Vimy Flight - Birth of a Nation.

[Floyd]

I hope if any of our regulars are at the commemoration they will post about the ceremony.

Some of our retirees are in the replicas flying over the site and I am sure it is going to be very impressive.  It has taken a great deal of effort to get them there and I wish we were seeing more about it.

[Kip Powick]

 A few decades ago I had the privilege of a guided tour of the entire area as well as the trenches. We were the crew that flew in some Military brass and they asked if we wanted to go along on their planned tour.

It was an excellent tour with many somber feeling as we went through the trenches, through all the grave sites, including the German's. The care-takers of the site had pumped all the water out of the trenches that we were taken through and the mud and gunk gave us a surreal feeling.. Something that has always stuck with me was a lone grave site of Canadians where there were about 15-20 headstones. in a depression shaped like a rough circle.......apparently one artillery shell took out all those men as they huddled below a crest of a hill.

One of the staff there said that one of the most difficult things they did when making the area suitable for viewing was the routing of roads. It seemed that oft times, when laying the base of the road, they would encounter buried bodies of the deceased not seen until that day.

Vimy Ridge...sadly a human slaughter house but where the son's of Canada stood tall.

 

[Canoehead]

An ambassador from the Barrie area (Wyvale, ON), and Sault College Alumni is taking part in the event.

Brent Handy

[Guest]

Excellent article:

 

Graphic: How Canadians won the Battle of Vimy Ridge 100 years ago

 

‎Yesterday, ‎April ‎9, ‎2017, ‏‎4:30:36 PM | mikefaillegraphics, Michael Higgins

Fighting at Vimy Ridge had seen the slaughter of 150,000 British and French soldiers during the course of the First World War. But on Easter Monday 1917, Canadian forces, fighting for the first time together, would capture most of the German positions by the afternoon.

STRATEGY
The man in charge of the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge was Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, above right, — leading to the Canadians becoming Byng’s Boys. However, the former cavalry officer was not amused when told of his new role, “Why am I sent the Canadians? I don’t even know a Canadian … I am ordered to these people and will do my best, but I don’t know that there is any congratulations in it.” He was aided by Arthur Currie, above left, commander of the 1st Canadian Division, who is credited with ensuring that the vital preparations needed for the assault were carried out beforehand. “Pay the price of victory in shells — not lives,” he said.

TUNNELS AND TRENCHES
Digging was an integral part of being a soldier. If it wasn’t preparing the water-logged, rat-infested, disease-ridden trenches, then it was tunnelling. In preparation for the Vimy assault, engineers had dug kilometres of tunnels under no man’s land, equipped with lighting and water. There were also “subways” leading in all directions that opened up at specific spots. The subways protected soldiers from shelling and allowed for the movement of the injured. The tunnels had chambers for headquarters, dressing stations and ammunition stores. One tunnel, Zivy Cave, could hold a whole battalion.

THE WEEK OF SUFFERING
Two weeks before the Vimy assault, the Allies started to soften up the German positions with a massive artillery barrage involving 245 heavy guns and howitzers, and more than 600 pieces of field artillery. Supporting British artillery added 132 more heavy guns and 102 field pieces. More than a million shells rained down during what the Germans called the “Week of Suffering.” Aerial reconnaissance allowed spotters to report the position of German guns, which were then hit.

OVER THE TOP
At 5:30 a.m. on April 9, 1917, the attack began with a huge barrage. “The attack was at daybreak, we had to lie in the open trenches all the night: the morning turned out grey, cold and drizzling, everybody shivering and chilled to the bone,” wrote Lt. Claude Williams, who had been a medical student before the war in Toronto. “Suddenly, as dawn was breaking, every gun on the whole front opened up. The bark of the 18 pounders and the roar of the heavy guns was deafening. To hear one another’s voices it was necessary to put both hands around the other’s ears and to shout. There was no let-up; the roar was continuous.” Byng had warned the troops, “Chaps, you shall go over exactly like a railroad train, on time, or you shall be annihilated.”

TANK TERROR
One of the new advancements in warfare — tanks — were used at Vimy because they inspired such terror in the enemy. British forces first started using tanks at the battle of the Somme in September 1916. They were slow, suffered mechanical breakdowns and were easily knocked out by artillery, but they could get over barbed wire and cross trenches. Eight tanks supported Canadians during the battle for Vimy.

INTO BATTLE
Attacking together for the first time, the four Canadian divisions stormed the ridge. The troops, in strict formation, advanced behind a “creeping barrage,” a tactic first used at Vimy. Artillery fired just ahead of the advancing troops, keeping the German soldiers trapped in their bunkers and trenches. The troops advanced through mud, and shell craters, ignoring the wounded on the ground. “At one place, we heard a Canadian lying deep in a shell hole calling out, ‘Water, water!’” Williams wrote. “The top of his head had been blown off, exposing his brain. We could do nothing. Orders were that we were not to stop to attend the wounded. They must wait for the stretcher bearer.” The Canadian Encyclopedia noted. The horror of Vimy was officially recorded by the 2nd Division’s 6th Brigade (the “Iron Sixth,” comprised of Western Canadians), as they made their way into the fight at about 9 a.m.: “Wounded men (were) sprawled everywhere in the slime, in the shell holes, in the mine craters, some screaming to the skies, some lying silently, some begging for help, some struggling to keep from drowning in (water-filled) craters, the field swarming with stretcher-bearers trying to keep up with the casualties.”

THE FIRST DAY
By the afternoon of the first day, the Canadians had taken most of the German positions on the ridge. “A German sergeant-major taken prisoner said to the fellows, ‘Camerads, you take Vimy Ridge, you win the war.’” wrote Private Walter King, from Wainwright, Alberta. Hill 145 — where the Vimy Monument now stands — was taken the next morning after a frontal bayonet charge against machine-gun positions. Two days later, the Canadians took “the Pimple,” as the other significant height on the ridge was called. The Germans fell back and the Battle of Vimy Ridge was over.

AFTERMATH
“When the fight was over the street was lined with hospital transports waiting to get into the hospital,” wrote Pte. King, who was later on burial detail. “Besides carrying up ammunition and water supplies … we were sent up on a burying party. We buried (72) 5th Battalion men, but the dead Fritzs lying around was a terror. Nearly every dug-out was piled up with them.” There were 3,598 dead out of 10,602 Canadian casualties, lower than the norm for major battles on the Western Front.

VC AWARDS
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry “in the face of the enemy”. Four VCs were awarded at Vimy. They are, from left to right:

Private John George Pattison, 41, worked for the Calgary Gas Company

“For most conspicuous bravery in attack. When the advance of our troops was held up by an enemy machine gun, which was inflicting severe casualties, Pte. Pattison, with utter disregard of his own safety, sprang forward and, jumping from shell-hole to shell-hole, reached cover within thirty yards of the enemy gun. From this point, in face of heavy fire, he hurled bombs, killing and wounding some of the crew, then rushed forward overcoming and bayoneting the surviving five gunners. His valour and initiative undoubtedly saved the situation and made possible the further advance to the objective.” Pte Pattison was killed during an attack on a power station near Lens later that year.

Lance Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton, 25, a farmer from Wallacetown, Ontario.

“For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. During the attack in enemy trenches Sgt. Sifton’s company was held up by machine gun fire which inflicted many casualties. Having located the gun he charged it single-handed, killing all the crew. A small enemy party advanced down the trench, but he succeeded keeping these off till our men had gained the position. In carrying out this gallant act he was killed, but his conspicuous valour undoubtedly saved many lives and contributed largely to the success of the operation.”

Private William Johnstone Milne, 24, a farmer from Moose Jaw, Sask.

“For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack. On approaching the first objective, Pte. Milne observed an enemy machine gun firing on our advancing troops. Crawling on hands and knees, he succeeded in reaching the gun, killing the crew with bombs, and capturing the gun. On the line re-forming, he again located a machine gun in the support line, and stalking this second gun as he had done the first, he succeeded in putting the crew out of action and capturing the gun. His wonderful bravery and resource on these two occasions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his comrades. Pte. Milne was killed shortly after capturing the second gun.”

Captain Thain MacDowell, 26, from Quebec and Toronto.

“For most conspicuous bravery and indomitable resolution in face of heavy machine gun and shell fire. By his initiative and courage this officer, with the assistance of two runners, was enabled in the face of great difficulties, to capture two machine guns, besides two officers and seventy-five men. Although wounded in the hand, he continued for five days to hold the position gained, in spite of heavy shell fire, until eventually relieved by his battalion. By his bravery and prompt action he undoubtedly succeeded in rounding up a very strong enemy machine post.” MacDowell died aged 69 in the Bahamas in 1960.

Drawing based on photos from collectionscanada.gc.ca. Illustrations by Mike Faille, text by Mick Higgins

Related