Battles

November 2 1917

Dear Ada,

I’m in a tad bit of a rush at the moment, but I write to you again about this horrible battle by the name of Passchendaele. We were thrown in there to help out the British. Up to this point, Passchendaele was held by the Germans. About half a month ago, we arrived in Flanders and were greeted by the awful conditions. The battlefield was and continues to be a mud pit. It is mud, mud, and nothing but mud. The shell holes flooded with water and we were forced to sit in them, the other choice being left out in the open to get hit by a whiz bang. Because of the mud and constant rain, we couldn’t dig trenches, and our clothes are wet all the time. We were ordered to win an allied victory. And that we did. 

But while I’m at it, let me tell you about another battle, Vimy Ridge.  At Vimy Ridge was the first time all four divisions of our Canadian Corps fought together; we certainly got much accomplished. I remember clearly that Easter Monday, early in the morning when we were ordered to open fire and advance. Although there was a great number of casualties, and it seemed like everywhere I looked there was either someone injured or dead, we took Vimy in the end. 

Seems as though us Canadians are finally breaking away from the British and making a name for ourselves!

With heaps of love,

Grant

 

The Battle of Passchendaele. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 Nov. 1967. The CBC Digital Archives Website. Web. Transcript. 27 Nov. 2010. <http://archives.cbc.ca/‌war_conflict/‌first_world_war/‌clips/‌5567/>.

A Field of Mud. N.d. George Metcalf Archival Collection . Canadian War Museum. Web. 26 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌photo-e.aspx?PageId=2.B.1.i&photo=3.E.2.ae&f=%2fcwm%2fexhibitions%2fguerre%2fpasschendaele-e.aspx&p=1>.

“Passchendaele.” Canadian War Museum. Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌passchendaele-e.aspx>.

Vimy Fortifications. N.d. George Metcalf Archival Collection . Canadian War Museum. Web. 26 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌photo-e.aspx?PageId=2.B.1.g&photo=3.E.2.r&f=%2fcwm%2fexhibitions%2fguerre%2fvimy-ridge-e.aspx&p=1>.