1917
The Canadian Army takes Vimy Ridge
Battles very often define a nation and become part of a people’s mythology. The Scots have Bannockburn; the Serbs have Kosovo; Texans have the Alamo; Australians and New Zealanders have Gallipoli; Newfoundlanders have Beaumont-Hamel; and Canadians have Vimy.
In 1917 millions of men in the armies of the Allied and Central powers faced each other in lines of trenches that stretched from the English Channel to the Alps. The power of defences — dug-in gun emplacements, barbed-wire, machine-gun nests, rapid-firing artillery, shell-blasted no-man’s land — had created stalemate. Any attack had to be into the teeth of enemy fire and would produce massive casualties: the British lost 40,000 men in one day alone at the Battle of the Somme. The French army had already suffered over 100,000 casualties trying to take Vimy Ridge, so when the command was given to Canadian and British units to capture German positions anchoring their Hindenburg Line at Vimy, officers were determined that meticulous planning could make a difference. A number of Canadian divisions were brought together in a distinct Canadian Corps with Canadian officers such as the brilliant Arthur Currie under the overall command of Sir Julian Byng.
Consultations were held with the French about lessons learned in the bloody struggle for Verdun; aerial photography provided data for maps and three-dimensional mockups of the target area. On the assumption that junior officers would be killed during the attack, care was taken to instruct sergeants and corporals in the objectives of their units with 40,000 trench maps distributed. For months troops familiarized themselves with their objectives and trained in the new techniques.
Rather than a massive artillery assault that would cease when troops advanced — thus leaving the Germans plenty of time to regain their trenches — the artillery would continue, but creep forward in measured steps. New fuses would enable the shells to explode more easily and thus be more effective in cutting through the fields of barbed wire. 1,600,000 shells from hundreds of heavy guns would be available to pound the German lines and hundreds of miles of telegraph wire were laid to provide communications. Tunnels were dug to bring attackers more safely to the jumping-off point; the newly-invented tanks would roll across no-man’s land beside the infantry.
The Germans, warned by a German-Canadian deserter and signs of a buildup behind Allied lines, were well-aware that Vimy Ridge would be attacked but they were not prepared for the days of pounding artillery that destroyed their positions or for the aggressive spirit of the Canadians who attacked in leap-frogging waves. On April 12, 1917 the last of the German defenders were driven off the ridge. Casualties were very high. The Canadian Corps suffered 10,602 casualties (3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded) while German losses were in the 20,000 range.
Today the soaring Vimy memorial in France is surrounded by land still too dangerous to tread on.