Vimy Ridge - more Canadian heroics!

Had a very interesting day to day moving from Henry V (Agincourt) to the French national cemetry at Notre-Dame De Lorette and onto Vimy Ridge and another extraordinairy Canadian memorial.

Quick review of what happened at Vimy Ridge.This was an all-Canadian do - led by Canadians, planned by Canadians and fought by the Canadian Corps on their own. It was meticulously planned, executed brilliantly and achieved all its objectives amidst some astonishing feats of courage and bravery.

Vimy Ridge had been fought over for most of the War but was now in a 'quiet zone' where no big actions were planned. There was lots of terrible stuff going on of course - and in this region in particular an awful lot of tunneling and 'mining' where suddenly whole sections of trench would be blown up. Both sides did it and psyhcologically it must have been very difficult to live with - at any moment you could literally disappear.

The big offensive was planned for April 9th 1917 and the objective was to take the ridge from the Germans.

This is what they were advancing up. It worked so well for a couple of reasons. Many of the troops could get to the front line through a vast network of tunnels - over 6 miles - that had been dug by Welch miners to allow protected movement right up to the front line. And at this site you can go down one - called the Grange.

This tunnel was first started by the French when they had the line, expanded by the British and then taken over by the Canadians. There were dozens of these along the line - some over a 100o yards long! They allowed you right into the trench...which will have to come on another post as I seem to be having some WiFi issues.

 

The second reason for success was the planning and execution of the artillery barrage in support of the advance. The troops practiced for days so that they could follow the barrage as the gunners moved it forward a 100yds at a time. They allowed 3 mins for you to make 100 yds. Too quick and the shells landed on you. Too slow and the Germans would be up and out of their protective shelters and using the machine guns on you. Must have taken a lot of nerve!

 

It worked and the Canadians took the ridge from a start at the bottom at 5:20 am by about noon.

 

I'll continue the post later - you won't believe how close the two sets of trenches were at this bit of the front!