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World Context
Victory
The war ended for the Canadians with a victory on November 11, 1918,
in the Belgian city of Mons, the same city in which the British had suffered
their first defeat at the hands of the Germans in 1914. The war, the single greatest
conflagration the world had ever seen, had come full circle. All around, German
soldiers were surrendering; the Kaiser had abdicated on November 10 and fled
to neutral Holland. The war was over and the Canadians, a rough-and-tumble group
of volunteers, had played a key role.
In the final 100 days of the war, the Canadian Corps – four divisions
strong – under the direction of the brilliant military tactician Sir Arthur
Currie, won battle after battle. In the hardest fighting of the war, Canadians
showed immense courage and skill, defeating 50 German divisions and gaining every
objective.
The price for these achievements was high: |
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General
Currie at Mons
General
Sir Arthur Currie, General Loomis and officers take the salute of the march past
in the Grand Place at the centre of Mons, the city they liberated, on November
11, 1918. |
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