Niagara Peninsula

The Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Southern Ontario, Canada, lying between the south shore of Lake Ontario and the north shore of Lake Erie. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The population of the peninsula is roughly 1,000,000 people. The region directly across the Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York State is known as the Niagara Frontier. The broader Buffalo Niagara Region includes the Niagara Peninsula, the Niagara Frontier, and the city of Buffalo, New York.

Niagara Peninsula in Southern Victory
At the outbreak of the Great War, the U.S. attempted to invade Canada on several places on the border, including from New York State, through the Niagara Peninsula and on to Toronto. However, the Canadians had anticipated this since the Second Mexican War and so established defensive lines over the decades and well before the outbreak of the Great War. In addition, the U.S. had anticipate heavy fire support from the guns of their Great Lakes Battleships but heavy mining and submersible attacks prevented the ships from providing the planned support.

In the first year of the war, crossing of the Welland Canal was forced with the loss of thousands of troops but the Canadians and British fell back forming a new defensive line from Hamilton on Lake Ontario through Caledonia to Port Dover on Lake Erie. Constant artillery bombardment and attacks by the U.S. forced the Canadians back into Hamilton itself, but the rest of the line continued to hold.