Canada and the First World War

Artillery Support
Artillery Support
In this striking nighttime photograph taken behind Canadian lines at Vimy Ridge, a British naval gun fires in support of the Canadian attack. Approximately 1,000 Allied guns and mortars pounded the ridge prior to the assault, a period called by the German defenders the "week of suffering."

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19920085-215

Weapons on Land

The First World War was primarily a land war. Huge armies employed modern, mass-produced weapons and ammunition in battles that lasted weeks or months, and killed or wounded hundreds of thousands. Learn about the old and new weapons of land warfare.


Trench Weapons
Grenades
Underground Mining
Artillery and Mortars
Machine-Guns
Poison Gas
Rifles
Tanks and Armoured Vehicles