Battle of Arras: Vimy Ridge
At the beginning of 1917 the Allies were trying to decide where an offensive would succeed against the Germans in France. The Somme had been unsuccessful in 1916 and the Battle of Verdun had bled both the Germans and the French.
On the German side of things, holding both at Verdun and the Somme had cost them materially and in lives. The German High Command decided that in the West at least they would stand on the defensive. In the East they would press the Russians hard, but the west was too strong. To improve their position, they built the Hindenburg Line back from the front, where they could devote efforts to properly fortify the line.
The Allied high command decide that a three pronged attack would take place in the Spring of 1917, the French and British would attack from the west and the Russians strike from the east, but in February Russia announced they would be unable. Their army was too weak for offensives and they would stand down to rebuild that year. With the United States still reluctant to join the war it fell on the Western Allies to keep the pressure on. In March the German Army suddenly withdrew, falling back to the improved and strong Hindenburg Line.
The French planned offensive was to be launched Mid-April on the Germans near Aisne, but the German withdrawal alarmed the allies. To the British it seemed a trap. Under intense French pressure it was agreed that the British would launch a diversionary attack on the Germans near Arras, drawing German reinforcements to them just prior to the French attack. The British attack would be along an 11 mile front , from Vimy Ridge, the scene of several assaults previously by the French and the British, south to the town of Neuville-Vitasse.
It was decided that the German position atop the ridge at Vimy was critical to the success of the operation, Vimy must fall. To accomplish this, for the first time in their history, the Canadians were selected to lead this stage. All four Canadian Divisions were withdrawn from the front, brought up to full strength and began intensive training. They were placed as a Corps under the Command of Julian Byng and General Arthur Currie. An extensive artillery program was created by the Canadians and training included a 3d scale map of the positions which Canadian troops were trained on for months.
Vimy Ridge had fallen under German control in 1914 during their almost successful offensive. The ridge itself is roughly 4.3 miles long, and only 476 feet high, but it dominates the countryside. From that ridge defenders can see for miles around. The French assaulted the ridge in 1915, at the cost of 150,000 dead and wounded. In 1916 the British took over the sector due to high French losses and they found the German positions solid and unassailable. In October 1916 the newly created Canadian Corps took up position opposite the Germans for the coming 1917 offensive.
On 20 March 1917 bombardment of Vimy Ridge began. 2,689,000 shells pounded the German defenders relentlessly for 20 days, pulverising the defenses, causing few casualties, but breaking the spirit of those defending. Ten hours prior to the attack gas shells began to be mixed in to the explosives, the German lines were pulverised as were the defenses. Extensive artillery preparations included a mapping of German gun positions by air and by the newly developed techniques of sound detection and triangulation developed by the Canadians to determine where German guns were hidden. For the attack the Canadians had available 480 18-pound cannon, 138 4.5-inch Howitzers, 96 2-inch trench mortars, 24 9.5-inch mortars, and 245 Corps level Siege Guns, up to a massive 15-inch size. The Canadians had in effect 1 gun for every 20 yards of the front. The Fire plan was a 35-page document written exclusively for this battle.
The Germans were aware of the coming storm, desertions, radio chatter, and raids captured much information. They knew the storm was coming and prepared for it. On 3 April German Generals ordered the reserve divisions to prepare for a Somme style defense, with divisions rotating in and out to relieve those at the front. Many preparations were made for a long battle like the Somme the intent to bleed the enemy and diffuse the attack.
At 5:20h on 9 April the Canadian guns fell silent for the first time in 20 days. At 5:30, after recalibrating targets and setting the schedule in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, the storm over Vimy broke. Every gun in the Canadian zone fired as one. Thirty seconds later the Engineers detonated their mines, long laid in preparation for the battle obliterating several key defensive points. Canadian troops poured out of dug-outs and tunnels. Canadian artillery rained death and advanced the range 100 yards every three minutes.
By 6:25 the leading three Canadian Divisions reported they had reached their first objectives, the Black Lines. German defenses were resisting, but poorly. German guns were captured intact because the horses to drag them clear had been killed. The Canadian 4th Division encountered problems and was delayed in it’s objective for several hours. The other three divisions after consolidation and a planned pause resumed the attack. By 7:00 the 1st Division had taken half of their second objective the Red line and the first Battalion was in position to continue the advance. The 2nd Division reached their Red Line at approximately the same time and occupied the village of Les Tilleuls.
At 7:30 the 3rd division reported they had pushed through German defenders and reached the Red Line at the edge of the village of Bois de la Folie. At 9:00am the 3rd Division realised their left flank was exposed as the 4th Division had not yet taken Hill 145. A new defensive posture was adopted on that flank until the 4th could take their place as planned.
The 4th Division attack failed almost as soon as it started. The Commander of one of the assaulting battalions had requested that the artillery not pulverise one section of the German positions to allow his men a place to defend from. The German machine-guns in that area massacred the Canadians as they tried to advance. The German defenders on Hill 145 proved hard nut to crack. The 4th Division decided not to assault this position during the afternoon and the advance in their sector faltered. Repeated attacks obtained no success and the Germans believed the worst was finished. Reinforcements arrived and took up defensive positions and restored the German lines around hill 145.
On 10 April the attack resumed, Fresh Units including the new Tanks were brought forward and by 11:00h the Blue line including hill 135 were taken. The artillery then held position for 90 minutes pounding the German positions while machine guns were brought forward. At 13:00h the advance continued with the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions announcing they had taken their final objectives, the Brown line by 14:00h.
The 4th Division resumed their attack on Hill 145 at 15:15 and briefly held the peak before a strong German Counter-Attack drove them back. The 3rd Division moved up and began to put pressure on the flank as the 4th prepared for another assault. The defenders realised their position was untenable and withdrew rather than face another attack.
On the 12th the 4th Division again assaulted “the Pimple” as the top of the Ridge was known. The first attack at 04:00h was driven off but the 10th Brigade resumed the attack at 05:00h and by 06:00h the Germans had withdrawn. By nightfall 12 April 1917 the Canadians were in sole control of Vimy Ridge. The Canadian Corps suffered 10,602 Casualties, 3,598 dead, and 7,004 wounded. The Germans suffered an unknown number of casualties with 4,000 prisoners. Post battle the German high command ordered an inquiry into the defeat and the collapse of the defenses in the Arras sector deemed the toughest in the area. The Germans did not see the loss of the Ridge as a loss, indeed deeming it a draw since there had been no follow-on Breakthrough.
The Battle was not a huge success, but the effect on the war and particularly Canada was immense. For the first time the Canadians had operated as a single unit. This was the first sign that a combined force of the all volunteer Canadian army could achieve great things if allowed to operate together. The Canadian Corps came to be used for the rest of the war alongside the Australians and New Zealanders as the Shock Troops of the Empire. Blasting holes in the German lines for the allied forces to pour through. In Many instances the Canadians would be moved into position, lead the initial assault, be withdrawn to another sector while others exploited their breakthrough and assault in a new position blasting a new hole in the enemy defenses.
Post World War I it was decided to commemorate the Canadian achievements in the war. On 5 December 1922, Speaker of the House Rodolphe Lemieux concluded an agreement with France in which France granted Canada "freely and for all time" the use of 100 hectares (250 acres) of land on Vimy Ridge, in commemoration of the losses suffered by this young nation. In 1921 the Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission selected Toronto sculptor Walter Seymour Allward’s design. Construction was long and expensive, but on 26 July 1936 a pilgrimage of Canadian Veterans and their families arrived at Vimy. King Edward VIII attended as did many officials.
In 1940, war again passed over the area of Arras. It was reported in the press that victorious and vengeful German troops had destroyed the memorial, inflaming Canadian opinion. On 2 June 1940 the German Propaganda Ministry released a short video of Adolph Hitler visiting the memorial. It was later learned that Hitler had considered the destruction of the memorial, but on visiting it he announced that “This memorial does not glorify war, rather it is an outpouring of a Nations grief over the sacrifice of so many of their young men.” Hitler then ordered a permanent stationing of an SS Unit to guard the memorial, protecting it from vandalism by locals or his own troops.
In 1944 Vimy Ridge was retaken by the allies and the safety of the memorial was announced to the nation. Today visitors to Vimy may walk the grounds, see the names of Canadians with no known graves, and even visit the tunnels dug for the shelter of the troops prior to the assault.