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111-572: The SALH is part of 41 Canadian Brigade Group of the 3rd Canadian Division , and is based in Medicine Hat , Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alberta . The South Alberta Light Horse traces its beginnings to the period of the Riel Rebellion of 1885. During this conflict the Rocky Mountain Rangers (RMR) of Fort Macleod , which comprised 150 officers and men, were tasked with the protection of

222-463: A First World War artillery unit as an ancestor: 22nd (Howitzer) Battery, CFA, CEF. The battery landed in France on 19 January 1916, where it served as part of the 6th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Divisional Artillery until the end of the war. The battery was demobilized at Hamilton, 25 May 1919, and was disbanded on 1 November 1920. The battery is perpetuated by the 22nd Field Battery, RCA , Gleichen Alberta. Of

333-661: A Flanders campaign after the spring offensive. The plan for a year of attrition offensives on the Western Front, with the main effort to be made in the summer by the BEF, was scrapped by the new French Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle in favour of a return to a strategy of decisive battle. Nivelle planned preliminary offensives to pin German reserves by the British at Arras and the French between

444-455: A Flanders offensive were produced between January 1916 and May 1917, in which the writers tried to relate the offensive resources available to the terrain and the likely German defence. In early 1916, the importance of the capture of the Gheluvelt plateau for an advance further north was emphasised by Haig and the army commanders. On 14 February 1917, Colonel Norman MacMullen of GHQ proposed that

555-455: A German attack at Verdun from 28 to 29 June, which captured some of the French jumping-off points. A French counter-attack on 17 July re-captured the ground, the Germans regained it on 1 August, then took ground on the east bank on 16 August. The French attacked on 20 August and by 9 September had taken 10,000 prisoners. Sporadic fighting continued into October, adding to the German difficulties on

666-477: A Meteorological Section under Ernest Gold in 1915, which by the end of 1917 had 16 officers and 82 men. The section predicted the warm weather and thunderstorms of 7 to 14 June; in a letter to the press of 17 January 1958, Gold wrote that the facts of the Flanders climate contradicted Charteris. In 1989, Philip Griffiths examined August weather in Flanders for the thirty years before 1916 and found that, ...there

777-528: A breakthrough. On 16 May, Haig wrote that he had divided the Flanders operation into two parts, one to take Messines Ridge and the main attack several weeks later. British determination to clear the Belgian coast took on more urgency after the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917. On 1 May 1917, Haig wrote that the Nivelle Offensive had weakened the German army but that an attempt at

888-897: A coastal attack to clear the coast to the Dutch border. Associated articles Minor operations took place in the Ypres salient in 1916, some being German initiatives to distract the Allies from their preparations for the offensive at Verdun and later attempts to divert Allied resources from the Battle of the Somme. Other operations were begun by the British to regain territory or to evict the Germans from ground overlooking their positions. Engagements took place on 12 February at Boesinghe and on 14 February at Hooge and Sanctuary Wood. There were actions from 14 to 15 February and 1 to 4 March at The Bluff , 27 March – 16 April at

999-405: A decisive blow would be premature. The wearing-out process would continue on a front where the Germans had no room to retreat. Even limited success would improve the tactical situation in the Ypres salient, reducing the exceptional wastage, even in quiet periods. In early May, Haig set the date for the Flanders offensive, the attack on Messines Ridge to begin on 7 June. The Russian army conducted

1110-582: A junction of the Bruges -(Brugge)-to- Kortrijk railway. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army . Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured, the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout (now Torhout ) to Couckelaere ( Koekelare ). Further operations and a British supporting attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuport ( Nieuwpoort ), combined with an amphibious landing ( Operation Hush ), were to have reached Bruges and then

1221-457: A lack of resources. The Germans conducted their own Flanders offensive at the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April – 15 May 1915), making the Ypres salient more costly to defend. Sir Douglas Haig succeeded Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF on 19 December. A week after his appointment, Haig met Rear-Admiral Reginald Bacon , who emphasised the importance of obtaining control of

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1332-538: A plain further north. Gradients vary from negligible, to 1:60 at Hooge and 1:33 at Zonnebeke. Underneath the soil is London clay , sand and silt; according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission categories of sand , sandy soils and well-balanced soils , Messines ridge is well-balanced soil and the ground around Ypres is sandy soil. The ground is drained by many streams, canals and ditches, which need regular maintenance. Since 1914 much of

1443-567: A shallower depth than on 31 July, like the Fifth Army attacks in August. The shorter and quicker advances possible once the ground dried were intended to be consolidated on tactically advantageous ground, especially on any reverse slopes in the area, with the infantry still in contact with the artillery and aircraft, ready to repulse counter-attacks. The faster tempo of operations was intended to add to German difficulties in replacing tired divisions through

1554-513: A similar length of front south of the Menin road, with three front divisions and three Eingreif divisions. The Eingreif divisions were stationed behind the Menin and Passchendaele ridges. About 5 mi (8.0 km) further back, were four more Eingreif divisions and 7 mi (11 km) beyond them, another two in OHL reserve. The Germans were anxious that the British would attempt to exploit

1665-695: Is 66 ft (20 m) above sea level; Bixschoote 4 mi (6.4 km) to the north is at 28 ft (8.5 m). To the east the land is at 66–82 ft (20–25 m) for several miles, with the Steenbeek river at 49 ft (15 m) near St Julien. There is a low ridge from Messines, 260 ft (80 m) at its highest point, running north-east past Clapham Junction at the west end of Gheluvelt plateau ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles from Ypres at 213 ft (65 m) and Gheluvelt, above 160 ft (50 m) to Passchendaele, ( 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles from Ypres at 160 ft (50 m) declining from there to

1776-529: Is Chief Warrant Officer Marcel A.R. Chenier. There are several Royal Canadian Army Cadets units spread across Alberta that are affiliated to the South Alberta Light Horse. Cadet units affiliated to the South Alberta Light Horse receive support and also are entitled to wear traditional regimental accoutrements on their uniforms. 41 Canadian Brigade Group 41 Canadian Brigade Group (41 CBG; French: 41 Groupe-brigade du Canada )

1887-629: Is a Canadian Army formation of the 3rd Canadian Division . The formation is composed of Army Reserve units within the province of Alberta and the Northwest Territories . The headquarters of the brigade is in Calgary . The brigade has an establishment of 2,500 all ranks. The role of the Army Reserve is to be "a professional part-time force that provides local engagement and a responsive integrated capability, at home or abroad, in sustainment of

1998-419: Is no reason to suggest that the weather broke early in the month with any regularity. From 1901 to 1916, records from a weather station at Cap Gris Nez showed that 65 per cent of August days were dry and that from 1913 to 1916, there were 26, 23, 23 and 21 rainless days and monthly rainfall of 17, 28, 22 and 96 mm (0.67, 1.10, 0.87 and 3.78 in); ...during the summers preceding

2109-743: Is now was formed in Calgary in 1954. At the beginning of the First World War, the Alberta militia units destined to become part of SALH were four cavalry regiments – 15th Light Horse in Calgary, 19th Alberta Dragoons in Edmonton, 21st Alberta Hussars in Medicine Hat and 23rd Alberta Rangers in Fort Macleod – and two infantry regiments ( 101st Regiment "Edmonton Fusiliers" and 103rd Regiment "Calgary Rifles" ). In

2220-471: The Luftstreitkräfte were transferred from the 4th Army. After setting objectives 1–2 mi (1.6–3.2 km) distant on 31 July, the British attempted shorter advances of approximately 1,500 yd (1,400 m) in August but were unable to achieve these lesser objectives in the south of the battlefield, because the rain soaked ground and poor visibility were to the advantage of the defenders. After

2331-474: The 1st Canadian Division in France and the Canadian Corps was formed, the squadron was attached to the corps and became A Squadron, Canadian Light Horse, CEF . The troopers of this squadron wore 19th Alberta Dragoon badges throughout the war. Also recruited by SALH's predecessors were three regiments of Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR): the 3rd, 12th and 13th. The 3rd Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF ,

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2442-469: The 61 hours before 6:00 p.m. on 31 July, 12.5 mm (0.49 in) fell. From 6:00 p.m. on 31 July to 6:00 p.m. on 4 August, there was another 63 mm (2.5 in) of rain. August 1917 had three dry days and 14 days with less than 1 mm (0.039 in) of rain. Three days were sunless and one had six minutes of sunshine; from 1 to 27 August there were 178.1 hours of sunshine, an average of 6.6 hours per day. Hussey wrote that

2553-468: The 6th Canadian Infantry Division and one for the 8th Canadian Infantry Division . Both these divisions were home defence formations that did not go overseas. Meanwhile, the 31st (Alberta) Reconnaissance Regiment had served in the Calgary area until January 1945 when it was shipped to England. It was disbanded a month later and broken up for reinforcements. The end of the war saw the re-emergence of The South Alberta Regiment (infantry) in Medicine Hat and

2664-668: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), did not receive approval for the Flanders operation from the War Cabinet until 25 July. Matters of dispute by the participants, writers and historians since 1917 include the wisdom of pursuing an offensive strategy in the wake of the Nivelle Offensive , rather than waiting for the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France. Remaining controversial are

2775-731: The Chief of Staff of the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL, supreme army command), ordered an attack towards Dunkirk and Calais, followed by a turn south behind the Allied armies, to gain a decisive victory. On 16 October, the Belgians and some French reinforcements began the defence of western Belgium and the French Channel ports, at the Battle of the Yser . When the German offensive failed, Falkenhayn ordered

2886-584: The First World War , instead of mobilising the Canadian militia to send overseas, new units were formed from volunteers of the militia and general public. The militia units generally became organizations for recruiting, induction and preliminary training for the new units. The 19th Alberta Dragoons recruited the 1st Divisional Cavalry Squadron, CEF , which landed in France in February 1915. After other divisions joined

2997-524: The GHQ 1917 plan and the instructions he had received from Haig. Gough held meetings with his corps commanders on 6 and 16 June, where the third objective, which included the Wilhelmstellung (third line), a second-day objective in earlier plans, was added to the two objectives due to be taken on the first day. A fourth objective, the red line, was also given for the first day, to be attempted by fresh troops, at

3108-619: The Second Army commander, Haig endorsed the Fifth Army plan. The British attack began at 3:50 a.m. on 31 July; the attack was to commence at dawn but a layer of unbroken low cloud meant that it was still dark when the infantry advanced. The main attack, by II Corps across the Ghelveult Plateau to the south, confronted the principal German defensive concentration of artillery, ground-holding divisions ( Stellungsdivisionen ) and Eingreif divisions. The attack had most success on

3219-581: The South Alberta Regiment in Medicine Hat). The 15th Alberta Light Horse contributed to several active service units, including the 31st (Alberta) Reconnaissance Regiment which remained in the Calgary area until the last year of the war. The South Alberta Regiment, recruited an active service battalion in the Medicine Hat area in the summer of 1940. This infantry unit trained in Canada until 1942 when it

3330-641: The St Eloi Craters and the Battle of Mont Sorrel from 2 to 13 June. In January 1917, the Second Army (General Herbert Plumer ) with the II Anzac, IX, X and VIII corps, held the Western Front in Flanders from Laventie to Boesinghe, with eleven divisions and up to two in reserve. There was much trench mortaring, mining and raiding by both sides and from January to May, the Second Army suffered 20,000 casualties. In May, reinforcements began arriving in Flanders from

3441-442: The 15th Alberta Light Horse (armoured) in Calgary. The 15th however, was not to keep its name, and it was united with the 22nd Field Battery and renamed 68th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RCA. This remained until 1954 when it united with The South Alberta Regiment of Medicine Hat and the 41st Anti-Tank Regiment out of Calgary to become The South Alberta Light Horse (29th Armoured Regiment) out of Calgary. In 1958 "29th Armoured Regiment"

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3552-466: The 1860s. Preparations for operations in Flanders began in 1915, with the doubling of the Hazebrouck–Ypres rail line and the building of a new line from Bergues to Proven, which was doubled in early 1917. Progress on roads, rail lines, railheads and spurs in the Second Army zone was continuous and by mid-1917, gave the area the most efficient supply system of the BEF. Several plans and memoranda for

3663-456: The 6th Infantry Brigade) participated in the first tank attack in history at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916, while A Squadron, Canadian Light Horse, made the last cavalry charge in Canadian history at the battle of Iwuy on 10 October 1918. This means that among the predecessor units of the SALH, one participated in the first military operation involving the tank and another mounted

3774-520: The Alberta-based Army Reserve units since 1910: Battle of Passchendaele Battles of Ypres, 1917 Associated articles 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles The Third Battle of Ypres (German: Dritte Flandernschlacht ; French: Troisième Bataille des Flandres ; Dutch : Derde Slag om Ieper ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( / ˈ p æ ʃ ən d eɪ l / PASH -ən-dayl ),

3885-592: The Army mission." Most of the soldiers within the brigade serve part time in units or sub-units stationed in their communities. As the Canadian Army generates task-specific units for employment on expeditionary and domestic operations under the command of the Canadian Joint Operations Command , 41 CBG, as a force generator, is tasked with the following: There are two constants in the organization of

3996-419: The Belgian coast, to end the threat posed by German U-boats . Haig was sceptical of a coastal operation, believing that a landing from the sea would be far more difficult than anticipated and that an advance along the coast would require so much preparation, that the Germans would have ample warning. Haig preferred an advance from Ypres, to bypass the flooded area around the Yser and the coast, before attempting

4107-481: The British artillery was less able to suppress them. The attack removed the Germans from the dominating ground on the southern face of the Ypres salient, which the 4th Army had held since the First Battle of Ypres in 1914. Haig selected Gough to command the offensive on 30 April and on 10 June Gough and the Fifth Army headquarters took over the Ypres salient north of Messines Ridge. Gough planned an offensive based on

4218-623: The British government. On 23 January, Haig wrote that it would take six weeks to move British troops and equipment to Flanders and on 14 March, noted that the Messines Ridge operation could begin in May. On 21 March, he wrote to Nivelle that it would take two months to prepare the offensive from Messines to Steenstraat but that the Messines operation could be ready in five or six weeks. The main French attack took place from 9 April to 9 May and failed to achieve

4329-414: The British made time to establish a defence in depth on captured ground, protected by standing artillery barrages. The British attacked in dry, clear conditions, with more aircraft over the battlefield for counter-attack reconnaissance, contact patrol and ground-attack operations. Systematic defensive artillery-fire was forfeited by the Germans, due to uncertainty over the position of their infantry, just when

4440-500: The British of ground observation over the Steenbeek Valley, while the Germans could see the area from Passchendaele Ridge, allowing German infantry to be supported by observed artillery-fire. Loßberg's judgement was accepted and no withdrawal was made. The first stage in the British plan was a preparatory attack on the German positions south of Ypres at Messines Ridge. The Germans on the ridge had observation over Ypres and unless it

4551-642: The British) and Hill 63. West of Messines Ridge is the parallel Wulverghem ( Spanbroekmolen ) Spur and on the east side, the Oosttaverne Spur, which is also parallel to the main ridge. The general aspect south and east of Ypres, is one of low ridges and dips, gradually flattening northwards beyond Passchendaele, into a featureless plain. Possession of the higher ground to the south and east of Ypres, gives an army ample scope for ground observation, enfilade fire and converging artillery bombardments. An occupier also has

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4662-554: The British, the effect of the exceptional weather, the decision to continue the offensive in October and the human costs of the campaign. Belgium had been recognised in the Treaty of London (1839) as a sovereign and neutral state after the secession of the southern provinces of the Netherlands in 1830. The German invasion of Belgium on 4 August 1914, in violation of Article VII of the treaty,

4773-586: The City of Medicine Hat In 2006, the SALH formally amalgamated with the nil-strength 19th Alberta Dragoons , a regiment that had been on the Supplementary Order of Battle since 1965, and now officially maintains the battle honours and traditions of its Edmonton predecessors. In the Spring of 2015, the regiment sought and received permission to detach 3 Troop, A Squadron from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge, as recruiting in

4884-537: The Dutch frontier. Although a general withdrawal had seemed inevitable in early October, the Germans were able to avoid one due to the resistance of the 4th Army, unusually wet weather in August, the beginning of the autumn rains in October and the diversion of British and French resources to Italy . The campaign ended in November, when the Canadian Corps captured Passchendaele, apart from local attacks in December and early in

4995-412: The Fifth Army during its slow and costly progress in August. After a pause of about three weeks, Plumer intended to capture the plateau in four steps, with six-day intervals to bring forward artillery and supplies. The Second Army attacks were to remain limited and infantry brigade tactics were changed to attack the first objective with a battalion each and the final one with two battalions, the opposite of

5106-501: The Fifth Army practice on 31 July, to adapt to the dispersed defences being encountered between the Albrechtstellung and the Wilhelmstellung . Plumer arranged for the medium and heavy artillery reinforcements reaching Flanders to be added to the creeping bombardment, which had been impossible with the amount of artillery available to the Fifth Army. The tactical changes ensured that more infantry attacked on narrower fronts, to

5217-520: The First Quartermaster General, suggested to Crown Prince Rupprecht that Group Ypres should withdraw to the Wilhelmstellung , leaving only outposts in the Albrechtstellung . On 30 June, the army group Chief of Staff, General von Kuhl , suggested a withdrawal to the Flandern I Stellung along Passchendaele ridge, meeting the old front line in the north near Langemarck and Armentières in

5328-417: The Flanders campaign August days were more often dry than wet. There were 127 mm (5.0 in) of rain in August 1917 and 84 mm (3.3 in) of the total fell on 1, 8, 14, 26 and 27 August. The month was overcast and windless, which much reduced evaporation. Divided into two ten-day and an eleven-day period, there were 53.6, 32.4 and 41.3 mm (2.11, 1.28 and 1.63 in) of rain; in

5439-696: The French commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre and the other Allies met at Chantilly . The commanders agreed on a strategy of simultaneous attacks, to overwhelm the Central Powers on the Western , Eastern and Italian fronts, by the first fortnight of February 1917. A meeting in London of the Admiralty and the General Staff urged that the Flanders operation be undertaken in 1917 and Joffre replied on 8 December, agreeing to

5550-478: The German 6th Army in the operation. The capture of Hill 70 was a costly success in which three Canadian divisions inflicted many casualties on the German divisions opposite and pinned down troops reserved for the relief of tired divisions in Flanders. Hermann von Kuhl , chief of staff of Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht, wrote later that it was a costly defeat and wrecked the plan for relieving fought-out (exhausted) divisions in Flanders. The Battle of Langemarck

5661-512: The Germans continued to inflict many losses on the British divisions beyond Langemarck but on 19 August, after two fine dry days, XVIII Corps conducted a novel infantry, tank, aircraft and artillery operation. German strongpoints and pillboxes along the St Julien–Poelcappelle road in front of the Wilhelmstellung were captured. On 22 August, more ground was gained by XIX and XVIII corps but the tactical disadvantage of being overlooked by

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5772-510: The Germans continued. A II Corps attack on the Gheluvelt Plateau from 22 to 24 August, to capture Nonne Bosschen, Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse, failed in fighting that was costly to both sides. Gough laid down a new infantry formation of skirmish lines to be followed by "worms" on 24 August and Cavan noted that pillboxes should be attacked on a broad front, to engage them simultaneously. Another general offensive intended for 25 August,

5883-660: The Germans several costly defensive successes. After the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge , German tactics were changed. After another defeat on 26 September, the German commanders made more tactical changes to counter the more conservative form of limited attacks adopted by the British. German counter-attacks in September had been "assaults on reinforced field positions", due to the restrained nature of British infantry advances. The fine weather in early September had greatly eased British supply difficulties, especially in ammunition and

5994-669: The Germans took the islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Riga . The British and French commanders on the Western Front had to reckon on the German western army ( Westheer ) being strengthened by reinforcements from the Ostheer on the Eastern Front by late 1917. Haig wished to exploit the diversion of German forces in Russia for as long as it continued and urged the British War Cabinet to commit

6105-412: The Gheluvelt Plateau in August but its casualties worsened the German manpower shortage. Haig transferred the main offensive effort to the Second Army on 25 August and moved the northern boundary of the Second Army closer to the Ypres–Roulers railway. More heavy artillery was sent to Flanders from the armies further south and placed opposite the Gheluvelt Plateau. Plumer continued the tactical evolution of

6216-433: The II Corps area, the disappointment of 10 August was repeated, with the infantry managing to advance, then being isolated by German artillery and forced back to their start line by German counter-attacks, except in the 25th Division area near Westhoek. Attempts by the German infantry to advance further were stopped by British artillery-fire with many casualties. The advance further north in the XVIII Corps area retook and held

6327-516: The Kerensky Offensive in Galicia , to honour the agreement struck with the Allies at the Chantilly meeting of 15 to 16 November 1916. After a brief period of success from 1 to 19 July, the Russian offensive was contained by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, which counter-attacked and forced the Russian armies to retreat. On the Baltic coast from 1 to 5 September 1917, the Germans attacked with their strategic reserve of six divisions and captured Riga . In Operation Albion (September–October 1917),

6438-408: The Lethbridge region had been successful enough to support several troopers travelling to Medicine Hat on a weekly basis for training. As this group grew, it became possible to detach 3 Troop to its own lines co-located with the 20th Independent Field Battery, RCA, at the Vimy Ridge Armoury in Lethbridge. The regiment is presently training with the new Textron Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle , which

6549-623: The Northern Operation and the coastal force, although Cabinet approval for the offensive was not granted until 21 June. The 4th Army held a front of 25 mi (40 km) with three Gruppen , composed of a corps headquarters and a varying complement of divisions; Group Staden, based on the headquarters of the Guards Reserve Corps was added later. Group Dixmude held 12 mi (19 km) with four front divisions and two Eingreif divisions, Group Ypres held 6 mi (9.7 km) from Pilckem to Menin Road with three front divisions and two Eingreif divisions and Group Wijtschate held

6660-417: The SALH, was raised in Calgary on July 3, 1905. It consisted of four newly organized cavalry squadrons: Calgary (A Squadron), Fort MacLeod (B Squadron), High River (C Squadron), and Cochrane (D Squadron). From this point until the mid-1950s the regiment's history can be described as a series of complicated amalgamations and redesignations of Alberta army reserve units of all arms until the regiment as it

6771-401: The Somme and the Oise , then a French breakthrough offensive on the Aisne , followed by pursuit and exploitation. Haig had reservations and on 6 January Nivelle agreed to a proviso that if the first two parts of the operation failed to lead to a breakthrough, the operations would be stopped and the British could move their forces north for the Flanders offensive, which was of great importance to

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6882-460: The Western Front and elsewhere. Ludendorff wrote On the left bank, close to the Meuse, one division had failed ... and yet both here and in Flanders everything possible had been done to avoid failure ... The French army was once more capable of the offensive. It had quickly overcome its depression. No German counter-attack was possible because the local Eingreif divisions had been transferred to Flanders. The 4th Army had held on to

6993-403: The advantage that artillery deployments and the movement of reinforcements, supplies and stores can be screened from view. The ridge had woods from Wytschaete to Zonnebeke giving good cover, some being of notable size, like Polygon Wood and those later named Battle Wood, Shrewsbury Forest and Sanctuary Wood . In 1914, the woods usually had undergrowth but by 1917, artillery bombardments had reduced

7104-464: The area east of Ypres was defended by the front position, the Albrechtstellung (second position), Wilhelmstellung (third position), Flandern I Stellung (fourth position), Flandern II Stellung (fifth position) and Flandern III Stellung , the sixth position (incomplete). Between the German defences lay villages such as Zonnebeke and Passchendaele, which were fortified and prepared for all-round defence. On 25 June, Erich Ludendorff ,

7215-406: The area ranging from the U.S. border to the High River and from the Rockies to Medicine Hat . The RMR saw no action during their three months of existence during the rebellion, and the SALH carries the battle honour "North West Canada, 1885" on their colours. This irregular light cavalry unit is seen as the true genesis of the regiment. The 15th Light Horse , the official direct ancestor of

7326-521: The black line (second objective) on the Gheluvelt plateau. The infantry advance succeeded but German artillery-fire and infantry counter-attacks isolated the infantry of the 18th (Eastern) Division in Glencorse Wood. At about 7:00 p.m., German infantry attacked behind a smokescreen and recaptured all but the north-west corner of the wood; only the 25th Division gains on Westhoek Ridge to the north were held. Lieutenant-Colonel Albrecht von Thaer , Chief of Staff of Gruppe Wijtschate (Group Wytschaete,

7437-473: The capture of Ypres to gain a local advantage. By 18 November, the First Battle of Ypres had also ended in failure, at a cost of 160,000 German casualties. In December, the British Admiralty began discussions with the War Office , for a combined operation to re-occupy the Belgian coast but were obliged to conform to French strategy and participate in offensives further south. Large British offensive operations in Flanders were not possible in 1915, due to

7548-432: The choice of Flanders, its climate, the selection of General Hubert Gough and the Fifth Army to conduct the offensive, and debates over the nature of the opening attack and between advocates of shallow and deeper objectives. Also debated are the time between the Battle of Messines (7–14 June) and the first Allied attack (the Battle of Pilckem Ridge , 31 July), the extent to which the French Army mutinies influenced

7659-516: The discretion of divisional and corps commanders, in places where the German defence had collapsed. The attack was not planned as a breakthrough operation and Flandern I Stellung , the fourth German defensive position, lay 10,000–12,000 yd (5.7–6.8 mi; 9.1–11.0 km) behind the front line and was not an objective on the first day. The Fifth Army plan was more ambitious than the plans devised by Rawlinson and Plumer, which had involved an advance of 1,000–1,750 yd (910–1,600 m) on

7770-487: The drainage had been destroyed, though some parts were restored by land drainage companies from England. The British considered the area drier than Loos , Givenchy and Plugstreet Wood further south. A study of weather data recorded at Lille, 16 mi (26 km) from Ypres from 1867–1916, published in 1989, showed that August was more often dry than wet, that there was a trend towards dry autumns (September–November) and that average rainfall in October had decreased since

7881-446: The dry spell in early September, British advances had been much quicker and the final objective was reached a few hours after dawn, which confounded the German counter-attack divisions. Having crossed 2 mi (3.2 km) of mud, the Eingreif divisions found the British already dug in, with the German forward battle zone and its weak garrison gone beyond recapture. In August, German front-line divisions had two regiments deployed in

7992-629: The eight infantry battalions recruited by the SALH's predecessors, only one entered combat as a unit. The 31st Battalion, CEF , landed in France in September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division. It was awarded 22 battle honours , including such notable actions as Vimy and Passchendaele . The other seven battalions – 9th , 66th (Edmonton Guards) , 113th Battalion (Lethbridge Highlanders), CEF , 138th (Edmonton) , 175th (Medicine Hat) , 187th (Central Alberta) and 202nd (Sportsman's) – were broken up for reinforcements in England. The 31st Battalion (part of

8103-408: The extent of the British effort. Two of the mines failed to detonate but 19 went off on 7 June, at 3:10 a.m. British Summer Time . The final objectives were largely gained before dark and the British had fewer losses than the expected 50 per cent in the initial attack. As the infantry advanced over the far edge of the ridge, German artillery and machine-guns east of the ridge opened fire and

8214-419: The first day, by compressing their first three attacks into one day instead of three. Major-General John Davidson , Director of Operations at GHQ, wrote in a memorandum that there was "ambiguity as to what was meant by a step-by-step attack with limited objectives" and suggested reverting to a 1,750 yd (1,600 m) advance on the first day to increase the concentration of British artillery. Gough stressed

8325-408: The flanks of the British break-in, supported by every artillery piece and aircraft within range, around noon. The Germans were able to drive the three British brigades back to the black line with 70 per cent casualties; the German advance was stopped at the black line by mud, artillery and machine-gun fire. After rain delays from 2 August, II Corps attacked again on 10 August, to capture the rest of

8436-478: The front line east of the Oosttaverne line be held rigidly. The Flandernstellung (Flanders Position) along Passchendaele Ridge, in front of the Flandern line, would become Flandern I Stellung and a new position, Flandern II Stellung , would run west of Menin, northwards to Passchendaele. Construction of a Flandern III Stellung east of Menin northwards to Moorslede was also begun. From July 1917,

8547-572: The front line, with the third regiment in reserve. The front battalions had needed to be relieved much more frequently than expected due to the power of British attacks, constant artillery-fire and the weather. Replacement units became mixed up with ones holding the front and reserve regiments had failed to intervene quickly, leaving front battalions unsupported until Eingreif divisions arrived some hours later. In July and August, German counter-attack ( Eingreif ) divisions had conducted an "advance to contact during mobile operations", which had given

8658-591: The headquarters of the IX Reserve Corps ), noted that casualties after 14 days in the line averaged 1,500–2,000 men, compared to 4,000 men on the Somme in 1916 and that German troop morale was higher than the year before. Attacks to threaten Lens and Lille were to be made by the First Army in late June near Gavrelle and Oppy, along the Souchez river. The objective was to eliminate a German salient between Avion and

8769-431: The institution that is the Canadian Army , the "Army Headquarters" and the "Units". For effective and efficient intermediate command and control, formations such as corps, areas, divisions, districts, brigades and brigade groups were routinely organized, redesignated, reorganized, or disbanded as required. 41 Canadian Brigade Group is but the latest incarnation of the following fifteen Militia formations that have commanded

8880-720: The last cavalry charge in Canadian history. The period between the world wars saw two major reorganizations of the Canadian Militia, the first from 1920 to 1924 and the second from 1935 to 1936. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the ancestors of the SALH were two cavalry regiments (15th Alberta Light Horse in Calgary and 19th Alberta Dragoons in Edmonton) an independent artillery battery ( 22nd Field Battery, RCA , in Gleichen ) and two infantry battalions ( The Edmonton Fusiliers and

8991-457: The maximum amount of manpower and munitions to the battle in Flanders. Ypres is overlooked by Kemmel Hill in the south-west and from the east by a line of low hills running south-west to north-east. Wytschaete ( Wijtschate ) and Hill 60 are to the east of Verbrandenmolen, Hooge , Polygon Wood and Passchendaele ( Passendale ). The high point of the ridge is at Wytschaete, 7,000 yd (4.0 mi; 6.4 km) from Ypres, while at Hollebeke

9102-467: The need to plan to exploit opportunities to take ground left temporarily undefended, more likely in the first attack, which would have the benefit of long preparation. This had not been done in earlier battles and vacant ground, there for the taking, had been re-occupied by the Germans. At the end of June, Haig added a division to II Corps (Lieutenant-General Claud Jacob ) from the Second Army and next day, after meeting with Gough and General Herbert Plumer ,

9213-614: The new year. The Battle of the Lys (Fourth Battle of Ypres) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres of 1918, were fought before the Allies occupied the Belgian coast and reached the Dutch frontier. A campaign in Flanders was controversial in 1917 and has remained so. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George , opposed the offensive, as did General Ferdinand Foch , the Chief of Staff of the French Army . Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig , commander of

9324-518: The north end of St Julien and the area south-east of Langemarck, while XIV Corps captured Langemarck and the Wilhelmstellung north of the Ypres–Staden railway, near the Kortebeek stream. The French First Army conformed, pushing up to the Kortebeek and St Jansbeck stream west of the northern stretch of the Wilhelmstellung , where it crossed to the east side of the Kortebeek. On the higher ground,

9435-590: The northern flank, on the fronts of XIV Corps and the French First Army, both of which advanced 2,500–3,000 yd (1.4–1.7 mi; 2.3–2.7 km) to the line of the Steenbeek river. In the centre, XVIII Corps and XIX Corps pushed forward to the line of the Steenbeek (black line) to consolidate and sent fresh troops towards the green line and on the XIX Corps front to the red line, for an advance of about 4,000 yd (3,700 m). Group Ypres counter-attacked

9546-584: The plateau be taken by a massed tank attack, reducing the need for artillery; in April a reconnaissance by Captain Giffard LeQuesne Martel found that the area was unsuitable for tanks. On 9 February, Rawlinson, commander of the Fourth Army, suggested that Messines Ridge could be taken in one day and that the capture of the Gheluvelt plateau should be fundamental to the attack further north. He suggested that

9657-428: The railway bottlenecks behind the German front. The pause in British attacks misled some of the German commanders and Albrecht von Thaer, the chief of staff of Gruppe Wijtschate , wrote that it was "almost boring". Kuhl doubted that the offensive had ended but had changed his mind by 13 September; two divisions, thirteen heavy artillery batteries, twelve field batteries, three fighter squadrons and four other units of

9768-498: The ridge is 4,000 yd (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) distant and recedes to 7,000 yd (4.0 mi; 6.4 km) at Polygon Wood. Wytschaete is about 150 ft (46 m) above the plain; on the Ypres–Menin road at Hooge, the elevation is about 100 ft (30 m) and 70 ft (21 m) at Passchendaele. The rises are slight, apart from the vicinity of Zonnebeke , which has a gradient of 1:33. From Hooge and further east,

9879-455: The ridge was a mixture of meadows and fields, with high hedgerows dotted with trees, cut by streams and a network of drainage ditches emptying into canals. In Flanders, sands, gravels and marls predominate, covered by silts in places. The coastal strip is sandy but a short way into the hinterland, the ground rises towards the Vale of Ypres, which before 1914 was a flourishing market garden. Ypres

9990-487: The slope is 1:60 and near Hollebeke, it is 1:75; the heights are subtle and resemble a saucer lip around the city. The main ridge has spurs sloping east and one is particularly noticeable at Wytschaete, which runs 2 mi (3.2 km) south-east to Messines ( Mesen ) with a gentle slope on the east side and a 1:10 decline westwards. Further south, is the muddy valley of the River Douve, Ploegsteert Wood (Plugstreet to

10101-547: The south. Such a withdrawal would avoid a hasty retreat from Pilckem Ridge and force the British into a time-consuming redeployment. Loßberg disagreed, believing that the British would launch a broad front offensive, that the ground east of the Sehnenstellung was easy to defend and that the Menin road ridge could be held if it was made the Schwerpunkt (point of main effort) of the German defensive system. Pilckem Ridge deprived

10212-529: The south; the II Corps headquarters and 17 divisions had arrived by the end of the month. In January 1916, Plumer began to plan offensives against Messines Ridge , Lille and Houthulst Forest. General Henry Rawlinson was also ordered to plan an attack from the Ypres Salient on 4 February; planning continued but the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme took up the rest of the year. In November, Haig,

10323-433: The southern attack from St Yves to Mont Sorrel should come first and that Mont Sorrel to Steenstraat should be attacked within 48 to 72 hours. After discussions with Rawlinson and Plumer and the incorporation of Haig's changes, Macmullen submitted his memorandum on 14 February. With amendments the memorandum became the GHQ 1917 plan. A week after the Battle of Messines Ridge, Haig gave his objectives to his army commanders,

10434-487: The victory of the Battle of Messines , with an advance to the Tower Hamlets spur beyond the north end of Messines Ridge. On 9 June, Crown Prince Rupprecht proposed a withdrawal to the Flandern line east of Messines. Construction of defences began but was terminated after Fritz von Loßberg was appointed Chief of Staff of the 4th Army. Loßberg rejected the proposed withdrawal to the Flandern line and ordered that

10545-417: The wearing out of the enemy, securing the Belgian coast and connecting with the Dutch frontier by capturing Passchendaele ridge, followed by an advance on Roulers and Operation Hush, an attack along the coast with a combined amphibious landing. If manpower and artillery were insufficient, only the first part of the plan might be fulfilled. On 30 April, Haig told Gough, the Fifth Army commander, that he would lead

10656-517: The weather broke early each August with the regularity of the Indian monsoon: once the Autumn rains set in difficulties would be greatly enhanced....Unfortunately, there now set in the wettest August for thirty years. only the first part of which was quoted by Lloyd George (1934), Liddell Hart (1934) and Leon Wolff (1959); in a 1997 essay, John Hussey called the passage by Charteris "baffling". The BEF had set up

10767-416: The west end of Lens , by taking reservoir Hill (Hill 65) and Hill 70. The attacks were conducted earlier than planned to use heavy and siege artillery before it was transferred to Ypres, the Souchez operation being cut back and the attack on Hill 70 postponed. The Battle of Hill 70, 30 mi (48 km) south of Ypres, eventually took place from 15 to 25 August. The Canadian Corps fought four divisions of

10878-472: The wet weather in August 1917 was exceptional and that Haig had been justified in expecting little rain and that it would be dried swiftly by sunshine and breezes. Petain had committed the French Second Army to an attack at Verdun in mid-July, in support of the Flanders offensive. The attack was delayed, partly due to mutinies in the French army after the failure of the Nivelle Offensive and because of

10989-492: The woods to tree stumps, shattered tree trunks tangled with barbed wire and more wire festooning the ground, which was full of shell-holes; fields in the gaps between the woods were 800–1,000 yd (730–910 m) wide and devoid of cover. The main road to Ypres from Poperinge to Vlamertinge is in a defile, easily observed from the ridge. Roads in the area were unpaved, except for the main ones from Ypres, with occasional villages and houses dotted along them. The lowland west of

11100-670: Was a campaign of the First World War , fought by the Allies against the German Empire . The battle took place on the Western Front , from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders , as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres, 5 mi (8 km) from Roulers (now Roeselare ),

11211-718: Was again converted, with all armoured reconnaissance regiments, to the war establishment of a regular armoured regiment in 1944 and sent to France in July of that year. It fought through Normandy , Belgium, the Scheldt , the Rhineland, the Netherlands and Germany until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. The 22nd Field Battery became part of the 13th Field Regiment, which landed with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on D-Day at Juno Beach. The Edmonton Fusiliers raised two active battalions, one for

11322-410: Was captured, observed enfilade artillery-fire could be fired against a British attack from the salient further north. Since mid-1915, the British had been mining under the German positions on the ridge and by June 1917, 21 mines had been filled with nearly 1,000,000 lb (454 t) of explosives. The Germans knew the British were mining and had taken counter-measures but they were surprised at

11433-541: Was delayed by the failure of the preliminary attacks and then postponed due to more bad weather. On 27 August, II Corps tried a combined tank and infantry attack but the tanks bogged, the attack failed and Haig called a halt to operations until the weather improved. In Field Marshal Earl Haig (1929), Brigadier-General John Charteris , the BEF Chief of Intelligence from 1915 to 1918, wrote that Careful investigation of records of more than eighty years showed that in Flanders

11544-554: Was delivered to 3rd Canadian Division units in the Spring to Summer of 2017. The regiment has soldiers in Edmonton , Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge . With the advent of the Land Force Reserve Restructuring project, The South Alberta Light Horse was organized as an armoured reconnaissance regiment on September 1, 2004. The commanding officer of the SALH is Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bradley. The regimental sergeant-major

11655-420: Was dropped from the name, and two years later, in 1960, the regiment was moved back to its old headquarters in Medicine Hat. The regiment remained an army reserve armoured unit until 1968 when it lost its tanks and was retasked as an armoured reconnaissance unit. The two Edmonton units (19th Alberta Dragoons and The Edmonton Fusiliers) merged in 1946 as the 19th (Alberta) Armoured Car Regiment, RCAC. This regiment

11766-434: Was fought from 16 to 18 August; the Fifth Army headquarters was influenced by the effect that delay would have on Operation Hush, which needed the high tides due at the end of August or it would have to be postponed for a month. Gough intended that the rest of the green line, just beyond the Wilhelmstellung (German third line), from Polygon Wood to Langemarck, was to be captured and the Steenbeek crossed further north. In

11877-573: Was mobilized at Medicine Hat and landed in France in September 1915 as part of the 1st CMR Brigade. At the end of 1915, the CMR units in France were converted from two cavalry brigades (six regiments) into one infantry brigade (four battalions). The troopers of the 3rd Regiment were split up, half going to the 1st CMR Battalion and half to the 2nd CMR Battalion; both these battalions fought in the 3rd Canadian Division . The 12th and 13th Regiments CMR were broken up for reinforcements in England. The SALH also counts

11988-535: Was redesignated as armoured squadron in the early 1980s. In line with this change, the rest of the regiment followed suit and by 1985 the entire regiment returned to being an armoured regiment. In 2005, the AVGP Cougar was retired from service, and the SALH reroled back to Armoured Reconnaissance, equipped with the Mercedes-Benz G Wagon - Light Utility Vehicle Wheeled (LUVW). The regiment exercised its Freedom of

12099-483: Was renamed back to 19th Alberta Dragoons in 1958, but in the 1965 reorganization of the Reserves it was transferred to the Supplementary Order of Battle : it still legally existed, but had no personnel assigned to it. In 1978 the SALH established an independent B Squadron in Edmonton to train out of Griesbach Barracks, and was originally organized as a reconnaissance unit. Though later, B Squadron transitioned to AVGP and

12210-464: Was reorganized as the 29th Armoured Regiment (The South Alberta Regiment) and moved to England in August. The SAR was granted 15 battle honours for its service overseas, redesignated the 29th Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (The South Alberta Regiment) in 1944. The unit was selected by Major-General F. F. Worthington to be the reconnaissance regiment of the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division because he wanted "keen-eyed prairie men" as his scouts. The 29th

12321-625: Was the British casus belli against Germany. British military operations in Belgium began with the arrival of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Mons on 22 August. Operations in Flanders began during the Race to the Sea , reciprocal attempts by the French and German armies to turn their opponents' northern flank, through Picardy , Artois and Flanders. On 10 October, Lieutenant-General Erich von Falkenhayn ,

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