The Canadian Victory Over The Germans That Shaped The Great War | Battle of Vimy Ridge | Timeline

[Music] [Music] on that Easter night the battalions took their places in the line [Music] the men at the guns which had hitherto been concealed and kept silent were ready to open fire at zero hour and all along that front the eager heart of Canada waited impatiently for the dawn the iron throats nearby crash thwart their message of death to the Germans from 3,000 guns the tempest of deaths went through the air the flashes of guns in all directions made lightning in the dog instance the enemy's artillery replied and against the morning clouds the bursting shrapnel flashed I knelt on the ground and pray to the god of battles to guard our noble men there was such splendor of human character being manifested in that far-flung line where smoke and flame mocked the calm of the morning sky but the watcher felt he was gazing upon eternal things Frederick Scott senior chaplain first Canadian division the soldiers of the four Canadian divisions advanced up to steady incline of Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday April 9th 1917 overhead Billy Bishop flying his Newport aircraft took note of the Canadians unhurried and measured pace the men seemed to wander across no-man's land and into the enemy trenches as if the battle was a great bore to them to me it seemed that they must soon wake up and run that they were altogether too slow but they could not realize the great danger they were in I could not get the idea out of my head that it was just a game they were playing it it all seemed so unreal how could I believe that the little brown figures moving about below me were really men men going to the glory of victory or the glory of death [Music] in the advance of the Canadians there was much that was new an application of tactics that would transform the way the war in the trenches was fought [Music] on July 1st 1916 the British under the command of General Douglas Haig launched an attack along a 20 kilometer front on a some an offensive meant to smash through the German lines and relieve pressure on a French chef Verdun in the first half hour of battle alone the British sustained 57,000 casualties the Royal Newfoundland Regiment fighting as part of the British 88 and Brigade lost 710 of its total strength of 801 officers and men a lot of our men were killed before they got to the front line and the gaps in a wire were full of our dead I'll never forget the look on them kids faces they were kids fresh from home to see the dead and dying around there everywhere and blood and the noise of the shells it was an awful introduction to warfare stretcher-bearer Howard Mori Royal Newfoundland Regiment [Music] by early September it was the Canadians turn the first second and third divisions moved from the relative peace and quiet of the Ypres salient to the killing fields of the some corporal archie MacKinnon wrote his sister dear sister say you want to see the beautiful city of EEP nacht as flat as a pancake there was a spell of twenty days that I never heard a gun but when we landed at the Somme good night just as we got in the order came over the top so away we went after the bomb under the Severus fire ever known in this war I am a hundred times better off now just imagine a broken leg why a person couldn't wish for a better blade e six weeks or so in bed and limped alliteration as my motto no more France for me if I can get out of it your affectionate brother Archie in less than a month the battle of the somme was over 8,000 Canadian soldiers were killed and another 17,000 wounded the British Army's casualties under general Hague's command totaled 600,000 all for a gain of 2.5 kilometres of obliterated farmland that turned out to be of no strategic value the training manual of the British 4th Army on the eve of the Battle of the Somme made the reason for the disaster abundantly clearly the men must learn to obey by instinct without thinking the hold advance must be carried out like a drill the performance of the Canadians at Ypres and at the Somme was considered exceptional and was rewarded with the task of taking Vimy Ridge the strongest position on the German defense line at the Somme and at Verdun the British French Canadians and Anzacs that endured what no men before them had endured and for nothing if things were to change at Vimy they had to change at the top [Music] the war in the West had begun with a German sweep through Belgium that took them all the way to the Marne River less than 30 miles from Paris there the French rallied and with the British drove back the overextended German army to a defense line that stretched from Belgium on the North Sea to the border of Switzerland some places in what I call this ribbon of stealth would be only a mile wide other places because of the flat terrain it was wider this ribbon or belt of absolute stealth day and night week after week month after month year after year never changing this band of deadly stealth in which no man moved or spoke loudly they speak of trenches in this strange ribbon of deadly stealth across Europe trenches is too romantic a name these were ditches as time went by they had no garbage disposal no sewage disposal they became filthy and in that setting men lived year after year left tenant Greg Clark fourth Canadian Mounted Rifles the strongest natural obstacle in the land of stealth was Vimy Ridge rising 145 meters or 500 feet at its highest point and extending eight kilometers or five miles along a northwest southeast axis north of the city of Arras which remained in French hands [Music] when the Canadians arrived in November and December 1916 the western slope of the ridge leading to the German trenches at the summit had seen more killing than any comparable area in France more than 160,000 British and French and perhaps 100,000 Germans had been killed or wounded there and all that killing had left the battle lines precisely where they were two years before the Canadians had no sooner arrived from the Somme then the Germans mounted a large sign welcomed Canadians the winter of 1917 was the worst and the longest of the war driven by tempestuous winds a deluge of rain sleet and snow cascaded across the battlefields making the life of the soldiers in the trenches a bitter struggle for survival major Kenneth maxi the Germans had had two years to prepare their defensive position and their dugouts lay far underground in chalk caverns large enough in some cases to accommodate a battalion their network of trenches three deep was designed to hold until reinforcements beyond the range of Allied guns could be brought into action Crown Prince rout Precht brother to the Kaiser and in command of the German forces thought the ridge was impregnable it afforded him and the Germans on the crest a view of the Canadian positions that stretched for 8,000 yards making surprise impossible or so they believed [Music] I started this letter my dear Silvia some days ago and meant to finish it but there is this beastly war going on here and I had to bolt off to watch people trying to kill one another and now I have nothing to say yours ever Julian on May 21st 1916 leftenant general Julian Byng who was with the British Army at Vimy left to take command of the Canadian Corps at Ypres why am i sent to the Canadians I don't know a single Canadian why this stunt however there it is I am ordered to these people and will do my best the core of which Bing had taken command was unique in the British Army and that the divisions that constituted it were permanently attached to one another due to the instructions of Sam Hughes Canada's megalomaniacal Minister of militia and defence Hughes believed that Canadians were the best soldiers in the world and that he was an infallible judge of military ability which she perceived most frequently in his relations and friends only five days after taking the job Bing was close to having had enough I presented a sort of ultimatum saying I did not think I could carry on unless promotions and appointments were in my hands these men are too good to be led by politicians and dollar magnets I don't want Imperial officers but Canadians who have proved their worth and not pom starts if they refuse I will offer my resignation there is nothing else for it to officer the splendid men with political protegees is to my mind criminal Bing was an aristocrat close enough to royalty for King George to call him Bongo and his military bloodlines extended back via a line of generals to an admiral in the Seven Years War in 1915 he had conducted the British withdrawal from the Gallipoli Peninsula after the disastrous Dardanelle campaign without the loss of a single man the German official historian of the campaign observed as long as war exists their evacuation will stand before the eyes of all strategists of the tapes as a hitherto unattained masterpiece General Arthur Currie the man who would help Bing plan the assault on Vimy Ridge was in many respects bings opposite born and straw through Ontario his father had died when Arthur was 15 Currie left at 19 for British Columbia where after a brief teaching career he became a real estate and insurance broker his lack of education he possessed only a high school diploma and a third-class teacher's certificate would have prevented him from achieving the rank he did in any European army as would his total lack of combat experience anything he knew of war had come from books he had arrived in France in the spring of 1915 an assumed command of Canada's first division that September Curie emerged as a hero from the Second Battle of Ypres and was now the senior Canadian divisional commander and bings choice to go to the Somme and to Verdun to study the lessons learned by the French and the British Currie kept a list of things to remember one described his approach to war a thorough preparation must lead to success neglect nothing he drew many conclusions from his examination of the some and Verdun battlefields and one insight that he put to immediate use I found many NCOs who said they had been shown maps yet they could not recognize mine maps are very useful things yet this battalion tried to do too much by the map if their objectives had been laid out on the ground and maps examined and explained in conjunction with practice trenches the men would have advanced to their attack with a much clearer idea of their task Curry's determination to neglect nothing would make Vimy the most rehearsed battle in military history [Music] one important factor in the battle was the agreement Bing and curry reached concerning the character of the troops they led the Canadian is skeptical of the concept that ranked in itself gives anyone the right to lead he himself has volunteered for war which he sees as a dirty business which must be finished as soon as possible he's willing to do his part in winning it but he resents any implication that anyone officers included has a greater interest in the outcome than he does all he asks of his officers is that they know their job and do it Jeffrey Williams from this analysis flowed the idea that every Canadian soldier at Vimy should be told everything about the coming battle but the date the troops were conducted over of replicas of the battlefield with tapes flags and signposts indicating German trenches barbed wire entanglements machine-gun posts and other strong points each man was told what to expect and where to expect it what his objective was and how long it would take to get there one of the many benefits of this dress rehearsal was that the men gained a sense of the distances involved 100 yards or 80 yards or 150 yards 150 yards into the other fellows country is quite a long distance the Canadian troops learned the Vimy glide advancing at a measured pace of 100 yards every three minutes to match a creeping artillery barrage perfect timing was essential chaps you shall go over exactly like a railroad train on time or you shall be annihilated a large scale issue of maps of the battlefield had a psychological impact on the soldiers formerly maps were four officers marked maps were protected and rarely seen by the men now they were given to everyone 40,000 in all it meant they were trusted and were being given a share in the responsibility for the enterprise Jeffrey Williams the task facing the Canadian Corps at Vimy was to overcome not only the natural obstacle of the Ridge but a series of technological and tactical innovations that greatly favored the defense a combination of artillery machine guns trenches barbed wire and aircraft placed any attacking force at a distinct disadvantage trenches meant the defenders were hidden while attackers were in the open barbed wire channeled the attacking force into predetermined areas vulnerable to machine guns and artillery while a massive buildup of supplies needed for any successful assault was easily observed from the air rendering surprise virtually impossible everything Bing and curry deemed crucial needed to be learned in you platoon formations protune tactics the use of artillery the removal of the enemy's wire leaving one as yet unanswered question how under the constant gaze of the Germans surprise was to be achieved although the first trench raid was staged at Ypres in the February of 1915 by the princess Pat's the man credited with developing and perfecting the trench raid was Brigadier General Victor Odum of the fourth divisions 11th brigade olam a Methodist and teetotaler had earned the nickname pea soup for denying his troops their rum ration and substituting hot soup instead by the time he reached Vimy ode lament already been wounded five times won the DSO and had seen his brother killed by his side he led a number of nitrates personally shunning the use of a steel helmet so that his men might better recognize him in the midst of battle in business life we're only pounds and shillings are at stake we aim at 100% efficiency and we insist on getting it here where lives are at stake we are smugly satisfied with 25 percent efficiency commanding officers must have the moral courage to require and secure from officers and men alike the maximum of effort so as to produce the minimum of lost lives Brigadier General Victor Oldham the other day one of our new infantry officers lost his way in the dark Fritzi threw up a star shell near there our machine gunner saw him by it's life and thinking he was a German open fire and of course killed one spot the Hans knew we would send out a party the next night to get his body so they got a couple of machine guns and trained him on a spot so that our rescue party as soon as they picked up would be wiped out we however found out just in time and so didn't bite but left him stay there leftenant Claude Williams [Music] trench raids were essential if officers and men were truly to understand the terrain in front of them and the enemy's defenses but Bing and Currie disagreed over the value of large-scale raids Bing believed raids were good for the morale of the men a rationale which was lost on curry to curry there was only one reason to justify endangering the lives of his Manning a raid to secure information and this was better achieved by smaller raids from his studies of the French at Verdun curry had concluded that attackers could and should concentrate on the elimination of known machine-gun peasants and other strong points rather than attack in an extended line he said about reorganizing the platoon to include riflemen machine gunners and bombers previously platoons had been separated by function mirroring a class system in which machine gunners and bombers came to regard themselves superior to riflemen the British clung to these distinctions but Canadians readily embraced the new tactics it may be pointed out that there is nothing new in this system training before the war we endeavoured to make the platoon self-reliant and self-sufficient unit of battle owing to the demands for so many specialists there grew up in our battalions a wrong system of organization [Music] more people were killed in the first world war by artillery than by any other means the tactical approach to the use of artillery had been quickly established once the front between the Allies and the Germans was stabilized from then on each side simply added more and more guns the attacking side would lay down a barrage designed to keep the defenders in the trenches as the assault began the defending side replied both against the enemy's guns and against the infantry advancing over open ground during lulls in the action they fired intermittently as targets appeared but they never stopped the audacious plan arrived at by Bing and curry was to locate the German guns and on the day of battle destroy them before they could be used against our infantry but the plan rested on the ability to locate the guns with pinpoint accuracy and this task fell to Andrew L McNaughton a 29 year old engineering professor from McGill McNaughton was an eccentric at battalion headquarters he slept on the floor without a mattress and claimed as his personal mascot a lion cub which some soldier had brought back from Paris after the night on the town but he brought a keen scientific mind to his job he also attracted a number of British scientists who had offered their special skills to the British High Command but had their advice rejected curry thought this lack of interest might have a more sinister cause is there some Freemasonry between the artillery of both sides they fire at the opposing infantry but never at each other McNaughton and his colleagues came up with two ways of locating the enemy's guns flash spotting and sound ranging flash spotting required a series of observation posts along the front each equipped with telephone and surveying gear reporting back to a panel of lights at headquarters the other sound ranging required listening-posts in no-man's land from where keys activated the recorder at magnetons headquarters a series of microphones along the front a mile and a half behind the lines picked up sounds as the shells moved through the air and the location of the gun was determined from the time intervals between the microphones McNaughton and his staff could ultimately determine the position of the gun to within a distance of 25 yards its type and caliber in under three minutes unfortunately they could not demonstrate this skill by knocking out a German gun since this would reveal to the enemy that their location was known Bing and curry allowed them one test it failed but their faith in their plan and in McNaughton did not waver the British Army's High Command looked on each of us as somebody who ought to have his head read to them this wasn't war at all this was some sort of fandango going on the observers take enormous risks and seldom get any glory it's no child's play to circle above german artillery batteries for half an hour or more with your machine tossing about in air tortured by exploding shells and black shrapnel puff balls come here nearer to you like ever extending fingertips of some giant hand of death daily Bishop on one occasion McNaughton hovering some four thousand feet above enemy lines in a balloon came under fire we went up having a perfectly peaceful time looking at everything when there was a terrific roar of a big naval shell bursting close to us with nothing between us and the bursts but a wicker basket it wasn't a very comfortable feeling McNaughton telephoned down enemy locations to his counterbattery who were able to knock out the German artillery position just as they were zeroing in on McNaughton's balloon of all the Canadian officers at Vimy none was stranger nor more innovative than among blue Tonetta once a French reservists blue Tinnell at 23 emigrated to Edmonton after nine years as explorer prospector land developer and newspaper editor in the Canadian Northwest he arrived in Montreal a millionaire Lewton L then formed and led what would become the first Canadian machine-gun Brigade raising the money from a group of Canadian millionaires including Clifford Sifton and John Craig eaten as a result of buta now Canada entered the war with more machine guns than Britain Bruton L had the revolutionary idea that the machine gun instead of being aimed at its target as a sort of super rifle should be regarded as a form of artillery firing over the heads of the enemy denying him access to certain areas thickening the artillery barrage and by sweeping the enemy's front trenches preventing him from repairing wire destroyed by the artillery Luton L called it indirect fire at 3 p.m. we were to provide 3000 rounds of indirect fire along a road 20 300 yards away private Donald Fraser I would not be an infantry officer for anything now I now understand the superior airs of the artillery on the advance the machine gunners are perhaps the most important branch left-handed Claude Williams the French chief of staff visited Vimy and impressed asked for a full report a report from me would be of little value the report should be made by the Germans themselves they and they alone can give first-hand information on the subject Brigadier General came on glutenin after Vimy indirect fire was adopted by all Allied armies dear father you want to know some of my trench experiences well they are much the same as ordinary life only I keep my head down instead of up I can tell you more about filling sandbags and fighting we will soon have all France and sandbags then we'll move on to Berlin private Ronald MacKinnon extra precautions are taken against sickness the most common is that called trench fever a very high fever aching in the joints and an egg you like shiver caused by too much exposure to mud water and rain another thing very carefully guarded against his trench feet if one case if this is reported the whole unit forfeits leave for six weeks consequently everybody helps to prevent it it was very prevalent the first two winter campaigns but now that practically everybody on duty is provided with hip rubber boots there's no excuse continued wet and cold feet bring this on and it is very painful and resembles the after-effects of severe frostbite in a great many cases it means amputation leftenant Claude Williams encouraged division officers were ordered to witness their troops applying whale oil if a soldier was forced to leave the line for treatment the commanding officer faced a threat of court-martial often have I woke up in the old dugout my hair standing straight up and one eye looking straight into the eyeball of the other trying to obtain an answer to this burning question I have kept my weary vigil over the parapet at night with my rifle in one hand a couple of bombs in the other and two or three in each pocket and still I am pondering over this burning question when do you think this goddamn war will be over huh though frontline Canadian soldiers often referred to him as heinie or collectively as the Bosch and in less charitable moments the Hun to most of our troops the enemy was just plain Fritz a battlefield moniker which revealed a humanistic truth it was hard to hate a man who suffered the same punishment as you fate keeps us apart yet yonder he dwells for I hear his voice now soft and now swelling to Thunder and the keepsakes he sends me our choice 10 weeks today in the trenches how can douglas haig keep us apart to a suffering soul what's a drenches what cruelty this to my heart will he be like the Clint comic picture I carry along in my brain of putty and sausage a mixture so fat and so stupid in playing someday captain dear I'll behold him be he's short tall or bloated or lean and in my loving arms Island fold him the boss I have never yet seen despite orders against fraternizing with the enemy the wounded of both sides sometimes made a common ground of no-man's land leftenant Clifford Wells had an experience which was far from unique mother darling in one of my letters I spoke of a remarkable experience which I had I met a German in no-man's land one morning he was on the same errand as I looking for wounded he offered to guide me to a number of very vendetta Englander lying in various shell holes I got a stretcher party and brought them all in nearly 25 in all with the assistance of five other German stretcher bearers the Germans brought the wounded to a point about midway between the lines and my men carried them the rest of the way for various reasons I do not want you to say much about this incident with much love Clifford but there existed a darker side of this relationship between opposing foot soldiers aside perhaps only seen and felt through the crosshairs of a Lee Enfield sniping was a hazardous duty carried out in pairs one shooting one observing it often required the sniper to lie hidden in no-man's land for days at a time one of the most famous Canadian snipers of the war was Henry Louis Norwest am 80 with a 50th battalion out of Calgary in three years of service as a sniper Norwest would achieve an astonishing 115 fatal shots he would win a military medal at Vimy for this particular skill only to fall victim to a sniper's bullet three months before the end of the war as one comrade-in-arms remarked Henry Norwest went about his work with passionate dedication and showed complete detachment from everything while he was in the line but not everyone was capable of attaining this same degree of detachment on the third morning we were in our usual position when I saw a German in full pack rise almost waist high in a place in their trench the German was apparently a new man to that sector or else had grown careless of danger I king gold all over as I scored my first hit Harry was tickled he rubbed his hands and noted down the facts in his book but it not finished when a second German also impact rose in the same place I shot him as soon as he appeared hardly had he fallen then a third man stepped on the piled earth and stared all around I shot him very carefully aiming directly at his left breast as he pitched down beside the other two two more Germans appeared one had an immense head round enormous and he glared like a bull Harry gripped my shoulder shook man he rasped in my ear you won't get a chance like this again a queer sensation had made me draw back I handed him the rifle go ahead yourself if you want I said I've had enough of this bloody game will bird [Music] it was the policy of the Canadian Corps that each and every healthy soldier would do eight hours work per day digging trenches transporting ammunition water and equipment on foot repairing trenches destroyed by the enemy shelling moving guns whose location the enemy had discovered looking after horses repairing roads and railways replacing and repairing wire bringing up coal and fuel digging latrines recovering and removing the wounded and burying the dead some troops such as the 85th battalion of the 4th division the Nova Scotia Highlanders were in effect work battalions but everybody worked every man owes it to himself and to his comrades to put in a full day's work every officer owes it to the service to see that each man does his duty failure on the part of a man is disloyalty to his comrades failure on the part of an officer is due to moral cowardice Brigadier General Victor ogle colonel g WL Nicholson wrote a report setting out what had had to be done within the Canadian forward area more than 25 miles of roads had to be repaired and maintained a system of 20 miles of tramway in the core area had to be reconditioned and extended over these rails light trains drawn by gasoline engines or more often by mules hauled for daily 800 tons or more of ammunition rations and engineers stores and there were some 300 push trucks to 80 wounded the sudden concentration of fifty thousand horses within a restricted area where very little water existed necessitated the large-scale construction of reservoirs pumping stations and forty five miles of pipeline in order to meet the daily requirement of six hundred thousand gallons in order to ensure good communications in the Canadian zone signalers added to existing circuits twenty-one miles of cable bearing it seven feet deep to withstand enemy shellings and sixty-six miles of unburied wire as the area was in full view of the enemy most of the work had to be done at night one decisive Canadian advantage was that a large percentage of its men were used to heavy labor in the out-of-doors most could ride and manage horses wield an axe use a saw or dig a ditch the winter of 1917 considered horrendous by the Europeans was mild by Canadian standards some indication of the Canadian advantage in outdoor work can be gained from these comments of a manual prepared for the British Second Army the tump line is a very simple contrivance made of leather and is used to carry loads in Canada has been used by both Indians and whites since the days of the French regime on Somme the 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade tump line company carried the following individual loads every night for 45 consecutive days over distances of 4,000 to 5,000 yards 2,000 rounds of ammunition three boxes of Stoke shells two boxes of bully beef one case of biscuits one bale of sandbags two coils of barbed wire one dozen shovels and one dozen pickaxes but the British had a further problem not shared to the same degree by the Canadians a general prejudice against such devices owing to the close connection with Coulee work must be overcome every endeavor should be made to counteract this feeling and to encourage men to use the tumped line in Canada an ordinary untrained man can carry a load weighing 75 pound a distance of 15 miles over unbroken trails and there is no reason the ordinary British soldier cannot do the same nevertheless even among the Canadians battalions exclusively involved in such work and accompanies assigned exclusively to it from each Brigade suffered a distinct loss of prestige and despite the ceaseless effort men and animals lived in a state chronic deprivation as it turned out we had a very cold winter and our horses were on open lines with no shelter to make matters worse the feed rations were in short supply and were cut down the horses got very thin and weak at night when the horses were blanketed they would eat each other's blankets leaving only the straps and buckles three or four died every night it was pitiful to see them Gordon Howard 13th field regiment on April 4th the Royal Flying Corps launched a determined campaign to obtain air supremacy over Vinnie it was absolutely essential that our Tillery observation be allowed to continue unimpeded and that communications with ground forces be established during the coming assault the RFC had 369 observation planes and 385 fighters available while the Germans had about a third of that total but what they lacked in numbers they more than made up for in superior machines and the skill and daring of the Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen and his legendary Flying Circus Saturday March 17th the Red Devil was the man now column was over today he got another of our planes but we even the score by getting a German in the morning one cannot help admiring the grace and skill with which the Red fellow handles his machine and his audacity and painting his plane red to advertise his presence to all beholders captain Duncan McIntyre around we went in cyclonic circles for several minutes here a flash of the Highlands than a flash of silver as my squadron commander would whiz by I was glad the Germans for scarlet and we were silver there was no need to hesitate about firing the right color flitted by your nose it was a lightning thunder like Billy Bishop my man was the first to fell I suppose I had smashed up his engine at any age he had made up his mind to land I no longer give pardons to anyone therefore I attacked him a second time and the consequence was that his wings dropped off like pieces of paper and body fell like a stone of a month let finish to the month of April would soon become known as bloody April but a ferocity of warfare in the skies over the Vimy and harass sector in that month alone Richthofen would account for 30 kills the ultimate victory would belong to the RFC to the pilots like Billy Bishop [Music] March first was chosen as the date for the largest Trench rate of the war to be carried out by two battalions of general Watson's fourth division to achieve surprise it was decided to dispense with a preliminary barrage instead gas would be used the Germans heard and saw the large gas cylinders being brought into place and waited and watched as the raid was postponed twice for more favorable winds general Watson's diary entry for the day makes the disaster that followed sound almost routine March 1st 1917 our gas attack by the 11th and 12th brigades took place this morning to our surprise the gas did not have the effect anticipated when the Bosch were waiting for us we had heavy casualties Colonels Beckett and Kimball were killed and 17 other officers we brought back 40 prisoners some of the men of the gas platoons were badly gassed general Bing went on leave this morning and sent me a nice letter before he went General David Watson a raid is a raid but this was a battle without preparation there was no preliminary barrage they went forward without preparation and without protection every mistake of the past two years was repeated this is a real disaster for our division captain Andrew MacPhail medical officer [Music] losses totaled 687 officers and men out of the 1700 who had taken part a casualty rate of 40% the depleted ranks were filled with new men but the fourth division had too little time to repair the damage before zero hour now set for Easter Sunday April 8th but the trench raids did not end the Canadians raided the Germans every night in the two weeks before the battle 327 Canadians died and another 1316 were wounded Currie regarded these raids as a waste and debilitating to the Troops but they were that too for the Germans who would call the week preceding the battle the week of suffering with a week to go until zero hour all the Allied guns were in place the 15 inch howitzers of the Royal Marine artillery were the last to arrive each weighed 20 tons and hurled a 1500 pound projectile at enemy strongpoints and dugouts Colonel Nicholson's report tells what happened the heavy artillery was thrown up in a great arc extending $22,000 a crushing bombardment from the German positions one Canadian records that shells pored over our heads like water from a hose thousands and thousands each day more than 1 million pounds of heavy and filled ammunition the total weight of 50,000 tons that the limited area into a pockmarked wilderness of mud filled craters and no small part of the Germans week of suffering was the announcement on Good Friday that the Americans had entered the war I thank God in my heart that at last the english-speaking world has been drawn together the prospect was bright and our men very keen for the encounter to come panin Frederick Scott unknown to those around him Major General Arthur Currie Canada's most famous soldier was also an embezzler in 1913 to cover debts incurred in his real estate business he had appropriated a government check meant to pay regimental debts to contractors the honorary head of the regiment had promised to cover the check but had welched in 1915 Prime Minister Borden had been informed of Curry's action in an anonymous letter by 1917 the contractors and others were writing to Currie directly but no one not even those whose money it properly was wanted to reveal a truth that would lead to a court-martial which would shatter army and civilian morale as Currie later admitted for 3 years after the war began it was the last thing he thought about at night and the first thing he thought about in the morning on Easter Sunday Arthur curry with no time or opportunity to deal with his own troubles was attending to the task at hand the date for the battle had been moved from Easter Sunday to Monday the night and true to his motto to neglect nothing he sent patrols forward to determine if the artillery had been successful in cutting the German wire the recently developed 106 fuse for artillery shells had been designed primarily for this purpose but it was not infallible when the patrols discovered that in places the wire remained intact the division was pulled back so the artillery could complete the job two curries right the British 51st division would take no such precautions and would pay a heavy price in consequence [Music] the Germans at Vimy were already masters of tunnelling when the Canadians arrived creating intricate subterranean networks and laying mines beneath allied positions the British responded by actively seeking men with mining experience engineers and geologists to best the Germans at their own game in a soft chalk of Vimy the opposing armies tunneled furiously around-the-clock in an effort to dominate the nether regions of no-man's land tunnellers used Geo phones to listen for the enemy digging in the vicinity planting mined charges designed to collapse the parallel chambers of the enemy difficult decisions had to be made especially when according to listening reports Canadian blow ups were to be expected and the infantry had to withdraw from their branches within the danger zone there was always the risk that the enemy would realize the situation and take possession of those empty trenches without a fight Lloyd meant all of kratom on more than one occasion Canadian galleries opened in two German ones resulting in hand-to-hand combat between tunnelers at Vimy 200 mines were exploded contributing greatly to the crater lunar landscape which made traversing no-man's land a difficult enough proposition without worrying about being killed in the process Bing and Currie as early as January had recognized the tactical value of expanding their tunneling operations for the attack on the ridge troops could be moved safely but above all secretly into forward positions close to the German lines thus achieving what the location seemed to have made impossible surprise by late March there were 12 subways to the forward lines and beyond running a total length of six miles the subways was six feet six inches tall and three feet wide providing considerable Headroom but making it extremely difficult for troops to pass one another the subway systems were so labyrinthine troops required guides to ensure they did not get lost in transit I was all through a most wonderful cave carved in the solid chalk it was about 20 feet from Florida roof which was supported by pillars of chalk it looked like some scene from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves on every side men were sleeping eating playing cards and cleaning their weapons by the light of scores of candles captain Duncan McIntyre on Sunday night April 8th the first wave of Canadian troops began to enter the tunnels for the journey to the forward positions and the jumping off trenches in these dozen tunnels dimly lit and dank thousands stood slept crouched wrote letters smoked sweated defecated in barrels sipped tea recited poetry dreamt prayed to God and imagined the moment of their own demise quick and painless or prolonged and agonizing and most surprisingly given the crowded circumstances and the anxiety each must have felt no one panicked [Music] it was the worst night I have ever put in it would rain awhile and snow a while then Fritz would see some of us and send up as artillery signals and open up on us for a while at 4:30 one of the officers came along the trench with a rum and I took a dandy 5:30 I was all nerve private Southworth at 4:00 a.m. on Eastern Monday canon Scott senior chaplain with the First Division rose from his bed fixed himself breakfast back to tin of bully beef and set off to view the spectacle of the artillery barrage that would signal the beginning of the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge it is no wonder that to those who have been in the war and passed through such moments ordinary life and literature seem very tame the thrill of such a moment is worth years of peacetime existence in the awful silence around us it seemed as if nature were holding her breath than the expectation of the staggering moment 5:29 got help I'm in 5:30 983 guns and mortars erupted with an earth-shattering the Battle of the image begun only days before the attack will bird suffering from mumps had been removed to a field hospital behind the lines towards morning I lay awake and listened for the barrage I could picture the boys in the trench tents waiting staring over the parapet mud would be everywhere plastering their clothing gripping their feet even where we were we could hear it so plainly that it ought us kept us quiet will bird 42nd battalion in London Prime Minister Lloyd George heard the far-off thunder guns fired for three minutes then lifted 100 yards this barrage also included 150 of Putin ELLs machineguns sweeping his own four hundred yards ahead within the Canadian barrage were guns previously zeroed in on the German counter batteries by McNaughton and his helpers more than anything else their success would ultimately determine the outcome of the battle for Vimy Ridge I managed to send down 14 nf calls which was great fun nf is code for guns firing in position ass after 10 minutes shells could be seen falling all around the located battles every time a battery opened up it was immediately zone called and shelled to hell captain Roth RFC the Canadian bombardment of the German supply routes during the week of suffering had prevented the enemy from transporting the daily allotment of shells forward which according to the official German history has a dire consequences German ration parties which formerly reached the front line in 15 minutes took six hours rations cooled and spoiled and many of the Ford companies were without food for as much as three days sleep became fitful and was followed by exhaustion after the battle the Germans would claim that the physical weakness of their troops was a major factor in their loss colonel g WL nicholson from the very beginning of the battle there was a shortage of damage which meant that the german infantry had died alone without effective support from the artillery the Canadians had managed to eliminate 176 of 212 German counter batteries the artillery had done their job exceeding even McNaughton's hopes and expectations it now fell to the ground troops of the four Canadian divisions to capture Vimy Ridge [Music] the Allied High Command French and British scoffed in derision when they were presented with the battle plan for Vimy Ridge each objective black line red line blue line brown line was assigned specific times not only for their capture but for when the assault would be resumed according to the plan the capture of Vimy Ridge would be over and complete by 1:30 p.m. just six hours after the attack was to be launched the times allotted to each phase were designed to enable the artillery to dictate the pace of the battle the first second and third divisions had similar terrain but different distances to travel the ridge was wider at some parts than at others and therefore the enemy's defensive positions varied closer together on the left than on the right Curry's first division had the furthest to move three miles to its final objective farbas woods on the far side of Vimy Ridge as soon as the artillery barrage opened up away we went and all you can see was smoke and Fritz running some whole ones mostly pieces of them going up in the air private southward we found so safe with the rolling garage in front you could see the thing beating it was like a lawnmower you know when you're cutting grass live at H Campbell Royal Montreal Regiment a person will naturally think that the very light would be frightened out of a fella but fear never enters your mind all you look for is go ahead and blood the noise of the artillery and the bursting shells get you going little of the enemy's fire was coming from his trenches where most of the public nor from his artillery which was quickly being eliminated the Germans strongpoints Canadian patrols had identified in the trench raids what active and effective so were the counter tactics Canadians had practiced so often and assiduously the Royal Montreal regiment suffered heavy casualties there from machine guns that attempted to hold up their advance to were put out of action by males bombs one was attacked by a party led by a left tenant Davidson and another captured by company sergeant major Hurley who bayonetted the crew two more machine guns were put out of action by WJ Milne of the Canadian Scottish later that day he was killed never knowing that he had won the Victoria Cross with the battle joined the generals momentarily found themselves with nothing to do but wait as the Canadians reached their first objective a Royal Flying Corps reporting claim klaxon blaring buzz low over the field the troops waved flags with their divisional symbol the red patch to show that the black line was theirs most of it captured precisely on schedule the remainder on the right ten minutes later under the very eyes of the enemy pipes blaring lustily major growth and piped I'll McNeil advanced upon the capture clenched vector at this point marked the black line then came left Tennant tunnel sigh pet commander of the Canadian Scottish followed by to bat men both carrying a rum jar under each arm as the procession drew near and entered the German trench a great she went up nigel cave i dropped into a shallow trench i was on the point of climbing out on a shell with a dull puppet burst on the parapet almost in my face my breathing stopped i could neither breathe in nor out it was a peculiar sensation in a flash I knew it was a gas shell in a fraction of a second I had my respirator on and was breathing freely private Donald Fraser there were eight tanks allotted to the second division with orders to support the infantry advance to the crest of the ridge and destroy sections of uncut wire on the reverse slope they never got that far bogged down the tanks became sitting ducks their sole purpose that of drawing fire we had wonderful luck we passed the tanks went through gas and Fritz's barrage also two lines of barbed wire without a single casualty we passed a town we had seen on the map nothing to show where it was but the wall of one lone house finally we got to our objective and found the Bosch had in a great many cases already retired and their dugouts were full of revolvers clothes food and everything just as if he'd been eating a meal he never expected we would get that far tenant Claude Williams the Canadians except for the fourth division had reached the crest of Vimy Ridge and now worked their way to the brown line the victory had been quick and overwhelming when I retire tonight it is to a downy couch on which last night I left tenant Carl stretched out his form he certainly got out in a hurry as he left behind all kinds of cigars cigarettes beer tobacco black bread butter and sausages not to mention equipment you have heard all kinds of stories about how the Bosch soldiers are starved in the trenches from what I have seen of their commissariat in this district they are better fed than our own boys the regimental history of the 260 third Bavarian reserve regiment opposite the Canadian Third Division begins by noting that only one man of their first Battalion returned from the forward line on April 9th he was a farmer named Hagerman the German artillery barrage was directed on the enemy trenches and went over the heads of the Canadian infantry it did no harm to them the enemy's artillery on the other hand was directed stirring the entire attack by very lights from observation planes as a result the fire was very well placed and was always just a little forward of the Canadian infantry this ends the heavy machine-gun fire caused very heavy German casualties the Canadian third division had the advantage of the two largest tunnels on the front emerging from the tunnels they fell on the Germans before they could get out of their dugouts outside the de centrally shouted get outside the British are coming the English no they were Canadians had woken who on our left and while already holding up a defense the corporal shouted come up they have already passed our trench I went out I was alone and so on the Canadians as I found out later they had drunk much liquor I ran in the direction of the pimple but I was hit in the right forearm then I met a power we took each other by the hands and ran around plan Leslie among the dead until we came to a Canadian dugout where we found six Canadians playing cards oh paid no attention to us when the game was over one of them turned and said hello Fred see you wounded then patched me up and sent us to the real private Otto Schroeder by 1:30 the task of the 1st 2nd and 3rd divisions was complete and 3/4 of the ridge was in Canadian hands the unheard-of had happened virtually a whole battle had gone exactly and to the minute according to plan but not everywhere the third division had reached its final objective by 11 o'clock and were in command of the ridge but as early as nine o'clock one of their battalions the Royal Highlanders of Canada were ordered to throw a defensive line all the way back to their starting point protecting the flank the 4th division on their left was in trouble [Music] suddenly out of the blackness came one bank of smoke of every color imaginable with the heavy explosions of mines puncturing the continuous roar of the artillery barrage captain Harvey Crowell Nova Scotia Highlanders thus began the battle of the 4th division commanded by Major General Watson his objective included Hill one four five the highest point on Vimy and along with a knoll called the pimple the most strongly fortified the assault would utilize two brigades the eleventh under brigadier Victor oblem on the right and a twelfth under brigadier James McBryan on the left the fourth division had been seriously weakened by the ill-fated trench raid of March the 1st sustaining 700 casualties many of whom were experienced officers captain Thain McDowell who would subsequently win the Victoria Cross for his capture of a German dugout sent battle reports back to battalion headquarters the mud is very bad and our machineguns are filled with mud the runner with your message for a company has just come in and says you cannot find any of the company officers I don't know where my office is all men are one German trench had been deliberately left undamaged in the belief that taken intact the trench would provide cover from the guns above the decision had disastrous consequences half the 87th battalion the Grenadier Guards of Montreal was eliminated in the first six minutes including 10 of 11 officers slowed by the German firepower the Canadians lost to the protection of the barrage the 54th battalion from the Kootenay x' which had courageously fought its way to the summit of hill one four five now came under fire from the flank and had to retreat the 102nd wardens warriors from northern BC dug in on their objective on the right of Hill 145 back at 11th brigade headquarters Brigadier Odum needed fresh troops to take the hill there was only one unit available the work battalion the 85th of Nova Scotia not having a place in any brigade we were only recognized when work parties were wanted laughed at because we were the Highlanders without kilts captain Harvey crow on the day of the battle the 85th had been given the task of digging a new communication trench but now Odum called captain Crowell and captain Percy Anderson to 11th brigade headquarters in the tottenham tunnel and informed them that the 85th would join the battle their attack was set for 6:45 p.m. following a 12-minute barrage on enemy positions but unknown to Crowell at the last moment Odum cancelled the barrage fearful of killing his own troops scattered throughout the area just before zero hour I remember looking back and seeing the brassy setting sun blazing in the eyes of the Germans and 5:45 there was no barage watches had been synchronized half a minute went by still no barrage I had then to decide that when one minute was up barrage arno barrage we were too advanced as soon as they started to offense they came under heavy fire no assisting barrage and no run issued to start off and yet the effect of the exposure to machine-gun fire was stimulating it was worth while to get cheers from a section of our troops who were hanging on to an exposed flank at a large crater as we advanced but when we can make out the groups of enemy where fire was coming from and about 100 to 150 yards machine-gun fire was getting real unpleasant within 50 yards of the Germans second line where they still operated five machine guns at the top of the unde Amala shhhht dug out entrances they turned and ran and then the ordinary man was overcome with the lust to kill in one hour the Nova Scotians the Highlanders without kilts would gain control of he'll one four five over running their objective dear father and mother yes we were in it up to our eyes and if I was proud of the battalion before I'm a thousand times more so now they did magnificently at the last minute we were given a tough nut to crack some splendid chaps went down but they are just an incentive to our chaps to see that they did not die in vain our name is written down right now major JL Ralston three days later the 44th for Manitoba and the 50th of Calgary which included a large number of Japanese Canadians 35 of whom would die at Vimy successfully captured the knoll on the extreme left of Vimy Ridge known as the pimple by mid-afternoon April 12th 1917 the triumphant Canadians on the whole length of Vimy Ridge looked out over unspoiled lands to the east from the crest the whole plane of do I lay at our feet the Vista was one of peaceful looking villages nestling in green woods of prosperous towns on the Far Horizons from whose high chimney stacks poured clouds of smoke and of Railways over which trains were still running private William Kentner Vimy Ridge was the deepest advance the British forces had made in two and a half years of war it was the first time German siege guns had been captured it broke the hinge of the new defense line conceived by generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff the Supreme German commanders April 9th happened to be Ludendorff's birthday and a party was scheduled at German headquarters Hindenburg found Ludendorff sitting dispirited by news of the Vimy defeat he sat down opposite him reached out took Ludendorff face in his hands and said we've known worse days but not in the opinion of crown prince rupert who wrote his father a doubts that we can recapture the lineage this leads to the question is there any sense in continuing the war and Hindenburg with a few more hours to think about it wrote the impact of the news throws a Samba picture much shade little light general paul von hindenburg [Music] the victory had not come cheaply the Canadian Corps had suffered ten thousand six hundred and two casualties including three thousand six hundred dead though the exact number of Germans killed in the defense of the ridge has never been tallied they are thought to have lost more than the Canadians plus four thousand taken prisoner I never want you ever to go through what I have this winter especially on the 9th on Vimy 4 it was a hell on earth and I am very lucky to be here today I do not mind the loss of my eye for I am well pleased to save my life private self-worth when will Berg returns his platoon he remembered Freddie a platoon mate who'd had a dream in which death had appeared personified pointing out those who would not survive the coming battle Freddie himself had been included as one who would die freddie was gone he had predicted truly a big shell had landed beside him killing him and burying him the Charlie had fallen in the first rush riddled with bullets Joe the ex-policeman had fought through to the objective and had been killed by a sniper on the flank one shell had wiped out Stevenson tario and Roy as they grouped by a captured gun macmillan had been shot in the stomach and had died after waiting hours in a trench Billy the complainer had fallen as he charged a machine gun keeping on until he was almost within reach of the Gunners big Herman had shaken hands with Freddy said goodbye to him and then had run amuck he was found almost at the bottom of the ridge near a battery position with eight dead Germans about him four of them killed by bayonet six months ago we had marched a mount Santelli why eagerly bravely our tin hats askew and with a cheeky retort for every command hiding whatever secret apprehensions we had not knowing the heavy ominous silence that follows the burst of shells and the cries of the wounded not knowing what it is to scrape the hasty grave at night and there bury a man who has worked with you and slept with you since you enlisted [Music] whoo bird although for me it is only about a year's service in France it seems as if I had been born out here and have never known anything but everlasting mud and perpetual shellfire none of us have lost our nerve but the novelty is worn off and we have seen too much of the shady side of fighting to love it for the mere sake of adventure when called upon we are cheerfully ready to do anything we are told but did not feel the same wild enthusiasm is formerly we are all steadies and sobered up leftenant claude williams i met a british staff officer coming back from the front who told me he belonged to army headquarters he asked me if i was a canadian and when i replied that i was he said i congratulate you upon it never since the world began have men made a charge with finer spirit it was a magnificent achievement after three years of bloody stalemate the Allies had reason to believe the end of the war was in sight eager to erase the memories of Ypres and Assam the press sang the praises of the Canadians no praise of the Canadian achievement can be excessive Canada has said across the sea an army greater than Napoleon ever commanded in the field the New York Tribune the British press was less enthusiastic the Times downplayed the Canadian success giving credit to Hague and the British staff the Daily Mail correspondent W Beach Thomas seemed if anything even further removed from reality [Music] so Douglas P by deliberate choice through the weight of the British army against perhaps the strongest force of the enemy ever yet concentrated in such a fortress will refreshed of the Varia teeth the challenge of general hallenby and general horne sub douglas Hague's chief lieutenants in the battle only time wh how often through the long months at Vimy at a canadian stared over the parapet and the great humpback ridge looming in the distance and wondered what lay beyond in the twilight just before the darkness we stood and looked down over the ridge on the enemy side the first flares rose in scattered places could not distinguish the lines the air was damp and chilling an unearthly feeling predominated the dead men the solitary Flair's the captured ground gave me a sense of ghosts about and one realized the tragedy of that stricken Hill will bird [Music] general Bing in general curry were both rewarded for the Vimy victory as was only proper since the Battle of Arras of which Vimy was a part was a dismal failure everywhere else Bing was given command of the British Third Army and Currie elevated to leftenant general was made commander of the Canadian Corps then commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force which was then given independent status within the British High Command applicable only to the Canadians in the fall of 1917 General David Watson commander of the 4th division and brigadier Victor Odum both wealthy men would loan curry the money to pay off his debt to his old regiment the enormous weight which had so burdened Currie during the war had finally been lifted the stature of curry among the allied generals of World War one continues to increase Dennis winter author of Hague's command a reassessment describes Currie as follows curry remains the most successful allied general and one of the least well-known his capture of the drug court overt switch in the autumn of 1918 remains the British Army's single greatest achievement on the Western Front the combination of unprecedented densities of artillery and machine guns the flexible infantry sections was the Canadian trademark under Curry's command whenever Haig planned a breakthrough or came upon a particular obdurate German position British units were pushed aside and Dominion troops were put in charge where the men who made up the British Army therefore inferior man-for-man with a less brave less intelligent less enduring than Dominion soldiers Dennis winter what made the difference was preparation winter concludes and Currie who had devised and supervised the preparation of the Canadians would agree if the lessons of war have been thoroughly mastered if the artillery preparation and support is good if our intelligence is properly appreciated there is no position that cannot be rested from the enemy by disciplined well trained and well led troops attacking on a sound plan General Arthur Currie curries relationship with Canadian soldiers was almost unique in military annals like them he was an amateur and a volunteer who had never seen war firsthand like his men he had seized an opportunity to forge an identity that would bring unquestioning respect from friend and foe alike thus the reputation of the Canadians and their commander were inextricably linked in the final allied offensive of 1918 Marshall Fache by now supreme commander of all allied ground forces used the fearsome reputation of the Canadians to mislead and distract the Germans distraction is an essential element in surprise and in this case it centered around the introduction of the Canadians regarding them as storm troops the enemy tended to greet their appearance as an announcement of a coming attack the Canadian Corps was near a wrasse and an aptly chosen fraction of it two battalions two casualty clearing stations in a wireless section was dispatched northward to kemell in Flanders then the bulk of the Canadian Corps was filtered down to the Somme we're ingenious rumors were circulated among the British to account for their appearance but even then the Canadians did not move into the line until a few hours before the assault Sir basil Liddell Hart the British Prime Minister Lloyd George stated that if the war had continued another year he would have made curry field commander of all British forces this memorial for Canadian warriors it is the inspired expression in stone similarly the bio skillful Canadian hands of Canada's salute to have fallen silent it marks the scenes of feats of arms with history really long remember and Canada can never forget in 1922 France had ceded to Canada two hundred and fifty acres on Hill 145 in perpetuity for a Memorial Park to honor the fallen soldiers at Vimy the Canadian battlefields memorial Commission supervised to design contest and the winning design chosen from among 160 submissions was by Toronto sculptor Walter all word on the wall stands the heroic figure of Canada brooding over the graves of her valiant dead behind her stand two pylons symbolizing the Canadian and French while between at the base of these is the spirit of the sacrifice who giving all throws the torch to his comrades looking up they see the figures of peace justice truth and knowledge for which they thought chanting the hymn of peace Walter Hallward construction of the Vimy memorial had taken ten years will bird visiting the site in 1930 when the memorial was only partially completed described it in an article for MacLaine's Canada has placed a magnificent work of art under the design of a Canadian in Europe where so many great works of art are to be found Europe viewing the finished work will change your impressions of the Canadians as a people will bird as bird trudged over the battered landscape still cratered and uneven he suddenly realized what an advantage the Germans truly held on the ridge even as late as 1930 the ground around Vimy was still offering up evidence of the human cost two boys visited they give all she would last summer and while playing there found a German and Canadian soldier lying together their hands locked so tightly that they were buried together as they had died one were both had been badly wounded and they were trying to help each other when death overtook them no weapons no sign of enmity they had died as comrades will bird we'll bird knew the soldiers truth after three years of trench warfare he had carried this knowledge home with him a knowledge shared by all veterans of this terrible conflict their survival had made them prisoners in a world apart unable to articulate this feeling to those who were not their prisoners joined by chains forged in the trenches until death set them free never on earth was there a like place where a man's support often his soil support was his faith in some mighty power all intervening thoughts were swept aside unconsciously they were born faiths that carried men through critical moments and tortured Minds grasped fantasies that served in place of more solid creeds the trench at zero hour was a crucible that dissolved all in sincerity and the superficial men glimpsed or thought they glimpsed that grim crossroads we must all pass it was as if for them a voice had spoken a hand beckoned the lawn and at once there fell from them all frenzy and confusion white faced unsmiling filled with a strange courage they greeted that which awaited them will bird [Music]

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Keywords: 20th century, Documentary Movies - Topic, Documentaries, history documentary, world war i (military conflict), great war, 2017 documentary, documentary history, history channel, Channel 4 documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Full Documentary, stories, vimy ridge, canadian corps, History, battle of vimy ridge, real, the great war, trench warfare, BBC documentary, first world war, Full length Documentaries, Documentary

Id: 9--M_tB-4S4

Length: 94min 20sec (5660 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018