Western Front Objectives: 1917

By the spring of 1917, the allies were desprate to break through the deeply entrenched German line, which zigzagged over 800 kilometers from the nrth sea to the swiss boarder.Planning began for a new offensive in the arras sector of the western front. Here, the canadian corps spent the winter of 1916-1917 below vimy ridge- the only significant height of land in northeastern france. since october 1914, the germans had transformed the ridge into an impregnable fortress which guarded the valuable lens coal mines below it. in 1915, the french suffered an estimated 140,000 casualties attempting to retake the ridge.

The canadian role in the new allied action was to secure the ridge and protect the ridge and protect the flank of the british 3rd army attacking simultaneously immediately south of vimy. the combinedcanadian and british assaults were to provide a diversion for what would prove to be an unsuccessful French drive against the german line some 90kilometers farther south in the reims-soisson area.

Battleground: the ridge

The eight-kilometer Ridge rose before the canadian line like the spine of a great beast. its western shoulder leaned towards the canadians, gently sloping upwards ( to a maximum of 110 meters ) through three lines of german trenches. these forward defences were pockmarked with deep dugouts and a treacherouse network of concrete machine-gun emplacements and barbed wire. the ridge's eastern sholder dropped precipitously into a tangle of  forests with hidden german machine gun nests.

"SPINE"

Moveing south to North, three crests pushed through the "spine". Hill 135, names for the number of meters it stood above sea level; hill 145, the highest and best-defended of the three, and hill 120,dubbed "the pimple" at the northwrnmost tip of the ridge. the unusual presence of buried chalk beds beneath the ridge created extrodinary tunnleing opportunities for rngerneering and pioneer units.

The plan: A four division attack

Fifteen thousand well rehearsed fighting men would attack along a 6.4-kilometer front, in side-by-side two-brigade formations, under leiutenant-genaral sir julian byng, the commander of the canadian corps. behind a forward-moveing curtain of blistering artillary fire from 850 guns, byng's Boys were to fight their way through two main enemy lines ( the first, west of the ridge; the second, east) in just under eight hours. twenty-four hours L8ter, 4th Division's 10th Brigade would storm and secure "the pimple."

Because the german front line angled southwest from the ridge itself. the northern 3rd and 4th divisions prepared to fight upwards across the 700-meter thin edge of the enemy "wedge" to take hill 145. The southern 1st and 2nd divisions would be forced to travel nearly six times the distance ( 4,000 meters )-albeit over more level ground for the southernmost 1st Division-to the heavily fortifield town of farbus, well east of the ridge.

The Keys: Artillery and tunnles, Timetable and intelligence

The firts ke to success lay in crippling German Forward defences with artillary and mortar fire; the second, in finding a way to bring canadian troops unharmed to the forward lines. In what has been described as one of the great engeneering feats of the war, tunnleing companies excavated or extended 11 main subways ( 7.6 meters below surface ) to protect men from enemy counter-bombardments as they made their way to the front.

Furtermore, men exiting these tunnles were required to follow dangerously close to the moveing wall of fire. this was so that at the moment the artillery curtain lifted and the guns began to role forward, troops were in position to overpower german soildgers who emerged fighting from dugouts. thus, the third key was exceptional co-operation between the infantry and artillary. a strict timetable--specifically adressing position and speed of attack-needed to be rehearsed and learned by every soildger. the canadian corps pioneerd the distribution of maps to platoon sections. Battalions were rotated to the rear to practice on a full-scale battle course.

The final key was intelligence. daring and sometimes bloody raids were mounted into "No mans land" to gain critical intelligence about enemy defences. Aerial photographs from observer battalions and no. 16 flying squadren assisted the canadian corps counter-battery officer and the men under his command to destroy 83 percent of german gums prior to the attack.

Battle objectives: Black, Red, blue and brown lines:

Taking the first objective or the black line meant that all four divisions had to fight through the German Forward trenches in 35mins. the final objectives for the northen divisions were to secure the red line and capture hill 145, as well as enemy terrain east of the ridge.

Because the southern divisions had farther to travel ( more then 4 kilometers from the original canadian front), reserve brigades were to leapfrog in at the second objective or the red line. The planners assigned the british 13th brigade (north flank) and the canadian 6th brigade (southflank) to reinforce the 2nd division. the 1st canadian brigade was to reinforce the division. these "leapfrogging" brigades would push the assault through the third and fourth objectives: thelus and hill 135 ( blue line ) and then to farbus ( brown line ).

The attack

By 4 am on easter monday, april 9, 1917, all units in position for the attack to begin at precisley 5.30am each soildger in the assault wave carried a " rifle and bayonet, 120 rounds of ammonition, two mills bombs ( grenades ) five sand bags, 48 hours hard rations, a waterproof sheet, a respirator ( gas mask ), goggles, one ground flare and a filled water bottle." ( wood 1976.131 ) specialists such as lewis gunners carried the same kit, but 60 percent less rifle ammunition. the strongest among them caried picks and shovels.

The attack began amidst a driveing northwest storm which favored the canadians by sending sleet into the german line. the983 guns and motars supporting the initial 21 assaulting infantry battalions blasted the enemy's front line trenches, creating a casspool of mud, blood, shatterd trenches, shell holes and barbed wire

Preparations

In april 1917, the canadian corps strength stood at approximately 170,000 men in all ranks, including troops of the british 5th division and attached british british artillery and support units. Seldom mentiond is the presence among the canadian fighting battalions of men from first nations reserved, as well as black and japanese canadians. of the 97,184 banadians in the first corps, the vimy infantry assault troops accounted for roughly 20 percent of their total numbers-leaveing some 80 percent of the corps involved in the critical preparation and delivery of vital services, supplies, construction, communication and intelligence before and dureing attack.

in the canadian forward area, 40 kilometers of road and 32 kilometers of trainway were built, repaired and extended by pioneer and engerneering units for the daily hauling of 720 tonnes or more ammunition, rations and stores. artillart ammunition alloted for the vimy operation ammounted to 38,250 tonnes. over 72 kilometers of new pipeline carried the corps' daily requiament of 2.3 million liters of water for the men and 50,000 horses, as well as for cooling overheated artillery. canadian signallers buried 34 kilometers of cabletwo meters below ground to withstand enemy shelling.