Battle of the Scarpe (1918)

In the final months of the First World War, the allied advance continued with the battle of the Scarpe near Arras, France, from 26 to 30 Aug. 1918. Fighting was bitter, and intense enemy fire caused heavy losses. The Canadian Corps now faced a far more difficult series of fortifications, and several soldiers were torn apart by enemy fire as they ran up against uncut barbed wire. The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, for example, lost 60 per cent of its officers and 30 per cent of its men.