Battle of Vimy Ridge

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Coordinates: 50.379° N 2.774° E

Battle of Vimy Ridge
Part of the Western Front of World War I
Image:The Battle of Vimy Ridge.jpg The Battle of Vimy Ridge after a painting by Richard Jack. Canadian War Museum.
Date April 9 to April 12, 1917 Location Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France Result Decisive Allied Victory
Combatants
Image:Flag of Canada-1868-Red.svg Canada Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom	Image:Flag of the German Empire.svg German Empire
Commanders
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Byng	Image:Flag of the German Empire.svg Ludwig von Falkenhausen
Strength
200,000	Unknown
Casualties
3,598 dead, 7,004 wounded[1]	20,000 dead or wounded, 4,000 captured

v • d • e Western Front
Frontiers – Liège – Antwerp – Great Retreat – Race to the Sea – Neuve Chapelle – 2nd Ypres – 2nd Artois – Hill 70 – 3rd Artois – Loos – Verdun – Hulluch – Mont Sorrel – Somme – Arras – Vimy Ridge – 2nd Aisne – Messines – Passchendaele – Cambrai – Michael – Lys – 3rd Aisne – Belleau Wood – 2nd Marne – Château-Thierry – Hamel – Hundred Days

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military offensive of World War I by the Canadian Corps against the German Sixth Army along the Western Front in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, from 9 April 1917 to 12 April 1917.

The attack on Vimy Ridge was part of the opening phase in the wider scaled Battle of Arras, which served as a diversionary attack for the Nivelle Offensive.^[2] The immediate objective of the Canadian Corps was to take control of the German-held high ground that dominated the Plains of Douai to permit the southern flank of the Arras offensive to advance without being fired upon in enfilade.^[3]

The success of the Canadian Corps in capturing the ridge and surrounding area is largely attributed to a mixture of technical and tactical innovations, powerful artillery preparation and meticulous planning. Noted as the first occasion on which all four divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked as a composite formation, the battle quickly became a nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice. The former battleground is now home to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

Contents 1 Background 2 Assault Preparations 2.1 Influences 2.2 Tunnelling 3 Battle 3.1 Opposing forces 3.2 Preliminary barrage 3.3 Main Assault 4 Results 5 Enduring legacy 6 Vimy Memorial 7 90th anniversary of the battle 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] Background

Vimy Ridge had fallen under German control in October, 1914, during the First Battle of Artois. Situated 8 km northeast of Arras, the ridge is approximately 7 km in length and cumulates at an elevation of 145 m, providing a natural unobstructed view for tens of kilometers. The German Sixth Army had heavily fortified the ridge with tunnels, three rows of trenches behind barbed wire, artillery and numerous machine gun nests to more effectively protect the Lens coal mines, which were essential to their war efforts. During the Second Battle of Artois, The French 1st Moroccan Division managed to take possession of the ridge, after an astonishing 4 km advance, but was unable to maintain it due to a lack of reinforcements, and consequently suffered heavy losses. The French suffered approximately 150,000 casualties in their attempts to gain control of Vimy Ridge and surrounding territory. ^[4] Following the Third Battle of Artois the Vimy sector became calmer with both sides taking a Live and let live approach.

The British XVII Corps, commanded coincidentally by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, relieved the French Tenth Army from the sector in February 1916 permitting the French to expand their operations at Verdun.^[5] It was quickly discovered that German tunnelling companies had taken advantage of the relative calm on the surface to push aggressive tunnelling and deep mining activity against French positions, taking full control of the underground in the Vimy sector. Royal Engineer Tunnelling Companies were immediately deployed along the front to combat the German mining nuisance. This underground clash developed into a fierce struggle, with both sides blowing mines to destroy enemy infantry positions, and camouflet charges to destroy the opposition's mining activity.

In response to increased British mining aggression, German artillery and trench mortar fire intensified in early May 1916. On 21 May 1916, after shelling both forward trenches and divisional artillery positions from no less than 80 out-of-sight batteries on the reverse slope of the ridge, the German infantry attacked the British lines along a 2000-yard front in an effort to repulse them from positions along the ridge.^[6] During the battle, Lieutenant Richard Basil Brandram Jones won his Victoria Cross for having led his platoon’s defence of the important Broadmarsh Crater, having personally shot 15 of the enemy before being shot in the head attempting to throw a Mills bomb.

The German advance, having captured their objective of the British mine craters, halted, and entrenched their position. Small counter attack by units of 140th and 141st Brigades took place on 22 May, but did not manage to change the situation.^[6] The newly-formed Canadian Corps relieved the British troops stationed along the now quiet western slopes of Vimy Ridge in October 1916.

[edit] Assault Preparations

Formal planning to retake the ridge began following a conference of corps commanders held at First Army Headquarters on 21 November 1916.^[3] For the first time, all four Canadian Divisions were assembled to operate in combat as a corps. They were joined by the British 5th Infantry Division (in corps reserve), and reinforced by artillery, engineer and labour units. This brought the Canadian Corps nominal strength up to about 170,000 all ranks, of whom 97,184 were Canadians.^[7]

[edit] Influences

One of the few Allied successes of 1916 had been the French counter-offensive devised by General Robert Nivelle in the closing stages of the Battle of Verdun. Here, following extensive rehearsal, "eight French divisions, assaulting in two waves on a six-mile [10 km] front with exceedingly strong artillery support, had recovered ground lost ... and inflicted very heavy casualties on five German divisions."^[8] In January 1917, a group of officers, amongst them General Arthur Currie, a divisional commander within the Canadian Corps, were sent to study his methods employed. On his return, General Currie gave a series of lectures to Corps and Division on the lessons of Verdun. The battle and tactics plan used at Vimy Ridge reflect General Nivelle's influence.^[8]

Prior to the attack, a full scale replica of the battlefield was constructed behind the lines in a field. Under Currie's personal supervision the assault battalions were rotated through it. They were trained in platoon-level tactics, advancing under a rolling barrage.^[8] They were each given detailed maps of the assault area. Previously these had been issued to officers or non-commissioned officers alone. The objective was to give each platoon a complete picture of the battle plan and a specific task within it.^[9] This was to reduce the command and control problems that plagued World War I combat. (World War I battlefields were so big, the numbers of troops deployed so large, and—in the absence of reliable radio/wireless—communications so difficult, that "generals [were] prevented from giving commands in battle".^[10])

[edit] Tunnelling

As with the Battle of Arras, tunnelling companies played a crucial role. They had been at work since December 1916 excavating a vast network of tunnels under the battlefield, enabling troops to be brought from Arras right up to the front line in secrecy and in safety. They placed mines under the German front line and dug long "subways" (tunnels), the ends of which were detonated at Z-hour, giving waiting platoons closer access to the German line.

[edit] Battle

German forces knew a major Allied attack was imminent, but they were unaware of its exact date.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Opposing forces

Von Falkenhausen’s Sixth Army had twenty line divisions (plus reserves) responsible for the Cambrai to Lille sector. Of these he had three divisions on the ridge: ^[11]

• holding Thélus and Bailleul, the 1st Bavarian Reserve Division,
• responsible for the Vimy sector, the 79th Reserve Division,
• opposite Sonchez, the 16th Bavarian Infantry Division

[edit] Preliminary barrage

On 25 March, 1917, the largest artillery barrage in history up to that point started.^{[citation needed]} Over a million shells were fired onto the German trenches for 24 hours a day, for an entire week. The German artillery pieces were hidden behind the ridge, but by using aerial observers and microphones on the ground to triangulate the sound and flashes from the guns' firing (techniques known as "sound ranging" and "flash spotting"), the Canadians were able to locate about 83% of the German guns. The German troops called this period the "Week of Suffering".^[12]

Additionally, the heavy artillery was strongly reinforced, with nine British heavy artillery groups supplementing the 1st and 2nd Canadian Heavy Artillery Groups, for a total of 245 heavy guns and howitzers.^[13] The supporting field artillery was also reinforced to include "seven divisional artilleries ... eight independent field artillery brigades, ... 480 eighteen-pounders and 138 4.5-inch howitzers".^[13] Available if required were "132 more heavies and 102 field" and "a few heavy guns held under the command of the First Army".^[13] This fire power gave a density of one heavy gun for every 20 yards (18 m) of frontage and one field gun for every 10 yards (9.1 m): in contrast, the proportions at the Somme had been one heavy gun to 57 yards (52 m), and one field gun to every 20.^[13] The artillery was under the overall charge of Brig-Gen. W.E.B. Morrison, a gunner from Guelph (and a close friend of John McCrae).

[edit] Main Assault

After a cold night the mud had hardened underfoot by dawn on Easter Monday. At dawn the assault divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked. The mines were fired, a blanket of shells from the barrage crept towards the German front line, and the first wave of the Canadian Corps walked closely behind it. As insurance, heavy machine fire, calibrated to four hundred feet to their front, arced over their heads towards the German lines. The first wave of about 15,000 Canadian troops attacked positions defended by roughly 5,000 Germans, followed by the second wave of 12,000 Canadians to meet 3,000 German reserves. Over 1,100 cannons of various descriptions, from British heavy naval guns mounted on railway cars miles behind the battlefield, to portable field artillery pieces dragged into place by horses, mules, or soldiers just behind the Canadian lines, fired continuously. Nearly 100,000 men in total were to take and hold the ridge.^[14] The first wave advanced behind a creeping barrage, known specifically for the battle as the Vimy Glide. This tactic had been used earlier at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the Battle of the Somme but required fine tuning in the absence of voice control. The officer sometimes credited for planning and coordinating the barrage was Brigade Major Alan Brooke,^[15] later better known as Field-Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War II.

Corporal Gus Sivertz of the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles later recalled:^[16]

We were dancing a macabre dance as our nerves just vibrated to the thousands of shells and machine gun bullets... whizzing over. I felt that if I had put my finger up, I should have touched a ceiling of sound.

After less than two hours, three of the four Canadian divisions had taken their objectives; the 4th Division, however, was held up by machine gun nests on the highest point of the ridge, known as Hill 145. The 87th Battalion suffered 50% casualties. The 85th Nova Scotia Highlanders, who had been intended to function in a supply and construction role, were sent in as reinforcements and the hill was captured by the end of the day. The fight to take Vimy Ridge cost the Canadian Corps dearly, but it would become clear that they won this battle because they made sure that they knew every part of land they were fighting on and prepared very well for what was to come.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, the massed British and Australian divisions attacking along a 24-mile (39 km) front on the Canadian Corps' north and south flanks achieved their preliminary objectives.

[edit] Results

By April 12, the Canadians controlled the entire ridge, at a cost of 10,602 casualties (3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded).^[17] The German Sixth Army, under General Ludwig von Falkenhausen, suffered an unknown number of casualties, and lost approximately 4,000 as prisoners of war.^[18] The loss of the ridge forced the Germans to retreat to the lower Douai plain that was far more difficult to defend.^[19] It also seriously undermined German morale, as they had long recognized the ridge as one of their most impregnable strongpoints.^[18] Allied domination of the ridge also denied the German the rich coalfields of the plain. The Hundred Days Offensive counter-attack to the German Spring Offensive would ultimately lead to victory over Germany by November 1918.^[20]

[edit] Enduring legacy

The Battle of Vimy Ridge remains historically significant for Canada. It was the first time in the nation's history a corps-sized formation fought as a unit. The success of the attack which had resulted from detailed planning and a variety of innovative tactics, stood in stark contrast to what had happened at the Somme only months earlier, and sealed the reputation of the Canadians as among the finest troops on the Western Front.^[21] "In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation" said Brigadier-General A.E. Ross afterwards.^[22]

Some have suggested that Canadian unity was fostered—all nine provinces were represented in the order of battle of the Canadian Corps.^[23] As Pierre Berton points out in, Vimy, the taking of the ridge achieved iconic status in Canada very quickly, and with it attendant myths grew.

Battle after battle, thousands died for gains measured in yards, the breakthrough had tremendous tactical significance: it relieved the city of Arras from the immediate threat of attack and proved that the front lines could be moved forward once again. In all the battles at Vimy Ridge in World War I, there was a staggering cost in dead and wounded on both sides. Across 16 kilometres of ridge, approximately 200,000 men perished: French, British, Canadian, and German. Considering that typically there were three wounded to every man killed, the total casualties at Vimy during the War can be estimated at 800,000.^[24]

Four Victoria Crosses (VC) were awarded to members of the Canadian Corps for this battle: Private William Johnstone Milne (16 Bn CEF); Lance-Sergeant Ellis Welwood Sifton (18 Bn CEF); Private John George Pattison (50 Bn CEF); and Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell (38 Bn CEF).

[edit] Vimy Memorial

Main article: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Set on the highest point of Vimy Ridge is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, the largest of Canada's war monuments. In 1922, use of the land, for the battlefield park which contains the memorial was granted, in perpetuity, for all time by the French nation to the people of Canada in recognition of Canada's war efforts. 250 hectares of the former Vimy Ridge battlefield is preserved as part of the memorial park which surrounds the monument. The grounds or the site are still honeycombed with wartime tunnels, trenches and craters, closed off for public safety.

The memorial took eleven years and $1.5 million to build and was unveiled on 26 July 1936 by King Edward VIII (prior to his abdication), in the presence of President Albert Lebrun of France and 50,000 or more Canadian and French veterans and their families.

The memorial site is tended by Veterans Affairs Canada.

[edit] 90th anniversary of the battle

Though memorial ceremonies have taken place on the Anniversary date for many years, a confluence of events brought the 90th anniversary into sharp focus and attracted considerable attention. Simplest is the fact that it was the 90th, but, the Anniversary fell on an Easter Monday, as had the battle itself in 1917 which seemed to give it even more symbolic importance. The anniversary was also built up in a groundswell of nationalistic nostalgia that has swept through the formal and informal community of Canadian historians and history educators in recent years.

The 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge was celebrated on April 9 2007, in many locations across Canada, and in formal ceremonies in the cities of Toronto (at Queen's Park), Ottawa, and at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial atop Hill 145 on Vimy Ridge in France.

At the Vimy Memorial over 25,000 people, primarily Canadians, attended a ceremony that commemorated the 90th anniversary of the battle and rededicated the memorial itself upon the completion a multi-year restoration program. The 'pilgrims' to the commemoration and rededication ceremony included over 5,000 Canadian students from across Canada, many of whom were involved in a program that saw them representing a Canadian soldier who died in the battle at Vimy Ridge. The presiding platform party included Queen Elizabeth II, who formally rededicated the restored memorial, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who delivered speeches. ^{[25][verification needed]}

Leading up to the 90th, a movement was initiated by the Royal Canadian Legion to have a historic Canadian Red Ensign flown at the memorial alongside the current Canadian 'Maple Leaf' and French flags. The Legion reasoned it was appropriate as the Canadians who had fought in 1917 had done so under the Ensign. According to a poll conducted by Ipsos Reid, 79 per cent^{[citation needed]} of respondents supported the idea of flying both at the monument during the April 9 ceremony in Vimy, France. Initial government press releases seemed to dismiss the Legion's request, citing government protocol that dictated only the current Canadian flag adorn federal monuments. However, on March 30, 2007, it was announced that a version of the Canadian Ensign would be flown at the memorial on April 9, 2007, and that an ensign of some type would be flown year-round in addition to the current Canadian and French flags.^[26] The Legion donated a Red Ensign from the 1868–1870 period (i.e., a four-province flag) and this continues to fly at the Vimy site. Some commentators, including Robert Watt, then the Chief Herald of Canada, noted that it might be more correct to fly the nine-province flag that was flown in Canada and abroad between 1905 and 1921, since the Dominion of that period was made up of nine provinces.^[27] Alternatively, it is most historically accurate to note that the Canadian soldiers of the First World War fought for the British Expeditionary Force, and therefore under the Union Jack, rather than any Canadian flag.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Ashworth, Tony. 2000. Trench warfare 1914–1918. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0330480685

• Barris, Ted. 2007. Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers. ISBN 0887622534

• Bernmann, Franz. 1929. Schlachten des Weltkrieges (Reichsarchiv), Band 28: Die Osterschlacht bei Arras 1917, I. Teil: Zwischen Lens und Scarpe. (German) Berlin: Gerhard Stalling

• Berton, Pierre. 2003. Vimy London: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 0-85052-988-3

• Boire, Michael (Spring 1992). "The Underground War: Military Mining Operations in support of the attack on Vimy Ridge, 9 April 1917". Canadian Military History 1 (1-2): 15-24. Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies. Retrieved on 2008-01-02.

• Granatstein, J. L. 2007. "Without Peer: Canadians at Vimy Ridge" Legion Magazine Apr/May 2007. Retrieved: 30 December 2007

• Gustavson, Wesley (Spring 2001). "Fairly Well Known and Need Not Be Discussed: Colonel A.F. Duguid and the Canadian Official History of the First World War". Canadian Military History 10 (2): 41-54. Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.

• "Vimy Ridge" in Oral Histories of the First World War: Veterans 1914-1918 at Library and Archives Canada

• Gilbert, Martin. 1995. First World War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson

• MacGregor, Tom. 2007. "Terrain, Tunnels and Trees" Legion Magazine Apr/May 2007

• Nicholson, Gerald W. L. (1964). Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919. Ottawa: Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationary. 

• Rawling, Bill. 1992. Trench Warfare: Technology and the Canadian Corps 1914-1918. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

• Ross, Ron. (2006) "The Battle of Vimy Ridge" The Brampton Guardian Retrieved: 30 December 2007.

• Salat, Natalie. 2007. "Restoring The Grandeur" Legion Magazine Apr/May 2007 Retrieved: 30 December 2007

• Samuels, Mart (1996). Command or Control?: Command, Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies, 1888-1918. Portland: Frank Cass. ISBN 0714645702. 

• Terraine, John. 1992. The Smoke and the Fire: Myths and Anti-Myths of War 1861-1945. London: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 0850523303

• Zuehlke, Mark. 2001. Canadian Military Atlas, London: Stoddart. ISBN 978-0773732896

[edit] Further reading

• Berton, P. (2001) Marching As to War. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0-385-25725-2
• Cave, N. (1997) Arras, Vimy Ridge. Cooper (Battleground Europe). ISBN 0-85052-399-0
• Federal Govt of Canada. (1992) Canada and the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Canadian Government Pub Centre.
• Hayes, Geoffrey. (2007) Vimy Ridge: A Canadian reassessment Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 9780889205086
• Turner, A. (2005) Vimy Ridge 1917: Byng's Canadians Triumph at Arras. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-871-5
• Wagner, Mark. (2007) Vimy Ridge: A War Well Fought
• Australian Official History, Volume 5 Page 139
• Russell, Thomas Herbert. America's War for Humanity

[edit] External links

• Mansbridge One on One with Ted Barris
• Legion Magazine focus on Battle at Vimy Ridge
• The Battle of Vimy Ridge Battle info, video footage and photos.
• Canadian War Museum — The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9 April–12 April 1917
• Historica Minutes Vimy Ridge

• CBC Vimy Ridge Site
• Vimy Memorial in Google Maps
• An authoritative article on Vimy Ridge from The Canadian Encyclopedia

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