Artifact #7:War diaries - 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade. 1918.

Citation:

Canadian Government, War diaries - 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade. 1918. Textual. Library and Archives Canada, Item ID number: 2005839.https://beta-recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=2005839&q_type_1=q&q_1=diary&ecopy=e001053572

Label:

The artifact above is a war diary from August of 1918. The document contains lots of information, such as maps of captured territory, orders and objectives for each brigade, intelligence summaries, and casualty summaries. One page in particular notes that “our casualties were comparatively light while those inflicted upon the enemy were correspondingly heavy.” This aligns with the fact that the war ended just three months later, and the slow fall of the Central Powers was becoming apparent. This page also gives a deep insight into how Canada documented data about losses and captures. The casualties and captures on August 8th align with the battle of Amiens, which was a surprise assault and included over 11,800 Canadian casualties, and 26,000 German. The battle was a major victory for the Allies, and the documentation of such an event by each brigade is how we today know about the detailed outcome of a battle that happened over 100 years ago.

Bibliography:

Marshall, Tabitha. "Battle of Amiens" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Last modified December 7, 2020. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-amiens