Vimy Ridge

Description

On the morning of April 9, 1917, troops of the Canadian Corps under General Julian Byng attacked the formidable German defences of Vimy Ridge. Since then, generations of Canadians have shared a deep emotional attachment to the battle, inspired partly by the spectacular memorial on the battlefield. Although the event is considered central in Canadian military history, most people know very little about what happened during that memorable Easter in northern France.

Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment draws on the work of a new generation of scholars who explore the battle from three perspectives. The first assesses the Canadian Corps within the wider context of the Western Front in 1917. The second explores Canadian leadership, training, and preparations and details the story of each of the four Canadian divisions. The final section concentrates on the commemoration of Vimy Ridge, both for contemporaries and later generations of Canadians.

This long-overdue collection, based on original research, replaces mythology with new perspectives, new details, and a new understanding of the men who fought and died for the remarkable achievement that was the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Co-published with the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies

Sujets

• History

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 22 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781554586974
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Vimy Ridge
Vimy Ridge
A Canadian Reassessment
Edited By Geoffrey Hayes Andrew Iarocci Mike Bechthold
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Vimy Ridge : a Canadian reassessment / edited by Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, Mike Bechthold.
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-88920-508-6
1. Vimy Ridge, Battle of, France, 1917. 2. Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Corps- History. 3. World War, 1914-1918-Canada. I. Hayes, Geoffrey, 1961- II. Iarocci, Andrew, 1976- III. Bechthold, Michael, 1968-
D545.V5V555 2007 940.4 31 C2007-901176-4
2007 Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Cover, photo design, and maps by Mike Bechthold. Text design by Michelle Fowler.

This book is printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper (100% post-consumer recycled).
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: The Strategic Background
1. Vimy Ridge and the Battle of Arras:
A British Perspective
GARY SHEFFIELD
2. The End of the Beginning:
The Canadian Corps in 1917
PAUL DICKSON
3. Vimy Ridge:
The Battlefield before the Canadians, 1914-1916
MICHAEL BOIRE
Part II: The Battle for Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917
4. Old Wine in New Bottles :
A Comparison of British and Canadian Preparations for the Battle of Arras
MARK OSBORNE HUMPHRIES
5. Julian Byng and Leadership in the Canadian Corps
PATRICK BRENNAN
6. The Gunners at Vimy:
We are Hammering Fritz to Pieces
TIM COOK
7. The Sappers of Vimy:
Specialized Support for the Assault of 9 April 1917
BILL RAWLING
8. The Canadian Army Medical Corps at Vimy Ridge
HEATHER MORAN
9. The 1st Canadian Division:
An Operational Mosaic
ANDREW IAROCCI
10. The 2nd Canadian Division:
A Most Spectacular Battle
DAVID CAMPBELL
11. The 3rd Canadian Division:
Forgotten Victory
GEOFFREY HAYES
12. The 4th Canadian Division:
Trenches Should Never be Saved
ANDREW GODEFROY
13. The German Army at Vimy Ridge
ANDREW GODEFROY
14. In the Shadow of Vimy Ridge:
The Canadian Corps in April and May 1917
MIKE BECHTHOLD
Part III: Aftermath and Memory
15. Battle Verse:
Poetry and Nationalism after Vimy Ridge
JONATHAN VANCE
16. After the Agony in Stony Places :
The Meaning and Significance of the Vimy Monument
JACQUELINE HUCKER
17. Safeguarding Sanctity:
Canada and the Vimy Memorial during the Second World War
SERGE DURFLINGER
18. Afterthoughts
THE EDITORS
Appendices
1. Order of Battle-Vimy Ridge
2. Lest We Forget: The Men of Vimy Ridge
Selected Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Illustrations
Maps
The Western Front 1917-1918
Battle of Arras 9-12 April 1917
Artois Offensives 1915
Vimy Ridge Artillery Positions
Vimy Ridge April 1917
Vimy Ridge 1st Canadian Division
Vimy Ridge 2nd Canadian Division
Vimy Ridge 3rd Canadian Division
Vimy Ridge 4th Canadian Division
Canadian Corps Operations April to September 1917
Arleux-en-Gohelle 1st Canadian Division 28 April 1917
Photographs
Photo Section 1
Photo Section 2
Photo Section 3
Foreword
The battle for Vimy Ridge in April 1917 marked the first occasion during the Great War when all four divisions of the Canadian Corps launched a simultaneous attack upon one front. This is only one of many assertions that have been made about the battle. It has also been said again and again that Vimy was a great strategic victory, the most important Canadian battle of the war and an experience which awakened a sense of Canadian nationalism. These and other claims are carefully examined in this volume. The opening essay in the collection suggests that Vimy Ridge is regarded in the United Kingdom as a solely Canadian affair largely because British school children and tourists regularly visit the Canadian Vimy memorial where they receive a Canadian perspective on the battle from Canadian student guides which British school teachers are ill-equipped to put into wider context or point out the contribution that non-Canadians made to the battle. This book puts the Canadian effort into context. The activities of each of the four Canadian divisions taking part are carefully examined as is the work of the Canadian Engineers, Artillery and Medical Corps. Other chapters are devoted to the German forces who fought at Vimy, as well as the battles that followed the capture of the ridge. There is an essay on the Vimy Ridge poetry that proliferated between 1917 and 1936 which demonstrates a surprising degree of concordance in terms of theme by the poets. An essay on the significance of the Vimy memorial, and another on its fate under German occupation during the Second World War greatly enhance our understanding of Canada s Vimy story.
Without doubt the authors collectively present the most comprehensive examination of the Battle of Vimy Ridge which has so far been published. They call for more research to answer new questions that have been raised, and provide grounds for arguing that the Battle of Vimy Ridge is a Canadian epic, if not the greatest, most important or innovative Canadian action during the war.
An epic, the Oxford English Dictionary reminds us, embodies a nation s conception of its own past or of the events in its history which it finds most worthy of remembrance. But an epic also has undertones which are not universally understood. Historians frequently point out that what happened does not always match what people later say happened. Moreover, those who knew what happened, from personal experience, often never spoke of it. My grandfather s missing right hand was endlessly fascinating when I was a small boy and even a young man. Equally fascinating was his refusal to tell me how he lost that hand at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Those who knew what happened ninety years ago are all now long gone. But those of us still wishing to know something of what they experienced will be grateful to the authors of this volume. Surely, with the appearance of this book, it will be impossible in the twenty-first century for any reader (even a Canadian Minister of National Defence) to confuse the Battle of Vimy Ridge with the Vichy government in France during the Second World War.
A.M.J. Hyatt
August 2006
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to thank the following people, without whom this project would not have been possible.
Terry Copp is the Director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. Terry s endless curiosity, energy and enthusiasm have inspired countless students of Canadian history. All three editors are lucky to be among them. A very special thanks to Michelle Fowler, who manages the Laurier Centre s daily operations, and whose hard work on this project appears here in countless ways. We also want to thank Brandey Barton, also from the Laurier Centre, whose quiet efficiency has been so much appreciated, and Paul Kelly, who assisted with the book design.
We were especially pleased to have Professor A.M.J. Hyatt agree to write the forward to this work. Again and again the editors found that his writing on Arthur Currie set for us a very high standard of scholarship. In the not too distant past, two of the editors were fortunate to be students of Professor Hyatt, and we only hope that our contribution to understanding Canada s involvement in the First World War may be as enduring as his.
Of course the editors extend many thanks to the authors for their excellent chapters, hard work and patience throughout the project.
From WLU Press, Brian Henderson, Jacqueline Larson and Heather Blain-Yanke showed great enthusiasm for this book. And great patience. We also extend our gratitude to our anonymous readers who commented on the manuscript for the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Photographs were provided by the Canadian Forces Joint Image Centre, the Canadian War Museum, Legion Magazine, the Library and Archives of Canada and Marie-Jos e Lafond, a former Vimy guide, and currently the Program Director at the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy.
Mr. Blake Seward and his students at Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute completed a great deal of research