Canada And World War I Vimy Ridge

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02 Nov 2017

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Mitch Den Boer

History 2201E

Prof. D. Norton

27 February 2013

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The Battle of Vimy Ridge is an event that has been renowned in Canada and by historical

authors for its significance since it occurred in April 1917 during the first World War. Historical

debate to whether the allied victory deserves its status as a defining moment for Canada or not is

a topic widely viewed by authors for being both deserving and undeserving. The purpose of this

essay is to differentiate between authors’ points of view on the Battle of Vimy Ridge and to

argue that the victory does not deserve many of its acclaimed statuses that have developed

since the end of World War I.

The book Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment by Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci

and Mike Bechthold provides insight to the debate between scholars about Vimy and its

significance to Canada. The book takes a step backwards to explore what really happened and as

the title suggests, to reassesses many of the apparent truths about the battle and the Canadian

Corps.

Patrick Brennan, the writer for the fifth chapter in the book suggests that the Canadian

success at Vimy Ridge was attributed to the idea that Canadians were never bored during the

campaign and therefore fought much better than their British and French counterparts. Alexander

Ross, a Canadian battalion commander mentioned that Canadian troops had trained throughout

the winter of 1916 and were well equipped with artillery strength and prepared to fight when the

time came. [1] The battle saw well trained Canadian soldiers lead by British commanders whom

Canadians were dependent on, and in 1917 much of the leadership was British of high order.

Lieutenant-General Julian Byng, commander of the British IX Corps arrived on the

Western Front in February 1916 to command the British XVII Corps, and in turn Vimy Ridge.

He was assigned to command the Canadian Corps which was met with disappointment because

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of the corps demoralized formation and broken officer positions. As of 1916 the only division

fit for battle was the first Canadian division led by General Sir Arthur Currie. The three

remaining Canadian divisions were regarded to have been bloodied, unfit for battle, and as for

the third division yet to see battle at all. [2] 

Brennan approaches the Canadian Corps during their early involvement in the war as

British colonials from a British perspective. He integrates Julian Byng’s opinion of the Canadian

forces he is assigned to and his relationship with Arthur Currie. As the fourth Canadian division

remained on English soil continuing formations, Byng had an advantage while in control of the

Canadian Corps. He could control the training and regulate the administration and preparation

for battle in a manner he was unable with a regular British corps. He had the support of the

British War Office and Field Marshal Douglas Haig, as well as Canadian Prime Minister

Robert Borden’s government to make reforms to the corps he thought to be necessary. [3] These

reforms included promotions and removal of officers. This was a decisive choice made by the

Canadian government because it lead to a major increase in fighting efficiency in the Canadian

Corps.

The chapter continues with Byng being informed on January 19th 1917 that the Canadian

Corps would assault Vimy Ridge in the spring which would ultimately only be a part of a larger

British offensive on the Western Front. The basic plan for the assault on Vimy was created at a

conference at corps headquarters on February 2nd 1917 announced by Byng himself.

Consultation with Arthur Currie and other Canadian Generals brought about the schemes of

operation for the assault.

Byng respected his staff officers greatly and many of the senior Canadian and British

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officers respected one another equally for their contributions during the preparations for Vimy.

An important point to consider made by Brennan is that Julian Byng had created a formidable

and competent fighting force and inspired Canadian troops to realize their capabilities and

their importance not only at Vimy Ridge, but in the war as a whole.

Arthur Currie inherited a powerful division of Canadian soldiers due to Byng’s hard

efforts. It may be said that the credit of the successes at Vimy Ridge should belong to Julian

Byng. It belongs to him because of his responsibility and ability to create a successful plan, and

therefore it can be argued that General Arthur Currie was considered very fortunate in taking

control of the corps after General Byng. [4] 

Another author who holds a powerful opinion about the successes at Vimy Ridge is

Pierre Berton with his book Vimy. Berton argues that when Canadian soldiers stood atop

Vimy Ridge after the victory they felt a surge of freedom flow through them. This is

understandable in a sense because of the notion of victory in warfare. However, Berton continues

claiming that Canadian soldiers were part of the impossible that was the capture of Vimy Ridge.

When the French and British had failed, Canadians had succeeded with flying colours. [5] This is

debatable because it was the French and British armies who set up the Canadian position to take

the ridge. French and British losses earlier in the war in the Vimy sector contributed largely to

the Canadian success in April 1917. Berton’s book fails to recognize these endeavors and

focuses mainly on Canadian glory.

The chapter continues with Canada receiving international applause and recognition for

its achievement on Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday 1917. Berton argues that it was Canada’s

greatest victory and signified a nationalizing moment for the country. Such a decisive, yet

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limited victory gave Canadians a sense of belonging. In that glorifying moment the British

colonials who went over the top in the morning of that Easter Monday 1917 experienced a first

full sense of nationhood for the first time in their lives.

Arthur Currie regarded the day as "the grandest day the corps ever had", and the victory

had turned thousands of people on the Western Front and elsewhere into Canadians. [6] The men

who had thought themselves dominantly British, could now call themselves Canadians. Soldiers

who fought at Vimy said that they had never thought of themselves as Canadians until Vimy

Ridge, and after the battle felt solely Canadian. Here Pierre Berton has made several debatable

claims about the effect the victory had on Canadians everywhere during the aftermath of the

battle. He points out that Canadians never felt Canadian until Vimy Ridge and that the victory

turned many people of either British or Canadian birth on the Western Front and at home

entirely Canadian.

Pierre Berton’s Vimy says that the battle confirmed to Canadians that they were the finest

troops to ever stand on the Western Front. They gained a notion of pride, confidence,

professionalism and achievement that day in which they lacked earlier in the war. Soldiers

believed that without a doubt the Canadian nationality was born that day atop Vimy Ridge. [7] 

In post-World War I Canada, Vimy Ridge served as a symbol of nationalism. Canadians

viewed it almost as a legendary story which spawned the idea that Canada came of age that

Easter Monday 1917. This was reluctant because Canada lacked stories of heroism and

unification before the war. After Vimy Ridge Canadians thought that they had no reason to think

of themselves as British colonials any longer. The victory at Vimy had broken the colonial tie

between Great Britain and Canada. [8] 

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At the highest point of the ridge a monument was placed to commemorate Canada’s

achievement at Vimy. Two twin spires that stood 226 feet high were placed on Hill 145 to be

seen for miles. At the height of the Great Depression, hype about Vimy Ridge reached its peak.

Over 6400 Canadians paid to travel across the Atlantic Ocean by ship to stand atop of Vimy

Ridge and witness the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial. [9] Over five thousand Canadians lost their

lives at Vimy Ridge on 12 April 1917, and the answer to the question of if Canada gained their

nationhood on that day will be addressed later in the essay.

A book that encourages the idea of Canada gaining their nationhood at Vimy Ridge is

called Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age April 9-12 1917 by Ted Barris. Barris suggests

that after the victory, some newspapers in Great Britain failed to mention the Canadians a whole

while others regarded the capture of the ridge as the allies greatest victory in the war thus far.

The commander of the German army group Crown Prince Rupprecht mentioned that the

recapture of Vimy Ridge would be impossible, and the question of if there is any point in

continuing the war was raised by the Germans. [10] The American press recognized the victory as a

unifying moment for Canada and Canadian nationalism more than any other country. The

Canadians gained a reputation as shock troops, and if the Germans knew that they were going to

participate in combat with the Canadians they could expect great difficulty. [11] 

Barris claims that the Canadian troops at Vimy executed a near perfect creeping barrage

and reached their objectives with perfection on 12 April 1917 and savored every part of the

victory. Contrary to popular belief, Canadian losses at Vimy Ridge were large in casualties, and

as previously stated, over five thousand Canadians lost their lives during the offensive. This is an

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important historical fact about the battle that seems to have been overlooked by Canadians

following the war and by authors since the battle. The book also explains that Canadians began

the assault on Vimy as a part of the British army and ended the day as an independent army and

nation. This is another example of the popular idea that Canadian nationalism was born at Vimy

Ridge.

The mythological idea of the birth of a nation has been based off of a post-war urge to

remind Canadians why they fought in the war in the first place – to protect home even as

colonials of the British Empire. [12] The myth was also formed by the idea of Canada rising to the

occasion when her allies failed to do so. The Canadian capture of Vimy Ridge was known to be

the moment where the British and French armies failed and the Canadian Corps succeeded and

proved that they were equal partners in the war. Sadly this is not entirely true; but Ted Barris has

clearly considered it in his book.

During the Paris Peace conference in 1919 and the birth of the League of Nations,

Canada had an autonomous vote. This was two years after the victory at Vimy, and was achieved

through the persistence of Prime Minister Robert Borden. Barris argues that the achievement at

Vimy will always be for the living, and that the memorial will always be for the dead. [13] 

Governor General Julian Byng announced in France on January 31st 1917 that the government of

France had offered the Canadian government 250 acres of land on Vimy Ridge to build a

monument of remembrance to commemorate the Canadian Corps’ exploits in the First World

War.

According to Barris, for the first time in the war the allies saw their enemy in full retreat

at Vimy Ridge after a perfect creeping artillery barrage and trench raid offensive by the

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Canadian Corps. [14] The main argument in Ted Barris’ Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age

April 9-12 1917 is that the pivotal victory at Vimy Ridge marked the awakening of the first full

sense of nationhood for Canada. He stresses that this was something that must be preserved and

remembered for succeeding Canadian generations.

Alexander McKee, author of The Battle of Vimy Ridge takes on a different point of

view about the Canadian Corps. He says that Canadian soldier’s confidence was high for having

the ability to defeat a German army on any battlefield which contributed to the high spirits and

morale of the entire Canadian Corps. [15] Also the notion of Canadian soldiers being disorderly,

undisciplined and insubordinate was completely false. Canadians would settle for nothing but the

best when tasked with work. The 12th Brigade in the 4th Canadian Division had an unfathomable

job as they resided on the left flank of the entire Canadian Corps. They were tasked with the job

of capturing Hill 145 on the right side of the ridge and another fortified German position on the

left which was planned to be taken earlier in the war. [16] 

Alexander McKee approaches Vimy Ridge for what really happened. Using more than a

hundred witnesses throughout Canada and the United Kingdom, he recreates the battle with

vivid explanations and personal experiences from ground and air soldiers as well as personal

accounts that are connected accurately to the individual’s respective division and battalion. The

book, published in 1967, is one of the first recollections of the Battle of Vimy Ridge that

contains personal accounts of the men who fought at Vimy. Its context is unique because of this

and it is historically accurate throughout regarding the content of the battle itself. It differs from

other illustrations on Vimy Ridge because of McKee’s profound writing style when

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referencing soldiers personal experiences.

The next author, Andrew Iarocci, paints a heroic picture of the Canadian Corps in their

achievement at Vimy Ridge in the ninth chapter of Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment. An

examination of the 1st Canadian Division is in order to determine the complexity of the battle and

whether or not it deserves to be regarded as being such a unifying moment for Canada. Iarocci

says that the 1st Canadian Division led by General Sir Arthur Currie had the most difficult

objective at Vimy Ridge. It was tasked with advancing further than any other Canadian and

British divisions. [17] The terrain in the Vimy sector was relatively level and flat until the Canadian

shock troops reached the Bois Carre area. The terrain was sloped to the east, and this ground

worked in the favor of Canadian soldiers as they viewed retreating German forces funneling into

the villages of Willerval and Farbus once they reached their objective.

The offensive that the 1st Canadian division carried out at Vimy Ridge on 9 April 1917

was an operational success. At the end of the day the three infantry brigades advanced a better

part of 3500 metres into German held territory, captured more than 1200 prisoners, and a

plethora of artillery equipment, machine guns, mortars and rifles. [18] Two days before the battle,

on April 10th 1917 it was reported that the first and second brigades’ losses amounted in forty

percent of the divisions combat strength. The losses of each brigade varied widely in the 1st

Canadian Division between 9-12 April. Iarocci argues that the importance of various weapons

also differed. The rifle grenade would either succeed or fail, and in some circumstances prove to

be completely useless.

This chapter also explains that the operation at Vimy Ridge as a whole relied on

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improvisation. The objective that sat atop the slope to the east for the third and fourth divisions

provided an advantage and disadvantage to German forces.

The book Canada and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 by Brereton Greenhous

and Stephen John Harris is a brief summarization of the battle. Greenhous and Harris scatter

relevant pictures of Canadians in the war throughout their well-constructed chapters and focus

on the Vimy story as the birth of Canadian nationhood. They also use individual pictures of

soldiers and officers while connecting the story with personal accounts from Canadian soldiers

on the Western Front in 1916 and 1917. The book is brief at 148 pages, but the authors convey a

strong argument on why they think the victory at Vimy Ridge in 1917 is so important to Canada.

In the last chapter the authors say Canadians returned home to a completely different

society than the one they had left. [19] Canada was rapidly becoming a far more urban and

industrial country. Advancements in technology brought Canadians closer together and

gave them the ability to learn more about one another. Canada was steadily becoming the second

largest producer of automobiles in the world, as cities such as Toronto and Montreal doubled in

population size between 1914 and 1918. Veterans gathered in their local Legions throughout

Canada every Friday night and still marched up to cenotaphs every 11 November to honor their

fallen comrades. They still valued Vimy Ridge as being the moment when they first experienced

a full sense of nationhood and remembered each other for the great things they did together. [20] 

Greenhous and Harris end the book with a message from Lieutenant-Colonel Charles

Stacey saying that the men who fought at Vimy recalled fifty years later that the victory

symbolized a moment of great national pride and that their country had come of age that Easter

Monday. [21] 

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The journal article called The Use and Abuse of Battle: Vimy Ridge and the Great War

Over the History of the First World War by Major John R. Grodzinski is one that supports

the main argument and the purpose of this essay. The article explains that historiography has

created false stories about the Battle of Vimy Ridge and of the Great War in general because

authors have illustrated their research on topics such as Vimy Ridge that are largely invalid due

to popular notions of the Canadian story at Vimy. The idea of Canada gaining a national identity

at Vimy Ridge becomes easy to accept for people because they realize that Canada does not have

such a defining story except Vimy Ridge. The popular story of Canada achieving their

nationhood at Vimy Ridge has been planted in the minds of Canadians because that is how it has

been told in illustrations since 1967. [22] 

This article explains that Canada’s understanding of the Great War is relatively immature

and dull. It holds that authors have damaged the story of Vimy Ridge, focusing on the superiority

of the Canadian colonial power and forgetting about the larger British and French forces that

gave way to the Canadian achievement. This is in part due to the Canadian urge to boast about

the Canadian success at Vimy Ridge in post-war Canada. Canadian historians and journalists

rushed to record informative recollections from veterans after the war to compile a heroic story

about the birth of a nation. However, Grodzinski’s article suggests that the victory at Vimy did

not spark the Canadian identity. Rather, it was the confidence gained by Canadian soldiers

throughout the entirety of the war that encouraged the urge of Canadian nationalism in the

post-war years. [23] The article also suggests that Canadian military history has been plagued

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with stories such as Vimy and encourages younger Canadian historians and journalists to study

deeper and create more works based off of original research.

Pierre Berton argued in Vimy that Julian Byng, commander of the Canadian Corps

treated his troops like adults unlike many other senior British officers. Canadians insisted that

the old assault tactics that resembled a machine-like fighting force be scrapped completely and

replaced with new strategies. The preparations for Vimy, according to Mark Osborne Humphries

in the fourth chapter of Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment were by no means unique.

Humphries says that before the Battle of Arras began on 9 April 1917, Canadian and British

officers both presented their ideas to the riddle of the trenches. [24] It was then decided by the

British General Headquarters that linear battle tactics would not be abandoned on this offensive.

On 23 January 1917 Major General Arthur Currie submitted a report to General Julian

Byng outlining the attacks and lessons learned at Verdun from the French army. This report

highlighted many of the lessons learnt from the French Currie thought could be applied to the

Canadian army. Humphries argues in this chapter that Currie determined that adequate training

was necessary if the Canadians were to achieve success. Currie also emphasized the importance

of equipping assault troops with the latest weaponry. [25] Ultimately the report by Currie argued

against the use of linear battle tactics and encouraged the use of the revolutionary idea of

command and control.

Currie visualized that platoons could be self-reliant on the battlefield. He thought soldiers

could effectively deal blows to the enemy and capture strongpoints using a methodical strategy.

Under Byng’s command, the Canadian Corps worked its way into becoming a much more self-

reliant unit when divided into four specialized sections: riflemen, Lewis gunners, rifle grenadiers

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and bombers. This empowered the platoon officer and gave him a greater sense of importance on

the battlefield and in the trenches.

This chapter in Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment takes into account the Canadian

preparations for Vimy. During the third week of January, the second Canadian Division started

their training overlooked by the British. The first week was based on individual training. It

involved aspects of physical training, drilling, bayonet fighting, rifle exercises and lectures. [26] 

The next two weeks involved the same routine in the morning followed by tactical planning and

practicing conducted on practice fields and trenches in the afternoon. Humphries argues that

these sections of training taught British and Canadian soldiers that linear battle tactics were

effective, and often successful in reality.

The Battle of Arras was a culmination of four months of preparations. In the book

Vimy Ridge 1917: Byng’s Canadians Triumph at Arras by Alexander Turner and Peter Dennis,

the authors argue that General Sir Henry Horne, a British officer, chose the Canadian Corps for

the assault on Vimy out of three other British corps’. [27] They also present the argument that the

victory was one of the greatest operational successes of the Great War. The authors dive into

the preparations for the battle and explain some of the contributions the British and French made

at Vimy Ridge earlier in the war. The book does not place its focus on the Canadian Corps alone.

Turner and Dennis credit the British and French armies almost as much as the Canadians. Even

though the Canadian Corps was chosen for the offensive at Vimy, the book does not leave out

important British and French sequences in the war which lead up to Vimy Ridge.

Vimy Ridge 1917: Byng’s Canadians Triumph at Arras challenges the popular idea of

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the birth of Canadian identity at Vimy Ridge. It does so by making accurate connections with the

battle itself and the war as a whole. It explains the major battles and events leading up to Vimy

Ridge such as Ypres and the Somme, and even contains information on what the war was like

from a German point of view. [28] The work ties in nicely for this essay because many illustrations

about Vimy Ridge are similar, with authors arguing about relatively the same idea – the birth of

Canadian nationhood on 12 April 1917 at Vimy Ridge.

Although the Canadian Corps was sufficiently trained alongside their British allies by

1917, it did not yet contain the capacity of an independent fighting unit that many authors

have suggested. This is a reminder that in order to understand the Canadian participation in the

Great War, we must first realize that Canadian soldier were very much colonials of the British

Imperial Army.

The journal article Vimy, April 1917: The Birth of Which Nation? by Jean Martin

explains powerful arguments with regards to the idea of Vimy Ridge being a birth of a nation. He

focuses on the Vimy memorial and how it became the single most important symbol that

Canadians would remember for their involvement in the Great War. [29] In addition, he explains

that the myth of Canadian identity at Vimy Ridge exploded in 1967 with the celebration of the

100th anniversary of Confederation. Coincidentally, it was the 50th anniversary of Vimy Ridge as

well. It appeared to Canadians that it was more of a celebration for a Canadian nation, rather than

a birth of a nation. [30] Martin argues that Vimy enabled Europe and the United States to recognize

Canada as a competent international contender and that it was Vimy which gave Canada a spot

on the international scale after the war.

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To claim that the Canadian nation was born on 12 April 1917 is to essentially deny the

existence of an emerging country known as Canada that predated the First World War. The

Canadian Corps in 1917 was composed largely of immigrants who had the mindset of Canada

gaining its nationhood at Vimy Ridge. Many of these men were of British origin, which traveled

to Canada as young men before the war broke out in 1914. For many of these soldiers the victory

at Vimy caused them to witness a birth of a nation they had little knowledge of before the war.

These new Canadians planted the idea firmly in their minds that they witnessed the birth of a

nation at Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday 1917. Their mixed cultures contributed to this exciting

idea when the Canadian Corps came together for the first time in its existence to execute such an

effective victory. Therefore, the Battle of Vimy Ridge has nothing to do with the popular myth of

the birth of the Canadian nation. [31] In fact, in the perspective of people who lived in Canada for a

significant longer time than many of the men who traveled overseas for the war from 1915-1918,

Canada had already planted its roots as a country for over three centuries before conflict within

Europe began at the turn of the twentieth century.

In conclusion, Vimy Ridge is without a doubt an important event in Canadian history.

After the erection of the Vimy memorial in 1936 Canadian authors, journalists and writers have

implicated and bolstered the myth of the birth of the Canadian nation at Vimy Ridge in 1917. It

is now the twenty-first century and we are finally viewing the battle for what it really was. It was

the French offensives of 1915 and 1916 that set up the Canadian Corps opportunity for victory at

the Vimy sector on the Western Front in 1917. The Canadian forces gained the strategic terrain

that contributed greatly to the outcome of the battle. French determination and courage was but

one of the factors that contributed to the Canadian Corps success, as the Canadian assault owes a

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great deal to the French army who set up such a strategic strongpoint for Canadians to execute a

successful offensive.

The victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917 was a smaller part of a larger British offensive.

The Canadian Corps inherited a strategic position to launch an effective assault from the French

Tenth Army who fought at the Vimy sector earlier in the war. The Canadian Corps was

sufficiently trained under Arthur Currie and Julian Byng and went against the popular linear

battle tactics that the British Expeditionary Force was so accustomed to. The success at Vimy

sparked international attention for Canada and ultimately became recognized by many countries

for achieving such efficient feat in the war. Present day, and newer generations of Canadians

have started to view Vimy Ridge and the Great War for what it really was. Vimy Ridge may hold

meaning to Canadian military history, but it is not meaningful nor relevant while addressing the

topic of the birth of a Canadian nation. Canada is a rich and diverse country with many symbols

to identify ourselves with. I would like to challenge this generation to explore new ideas about

Canadian culture and identity. Where is the harm in learning more about First Nations Peoples

who have fabricated such an extensive and eloquent culture?



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