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N0KFQ > TODAY 12.04.12 23:42l 58 Lines 2690 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 12
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Sent: 120412/2128Z 20895@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.49
Apr 12, 1917:
Canadians capture Vimy Ridge
After three days of fierce combat and over 10,000 casualties
suffered, the Canadian Corps seizes the previously German-held
Vimy Ridge in northern France on April 12, 1917.
Many historians have pointed to the victory at Vimy Ridge during
World War I as a moment of greatness for Canada, when it emerged
from Britain's shadow to attain its own measure of military
achievement. As a result of the victory, earned despite the
failure of the larger Allied offensive of which it was a part,
Canadian forces earned a reputation for efficiency and strength
on the battlefield.
The Allied offensive_masterminded by the French commander in
chief, Robert Nivelle_began Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, as
British and Canadian forces launched simultaneous attacks on
German positions at Arras and Vimy Ridge, a heavily fortified,
seven-kilometer-long raised stretch of land with a sweeping view
of the Allied lines. The first day was overwhelmingly successful
for the Allies, as the British punched through the Hindenburg
Line_the defensive positions to which Germany had retreated in
February 1917_and overran sections of two German trench lines
within two hours, taking 5,600 prisoners.
The Canadians, attacking over a stretch of land littered with the
dead of previous French attacks on the same positions, also moved
swiftly in the first hours of the offensive, as four Canadian
divisions stormed the ridge at 5:30 am on April 9, moving forward
under cover of a punishing artillery barrage that forced the
Germans to hunker down in their trenches and away from their
machine guns. More than 15,000 Canadian infantry troops attacked
Vimy Ridge that day, overrunning the German positions and taking
4,000 prisoners.
Three more days of heavy fighting resulted in victory on April
12, when control of Vimy was in Canadian hands. Though the
Nivelle Offensive as a whole failed miserably, the Canadian
operation had proved a success, albeit a costly one: 3,598
Canadian soldiers were killed and another 7,000 were wounded.
Vimy Ridge became a shining example of Canada's effort in the
Great War, and one that served as a symbol of the sacrifice the
young British dominion had made for the Allied cause. As
Brigadier-General A.E. Ross famously declared after the war, in
those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation. In 1922, the
French government ceded Vimy Ridge and the land surrounding it to
Canada; the gleaming white marble Vimy Memorial was unveiled in
1936 as a testament to the more than 60,000 Canadians who died in
service during World War I.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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