Courcelette

A battlefield guide that follows the Canadian attack from the first tank assault to the fighting for Regina Trench to the final push on Desire Trench.

Courcelette is one of the many Somme villages that became a German stronghold in their tenacious fight to keep the British armies at bay. Well behind the lines on 1 July, it came into prominence on 15 September when it fell to an attack by the Canadians.

Courcelette is a most important place in the development of Canada’s military history. It was here that the fourth Canadian division finally came into the same sector as its three fellows, although not for long; the final joining was to come in the winter of 1916 as the Corps took its position on the slopes of Vimy Ridge. Just as war often speeds social and technological change, so also it increased the speed of the political development of Canada as an independent nation, able to take its place in the councils of war and to follow a policy, if necessary, of its own.