Battle Of Vimy Ridge Essay

The Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a great Canadian victory during World War I, as it was the first battle to be won almost entirely by Canadians. The belligerents involved were mainly the Canadian Corps and the German 6th Army, and the battle took place at Vimy Ridge in northeastern France. Vimy Ridge was a strategic ridge that gave excellent sightlines to the battlefields that extended below it, and as such, was a desirable objective. Initially held by the German forces, both British and French attempts to take the ridge in 1916 failed. In 1917 the British command promoted Canadian commander Arthur Currie to the rank of general and was tasked with taking Vimy Ridge. Currie trained his troops on a mock version of the ridge safely behind the front lines in order to properly prepare his men for the real attack. This way, there would be no confusion. Another tactic that was used to great effect was the creeping barrage, which placed a continuous artillery strike just ahead of the advancing

troops so that the infantry were covered by the smoke and explosions. This was done to counter the fact that the Germans simply holed up in fortifications when a standard artillery barrage was delivered. On April 9th, 1917, the assault began and the ground forces advanced. The Canadians were quickly upon the Germans, their barrage leaving little time to react. The strategy proved successful as the Canadians quickly managed to achieve victory.
The strategic importance of Canada’s army often did not amount to much in the eyes of the more powerful countries before Vimy Ridge.

The Canadian Corps that were involved in the war were organized into four divisions, but many times the divisions were under British command and separated from each other. They were primarily used to supplement British assaults, but Vimy Ridge was the first time that the four Canadian divisions fought together. This was quite an event because they were also under the command of General Arthur Currie, a Canadian. On a tactical scale, the victory was not incredibly significant on an international level, but the battle was a huge morale boost for Allied soldiers because they’d lost multiple battles. The Canadians from then on were seen as elite soldiers that could be relied upon, and this was quite a landmark for the fledgling country of Canada. This allowed Canada to step out from underneath the shadow of Great

Britain.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge is considered a massively significant step in Canada’s growth as a nation for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the first battle that was fought and won by Canadians, with Canadian troops under Canadian command. This caused many Canadians to feel a sense of unity that they hadn’t felt before. Now Canadian troops not only felt that they had a duty to Britain, they also fought for Canada. Another note about Vimy Ridge was that the British and French failed to win in 1916. It did much to improve Canadian patriotism that these two huge international powers both failed in the objective that Canada managed to take. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was one of the first real steps in the development of Canada’s identity as it proved that the Canadians were a rising nation.
“In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.” – Brigadier General A.E. Ross

Bolotta, Angelo. Canada, Face of a Nation. Vancouver: Gage, 2000. Print.
"The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917." WarMuseum.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
"Victory at Vimy." The Vimy Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.