g George V. granted Major-General Currie, whom led the First Division, knighthood. However, 11000 Canadians died in the battle, in which some say that Canada was made into a nation.On April 15 soldiers of the Canadian army saw action in their first major battle of World War One. On the 22nd of April the German army advanced in the Ypres sailent. The Germans advanced towards the allied lines behind yellow masses of Chlorine gas. This gas suffocated the French division, which were placed to the left of the Canadians. The French forces retreated and a large hole was created in the allied front. What is so significant is that, while the French troops fled, the troops of the Canadian Dominion stood strong. They thinned out their division in order to fill the gap left by the vacant French troops. The German offensive was halted but at an enormous cost. Over 6,000 Canadians lost their lives, many from breathing in chlorine gas. Those who survived were introduced to the true horrors of war. In many respects Robert Ross could indeed be considered a model Canadian soldier during the First World War. The Canadians who fought in the war, especially those who saw action in the early battles were introduced to a situation that could only be described as hell on earth. The men of the Canadian military saw the horrors of war, the likes of which the world had never seen and have since never been seen again. Robert Ross was a young man from a young country, a country that prior to World War One had never engaged in a major war. Robert is a representative Canadian in the sense that he fits the mold of many of the Canadian soldiers that went overseas to fight, " leaving to-day for the 'Great Adventure" (11), and completely ignorant of what he was getting involved in. When Robert, found himself among the trenches of Europe, surrounded by death and destruction, "pg. 72- Houses, trees and fields of flax once flourished here. Summers had been blue with flowers...
