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They Fought in Colour / La Guerre en couleur: A New Look at Canada's First World War Effort / Nouveau regard sur le Canada dans la Premiere Guerre mondiale
288Overview
See seminal images of Canada’s First World War experience in a new light — offered in full colour for the first time — with contributions from Margaret Atwood, Tim, Cook, Charlotte Gray, Paul Gross, Peter Mansbridge, and many others.
Canadians today see the First World War largely through black and white photography. Colourizing these images brings a new focus to our understanding and appreciation of the role Canada played during the First World War. It makes the soldier in the muddy trench, the nurse in the field hospital, and those who waited for them at home come to life. Immediately, their expressions, mannerisms, and feelings are familiar. They become real. They Fought in Colour is a new look at Canada’s experience during the Great War. A more accessible look. A more contemporary look.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781459740785 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dundurn Press |
| Publication date: | 10/30/2018 |
| Edition description: | Bilingual edition |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Product dimensions: | 10.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
TRAINING AND PREPARATION
ENTRAÎNEMENT ET PRÉPARATION
The Honourable Serge Joyal, P.C.
L'honorable Serge Joyal, c.p.
With the August 4, 1914, declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany, the Dominion of Canada, like other member states within the British Empire, was automatically at war. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, then Leader of the Opposition, explained it in the House of Commons on August 17 when he declared: "when Britain is at war Canada is also at war."
While the decision to declare war was Britain's alone, Canada determined its own level of participation in that effort. Nonetheless, Britain expected that Canada's contribution would be significant. During the federal election of 1911, when the possibility of war in Europe was already anticipated, the Conservatives and the Liberals made different promises and commitments to the voters. The Tories, led by Robert Borden, proposed a financial commitment of fifty million dollars in case of war, while the Grits, under Laurier, limited Canada's commitment to three warships that would be part of the British imperial fleet, though sailing under the Canadian flag.
With Laurier losing the 1911 election, Borden determined the level of Canada's engagement when war was declared in the summer of 1914. Borden recalled Parliament on August 15 and, as pledged, demanded that the Commons approve a bill containing a borrowing authority of fifty million dollars, and that it adopt a War Measures Act and other contingency bills.
However, Canada's ability and capacity to contribute meaningfully to support Britain was feeble to non-existent: Canada had no troops, no officer corps, no equipment, and almost no munitions industry. Everything had to be created out of nothing almost overnight. Facing this reality, Borden's commitment of three Canadian Divisions to the British Army, upward of fifty thousand men, seemed almost reckless. The man charged with fulfilling this near impossible task was Sam Hughes (MP for the former riding of Victoria, Ontario), the Minister of Militia and Defence. Despite overwhelming challenges, he had the ambition and the ego to assume this enormous responsibility.
At the outbreak of the war, the only Canadian troops constituted a small militia force of roughly five thousand men. All were volunteers who gathered two or three times a year, mainly to parade on official occasions, but with no real professional training. The only other force was the Royal Dragoons, a contingent formed in 1883 that had fought during the Batoche uprising in 1885 and later in the Boer War. However, whatever their prior military training and battle experience, by 1914 most of these soldiers were well past their prime. The Royal Dragoons were deployed on October 3, 1914, becoming the first Canadian troops on the battlefield on May 5, 1915.
Sam Hughes was determined to create a real army, properly outfitted and equipped. Hughes had always hoped for the opportunity to command such a force. He purchased a vast tract of land at Valcartier near Québec City and quickly transformed it into a training camp. There, many eager young lads, who flocked to sign up for an adventure to help out "Old Europe," were trained in the fundamentals of military life. Since the recruits had no military training, the first objective was to instill in them the basics: the rudiments of discipline; the minimum rules of combat protection, defence and offence; the ability to anticipate signs of danger; alertness; carrying a heavy load; and all the skills required on the battlefield in infantry, in artillery, in cavalry, and in communications among the units where telephone lines did not exist. Hughes had to plan and manage the logistics to feed thousands of men, offer the basic necessities for personal hygiene, and get the new recruits accustomed to military life. It was a daunting task.
The coordination of those operations was a complex puzzle. Moreover, Sam Hughes was quite the authoritarian: he wanted results quickly, and could not bear dealing with bureaucratic delays or being told of impracticalities.
To ease the clog of recruits in Valcartier and to benefit from the British facilities in England, where officers at all levels of the chain of command were available, the decision was made to regularly send contingents to the camps at Salisbury Plain near Plymouth, England. There, additional training in hand-to-hand combat and arms-handling techniques would be completed.
In Salisbury the soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) received their final training from British officers. Th is was all the more valuable since the Canadian Divisions were later integrated into the British Forces and served under British command. They would only serve under Canadian authority later in the war, after the Canadian victories at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April and at Hill 70 in August 1917, when Lieutenant General Arthur Currie was appointed head of command of the Canadian troops, and well after they had undergone combat on several occasions and proved their effectiveness on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Canada developed an impressive military industrial capacity in less than three years; more than six hundred manufacturers were established for the supply of military armaments and equipment, totalling 260,000 workers, and thereby becoming the single largest employer in the country. That capacity allowed Canada to supply two-thirds of the shells used by the British Forces: this was a significant achievement for a country that had produced none before August 1914. Canada developed a new aeronautics industry and trained fighter aces who became famous, such as Billy Bishop.
When Borden decided to add a 4th Canadian Division, increasing the level of recruits to five hundred thousand, and to impose conscription in late 1917, the government had opened and operated military bases at Petawawa and Niagara Falls, expanded the facilities in Saint-Jean, Québec, and in Kingston, Ontario, and developed and perfected its training capacity to manage and support a completely autonomous army.
By the end of the war, the CEF had grown into a full army with an experienced chain of command; its members were awarded twenty-two Victoria Crosses for bravery and outstanding service. It was a stunning achievement by any standard, having been started from scratch only four years before with few resources. Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles ending the war in June 1919 under its own name, and became a full member of the League of Nations as a sovereign country, capable of signing peace and declaring war, with a mature army under full Canadian command.
Le 4 août 1914, la Grande-Bretagne ayant déclaré la guerre à l'Allemagne, le Dominion du Canada, à l'instar des autres États membres de l'Empire britannique, se retrouva automatiquement en guerre. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, alors chef de l'Opposition, affirmait le 17 août à la Chambre des communes: «Quand la Grande-Bretagne est en guerre, le Canada suit.»
Si la déclaration de guerre n'appartenait qu'à la Grande-Bretagne, le Canada était seul à décider de l'ampleur de sa participation. Néanmoins, la Grande-Bretagne s'attendait à une contribution importante de notre part. Lors des élections fédérales de 1911, alors que les bruits de guerre couraient déjà en Europe, conservateurs et libéraux n'avaient pas fait les mêmes promesses aux électeurs. Les conservateurs de Borden proposaient une contribution de l'ordre de cinquante millions de dollars en cas de guerre, alors que les libéraux de Laurier limitaient la dépense à l'acquisition de trois navires de guerre, qui feraient partie de la flotte impériale mais battraient pavillon canadien.
Laurier défait, ce fut Borden à l'été de 1914 qui dicta le degré de participation du Canada. Borden rappela le Parlement le 15 août et, tel qu'il l'avait promis, proposa aux Communes de voter un emprunt de cinquante millions de dollars, d'adopter la Loi sur les mesures de guerre ainsi que toute une série de projets de loi de circonstance.
Cependant, la capacité qu'avait le Canada d'appuyer substantiellement l'effort de guerre britannique était quasiment nulle: le Canada n'avait pas de troupes, pas d'officiers, pas de matériel, et le pays ne produi sait à peu près pas de munitions. Il fallait tout inventer presque du jour au lendemain. Aux prises avec cette réalité, la promesse de Borden de fournir trois divisions canadiennes à l'armée britannique, c'est-à-dire plus de cinquante mille hommes, frisait l'imprudence. L'homme chargé de cette mission presque impossible avait pour nom Sam Hughes, député de l'ancien comté de Victoria en Ontario et ministre de la Milice et de la Défense. En dépit des obstacles apparemment insurmontables qui l'attendaient, il avait l'ambition et la haute idée de lui-même qu'il fallait pour assumer cette responsabilité colossale.
Au début de la guerre, le Canada ne disposait que d'une petite force de milice d'environ cinq mille hommes. Tous étaient des volontaires qui s'assemblaient deux ou trois fois l'an, se contentant de défiler lors des grandes occasions, mais ne disposant pas d'un entraînement professionnel digne de ce nom. La seule autre unité était The Royal Dragoons, un contingent formé en 1883 qui avait combattu lors du soulèvement de Batoche en 1885 et plus tard dans la guerre des Boers. Abstraction faite de leurs états de service, la plupart de ces soldats n'étaient plus de la première jeunesse en 1914. Déployés le 3 octobre 1914, les Dragoons royaux furent les premiers soldats canadiens à prendre pied sur le champ de bataille le 5 mai 1915.
Sam Hughes était décidé à forger une véritable armée, bien équipée. Il avait toujours rêvé de commander une telle force. Il fit l'acquisition d'un vaste espace à Valcartier, près de Québec, et en fit vite un camp d'entraînement. On y initia aux rudiments de la vie militaire la horde de jeunes zélés qui voulaient être de cette aventure dont le but était de secourir les «vieux pays». Étant donné que ces recrues n'avaient aucune formation militaire, le premier objectif consistait à leur enseigner le minimum: le b.a-ba de la discipline, les règles basiques de la protection au combat, défensif et off ensif, la capacité d'anticiper les signes de danger, la vigilance, le port de charges lourdes, et toutes les compétences requises sur le champ de bataille sur le plan de l'infanterie, de l'artillerie, de la cavalerie et des communications entre les unités privées de lignes téléphoniques. Hughes devait planifier et gérer la logistique qu'exigeaient l'alimentation de milliers d'hommes, l'installation des nécessités sanitaires et l'initiation des rec rues à la vie militaire. Sa tâche était immense.
La coordination de toutes ces opérations représentait un véritable casse-tête. Or, Sam Hughes n'était pas la patience incarnée: il voulait des résultats sur-le-champ, et il ne tolérait pas que la bureaucratie traîne les pieds ou qu'on lui parle d'empêchements quelconques.
Pour alléger l'afflux des recrues à Valcartier et profiter des installations de l'armée britannique en Angleterre, où l'on trouvait aisément des officiers de tous grades, il fut décidé d'acheminer régulièrement des eff ectifs aux camps de la plaine de Salisbury près de Plymouth. L'on comptait y parachever l'entraînement au combat au corps à corps et la formation au maniement des armes.
À Salisbury, les soldats du Corps expéditionnaire canadien (CEC) reçurent leur formation définitive aux mains des officiers britanniques. Chose d'autant plus utile étant donné que les divisions canadiennes devaient être plus tard intégrées aux forces britanniques et servir sous commandement également britannique. Elles ne serviraient sous commandement canadien que plus tard dans la guerre, après les victoires des nôtres à Vimy et à la Colline 70 en août 1917, lorsque le lieutenant-général Arthur Currie fut nommé à la tête des troupes canadiennes, et longtemps après qu'elles eurent subi l'épreuve du feu à plusieurs occasions et prouvé leur valeur au champ d'honneur.
Entre-temps, le Canada avait acquis des capacités militaro-industrielles impressionnantes en moins de trois ans. Plus de six cents manufactures fournissaient à l'armée canadienne armements et matériel, pour un eff ectif total de 260 000 ouvriers, devenant au passage le plus grand employeur au pays. Ces capacités permirent au Canada de produire deux tiers des obus employés par les forces britanniques, exploit remarquable pour un pays qui n'en avait pas fabriqué un seul avant août 1914. Le Canada se dota d'une nouvelle industrie aéronautique et forma des as pilotes qui se couvrirent de gloire. Billy Bishop était un de ceux-là.
Quand Borden décida d'ajouter une quatrième division afin d'augmenter le nombre de recrues à cinq cent mille, et d'imposer la conscription à la fin de 1917, le gouvernement avait déjà ouvert des bases à Petawawa et Niagara Falls, agrandi les installations existantes de Saint-Jean, au Québec, et de Kingston, en Ontario, et perfectionné l'entraînement au point de pouvoir gérer et soutenir une armée parfaitement autonome.
À la fin de la guerre, le CEC était devenu une armée en règle avec à sa tête une chaîne de commandement aguerrie (ses membres avaient reçu vingt-deux Croix de Victoria pour bravoure et service exemplaire). Réalisation sans pareille, quel que soit le point de vue où on se place: cette armée étant partie d'à peu près rien quatre années auparavant. Le Canada apposa sa signature au bas du Traité de Versailles en juin 1919 et devint un pays membre à part entière de la Ligue des nations à titre de pays souverain, apte à signer des traités de paix et à déclarer la guerre, avec une armée évoluée sous commandement intégralement canadien.
CHAPTER 2THE BATTLEFIELD
LE CHAMP DE BATAILLE
Timothy C. Winegard
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 1916, sixteen-year-old Private William Winegard of the 21st Canadian Infantry Battalion peered over his trench parapet across a desolate No Man's Land toward the German trenches. His unit was holding a portion of the line south of Ypres, Belgium, near the rubbled town of Wytschaete, which by now was nothing more than a name on a map, long erased by years of incessant artillery barrages. Private Winegard scanned the 150 metres of muddied, pockmarked landscape between his raiding party and their objective. There were no trees and no signs of life, save for the engorged rats and a few feral dogs feeding on the decaying dead littering the stewed battlefield. He could hear faint German voices, and the whining echo of distant artillery shells. It was time.
The raiding party, consisting of William, his older brothers Claude and Adam, and five other mates, wriggled under the wire. Eight young men silently slithered across the quagmire of No Man's Land to execute a prisoner raid; vital intelligence gathering for the impending Canadian offensive at St. Eloi Craters. It was a complete surprise when the raiders entered the German trench, nabbed two prisoners, and quickly exited in a hasty, bullet-riddled retreat toward the protection of the Canadian lines — two German prisoners but only seven Canadians — William was missing.
His disheartened brothers surveyed the wreckage, yearning to catch a glimpse of movement. They finally spotted William methodically dragging himself from one sodden shell hole to another. As William approached the Canadian line, Claude scrambled out of the trench and hauled his brother to safety. William had been shot through his right calf. Using a rudimentary stretcher fashioned from an overcoat, the escorted German prisoners carried him through the communication and successive reserve trenches, past the artillery positions and supply depots, to an aid post in the rear before surrendering themselves for interrogation. William's war, at least on the calamitous, bloodied battle fields of the Western Front, was over.
Like so many other young Canadians who rushed to enlist, my great-grandfather William had never left his sleepy hometown of Collingwood, Ontario, until he enlisted at the age of fifteen with dreams of glory in service of king and country. These chivalrous illusions perished on the industrialized front lines of Flanders Fields amid modern artillery, aircraft, machine guns, gas, and tanks. Following hospital convalescence in France and England, William was discharged back to Canada for being underage. He never did make it all the way back home to Collingwood. Disembarking at Montreal, he immediately joined the Canadian Navy, untruthful once more about his age. William served out the remainder of the war on a minesweeper patrolling the coast of West Africa. All three Winegard brothers, having fought for over three and a half years, survived the war.
This story was told to me personally by my stoic great-grandfather and is a fragment of my First World War lineage and of my bond to the Great War. It is, however, also a story shared by millions of other Canadians. From a total population of just over seven million, 620,000 Canadians served during the war, with 425,000 serving overseas. Roughly 61,000 Canadians were killed, while another 172,000 were wounded on the eviscerated battlefields. For our country the war was, and is, inescapable and continues to be our Great War a century later.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "They Fought in Colour La Guerre en Couleur"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Vimy Foundation.
Excerpted by permission of Dundurn Press.
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Table of Contents
PréfaceAvant-propos — Paul Gross
Chapitre 1 : Entraînement et préparation — L’honorable Serge Joyal, c.p.
Chapitre 2 : Le champ de bataille — Timothy C. Winegard
Chapitre 3 : La guerre et la médecine — Tim Cook
Chapitre 4 : La vie dans les tranchées — Charlotte Gray
Chapitre 5 : Les communications — Rick Hansen
Chapitre 6 : Sports et les divertissements — Stephen Brunt
Chapitre 7 : Technologie et innovation — Lee Windsor
Chapitre 8 : La vie derrière les lignes — Hugh Brewster
Chapitre 9 : Le front intérieur — Margaret Atwood
Chapitre 10 : Le retour au pays — R.H. Thomson
Le mot de la fin — Peter Mansbridge
Remerciements
Collaborateurs
Légendes des photos et crédits images
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