Today, we commemorate VIMY, April 9, 1917
"I had seen something of the terror, the vast, paralyzing, terrific tumult of battle: a thing so beyond humanity, as if all the gods and all the devils had gone mad and were battling, forgetful of poor, frail mortals that they tramped upon" - LIEUTENANT GREGORY CLARK OF THE 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLES
At Vimy Ridge, 100,000 Canadian soldiers gathered for the first time as a unified fighting force. On April 9, they won a spectacular victory but at the cost of 3598 Canadian soldiers - it remains Canada's bloodiest day. We remember the sacrifices of all those who served during the First World War, and we celebrate our Canadian identity and pride.
The Vimy Foundation preserves and promotes Canada's First World War legacy, best symbolized with the victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Find out more at vimyfoundation.ca,
"Overall, 170,000 serving Canadians were physically wounded during the First World War, and more than 10 per cent of the total force, or roughly 70,000 people reported some form of shell shock or mental strain during their service" - CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY AND CAITLIN BAILEY
With the passage of time, most Canadians simply wanted to move on from the war andits terrible legacy. And so it goes - our sons (and daughters) go off to fight and potentially die on behalf of a nation that often ails to show it.
The Vimy Foundation will continue to remind Canadians of their great First World War effort, the seismic effects of the conflict upon Canada, and the development of a new, vigorous sense of national identity. We will remember them (Christopher Sweeney and Caitlin Bailey, "The fight did not end on Nov. 11, 1918", NATIONAL POST, Tuesday, April 9,2019).
1917
9 April. Easter Monday. Four Canadian divisions and one British brigade captured Vimy Ridge. It was first time that all four divisions attacked together (Mary Beacock Fryer, "More Battlefields of Canada", DUNDURN PRESS, Toronto and Oxford 1993).
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Zimne dreszcze i cos
jeszcze spowodowalo, ze leze w lozku caly dzien + brak apetytu i ogolne zmeczenie. Pogoda zmylkowa + wiatr. Ludzie cieplo ubrani na ulicy. W radiu mowia nawet o opadach sniegu + ciezkie granatowe chmury na niebie + "Riders on the storm" - THE DOORS
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Dzis wazny dzien - wazna rocznica Bitwy pod Vimy Ridge we Francji. Tego dnia 102 lata temu, 9 kwietnia 1917 roku, zginelo 3598 kanadyjskich zlonierzy w natarciu na wzgorze dobrze ufortyfikowane i fanatycznie bronione przez Niemcow. Zdobyli je i pogonili Frycow na dobre. Danina krwi kanadyjskiej byla wielka. To pod Vimy Ridge wykuwal sie koncept narodu kanadyjskiego. Panstwa i patriotyzmu. Okazalo sie, ze Kanada z ponad 100-tysieczna armia jest w stanie wyzwalac i bic potegi europejskie + jak to dumnie byc Kanadyjczykiem! + Tajemnice bolesne za dusze zolnierzy.
"Nations, claimed the French philosopher, Ernest Renan, are built from the experience of doing great things together. For Canadians, Vimy Ridge was a nation-building experience. For some, then and later, it symbolized the fact that the Great War was also Canada's war of independence even if it was fought at Britain's side against a common enemy" - DESMONT MORTON
That winter, the coldest in twenty years, the Canadian Corps faced Vimy Ridge, a long whale-shaped hill that rose over the Douai Plain. The divisions were tougher now, though the shortage of good reinforcements was apparent. Divisional concert parties - the 3rd Division's "Dumbbells" were the best known - did their bit for morale. Leave was even more valuable but wounded men now knew that even a "Blighty" might not save them from return to the trenches; in 1917, there would be more.
Vimy Ridge was more than an annoyance and a chance for Germans to see far across the allied lines; it was the corps objective. Byng knew how to prepare. A huge model of the ridge was built and Canadian soldiers walked over it until they knew its features by heart. Gunners practiced on captured German guns so they could make use of artillery taken in the assault. Their own guns could not be dragged forward in time. Huge bunkers and dug-outs were excavated and filled with supplies and ammunition. Miles of tunnel were dug. Colonel A. G. L. McNaughton, a former McGill chemistry professor, figured out how to locate German guns by sound and flash and then used Canadian heavy artillery to knock them out.
Early on Easter Monday, after days of artillery bombardment, the four Canadian infantry divisions advanced in line right behind a barrage of exploding shells. They found front-line Germans hiding in their dug-outs. Beyond them, fighting was fiercer. By 8 A.M. that morning, April 9, 1917, the 3rd Division pushed over the far side of the hill to see Germans streaming away in disorder. The 1st and 2nd Divisions took longer, but by evening their objectives were won. The 4th Division, on the crest of the ridge, had the hardest fighting. Germans, brilliantly sited around the Pimple, as the topmost point was christened, fought to the end. It was April 12 before Brigadier-General Edward Hilliam, a western rancher end ex-British ranker signalled: "I am King of the Pimple."
French and British divisions fought on the flanks but Vimy Ridge was the Canadian Corps's triumph. The apprenticeship was over; the master work was complete (Desmont Morton, "A Military History of Canada", M&S, Toronto 1992).
Vimy Ridge, battle fought 9-14 Apr 1917 during World War I. The low ridge formed a key position linking the Germans' new Hinderburg Line to their main trench lines leading N from Hill 70 near Arras, France. Both British and French had tried unsuccessfully to take the ridge earlier during the war. In spring 1917 the task was given to the Canadian Corps, commanded by British Lt.Gen Sir J.H.G. Byng.
After careful training and rehearsal, and supported by almost 1000 artillery pieces, the Canadians attacked along a 6.4 km front on 9 Apr 1917. It was the first time the Canadians attacked together, and they achieved a magnificent victory, sweeping the Germans off the ridge. By Apr 14 they had gained more ground, more guns, and more prisoners than any previous British offensive had done. Canadian casualties mounted to 10 602, of which 3598 were killed. Nevertheless the sense of achievement and national pride created by the success gave the Canadians a great feeling of self-confidence. The Canadian Corps was to gain recognition as an elite corps.
R.H.ROY ("The Canadian Encyclopedia", HURTIG PUBLISHERS, Edmonton 1988).
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