This Day in History: Vimy Ridge

Jivan Johal
Apr 12, 2017
2 min read

On April 9th, 1917, Canada's international reputation for honour and bravery was born, because it was on this day, all the way up to the 12th of April, that the four Canadian battalions involved in the First World War were deployed together to take Vimy Ridge. Vimy sat in the Northeast corner of France, close to Belgium and was an important location during the war.

Because it was the high ground, the army with the ridge

would be able to see in all directions for kilometres, making the ridge a vital possession to see the enemy from afar. The ridge had fallen into the hands of the Germans in the start of the war, and both the British and French failed to take the ridge.

The Canadians were tasked to take the ridge, and all four of the Canadian battalions were garrisoned to fight together. The Canadians devised a strategy where they would fire a barrage of artillery shells in front of the troops to provide a cover for the troops, and to give craters for them to take cover in

The artillery barrage began on the 20th of March, where Canadian cannons shelled the German lines for 2 weeks

The cannons destroyed german morale and defences, and set up the troops to advance towards the German lines. For

the most part, the

advance went well, with three divisions capturing their objectives. however, for the fourth division, many did not make it out of their trenches, and the division collapsed. The troops were able to beat back the Germans from the strategic ridge using trench raiding, coordinated artillery bombardment, and tunnel-digging. The ridge would stay in entente (allies) hands until the end of the war.