Drive-Time (Via Michelin):
Embry to Vimy Ridge:
1hr
20 mins (60 miles incl motorways) Address:
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
62580 Vimy, France Interpretive
Centre Admission:
Free Guided
Tours of Tunnels: Free Opening
Hours: See web site here.
The
Battle of Vimy Ridge
9-12 April 1917 (More than 10,000 men were killed and
wounded.)
The Canadian Corps was ordered to seize the
heavily-fortified seven-kilometre ridge which held a commanding view over the
Allied lines. The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard since
previous French attacks had failed, with over 100,000 casualties.
The infantry were given specialist roles as machine-gunners, rifle-men and
grenade-throwers. These same soldiers underwent weeks of training behind the
lines using models to represent the battlefield, and new maps crafted from
aerial photographs to guide their way. To bring men forward safely for the
assault, engineers dug deep tunnels from the rear to the front. Despite this
training and preparation, the key to victory would be a devastating artillery
barrage that would not only isolate enemy trenches, but provide a moving wall
of high explosives and shrapnel to force the Germans to stay in their deep
dugouts and away from their machine-guns. "Chaps, you shall go over
exactly like a railroad train, on time, or you shall be annihilated,"
warned Canadian Corps commander Sir Julian Byng.
In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery pounded
the enemy positions on the ridge, killing and tormenting defenders. New
artillery tactics allowed the gunners to first target, then destroy enemy
positions. A nearly limitless supply of artillery shells and the new 106 fuse,
which allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in
ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire. The
Canadian infantry would be well supported when it went into battle with over
1,000 artillery pieces laying down withering, supportive fire.
Attacking together for the first time, the four Canadian divisions stormed the
ridge at 5:30am on 9 April 1917. More than 15,000 Canadian infantry overran the
Germans all along the front. Incredible bravery and discipline allowed the
infantry to continue moving forward under heavy fire, even when their officers
were killed. There were countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadians single-handedly
charged machine-gun nests or forced the surrender of Germans in protective
dugouts. Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the Ridge, and
where the Vimy monument now stands, was captured in a frontal bayonet charge
against machine-gun positions. Three more days of costly battle delivered final
victory. The Canadian operation was an important success, even if the larger
British and French offensive, of which it had been a part, had failed. But it
was victory at a heavy cost: 3,598 Canadians were killed and another 7,000
wounded.
The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For
the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all
regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross
declared after the war, "in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a
nation."
Vimy became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. In 1922, the
French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge, and the land
surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy
Memorial, unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the
11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.Photos by Geoff McIntoshThe
New Zealand Tunnelling CompanyRecruited in New Zealand in 1915, the men of the
Tunnelling Company arrived in France in March 1916 under the command of
33-year-old regular soldier and Boer War veteran Major J.E. Duigan. The first
New Zealanders to reach the Western Front, they were a so-called non-divisional
unit – not part of the New Zealand Division, which arrived from Egypt the
following month.The men of the Tunnelling Company were not the only
New Zealand troops involved in this work. For two months they were assisted by
the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, many of whose members had been part of the
Native (Maori) Contingent this unit would eventually be renamed the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. Later,
infantrymen from the New Zealand Division also helped out.Learn
more HERE.
