A Canadian Conscript Goes To War - August 1918:old Myths Re-examined

摘要

Dennis' eight month journey from peace to war reveals much about the conscription process, and dispels a number of myths regarding the crucial role that conscripts played in the final hundred days. The argument that conscripts arrived either too late to influence the outcome of this campaign, or that they arrived in insufficient numbers to make any substantial difference in the victories that were achieved is without foundation. With respect to conscripts being "too late," evidence suggests that conscripts started to arrive at the front and enter combat in small numbers by June 1918, and began to deploy in greater numbers by the start of the Battle of Amiens. Large numbers of conscripts joined the ranks shortly after 11 August, when the understrength infantry battalions needed to replace the 9,000 casualties suffered over the preceding few days. In fact, the arrival of these conscripts in significant numbers at this point could not have been any timelier, since the hundred days campaign was just getting started.88 The arrival of the conscripts allowed Canadian infantry battalions to remain at full strength despite the high casualties sustained in the final campaign of the war. The Canadian Corps suffered over 45,000 dead or wounded during this period - 20 per cent of all Canadian casualties during the war. As a result of these heavy losses, by the end of the second Battle of Arras, conscripts would have comprised at least 10-15 per cent of the rifle companies in every Canadian infantry battalion. Moreover, by Canal du Nord, this ratio was up to 20 per cent of the strength of the 48 infantry battalions. That number would have increased to about 25 per cent by Cambrai and continued to grow steadily. The contribution of conscripts to the successful execution of the hundred days campaign is unequivocal. Without conscripts there would not have been a "hundred days." Instead, the Canadian Corps, while still victorious at Amiens, and probably at Arras, would have been crippled thereafter by the wastage. By 3 September the Corps would have required a significant reorganization and would likely have been relieved, not to wholly reemerge for perhaps another six months. But, history records otherwise, thanks in no small part to the conscripts, whose timely appearance in mid-August 1918 guaranteed what Currie referred to as "the unparalleled striking power of our battalions."