On July 1, 1916, the first day of the battle of the Somme, 60,000 British soldiers fall. But the British continue their offensive. And, finally, the High Command orders in the Canadians. Supported by the first tanks ever used in battle, Canadian troops assault German fortifications at Courcelette and then at Regina trench. They slog to victory, and suffer 25,000 casualties on the battlefield known as the graveyard of armies.

 

Running time: 47 minutes

 

With historian Norm Christie as our guide, we explore the battlefields, cemeteries and monuments of the First World War. In their own words, the men who fought tell their stories, and we discover how the naïve, amateur soldiers of 1914 became, by 1918, perhaps the most feared, efficient and deadly Allied Corps on the Western Front – the Canadian Corps.