Canada's Hundred Days

Canada's Hundred Days

Canada’s Hundred Days was a series of attacks made along the Western Front by the Canadian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Reference to this period as Canada's Hundred Days is due to the substantial role the Canadian Corps of the British First Army played in causing the defeat and/or retreat of the German Army in a series of major battles from Amiens to Mons which along with other Allied offensives ultimately led to Germany's final defeat and surrender. During this time, the Canadian Corps fought at Amiens, Arras, the Hindenburg Line, the Canal du Nord, Bourlon Wood, Cambrai, Denain, Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of the First World War. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of roughly 100 000 men, and the rest of the allied powers, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions, which represented one quarter of the German forces fighting on the Western Front. However their successes came at a heavy cost, the Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained casualties of the war during the same period.