Significance of the battle of vimy ridge. Why was the Battle of Vimy Ridge significant to the development of Canada's identity? 2019-03-06
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What Was The Battle Of Vimy Ridge?
More than 10,600 Canadians were killed and wounded in the assault. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is Canada's largest and principal overseas war memorial. Since then it has grown in importance as a turning point in Canada's history. Exploration: What do you want to know about the Battle of Vimy Ridge? Although the French performed admirably in their efforts, their attack was brutally repelled. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued as the Canadians leapt into the German trenches. But it was a victory at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded.
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Trenches were half-destroyed or in poor shape, and the landscape was already pulverized by shell craters and mine explosions. They p … roved their worth as a country and Ally, and not as a colony under British control. The objective of the Canadian Corps was to take control of the German-held high ground along an escarpment a … t the northernmost end of the Arras Offensive to ensure that the southern flank could advance without suffering German artillery barrage. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions advanced swiftly and successfully. There were countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadians single-handedly charged machine-gun nests or forced the surrender of Germans in protective dugouts. At night, Canadian raiding parties ventured across German lines to rattle the enemy, capture prisoners and gather intelligence.
Canada was automatically at war because she was still under Britain's control. Over the next three days, the German defenses were captured. The Canadian infantry would be well supported when it went into battle with over 1,000 artillery pieces laying down withering, supportive fire. Canadians won the only significant victory for the Allies in 1917. In September 1914, with the war two months old, the Germans captured Vimy Ridge. Once the Germans controlled the ridge, they acted quickly to ensure they would control the ridge for a long time.
Vimy Ridge resulted in the bonding of the different cultures living in Canada. To the north and east of the ridge are the Douai plain and the important coal mining city of Lens — in 1917 both were occupied by Germany. Vimy Ridge was an important step in Canada growing a separate identity from Britain, and becoming significant on the world stage — autonomy was inevitable, but Vimy Ridge might of sped things up. The Vimy Memorial was unveiled in July 1936 to a crowd of over 100,000, 6,000 of which were Canadian veterans. Each subway was equipped with electric lighting, water supplies, first aid stations and dug-out chambers for battalion headquarters staff. Send me a note if it does. This would be used to get to the ridge without having to deal with massive amounts of shellfire.
Engineering troops, or sappers, would also accompany some infantry units onto the battlefield in the opening waves, providing help with overcoming obstacles, or quickly erecting defenses on captured positions. Britain and Canada fought together at Vimy Ridge — yet somehow Vimy acquired a reputation as the place where Canadians began standing apart from the British Empire see. Then, in the pre-dawn darkness of 9 April, Easter Monday, 15,000 Canadians, the first wave of the assault, gathered at their assembly points in the underground subways, or in selected shell holes, or trenches above ground. Despite this training and preparation, the key to victory would be a devastating artillery barrage that would not only isolate enemy trenches, but provide a moving wall of high explosives and shrapnel to force the Germans to stay in their deep dugouts and away from their machine-guns. Many of the soldiers who fought at Vimy Ridge astonishingly had no previous war experience. . The Germans had held it since 1914, and three French attacks in 1914 and 1915 had failed to dislodge them.
Why is the Battle of Vimy Ridge important for Canadians?
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions fought on through the day, advancing steadily through German defences, in some cases having to overcome determined enemy resistance, in others watching Germans flee to the east in the face of the assault. The battle has become an emblem of Canada's sacrifice during the First World War The Canadians, fighting as part of the British diversion in what would be known as the Battle of Arras, were ordered to seize the high strategic strong point of Vimy Ridge. In 1917, it was decided the French would assault the German lines at the southern end of the front in the Champagne region of France, while the British would attack in the north around Arras. Part of Arras Offensive By 1917, after three years of fruitless slaughter, the had become a struggle of attrition. Followed were approximately 15,000 of the first wave of Canadian soldiers, with thousands more behind them. When the battle was over, Canada had impressed the world and became an independent nation. This was also the first time Canadians planned an entire attack.
The British attacked Arras while the British attacked Vimy Ridge. Because of Vimy Ridge and Canadian participation Prime Minister Robert Borden was allowed to sign the treaty of Versailles on behalf of Canada not Britain signing for Canada This was truly when Canada was seen as a country. The slaughter on the the year before had prompted new thinking and new tactics in the British Army, aimed at solving the riddle of well-defended trenches. Few soldiers realized that he took his best ideas from men in the ranks of his Corps. The four divisions were to fight together with an additional resources form the British 5th Division. At Valenciennes on November 1, with Vimy-style tactics the Canadians collapsed the last German defensive line. Before the battle, Canada was a country of separate nationalities and it was unimportant that the people felt they were Canadian Masse.
This battle was their coming of age, and they were now receiving respect from nations throughout the world. Despite losses the Canadians took nearly all their objectives on schedule. A ranch hand and rodeo performer in civilian life, Norwest registered 115 official kills during the war. Later in the year of 1915, after about a month of fighting, which cost them more than 100,000 lives, the French reclaimed some land some of which was Notre-Dame de Lorette Ridge and the villages of Souchez. The Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial in France. It ended on November 11. During the remainder of 1916 and into 1917, the fighting went underground and mining warfare became a threat for both sides.
It was also the first time that Canada had ever planned its own attack without British help. This swift victory was achieved primarily through an excellent artillery preparation and creeping barrage, but also good infantry training and execution, new and eff ective tactics, poor German defensives, and the use of underground tunnels. By following the artillery, Canadians gained the element of surprise and took the ridge. At February 1917, Arthur Currie was given the duty of taking Vimy Ridge. Millions had already been killed and wounded in brutal battles that brought no closer to an end. Germans had constructed a group of artillery-proof trenches which were protected from infantry attack by concrete Machine Gun Posts. Winning Vimy Ridge gave Canada independence due to the fact that other allied countries tried to win Vimy Ridge, although ended up failing.
The French saw it as an important part of their country because it protected occupied France where mines and factories were in full production of Germany. In early 1917, British High Command ordered the Canadian Corps to capture Vimy as part of the battle of Arras, their victory would be monumental by comparison. The Canadians now believed that they were great soldiers because of their successes. The victory at Vimy came at a devastating cost. To the west and south were the British lines and unoccupied France. Indeed, the Canadians had almost 10 times as many machine guns per battalion as the British, and used them not only in direct fire roles, but also in an indirect fire pattern to thicken the artillery barrage -The use of small groups to attack pillboxes and machine gun positions by suppressing them from the front and then flanking them, as opposed to the past near-suicidal practice of trying to overwhelm strong points by frontal assault. Germans had constructed a group of artillery-proof trenches which were protected from infantry attack by concrete Machine Gun Posts.
