The Great War
The Battle of Vimy Ridge
When the German army invaded Belgium in August 1914, their advance on Paris was initially rather successful, until French & British forces stopped them in northern France a month later, in the Battle of the Marne. After the Battle of Ypres, in October and November, the Western Front was at a stalemate, with both sides digging trenches, and it was only three months before the end of the war in November 1918 that the front started to significantly move again, this time towards the north. The years in between saw a lot of fighting, such as in the 1916 Battles of Verdun and the Somme and the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, all of which incurred hundreds of thousands of casualties for little gain. The Battle of Arras of 1917 was no different, but Canadians will tell you that one of its endeavours, the capture of Vimy Ridge, an escarpment held by the Germans since 1914, was a great success, and right they are. It was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together as a cohesive formation, and their victory in the Battle of Vimy Ridge became a national symbol for Canada.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, located roughly halfway between the French towns of Arras and Lens, is dedicated to the memory of all Canadian soldiers who served their country during the First World War, particularly those whose final resting place is unknown. The monument is the centrepiece of a battlefield park that encompasses a portion of the terrain over which the assault on Vimy Ridge was made. Together with two nearby cemeteries, Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery and Canadian Cemetery № 2, the memorial reminds us of the tremendous human costs of war. With an estimated four million soldiers killed on the Western Front, there are a great many monuments & cemeteries along the former front line. What makes this battlefield park special are the remains of the trenches, tunnels and craters. Some of the trenches & tunnels were reconstructed when the memorial was being built in the 1920s and ’30s and are now open to visitors. Today the battlefield is a visually pleasing manicured lawn with clean & dry trenches, surrounded by beautiful trees. During the war it was all mud with some bare tree trunks at best, but the park gives a very good impression of what things were like all the same.
www.veterans.gc.caReader Comments
Mary
The Battle of Vimy Ridge began on 9 April 1917. Amid sleet, mud and shellfire, the soldiers of the Canadian Corps fought their way up the ridge to take the high ground overlooking the Douai plain. When the Canadians attacked, they directly faced around 8,000 entrenched German defenders, not counting another 2,500 in reserve, and many more to the rear. The battle started at 5½ a.m., with the first wave of around 15,000 men advancing under the creeping barrage of almost 1,000 heavy guns. Most objectives were met on schedule, and by afternoon most of the ridge was captured, with the notable exception of the Pimple, a high point at the north end of the ridge, where defenders held out until 12 April. This victory came at a high cost as 3,598 Canadians lost their lives, and 7,000 were wounded during the four-day battle.
Jeff
An important tactical innovation used in the Battle of Vimy Ridge was the rolling barrage. Early in the war, when soldiers attacked a position, the artillery would bombard that position and then stop so that the soldiers could run over and take it, but often the time between the bombardment and when the soldiers actually arrived at the position allowed the defenders time to prepare for that next attack, and inflict devastating casualties on the attackers. The rolling barrage meant that the soldiers advanced at the same time as the bombardment. At Vimy, the artillery moved forward ninety metres every three minutes, which meant that soldiers had three minutes to catch up with the barrage and dispatch any defenders left. Another important factor contributing to victory was the scale of preparations. The troops had been practicing & training for this battle for months. From frequent night raids to gain information on the opposing German troops, as well as night combat experience, to practice in the mock-up battlefield behind the lines, the Canadians were supremely ready for the battle.
Ian
Two recommended books about the Battle of Vimy Ridge are Vimy by Pierre Berton and Vimy by Tim Cook. Berton focuses on how an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition was able to seize the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front, while Cook ponders how the victory at Vimy came to signify & solidify Canada’s national identity.
Laura
An online exhibit on Google Arts & Culture allows you to explore the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, including the trenches & tunnels, from home. Visitors to the memorial will appreciate the mobile app for self-guided tours.