🇨🇦 LEST WE FORGET October 26, 1917 — Canadians Begin Their Assault at Passchendaele Into the mud, under fire, and against overwhelming conditions. On this day in 1917, Canadian soldiers began their offensive at Passchendaele, Belgium, in what would become one of the most gruelling chapters of Canada’s First World War history. After months of fighting, the battlefield had been reduced to a devastated landscape of flooded shell craters, shattered trees, barbed wire, and seemingly endless mud. The ground was so treacherous that simply moving forward, carrying supplies, or evacuating the wounded could become a life-threatening ordeal. Under Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, the Canadian Corps had spent days preparing for the assault, improving roads, positioning artillery, and planning a series of limited advances. On the morning of October 26, the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions went forward. The 3rd Division advanced toward Bellevue Spur, encountering fierce German resistance from fortified positions. To the south, the 4th Division fought toward the higher ground leading to Passchendaele. Progress was painfully slow. Soldiers struggled through deep mud while exposed to machine-gun fire, artillery bombardment, and counterattacks. Some units secured their initial objectives, while others faced intense fighting for every stretch of ground. The human cost was devastating. Over the first three days of the offensive, approximately 2,500 Canadians were killed or wounded, a sobering indication of the price being paid for every advance. For those on the battlefield, October 26 was not a moment of celebration. It was a day of extraordinary hardship, courage, and loss. Today, 109 years later, we remember the Canadians who advanced into those terrible conditions, those who never returned, and those who carried the memories of Passchendaele for the rest of their lives. We will remember them. #LestWeForget #CanadianHistory #WWI

🇨🇦 LEST WE FORGET A Smile from the Trenches — September 1916 September 1916. Somewhere on the Western Front, a group of Canadian soldiers paused to pose for a photograph. Their rifles rest against the earthen walls of a narrow communication trench. One soldier reclines against the side, while others crouch together, smiling at the camera. The men have been identified in later published captions as members of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the regiment raised in Ottawa in August 1914. The photograph was taken by Canadian war photographer William Ivor Castle during one of the bloodiest months of the First World War. That September, Canadian troops were fighting in the Battle of the Somme. On September 15, the Canadian Corps attacked at Flers-Courcelette, capturing the village of Courcelette at a terrible cost. The Patricias were among the Canadian units fighting on the Somme. But battles were only part of the ordeal. Life in the trenches meant mud, rats, lice, soaking wet uniforms, interrupted sleep and the constant danger of artillery and sniper fire. Captain Agar Adamson of the Patricias recalled a chilling incident in April 1915. A fellow soldier, William McGregor, was killed by a German sniper while standing beside him using a periscope. It was a stark reminder that even a moment’s exposure above the trench parapet could prove fatal. The everyday hardships could be equally relentless. Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Niven recalled how soldiers helped one another care for their feet. One man would remove another’s boots and socks, dry his feet with a towel, and quickly replace the socks and boots. Swollen feet could make putting the boots back on almost impossible. Even a bath offered little relief. In a February 25, 1917 letter to his father, Patricia Private Ronald MacKinnon explained that soldiers generally received a bath and a change of clothing when they came out of the trenches, roughly every 20 days. The catch? Even the supposedly clean clothing was often infested with lice. These were the everyday realities behind the uniforms. And yet, in this photograph, the men are smiling. We don’t know their names or what became of them. But we know the hardships their regiment endured, and the extraordinary conditions in which Canadian soldiers served. For one brief moment in September 1916, William Ivor Castle captured something that casualty lists and battlefield reports rarely reveal: the human faces behind the history. We will remember them. 🇨🇦 📷 William Ivor Castle, September 1916. Library and Archives Canada, PA-000723. Canadian Troops in a Communication Trench. #LestWeForget #PPCLI #CanadianHistory