The Canadian Corps in World War I by René Chartrand

Author:René Chartrand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Canadian Corps in World War I
ISBN: 9781782008453
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Vimy Ridge

On 9 April 1917, Easter Monday, the Canadian Corps attacked the previously impregnable German positions at Vimy Ridge. By mid-afternoon the initial objectives had been taken, with some 4,000 German prisoners, and its supporting works fell within three days. This meticulously planned assault was the biggest single advance made on the Western Front since the beginning of the war, and (by Western Front standards) with relatively low casualties: 13,500 men, including 2,500 killed. The significance of Vimy Ridge for Canadians, however, was far greater than a single battlefield victory. For the first time in Canada’s history, a large Canadian formation had attacked as a national unit and had achieved a rousing victory. In spite of all the political and social divisions at home, Vimy had an extraordinary effect on the national psyche: Canadians gradually moved away from seeing themselves as citizens from a self-governing British dominion, and towards a consciousness of being proud citizens of a fully independent nation. Vimy Ridge was now celebrated as Canada’s coming-of-age as a country. On 8 June MajGen Arthur Currie was knighted on the battlefield of Vimy by his Sovereign, King George V, and succeeded Sir Julian Byng as commander of the CEF.

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