LIEUTENANT--GENERAL SIR ARTHUR CURRIE (A brief account of the appoint workforcet of Passchendaele) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Lieutenant- frequent Sir Arthur Currie was the close to fitted spend that Canada has produced. Certainly, he did non facet like the huge pass he had arrive. A very t every last(predicate) man, at six-foot-four, he was also f occupation everywhereweight. Through his successes as the air force officer of the Canadian army corps, he knew how to legate authority and stand by the stopping points of his subordinates. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Currie, however, was non a captain soldier. He was born(p) in Strathroy, Ontario, on declination 5, 1875 and raised, he had moved to Canadas west semivowel in his late teens. As an adult, he movedto Victoria, British Columbia, he had become a schoolteacher, and insurance salesman, and, a real-estate speculator, an occupation that make him haleness of Victorias jumper cable citizens. kindred solely niceCanadian contrast custody at the cadence, he joined the Canadian Militia. In 1897, he had enlisted as a lowly gunner in the 5th Regi ment, Canadian garrison Artillery; by 1909, he was the lieutenant-col nonpareill containing the regiment. In late 1913, Currie original the ch exclusivelyenge of raising and concomitants of biography an infantry unit, the 50th Regiment, Gordon high-pitchedlanders of Canada. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â When the fight broke place in August 1914, the highly regarded Currie was commanded of an infantry brigade. Currie fought with exceptional composure at battle of third battle of second battle of Ypres in 1915 whither his assumek Brigade made a remarkable stand against the toxi tailt gas. Having strike his superiors, Currie was promoted to command the awayfit out 1st Canadian Division. He led the chromatic make up at lift Sorrel, through the aversion of the Somme in 1916 and at Vimy ridgepolepole, Arleux, and Fresnoy in the ricochet of 1917. In June, Currie had been knighted and named air force falseicer of the Canadian Corps, now four divisions strong. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1 of Curries most splendid and strategic achievements had come during the overwinter or 1919-17, while he was console a divisional commander. By analyzing the fighting he had witnessed on the Western Front, Currie had move up what proved to be a blueprint for tactical success. In a paper, Currie synthesized the beaver of British and french c one successionpts, and with legion(predicate) of his receive beliefs based on head-to-head companionship. Under Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadian Corps emerged as an outstanding politics on the Western Front. No force--British, Australian, cut, American, of German--could match its marvelous, record, a in series(p) of successes without a single nonplus punt, by the end of the struggle. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Lieutenant-general Sir Arthur Curries was non blessed at the expected value of going to Passchendaele. Currie, like many a(prenominal) another(prenominal) Canadian soldiers, had dispirited memories of the Ypres outstanding(ip), and grisly memories to he Ypres salient, and admitted that his experience in the salient in 1915 and in 1916 were such(prenominal)(prenominal) that I never postulateed to cypher the place again. Unfortunately, on 3 October, Currie was warned that the Corps might be sent north, to examine cistron in the offensive in Flanders. Currie could make no knowingness of Passchendaele, and he was furious. Passchendaele! he raged in front of his faculty. Whats the expert of it? Let the Germans nonplus it--keep it--rot in it! Rot in the bl infra up! Theres a computer error somewhere. it internal be a mis contract! It isnt price a crepuscule of blood. Although Currie was not at completely in all happy that the Canadians had been told to take Passchendaele. One of Curries spell 1 moves was to assign erudition officers to the various home with which the Canadian Corps would be associated: turn ground forces, II Anzac Corps, which was responsible for the firmament the Canadians would be taking over, and its front-line divisions, the raw(a) Zealand and third Australian. These officers, and the global staff were to acquire early and unadulterated information as regards to inside information of German defenses and dis corrects, and especially for the intention of arranging the mundane plan of bombardment. These preparations was a sparkling success. On the other hand, at the Canadian Corps headquarters, planning for the connect was well at a lower place fashion. By 16 October, just troika long time by and bywards receiving his alleges, global Currie had completed his advance plans, which he described in a letter to the support Armys Sir Herbert Plumer. The excogitate for draw off be carried out in three storeys, the engineer area of each stage world... The rubicund, BLUE and chiliad lines...It is proposed to betroth the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions for the buzz off of the RED and BLUE lines (4th on the Right--3rd on the Left), keeping the 1st and second Canadian Divisions for the convey of the GREEN line and any sequent operations it may be decided to undertake. It is considered that a intermission of three years will e necessary amidst the 1st and 2nd stages, and a pause of 4 or 5 days mingled with the 2nd and 3rd stages. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â By 19 October, Currie had tentatively go by dates for these operations: 28 and 31 October and 6 November. A poop phase, if required, could be carried out on 10 November. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The involvement finish with the attempt of November 10th. The Canadians began leaving the salient on Wednesday, 14 November. quaternion days afterwards, worldwide Currie reach over province for the Passchendaele sector to Lieutenant- full general Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston and his VIII Corps. The same day, 18 November, Currie departed for the Vimy continue front. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Passchendaele had been a painful experience for all attentioned. It will be recalled that commonplace Currie predicted that it would cost the Corps 16,000 casualties to take Passchendaele. His forecast was incredibly unblemished; the actual toll was 16,654. Casualties of 50 per cent or more(prenominal) were not uncommon among the fight battalions, particularly during the first cardinal phases of operations. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Exhaustion was rampant. One can never freeze the penniless looks of the men and officers almost lost with the fatigue or their work, commented Lieutenant- Colonel J.N. Gunn of the eighth Canadian Field Ambulance. galore(postnominal) were angry. Passchendaele was absolutely the elevation of stupidity, recalled E.O. Anderson of the forty-ninth Battalion. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â London warmly welcomed the Canadians. The capture of Passchendaele had, afterwards so many weeks and months of bad news, come as a great relief, a feat which received very much play in he press. A Canadian living a in England, Charles Armstrong, wrote Sir Arthur Currie on 12 November: Everybody here is talking round it & it makes one feel very high-fl declare of the Corps. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Certainly, no one was prouder than General Currie. The Canadians, he later wrote, had lay outed Passchendaele by superhuman travails. His men had never worked so ambitious or fought with such grim determination. He also confessed that I do not make do which branch of the service of process is entitled the most praise. The metrical unit who stormed the hostile trenches and beat off the counterattacks, the Artillery who prepared the way for he Infantry and who support the attacks, the Engineers and Pioneers who made the roads which enabled the guns to be brought introductory, and in that respectfore made benefit possible, the Medical Services who entertain unceasingly done so well but who excelled all ancient performances in these battles, the tot up people who never failed once in loseting forward the rations, engineer material and arm of all kinds, all gave ground of the highest soldierly qualities and the determination to win. cerebrate Currie: I firmly believed that the Canadians were the solo(prenominal) troops that could experience taken the jell at that time of the form and under the conditions under which the attack had to be made. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â It was not until after the war that General Currie was told wherefore Passchendaele had to be taken. in Paris for the Versailles peace conference, Currie met Sir Douglas Haig on 12 February 1919 in the antechamber of the Hotel Jajestic, the headquarters of the British delegation. fetching Currie aside, Haig explained his reasons for prosecute the Passchendaele opeeration.
Currie late recounted there merging: It was then I intimate for the first time the true proportions of the mutiny in the French Army in 1917 and the strength of the Peace company in France and also in England in that year. He pointed out that after the victories of Vimy and Messines in April and June the British Army had to continue the offensive, in array to keep the opposition from launching an attack against the French... In entrap to raise the esprit de corps of the French Army and the British Army, and the French Government and the British Government, the Chief decided that the Ridge must be captured. Currie was not completely convinced. For years after ward, he continued to forefront whether it was wise to choose the Ypres govern as the battleground, and believed that Passchenadaele may have assumed unduly enlarge proportions in the minds of many. Like most Canadians, Currie was overwhelmed by the British decision ot abandon Passchendaele without a fight in the spring of 1918. He felt betrayed, and for a time he allowed his emotions to get the conk out of him. On 20 April, four days after the ridge was abandoned, Beneral sewer J. Pershing, commanding the Amercian Expeditonary Force, came to see Currie and Canadian Corps headquarters. General Pershing was move with Curries anger and defeat: General Currie deplored the fact ath the British had so easily prone up Passchendaele Ridge, which the year ahead he had been told must be taken at all costs, and for which the Canadians made the tremendous capitulate of 16,000 casualties. Curries sour remained untill he had finally found a forum for his complaints or so he British army in June 1918. Prime curate Borden later sought a brush with Currie, and Currie was happy to oblige, It had no expedient result, as the British Army immediately went on the defensive attitude and the campaign ceased for the year. No advantage in position was gained and the effort was wasted, particularly when the ridge was evidently handed back to the foe six months later. The venture was by no doer worth the cost; and that is was won to carry on the face of the British High Command who had understaken all panorama he surrender most un favored and highly fateful attempts. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Prime pastor Lloyd George asked his Canadian couterpart to arrange a meeting with General Currie. Lloyd George desire what he saw and heard about Currie. I was greatly impressed with Curries views, he was delighted. and it was such an derision that Lloyd George chose to interpret Curries comments as criticisms of Sir Douglas Haig; such was not the case. Currie, who prize and reckon Haig Whether or not Sir Arthur Currie could have been a successful commander in chief of the BEF is a matter of speculation. The odds would have been stacked against him: not only was he a sheer colonial, he was a non professional to boot, and he was much young that th earmy commanders who would have inform to him. Far from demonstating his default over casualtiles, Passchendaele proved Curries concern for he conservation fo the lives of the men under his command; indeed, Curries actons end-to-end th war stand as strong evidence of his desire, and ability, to win battles only at the to the lowest degree possible cost. A circularise of Canadians, veterans and conscripts alike, had little regard for General Currie. Passchendaele convinced many of them that achievement was his old consideration. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Charges of this nature tag Currie for the rest of his life. governmental enemies, took up the cry as the war wound down. He was being accused as a Canadian commander of deliberatley sacrificing the lives of his men in the pursuit of his own personal glory. His decease 5 years later, in 1933 at the age of fifty-seven, may be attributed, at least indirectly, to the lawsuit. His funeral was a major typeface in Montreal and thousands lined the streets to honour the abundant Leader of the Canadian Corps. He is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:
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