

The Canadians performed superbly at Vimy Ridge and the Newfoundland Regiment (then independent but now part of Canada) lost 90% of their men on 1July 1916 in what is now Newfoundland Memorial Park. The young Canadians who act as guides at these sites are absolutely wonderful (even if I did once find one who hadn't been told how to tell Brisish rifle cartridges from German ones). Despite this I think their 1st Division have the record for holding against gas in Second Ypres. Thanks to all those who served from Britain.

To this day farmers in the area have to deal with massive amounts of unexploded ordnance. Those fields look deceptively peaceful.

@davidshattock9522

9 ай бұрын

Every month the ordinance dug up by farmers is put at special dumps at side of roads for collection by French army for disposal it is called the iron harvest not on the past but now still

I'm an American and although I don't know about them,,,, but now the Canadian soldier and JSOC are as good as any

I hope I'm not repeating myself, but a German officer of some repute said 'we are now facing the British elite forces' they were called Canadians! Tough lads.

@littlefluffybushbaby7256

Жыл бұрын

Do you know who the German officer was? Not to disparage the Canadians, who fought gallantly and I have great respect for, but a lot of things get quoted and become truth through repetition. Just wondering if you knew what the source was. Thanks (P.S. if you can get to see Vimy Ridge it's well worth it. Seeing the ground pock marked to this day is sobering.

a great series(this is only one) available on youtube via breakthrough entertainment wonderful to be reminded about this

AWESOME

The picture of the solider is a statue of ww1 soldiers from my town in Seaham UK called Tommy

Had my car battery die on Hill 62 in 1987. Was able to push start it on the hill's slight decline. These are haunted places and evoke both sadness and hope.

I often wonder what the smell would have been like?😢

@lilmike2710

3 ай бұрын

Have you ever walked past a deceased animal that has started to decompose? Well, I'd guess that it was a lot like that, only worse.

That was a sad, but unbelievably interesting, "tour" of the former battlefields, structures, strong points, etc; also, the video, along with the superb narration(s), made me feel as if I were walking with u, thanks!😃🇺🇸

This was super interesting…Thanks !

My great uncle was killed during the Battle of Mount Sorrel

My uncle has a .303 british from ww2 era its a moose gun now.

@darrelneidiffer6777

Жыл бұрын

I have a pattern 14 in 303 that was made in 1914. Still functions well. A little heavy but a beautiful rifle.

It’s very that so many men from my country canada had to lose their lives in that terrible war.

@Jaeger-hm2pi

Жыл бұрын

Same goes for every Country. Even Germany. Not their fault 2 lose their lives cause of an idiot from austria.

@PaulRudd1941

Жыл бұрын

The whole world lost a lot of smart and brave men to that war. Think of what humanity could have accomplished without the needless bloodshed of people who could have become doctors, electricians, engineers, architechts, competent politicians, labour organizers, etc. Not to mention all the women who worked in factories, exposed to cadmium, lead, radium, asbestos. To learn the history of the great war is to understand its influences on the rest of the 20th and 21st centuries. It all started there, in Sarajevo, all those years ago.

@donwoodard2204

Жыл бұрын

Yes and what Burns me up is the fact they lost their lives fighting for freedom and this great country, and now I see people walking our streets that don't give a damn about anything not even themselves. When I was young my old grandad would say the world is going to he'll in a hand basket, wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then !!

@juliettailor1616

Жыл бұрын

​​@@donwoodard2204 I don't think they fought for freedom or for Canada. What did Canada, as America, have to do with the conflicts in Europe?

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

@@juliettailor1616 Canada, while an independent nation, was part of the British Commonwealth then. The men felt it was their duty to go. The US only went in in 1917 after the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk but provided aid prior to that.

Bold claim! Not the best but one of the best. Many Corps from the empire could equally claim to be the best. The big difference was the officers who actually learned from mistakes.

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

The fear the Germans had of Canadians was a big difference maker, too. Lol They had never before experienced the ferocious trench raids Canadians would conduct. They would purposefully give Canadian battalions a wide berth if at all possible and fight British or French instead.

I personally feel that WW1 was more brutal than the second one. True, the loss of life was much less than WW2 but the technology used in latter started in this one and soldiers didn’t know how to handle it. Planes, tanks, gas, flamethrowers, etc. Add on the whole near suicide group attacks on entrenched positions so in hindsight, if that same tactic was used in W2, the loss of life would have been much higher.

@jasonc6820

Жыл бұрын

Banzai charges were a thing and usually ended rather poorly

@fellspoint9364

Жыл бұрын

True. WW1 is considered the first modern war . Advances in industrialized society made the conflict a mechanized slaughter. Yet, we continue to repeat such horrors.

@Dan-tb1zf

6 ай бұрын

I don't know why they need to be compared.

It’s horrible how good we human beings are at killing each other

for a short moment there i thought u hate ur uncle.... i heard the first couple of times: "one of the 600 was my great uncle john, unfortunately he wasn´t one of the 300 killed and wounded during that battle, he made it thru unscathed."

just crazy to think how people willingly march to war.

@GirlWthGlasses

Жыл бұрын

For Queen and country as they say to answer the call to fight for your home land and to fight for freedom is a honorable thing. Nobody would just let someone else take their homeland and conquer their people without a fight. Men who go to war to fight for us are heroes and we need to celebrate them in remembrance.

@HunniBee.v2

Жыл бұрын

​@GirlWthGlasses it would have been for king and country for both world wars. Queen Elizabeth was still a princess in WW2.

The Australians and New Zealanders would also argue that the 'colonial' troops (Anzacs and Canadians) equally deserve the mantel of the best attack troops on the Western Front. The achievements of the Canadians and the Anzacs are difficult to unpick. The 'catastrophe' of 3rd Ypres is overplayed. Until October the achievements had been significant. By late October/November the ANZAC Corp had pretty much worn itself out and handed over to the Canadians to take Paschendale. My great uncle was killed in early November, supporting the Canadians in this endeavour after having fought all throughout 1917 (Bullecourt, Messines Ridge, Menin Rd, Pollecapel and Paschendale) in some of the bloodiest and successful campaigns.

@mgway4661

9 ай бұрын

Pasceandale was a success?

@nnoddy8161

9 ай бұрын

@@mgway4661 '3rd Ypres' was a success, without a doubt. In terms of the overall war, the attrition suffered by the Germans at 3rd Ypres was a significant factor in the events of 1918. With respect to Passendale, once the rain started in October, I think they should have stopped the offensive.

I wonder how different these attacks would have been if a decent, wireless communication system had been in place.

I didn't realize there were so many film reels (now videos) made in this particular area😮🤔🇺🇸

"The men who were boys when I was a boy are dead. Indeed they never even grew to be men. They were slaughtered in their youth; and the parents of them have grown lonely, the young girls they would have married have grown grey in spinsterhood, and the work they would have done remains undone." J.B.Priestly.

My family used to belong to the Byng Fish and Game club. Named after Viscount Byng, former General, later Governor General of Canada. It still exists.

When youth generations of any population are launching to volunteer columns for Armies' conscription...its an obvious significant of many unemployment youths in society ...

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

Nah, there wasn’t a huge population in Canada then, still isn’t. There was enough work. the employed wanted to go, or were peer pressured so badly they gave in and went. Also many legitimately thought it would be an adventure and it would be over quick. There are examples of men trying to enlist multiple times after being denied for whatever reason.

@GirlWthGlasses

Жыл бұрын

Our men were drafted so they weren't given a choice, if you were able bodied then you were signed up and shipped out.

A super WW2 fan slowly getting into the history of the First World War. What insanity it must of been. I read somewhere that if you were the Allies, you spent 6 days out of the month actually on the front. May sound like it mitigates the terror it must of been, 6 days in the trenches must of been terrifying. Took a lot of courage, or stupidity, volunteering for a war far away, that you had nothing to do with. Just out of sense of duty.

@tomlewis7898

Жыл бұрын

Hello, it depends on how you define the front line because the trench systems were made up of multiple parallel trench lines and the troops were rotated across this system in roughly 6 day intervals, including in the very 'front line' trench (also called the fire trench) and in the reserve trenches... these reserve trenches were only a few hundred metres behind the fire trench and still very much vulnerable to shelling. So you could more accurately call the whole trench system the 'front line' and the soldiers did spent most of their time there, but they also spent a good chunk of their time doing other things much further away from all the danger. Sorry for being pedantic about this.

@vanq86

Жыл бұрын

​@@tomlewis7898 exactly. Being in the 'front' trench meant you had to take your turn on watch and would have to fight first if a German attack came, but otherwise you were just as vulnerable to the main killer, artillery, as the guys were in the second and third lines a hundred meters behind you. The further back you got the better your sleeping conditions usually, but otherwise you were very much still in danger of shells bursting around you.

I have visited Vimy Ridge and other battlefields of the western front, but as Australian who had relatives who fought there and at Gallipoli you will forgive me if I do not concede that the Canadian corps, for all its valour, was THE greatest fighting force on the western front. They share that honour with the Australian Corps under Monash. Canada's population was just under 8 million in 1914 and 620,000 people mobilized during the war. Canada's total casualties stood at the end of the war at 67,000 killed and 173,000 wounded - 39 per cent of mobilized were casualties. Approximately seven percent of the total population of Canada was in uniform at some point during the war Australia's total population at the time was about 4 million. The Australian Imperial Force were all volunteers, and the 416,809 who enlisted for service represent 38.7 per cent of the total male population aged between 18 and 44. The combined total of all Australian armed forces sent overseas during the war was about 340,000, of whom 331,000 served in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Around 218,000 members of the AIF or 66 per cent became battle casualties during the conflict, with over 62.000 dead, 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. (My great uncle was gassed and great grandfather taken prisoner. Both survived the war.) The Australian and Canadians were used as shock troops and the two Corps spearheaded the attack at the Battle of Amiens on August 8 1918, Ludendorff's "black day of the German army" which began the hundred day advance ending with the armistice.

The greatest fighting force on the Western Front, hold my pint say everyone from the Anzacs to the London Scottish.

@dashcroft1892

Жыл бұрын

Psssst … it’s a Canuck production. Norm is ex-CF. Lest we forget. Facta non verba.

@GirlWthGlasses

Жыл бұрын

🍻

...& the walks thru the cemeteries, with ur knowledge of the various soldiers & their letters was especially poignant 😢🇺🇸

The greatest fighting force on the western front 😅😅 you got me with that 1

As u said, Sgt. William Alexander, at Hill 70, was truly a casualty; after valiant fighting for so long, he simply lost his nerve, as any human can so easily do; but with no mental health treatment at that time, he might've very well continued had he been given the chance😞🇺🇸

Good to see and listen to from a Canadian perspective.

...Vimy Ridge, 30,000 Canadians, oh my gosh😢🇺🇸

Pointless war!

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

Yep. Pointless ending, too.

@jordan3405

Жыл бұрын

All wars are pointless

At 49:00… “In Cabbage fields, the shrapnel grows…”

Great documentary

a great video, thanks!😃🇺🇸

Is there a sequel to the war?

@differentperspectives

Жыл бұрын

WW II

@clickytheblicky9895

Жыл бұрын

The third one is coming to theaters real soon.

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately. Our Canadian Corps members didn't want that treaty, they wanted to finish the war for good instead of just abandoning the advantage because they had lost many countrymen and knew they'd be back in twenty years. Britain and France thought a piece of paper was good enough.

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

@@clickytheblicky9895 Final Chapter!

@briancohenthepfjmassive.4769

Жыл бұрын

There was also thoughts for a trilogy but they went cold on that one.

On the picture before you click on the video is the picture of Tommy a statue which is from my town of Seaham Co Durham it is on the town green on the sea front and on the metal fence behind him is all the names of the lads that where killed in Ww1 and ww2 , there names are on metal poppy’s

They had no idea what they were signing for..Jesus if they only knew

Nice doc. Agar Adamson's British public school accent a bit wrong. He was Canadian born and raised (from Ottawa and Port Hope).

Is it true ,the Canadian army has never been defeated, never lost a war

It is sad knowing that people only know when America took part and what they supposefly did, thank's to America and its pride, most other more factual pieces of ww2 didn't involve the USA

Canadians are good lads

Norm proved the Canadian tanks took out Wittmann.

@C77-C77

Жыл бұрын

Sure did!

@barbararice6650

Жыл бұрын

One down, thirty nine to go 😁

I say this to this day, don't ever tell a Canadian they can't do something.

If they only knew.

117 years later what’s different at bakhmut

When they knew that the Jerry's were mining beneath them, why didn't they pull back from those trenches?

@nealskrenes2612

Жыл бұрын

Because it was a war over real estate. *Over all of the years of the war, sometimes a win or a loss in a battle was a matter of a few hundred yards.* Those were important positions, and the generals far in the rear, with no risk to themselves, decided that they had to stay there, and that the mines would not really be that effective.

@GirlWthGlasses

Жыл бұрын

Because they couldn't disobey orders since doing so had consequences. You either did as ordered or you died trying.

Canada Australia. New Zealand and great Britain Ireland Scotland guernsey and jersey.are all damn good allies . I am glad they are on our side.

Seems there were way more Canadians back then.

Past performance is no guarantee for the future ! 27.04.23 Mercenary Kyle Ronald Porter, was knocked out in Bakhmut ! Rich man's war ! Poor men's blood !

War is a racket

Love the Canadian way of using English !!!

If it wasn’t for the Canadians and the Australians the Allie’s would not have lasted until the Americans came in 1917 to tip the balance.

like in hooge , they tunneled under hill 70 ??

🇨🇦🙏🏻🙏🏻🇨🇦

The thing where he talks about the German troops burning up the Canadian wounded soldiers left a bad taste in my mouth because of no mention of anybody even trying to defend the wounded by firing back,so you get the impression of the troops looking back and saying we cant do nowt about that but not even a protest by firing a rifle even if out of rifle range...

Ghastly.

👍🪖🇺🇸🇨🇦🗡️