The attack went well. By 8:00am the main objective, a defence bastion known as the Sugar Factory, was taken, and the Canadians pushed ahead to Courcelette. Numerous German counter-attacks were successfully repulsed and by the next day the position was consolidated. It is fitting that the memorial to mark the eleven weeks of bloody fighting by Canadians on the battlefields of the Somme should be sited at the scene of their initial victory in that long and costly struggle.
In the weeks that followed, the three Canadian divisions again and again attacked a series of German entrenchments. The final Canadian objective was that ‘ditch of evil memory’, Regina Trench. It repeatedly defied capture, and when the first three divisions were relieved in the middle of October, Regina Trench was closer, but still not taken.
When the newly arrived 4th Division took its place in the line, it faced an unbelievable ordeal of knee-deep mud and violent, murderous, enemy resistance. However, despite the almost impenetrable curtain of fire the Division captured Regina Trench on November 11. By that time it had been reduced to a mere depression in the chalk.
A week later, in the final attack at the Somme, the Canadians advanced to Desire Trench – a remarkable feat of courage and endurance. The 4th Division then rejoined the Corps opposite Vimy Ridge.
The Somme had cost Canada 24,029 casualties, but it was here that the Canadians confirmed their reputation as hard-hitting shock troops. ‘The Canadians,’ wrote Lloyd George, ‘played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as storm troops. For the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst.’
