The Battle of Vimy Ridge
Four Divisions of Canadian Corps Fight Together for the First Time
In April 1917, the Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge in northern France, the first significant Allied victory on WW I's Western Front in more than two years.
The German Army had recognized the strategic importance of Vimy Ridge – standing 61 metres above the surrounding plains – from the very start of the war, and had captured and occupied the position in October, 1914. Vimy not only served as a main defensive point in the Hindenburg Line, but also protected vast mine works in the Douai Plain, and the occupied city of Lens, which provided the military with valuable raw materials. From the heights of Vimy, German artillery could fire deep into the Allied lines, and the view from Vimy provided observation almost all the way to the English Channel.
Twice, in 1915 and again in 1916, first the French and then British had tried to take Vimy Ridge, and suffered devastating losses in the process. The attack by the French had resulted in more than 100,000 casualties. In the spring of 1917, the 80,000-strong Canadian Corps, with the British 5th Division for support, was ordered to make another attempt.
The first Canadian troops had arrived at the front in December 1914, and eventually four divisions were fighting under British Army command. Prior to Vimy, the Canadians were dispersed throughout the British Western Front, but at Vimy the entire Corps would attack together, under the command of British Major General Sir Julian Byng. Specific planning would fall to Byng’s chief-of-staff Lt. General Arthur Currie, the first Canadian to rise to the rank of General in the British Expeditionary Force.
Under Currie’s direction, preparation for the attack was carried out in detail never before seen by the Allies on the Western Front. Using flags and other markers, a replica of the ridge was built behind the lines, and for months troops were drilled on specific objectives down to the platoon level. Miners dug tunnels far out into no-man’s land, enabling the Canadians to begin their attack on the enemy’s doorstep. Perhaps most important of all, the Canadians were well schooled on the use of the “creeping barrage". Both the British and French had experimented with the creeping barrage – where troops would advance behind a wall of artillery fire, that was lifted and moved forward in coordination with the troop advance – with disastrous results. Timing was everything, as once an attack was underway, communication between the artillery and infantry was almost impossible. At the Battle of the Somme the year before, British troops were decimated when they would advance too fast and come under fire from their own guns, or fall too far back, giving the Germans a chance to recover from the shelling before the infantry could attack.
Beginning March 20th, 1,000 Allied guns pounded the Germans on Vimy, intensifying their fire beginning April 2nd, so that more than one million shells would land before the attack began. At 5:30 am on Easter Monday, April 9th, with a snowstorm at their backs and a curtain of artillery fire in front of them, the Canadians launched their attack. By mid-afternoon, three-quarters of the 14 kilometre-long ridge would be in Allied hands. For two more days, the last Germans would hold out on the highest points, known as Hill 145, and a feature called ‘the Pimple’. But by April 12th, the battle for Vimy Ridge was over. The Canadians had suffered more than 10,000 casualties, including 3,598 killed. German losses totalled more than 24,000.
The battle for Vimy Ridge was only the opening salvo in a larger offensive by British, Australian and French troops to the south, centred on the city of Arras. Although the larger battle would stretch into mid-May and end in failure, the significance of the Canadian victory would resonate throughout the Allied armies. For the first time in more than two years of trench warfare, Allied gains could be measured in kilometers rather than metres, and the Canadians had proved, with meticulous planning and execution, it was possible for the Allies to leave the trenches and close on and destroy the enemy.
Although the war would continue another 18 months, Vimy marked the first major step back by the German Army since 1914. It would prove to be a turning point in WW I, as their success at Vimy earned the Canadians a reputation as a fighting force that could get the job done. Beginning with the spring 1918 offensives, more and more the Canadians would be called upon to spearhead the Allied campaign in northern France.
