Somme
July 1st, 1916 to November 18th, 1916
By July 1916 the French Army had been fighting German troops in Verdun for nearly five months without any conclusive results. They pressured the British Army to launch the attack at the Somme to relieve the pressure on them and to force the Germans to fight two major battles at once.
Localisation
The Somme is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought as more than 300,000 individuals were killed from both sides over a 3-month period that saw more than 3,000,000 soldiers fighting. The Canadians suffered 24,029 casualties during the last two months of this battle.
Outcome
Since both sides had lost so much in the battle, there was no clear winner – although strategically, the pressure on the French in Verdun had been relieved. Questions regarding the way battles were fought emerged to prevent similar results from happening and tactics were revised.
Casualties
The Somme is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought as more than 300,000 individuals were killed from both sides over a 3-month period that saw more than 3,000,000 soldiers fighting. The Canadians suffered 24,029 casualties during the last two months of this battle.
Private James Roy Argue
James R. Argue was born in Rat Portage near Kenora, Ontario in 1894. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in October 1914. James was first joined the 23rd Battalion but was hospitalized in a military hospital in Kent, England. He passed a medical examination in May 1916 and left for France where he was assigned to the 14th Battalion (RMR) but once again, James fell ill and was hospitalized for 3 weeks and a half in an hospital in France. He was finally able to join his battalion in August 1916, as the 14th Battalion (RMR) was getting ready for the Battle of Somme. On September 6th, 1916, they faced heavy artillery on a two-day operation where they suffered 200 casualties. A couple weeks later, the 14th Battalion (RMR) was sent into the village of Courcelette for a tactical operation as part of the overall Somme offensive. They fought non-stop for 40 hours straight, fighting off German counter-attacks and facing sustained machine gun fire. In the early morning of September 28th, out of 445 men only 75 answered the roll call. Private James R. Argue was not one of them.