Source: File: Patrol of Canadian
Light Infantry moving toward Willerval. The Great Canadian Exploit: The Taking
of Vimy Ridge. Available at: <https://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/the-great-canadian-exploit-the-taking-of-vimy-ridge-iln0-1917-0421-0004-001/#>
[Accessed 21 April 2017]
i
1916 had been a costly
stalemate
Across the western front,
with many lives
Lost in what became known as
the 'Somme.'
1917 still wore a darkened
cloak, where
No progress had broken the
allies' enemy.
Shadows of Somme, Gallipoli
or Verdun
Gave no victory - while political
situations
Saw seismic shifts - to see
British politician
Herbert Asquith resign in
favour of Lloyd
George, as Russia wavered in
revolution.
Across an ocean, American
declaration
Took first steps to join the
war - the Nivelle
Offence divided French
Defence Minister
And the Prime minister - yet
allied plans
Drove a new need for a 1917
offensive.
Russian preoccupations of
February 1917
Raised problems - while painful
lessons
Were taken from previous
years flawed
Battles plans - the allies drew
a new line
From Neuville, Vitasse to
Vimy Ridge.
An eleven-mile front formed.
A Chantilly
Tactic conference met November
1916,
Making formation for a 1917 spring
offensive.
Tighter training manuals
devised revised
Methods with adapted, toned
platoons.
Platoons made up sections of
armed
Men - Lewis gunners, grenade
throwers,
Grenade launchers and
snipers all to advance
In patterns, with fresh
platoons behind, able
To leap frog each other for
the next objective.
Assaults would be carried
out by variety
Of directions; tanks would
again be used. As
Aircraft made renewed
reconnaissance flights,
While tunnels were prepared
- the Artillery
Again would creep with crawling
barrages.
The German side had by the springtime
Undertaken an intended withdrawl,
to form
A more solid Hiddenburg line
- Operation
Alberich - to abandon
redundant salients.
Allied morale boosted by
apparent retreat.
Zero hour was planned for
Easter Sunday -
8 April 1917 - allied artillery
commenced
With Bombardment 20 March,
across Vimy
Ridge - German trenches and
barbed wire
Were broken, while casualties
were low.
All sign of trenches had
been crushed
Into fields of craters - then
gas shells
Sent over final hours started
to fill holes -
Only zero hour was moved by
request
Of French by one day for 9
April 1917.
ii
Result; a window of fair
weather gave
Way to heavy snowfall, as
the finale
Of hurricane artillery faded
- at 5.30 a.m.
Soldiers with wind at their
backs, that
Hit the faces of Germans,
advanced.
First light was dulled by
poor weather,
But the Canadians were ready,
being
Well prepared - their
artillery would not
Be underestimated, as every
25 yards
Allied gunnery belted out
their shells.
Then, every 3 minutes they
lifted to aim
Higher - just 2 rounds every
minute -
The enemy was battered with telephone
Wires cut, forcing runners
to the open
Ground - under foot was
hazardous.
Earth had been beaten, pulverised
Into pools of foulest mud - the
21
Battalions edged their way around
Obstacles. Overhead the
aircraft
That had been delayed, 'chuttered.'
Sky diving in the heavy snowfall, pilots
Sounded klaxons to direct and
assess
Progress - the sodden,
cratered ground
Soon caused a redundant tank
force -
All fighting was left to the
foot troops.
Any progress came down to
personal
Action carried out by groups
of soldiers,
Along with determined
individuals - some
Found little opposition - a
dulled enemy
Stayed in dugouts or ran
without boots.
Canadians found selves in
hand-to-hand
Combat with pockets of desperate
enemy
Picking them off. Lance
Sergeant Sifton
Spotted one such machine gun
crew; he
Leapt to bayonet all, cutting
down the gun.
Germans appeared from the
trench.
Sifton hit and stabbed each
one until
Others joined him - but a
wounded man
Shot Sifton down. Another
machine gun
Aimed at 16th Battalion, stalling
them.
Targets were traced out in
lines. First
Black objective was reached by
divisions
6.15 a.m. - 6.25 a.m.
confirmation made
How Brigades had achieved
the capture.
Yet the southern end was
taking losses.
Private Milne saw danger
ahead, to take
Action. He crawled forwards until
within
A short distance, he threw a
bomb; the crew
Cut down allowed Milne to
take the gun,
Giving the Canadian Scottish
safety.
iii
Their line was reformed when
William
Milne spotted yet another
gun in enemies
Support line - once more the
brave Private
Edged forward and took the enemy
gun
Out; only a short time after to be killed.
The red line marked halfway
to ridge -
8 a.m. this was reached by
1st and 2nd
Divisions and 9.30 a.m. had
seen reserves
At this point - next object
was the blue line,
Taken by 1st Division at
hour 11 a.m.
The village of Thelus where
Private
Milne met his end, along
with woods
Of Vimy village, were merged
into area,
From blue into the brown
line; planned
Targets of a methodical
approach.
Final objective of the
northern flank
Had been red line - the
highest fortified
Ridge affectionately called
the 'pimple' -
Made up from the Zwischen-Stellung
Trench, Folie farm and
Les Tilleuls.
While flanks of the south
made aim
For further gains; beyond the
blue line
Of Thelus a brown line
indicated Zwolfer
Graben - Germans second line
- when
A break in the sky opened to
sun.
From a storm cloud's eye
gave way
To views of Canadian troops
around
Thelu, dividing, as some
were assigned
To hold their positions, while
their equals
Continued to battle over the
ridge.
By academic leapfrog tactics
the plan
Was to maintain a momentum; capture
And consolidate, capture and
consolidate.
The barrage briefly paused
for reserves
To move through the gap and
secure.
The pace was to prevent
German
Soldiers evacuating any
dugouts and
Defend their ground, above
and below
Earth - each sector was
given vital parts
To play - with foot troops
dominating.
Brief relief of spring again
shrank back
Under clouds, as sleet
shivered over
Those on the ground -
flurries of snow
Were carried about by a gusty
westerly
Breeze, adding to soldiers difficulties.
In such conditions the allied
plan
Carried on, as machine guns
after
90 minutes set to cover the
two divisions,
Making for the final
objective - which
Canadians went headfirst
towards.
iV
The northerly woods were then being
Covered by British, from a south
east
Direction with rear
artillery - although too
Far behind, were sheltered by
advanced
Batteries, sending over waves of
shells.
Added time was provided by artillery
Tactics - right to left shelling allowed
Brigades to reach German wire; prisoners
Tactics - right to left shelling allowed
Brigades to reach German wire; prisoners
Backs were given designation
- green
Painted onto captured
enemy backs.
Beyond barrage reach was
prepared
For, by providing wire
breakers on rifles -
While others used wire
cutters to make
It through two bands of
enemy wire -
Breaking out to a
picturesque view.
The Douai plain stretched
out below
Them - yet the troops were
not yet safe.
They rushed forward, down opposite
slope,
Towards the enemies batteries, whose
Crews abandoned guns, to be overrun.
With the certainty of the brown
line
Captured by 2.40 p.m.
General Byng
Considered utilizing the
cavalry,- gaining
An opportunity to ride onto
the Douai
Plain, to take rail and canal
crossings.
Byng's telephoned request
went
Against allied plans, as Vimy Ridge
Was a limited target, which had called for
Was a limited target, which had called for
Strict timetable - so that
any cavalry
Involvement had been
cancelled.
Any reply to carry out plans
for cavalry
Came too slow, so any quick advantage
Passed - only by late
afternoon were any
Cavalry given, and Canadian Light
horse
Arrived to provide first army
advantage.
Willerval lay some 5 miles distant, north
Of Arras - orders had arrived
by 2 p.m.
For a Canadian section to
push towards
The commune by 4.20 p.m. -
two patrols
On horses headed a mile to
Willerval.
First patrol easily gained
10 prisoners
But success was shortlived - enemy
Machine gun like a disturbed
beehive,
Turned on them, to wipe out
half
The patrol, along with their horses.
Rifle fire picked over the
second
Patrol, with men and horses
lamed.
The rest returned, but with effect
that
The Germans believed British
Cavalry
Had broken through into
Willerval.
Reports were shortly distributed
By the ridge observers, that
three
Waves of Germans headed
towards
Farbus - yet enemy
retaliation failed,
The brown line was taken on
time.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: Battle of
Arras (1917). Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_(1917>
[Accessed 21 April 2017]
Source: File: Battle of Vimy Ridge. Available
at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge> [Accessed 21 April 2017]
Mann, J., 2016. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 21 April
2017).
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