THE BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE 1917

 

After three years of unimanigable slaughter, the First World War had become a struggle of prolonged attrition. The opposing Allied and German armies were Locked in stalemate along a vast line of trench works stretching 500 miles from the North Sea through Belgium and France to the Swiss border.

In April 1917, the French made plans to launch a massive offensive against German lines in the Champagne region of France. Further north, the British were to launch a diversionary assault near the town of Arras seeking to pin down the German 6th army and prevent it from diverting forces against the main French assault .

Four Canadian divisions comprising 40,000 men under General Julian Byng, were tasked with occupying the strategic high ground atop Vimy Ridge. Capturing this German strong point would give the Allies an important geographic vantage point, with sweeping views over enemy positions to the east. 

For three years, the Germans continued to hold the high ground despite several failed attempts and 100,000 French casualties to dislodge them. The 10,000 German defenders were entrenched within successive lines of fortifications spread out among a network of artillery, barbed wire and machine gun bunkers.

New artillery tactics would also be used at Vimy, in advance of the main assault the inovation of the “creeping barrage” which was designed to protect the advancing Infantry by keeping the enemy forces sheltering in their bunkers until the Canadians were virtually on top of the German trenches.

For one week before the assault, 1,000 artillery pieces and field guns were concentrated together for the operation. More than a million shells were fired at German positions atop the ridge. The intense bombardment was designed to destroy enemy trenches, gun emplacements, communications lines, transportation crossroads, even whole villages.

At 5.30am On the morning of of April 9th, Easter Monday, British artillery began laying down covering fire for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry divisions as they left there trenches and advanced toward Vimy.

Covering the left of the assault the 3rd Division under Major General Lipsett encountered little opposition as they arrived at the German trenches, as most of the defenders were still huddled in their dug outs due to the accuracy of the Allied bombardment. 

However, for the 1st and 2nd divisions commanded by Major Generals Currie and Burstall, the British artillery was not as effective and enemy machine gun crews who survived the barrage scrambled into position and began pouring a hail of deadly fire into there ranks.

As 3rd division leapt into the vacant German trenches the defenders emerged from there underground bunkers and feirce hand to hand fighting ensued. By early afternoon 3rd division had captured there objective as the 1st and 2nd divisions after suffering heavy casualties, had also overcome the enemy defenses

After the first line of German trenches had been taken, the Canadians regroped then continued advancing steadily up the ridge. In some areas having to overcome stiff determined resistance, while in other sectors simply watching the Germans pull back to there secondary line of trenches.

By late afternoon the three divisions had captured all their objectives on schedule, and most of Vimy Ridge was in Canadian hands. At the deepest point, the Germans had been pushed back just over 3 miles, which at the time was the greatest single Allied penetration along the entire Western Front up to that point in the war.

Things however were not going well for the soldiers of the Canadian 4th Division under Major General Watson on the extreme left of the assault. Tasked with the capture of Hill 145, the position was heavily defended, ringed by well fortified trenches, and possessed a clear view of the slopes up which the Canadians would have to attack.

Unfortunately, the supporting artillery bombardment had done little damage to the German positions. As a result, only minutes into the assault the leading waves of the Division came under withering machine gun fire and were cut to pieces. 

Many of the survivors were now pinned down and unable to move for the remainder of the day. And By late evening, neither Hill 145 or the second line of German trenches had been taken. During the night General Julian Byng ordered the four division reserve Battalions forward to join in the next assault. 

On the morning of April 12th a renewed artillery bombardment lasting six hours saturated the German defenses. The Infantry was ordered forward in the early afternoon and after heavy fighting lasting several hours, the Germans were pushed from the heights and Hill 145 was in Canadian hands. 

Fighting was also fierce along the German trenches, after hours of intense fighting and hundreds of men dead on both sides, the Canadians captured the enemy second line of trenches, this along the fall of Hill 145 prompted the wholesale rout of the remaining German defenders. 

The four day battle of Vimy Ridge was now over was over. The Canadians lost 3,600 dead and another 7,000 wounded, where as the Germans suffered an estimated 16,000 casualties with  4,000 taken prisoner. 

The victory at Vimy Ridge became a symbol of Canadian nationalism. The prime reason being that the Canadian Corps comprising soldiers from every region and province of Canada were  for the first time grouped together and fighting as a single unit. 

Yet the battle was strategically insignificant to the outcome of the war. The French offensive o (of which Vimy was intended as a tactical diversion) was an utter failure. In addition, no sustained Allied breakthrough followed either the assault on the ridge or the wider, British Battle of Arras of which Vimy was a part.

VIMY RIDGE 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtE6vmTWanI