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Canadian Victory At Vimy Ridge
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Battle Overview
 

The battle of Vimy Ridge is one of the greatest battles in Canada’s history. For the first time in the Great War, all four Canadian divisions fought together on the same battlefield. Canadian valour and bravery brought about a fantastic victory, not only for Canadians but for the entire Allied force.

The goal of the battle of Vimy Ridge was to achieve the ever elusive breakthrough in the German lines. It was at Vimy Ridge that the German’s heavily fortified Hindenburg Line made a junction with many other trenches along the front. Behind the ridge there also lay many of German factories which were vital for the construction of munitions and other war materials. In the battle, it was the Canadians’ task to take a portion of the ridge and two important hills where the Germans had built strong defences.


Canadians Digging in at the Battle of Vimy Ridge
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Vimy Ridge 1917

Comprising a famed attack upon the heights which crucially overlooked the plains of Artois the Battle of Vimy Ridge saw the Canadian Corps sweep away firmly entrenched German defenders on 9 April 1917.

Some 12km northeast of Arras Vimy Ridge gained early importance during the war on account of the heights which overlooked the Allied-held town. German forces seized control of the ridge in September 1914 and promptly constructed deep defensive positions comprising bunkers, caves, passages and artillery-proof trenches, heavily protected by concrete machine gun emplacements.

With such formidable defensive precautions in place the German army rapidly set about the steady destruction of Arras, pounding the town with heavy artillery - apparently with impunity. French attempts to grab control of the ridge throughout 1915 were bloodily repulsed with the loss of some 150,000 French casualties. Although the British relieved French operations in March 1916 they were pushed back along a 2km front before they could commence aggressive planning.

There matters lay pending the wide-scale Arras offensive scheduled for the spring of 1917. As part of this offensive the Canadian Corps, operating under British General Julian Byng - were tasked with the decisive recapture of Vimy Ridge. In preparation for this the Canadians constructed miles of tunnels through which troops could pass in readiness for the opening of the attack without coming under shellfire. Aerial reconnaissance using observation balloons ensured accurate news of German movements