The First World War, also known as "The Great War" was fought from 1914–1918. It was the  conflict that claimed the most lives in Canadian history, ending the lives of more than 60,000 Canadians. They paid the ultimate price, and we remember their sacrifice on this Remembrance day, and every other day.

Canadians were the first victims of gas attacks

Gas warfare began on a sunny morning a little over a century ago, and it's a little known fact that among its first victims were Canadian soldiers. The Canadian soldiers had the terrible luck to be situated right at the center of the first poison gas attacks of history. The soldiers who had to endure the chemical weapons were the members of the First Canadian Division in the first and second battle of Ypres on April 22-24, 1915 - Western Belgium. After several days of intense fighting, 6,000 soldiers — half of the Canadian force — were dead, wounded, or taken as prisoners of war. But, against all odds, they had beaten back a vastly bigger German army, holding their ground in the face of the chlorine gas attacks.

"Dulce Et Decorum Est" is a poem written by the English soldier poet Wilfred Owen, who served and died in World War I

Gas attacks and their terrifying effects on the body

Tim Cook, author of No Place To Run (UBC Press, 1999) describes what our forces endured as a consequence of chemical warfare, he writes (of the victims):

“Their bodies turned a strange grass-green as they struggled to suck oxygen into their corrupted lungs. The chlorine attacked the bronchial tubes, which caused the membranes to swell into a spongy mass and ever-increasing amounts of fluid to enter from the bloodstream. The swiftly congested lungs failed to take in any oxygen, and the victims suffocated as they drowned in their own fluids." “Major Andrew McNaughton remembered the Algerians streaming past him, ‘their eyeballs showing white, and coughing their lungs out. They were literally coughing their lungs out: glue was coming out of their mouths.'”

Terrified out of their wits, the French and Algerians left the trenches and ran for their lives, leaving a 1.6-kilometre-long gap in the front line. The allied force was in danger of being cut off and surrounded by the Germans, putting 50,000 soldiers at risk.

Canadian heroes sacrificed themselves despite the consequences

The Canadians saved the day through one of the First World War’s most selfless acts of heroism: ignoring the terrifying effects of the gas attack, they swung around to take up the old French and Algerian positions, and mounted a furious counter-attack.

“They end up doing a couple of mad assaults, just full-on assaults into machine-guns,” said Cook. “But they end up scaring the Germans, who think, ‘There’s more guys out there than we thought.’ And really it was just a [bluff] until the British and French could bring up more troops to cover.”

Two days later, the Germans mounted a second gas attack directly against the Canadian front lines.

“The Canadians hold their ground again,” said Cook.

“Officers and chemists have figured out that it is chlorine gas being used against them, and the officers order their men to urinate on a rag or wet a rag and hold it against their mouth [to neutralize the chlorine]. That’s what they used to protect themselves from the gas. They lose a bunch of guys, but they don’t end up running away like the soldiers of allied nations."

Canadians would stay to endure these attacks, and to survive, they would urinate on their handkerchief breathing through them. Canadian soldiers would watch their friends and brothers die a gruesome death for the deadly mistake of forgetting one's handkerchief. This is the greatness of Canada, and these are true Canadian heroes. Our ancestors who, in the face of astonishingly brutal tactics and terrible losses, rose up and did what was right to vigorously defend our fundamental freedoms. They fought with unrelenting power against the Germans. It certainly makes me proud to know that our Canadian soldiers, through their quick wit and bravery, earned the renowned reputation as some of the most ferocious fighters in both World Wars.