Shock Troops: Canada’s Ruthless Reputation in the Great War

By 1918, the Canadian Corps had earned a name across the Western Front: shock troops.

They were sent where the ground was worst. Where the wire was thickest. Where the objective mattered most. British command relied on them. German reports warned about them. After Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and the Hundred Days, a reputation took hold: that Canadians were ruthless.

But was it myth?
Was it tactical necessity?
Or was it something far more complicated?

Drawing on the scholarship of Dr. Tim Cook and the words of the soldiers themselves, this episode of Memory and Valour examines how that reputation was built, and what it cost.