Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng commanded the Canadian Corps on the Western Front from May 1916 to June 1917. He forged the Canadians into an elite fighting formation, leading them through the battles of Mount Sorrel, the Somme, and Vimy Ridge. His Canadian troops called themselves the "Byng Boys," a testament to their commander's popularity. This photograph, from April 1917, reveals a tired and haggard Byng who, like so many, was aged by the war.
George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19920085-262
Canada and the First World War
