Battle of Vimy Ridge

“ The Vimy Ridge was a limited objective. We didn’t want to break the Hun line; what we desired was the Ridge, because it commanded a great enemy plain on the other side. For two months before we actually struck, we advertised the fact that we were going to strike by the intensity of our incessant shell-fire. Systematically, day by day and night by night, we cut the enemy’s wire-entanglements, blew up his dumps, mined beneath his front-line, pounded his cement machine-gun emplacements, harassed his means of communication and stole his morale by making his life perilous and wretched. ”

“ It is a black day for the German armies and for the German women who do not know yet what it means to them. During last night the Canadians gained the last point, called Hill 145, on the Vimy Ridge, where the Germans held out in a pocket with machine guns, and this morning the whole of that high ridge, which dominates the plains to Douai, is in our hands, so that there is removed from our path the great barrier for which the French and ourselves have fought through bloody years. Yesterday, before daylight and afterwards, I saw this ridge of Vimy all on fire with the light of great gunfire. ”

“ And always, as we sped on, there was the thunder of the guns. Always there were the bursting shells, and the old bent peasants paying no heed to them. Always there were the circling airplanes, far above us, like hawks against the deep blue of the sky. And always we came nearer and nearer to Vimy Ridge—that deathless name in the history of Britain. ”

“ Between the city of Arras, held by the French and British, and the city of Lens, held by the Germans, was Vimy Ridge which stretched north, west and southwest in front of the village of Vimy. Since 1914, the Germans had held it, resisting all Allied assaults. Its strategical importance was fully recognized by both the Allies and the Germans. Every artificial means had been taken to increase its natural strength, the best scientific devices of fortifications had been made use of by the Germans, and for two years it had defied all attacks. ”

“ Our troops attacked on a wide front including the Vimy Ridge—that grim hill which dominates the plain of Douai and the coalfields of Lens—and the German positions around Arras. In spite of bad fortune in the weather at the beginning of the day, so bad that there was no visibility for the airmen, and our men had to struggle forward in a heavy rain-storm, the first attacks have been successful, and the enemy has lost much ground, falling back in retreat to strong rear-guard lines where he is now fighting desperately. ”

“ So they issued on the eastern slopes of Vimy Ridge—the first Allied troops to look down upon the (p. 361) level plain of Douai since the German occupation in 1914. They saw the villages of Farbus, Vimy, and Petit Vimy at their feet, and beyond these the hamlets of Willerval, Bailleul, Oppy, and Mericourt. They pressed on to Farbus Wood and Goulot Wood, and possessed themselves of several hostile batteries and much ammunition. ”

“ Two armies, the First (General Horne) and Third (General Allenby) , were prepared for this action. Horne's army made its attack on the Vimy Ridge, with the Canadian Corps as shock troops, on 9th April, and the attack was extended on a 12-mile front from Hénin-sur-Cojeul, south-east of Arras, to Givenchy-en-Gohelle, north of Arras. The Canadians took the whole of Vimy Ridge, except its northern end, the conquest of which was completed next day. Five villages fell into British hands and 6000 prisoners. ”

“ You would see him, if the sculptor followed my thought, sitting in front of his shell-hole on Vimy Ridge, calm, dispassionate, devoted to his duty and the day's work, quietly giving the directions that guided the British guns in their work of blasting the Hun out of the refuge he had chosen when the Canadians had driven him from the spot where the major sat.
It was easier going down Vimy Ridge than it had been coming up, but it was hard going still. We had to skirt great, gaping holes torn by monstrous shells—shells that had torn the very guts out of the little hill. ”

“ Then, taking the motor once more, we passed through wrecked and empty villages until we came to the foot of Vimy Ridge. Notre Dame de Lorette rose against the sky-line to the north.
Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette—sweet but terrible names! Only a summer had passed since Vimy was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the war. From a distance the prevailing colour of the steep slope is ochre; it gives the effect of having been scraped bare in preparation for some gigantic enterprise. A nearer view reveals a flush of green; nature is already striving to heal. ”

“ In the ordinary course of events many men are hit by fragments from our own shells. We used to derive considerable pleasure in watching this close up strafing from the support-line.
In the Vimy Ridge trenches whenever we had spotted what we suspected to be an enemy mining-shaft we would take counsel with the trench-mortar officer or gunners and have the location consistently pounded, meanwhile watching with delight many hits which resulted in throwing up blocks of timber, the latter usually denoting a direct hit. ”

“ The British literally blasted their way through the German front and rearward positions. Vimy Ridge, dominating the coal fields of Lens, where thousands of French had fallen in the previous year, was captured by the Canadians. The terrific bombardment by British guns during many days had not depressed the Germans' spirit and the advance was hotly contested. The British, however, were in excellent fighting trim, and forced their way onward in spite of the fiercest opposition. They took a famous redoubt known as "The Harp," virtually an entire battalion defending it. ”

“ Fritz's machine guns were now playing on us.
Aeroplane map of the sector in which the "Fighting 25th" were engaged at "Vimy Ridge."
Aeroplane map of the sector in which the "Fighting 25th" were engaged at "Vimy Ridge."
We saw some of the boys turn around and then drop dead. It must be a great death, for in the excitement one would never know what struck him. We opened up our machine guns on the Huns who were hiding in a bit of a wood. My team is up with the first wave by now. Then we all made a dash and arrived at the Convent wall in Courcelette. There were lots there before us. ”

“ Heavy counter-attacks developed later, so that our men had to fall back from Chérisy and Rœux—Fresnoy was abandoned later—but the rest of the ground was held. During this month's fighting twenty-three German divisions had been withdrawn exhausted from the line, and we had captured 19,500 prisoners, 257 guns including 98 heavies, 464 machine-guns, 227 trench mortars, and a great quantity of war material. We advanced our line five miles on a front of over twenty miles, including the Vimy Ridge, which had always menaced our positions. ”

“ The men are well fed, given extra water bottles, "iron rations" are in their kits—that is, bully beef and biscuit—they are equipped only in fighting dress. By night they are marched into the trenches from which they are to go over the top, and after a few hours of rest, broken by shell fire, the zero hour, or hour of attack, arrives.
Just before the great advance in which the Canadians took Vimy Ridge, that hill consecrated by the graves of thousands of French, British, and Canadian soldiers, our brigade had made all these arrangements. ”

“ The major loved dearly going into dangerous zones, just wandering off to see what he could see. After we had taken Vimy Ridge, but not yet progressed beyond it, we had outposts on the German side of it, looking down on Vimy and other German positions, 400 or 500 yards away. A good deal of sniping was going on against us, as our men were so much exposed on the side of the hill, where they had very little protection except an odd shellhole or a few feet of shallow trench here and there. ”

“ On the 8th April our artillery bombardment on Vimy Ridge was very active and continuous, and reached its maximum about 5.30 a.m. the following day, which was to the battalion a more exciting one than can well be imagined by those who have never seen the like; for it falls to the lot of few soldiers to observe any fighting—that is to say, fighting not in their very immediate vicinity: the Canadians were attacking, and our men could tell by the way our barrage was creeping steadily forward that they were gaining their objective. ”

“ Other nations before an attack spur their troops to keener patriotism by recalling former glories and present injustices. Our Army Orders are to the point; they contain no bugle-calls. “On April the —th the Canadian Corps will capture Vimy Ridge,” ran the Army Order for one of the most important of the spring offensives; it can scarcely be beaten for brevity. ”

“ Company advanced in two waves up the slopes of Vimy Ridge, with no artillery, machine guns or Lewis guns supporting them, and that very soon they came under such a murderous and intense fire from enemy artillery, trench mortars, machine guns and rifles, that very few survived unwounded. As far as can be gathered from survivors, it appears that after taking the British front line at 9.0 p.m., the enemy at once put out a barbed wire obstacle, and the survivors of “B” Company claim that a number of their men actually reached the wire, where, of course, they were helpless. ”

“ During the day the artillery on both sides became more active, though no infantry action occurred, and the men were kept busy in constructing trench blocks and improving firesteps. The right flank of the 1/4th Londons' sector had always been regarded as a rather weak spot in the defence, and in view of the expectation that the enemy would assault the Vimy Ridge from the south, it was desirable to provide for the formation by the Battalion of a defensive flank facing south should this area become threatened. ”

“ Between this line and Lens lay the Vimy Ridge, and in front of its southwestern slopes the Germans had constructed elaborate fortifications above and underground known as the White Work and the Labyrinth. For the attack the French had made careful preparations, and their concentration of eleven hundred guns and almost limitless shells exceeded in intensity any previous experiment. ”

“ As soon as the Riflemen had cleared the front of this regiment, passing by its right flank to the rear, the 97th poured a steady fire on the advancing column and held it in check, while the 52nd took it in flank and drove it back in confusion. [53] This picquet, on being driven in, rejoined the other 2nd Battalion companies. With this attack began the Battle of Vimiera. The Riflemen were soon assailed by a swarm of light troops, who covered the advance of large masses of infantry. ”

“ Of the three Companies involved in the fighting at Vimy (for “A” Company took no part in the operations beyond carrying rations) , “C” and “D” Companies appear to have got off comparatively lightly so far as casualties are concerned, though it was due to the efforts of these two Companies that a new front line was established so soon.
Under Captain A. Roberts, “D” Company was the last to cross the Zouave Valley, and on arriving at Battalion Headquarters the Company was ordered to support “B” Company. ”

“ Several skirmishes now daily took place, and many fell on both sides; though, from want of steadiness at the last, the enemy were always greater losers than ourselves. On the morning of the 29th of June, a large body of the enemy, to the number of one thousand, marched out of Fort Fleur d'Epée, and seemed to meditate an attack on a detachment of light infantry under Colonel Gomm, posted to the right of the grenadiers who were on Morne Mascot, under Brigadier General Fisher. ”

“ It was on the 21st of August, that we commenced fighting the battle of Vimiero.
The French came down upon us in a column, and the Riflemen immediately commenced a sharp fire upon them from whatever cover they could get a shelter behind, whilst our cannon played upon them from our rear. I saw regular lanes torn through their ranks as they advanced, which were immediately closed up again as they marched steadily on. Whenever we saw a round shot thus [Pg 49] go through the mass, we raised a shout of delight. ”

“ FOOTNOTES:
1 The technical term for a particular movement in the art of Irish village dancing.
2 It is very common for the wounded to cheer their more fortunate comrades as they pass on to the attack. The most remarkable occurrence of this description took place at the battle of Vimiera, five days after the battle above described. A man of the name of Stuart, the piper belonging to the 71st regiment, was wounded in the thigh very severely, at an early period of the action; and having refused to be removed, he sat upon a bank, playing martial airs during the remainder of the battle. ”

“ You'll all be killed anyhow." A two hours' hand to hand contest over the walls of the fort resulted in its capture.
(617) General Gibbons called it "if not the most desperate, one of the most desperate assaults of the whole war." A few days afterward at a grand review at Richmond, one officer and two privates of the regiment were called to step four paces in front of the line of battle. A general order was then read, naming them for conspicuous personal gallantry in the assault, and soon afterwards bronze medals were presented to them by our National Congress. ”

“ The artillery could have hammered the Ridge until it became absolutely uninhabitable by the enemy, but the artillery could not consolidate and hold the Ridge, which could be done only by foot-soldiers. Without the proper aid being given by artillery, no foot soldiers in the world, be they ever so valorous, could have taken this strongly fortified hill. ”