Former Sault journalist Tom Douglas is the author of the best-selling book “Valour at Vimy Ridge” and a recipient of the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for his efforts in commemorating Canada’s military heritage.
“Vimy? C’est impossible! Ah, Les Canadiens…C’est possible!”
This remark is attributed to a French general on April 12, 1917 after an aide rushed in with the news that Vimy Ridge had just been wrested from the Germans after a fierce four-day battle on a hill near Arras in Northern France.
The officer found this report impossible to believe at first because British and French troops had been trying to capture this small but strategic height of land since a seasoned German force had dug in there in October 1914. But the Canadian Corps had gained a reputation as tough, disciplined fighters at the Battle of The Somme the year before, so when the French general heard it was the Canucks who had prevailed, he decided it could be possible after all.
When the smoke of earlier battles on the ridge had cleared, there were well in excess of 150,000 British and French casualties, including about 20,000 dead. The flatland in front of the 61-metre-high elevation and the slopes leading to the top were strewn with the corpses of Allied soldiers, whose bodies could not be retrieved due to enemy mortar and machine gun fire from the well-entrenched Huns.
This grisly scene was confirmed to me when, as a reporter for The Sault Star, I interviewed one of the Sault’s Vimy veterans, Charlie Wellard, at the Sault Ste. Marie Courthouse where he was working as a member of the Corps of Commissionaires. Charlie had been a stretcher bearer on the Western Front, participating in such World War One campaigns as Vimy and Passchendaele (The Third Battle of Ypres).
Charlie was still haunted by the vision of French troops sprawled in death on the hill – many still clad in their throwback uniforms from the Franco-Prussian War that had made them easy targets for German machine gunners and snipers: tall, plumed shako headgear, red pantaloons, and bright blue tunics with shiny brass buttons.
Brilliant leadership and exhaustive preparations for the attack launched on the morning of April 9, 1917 gave the four divisions of the Canadian Corps a stunning four-day victory that had eluded the French and British for more than two-and-a-half years. British Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng (Canada’s Governor General after the war), aided by top-notch officers like Major General Arthur Currie of Strathroy, Ontario and Lieutenant Colonel Andrew McNaughton of Moosomin, Northwest Territories (now a town in Saskatchewan), spent months drilling the men under their command for the eventual assault.
In order to plan the attack properly, a full-scale mock-up of Vimy Ridge had been built behind Allied lines. This simulated battlefield was festooned with coloured tape and flags signifying where each unit of the Corps was to be deployed and what its objective was.
Every soldier taking part in the upcoming assault was drilled for weeks on the role he would play – from the time he went “over the top” until his unit’s objective was taken. Unlike so many battles including Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine – where the troops are kept in the dark about the impending attack – each man, from private to senior officer, was given a map of the area he would be traversing.
Furthermore, every soldier was trained to perform a number of tasks and, if necessary, take command of his unit. In that way, when others in the group were killed or wounded, there were instant replacements to maintain the momentum. The troops were also taught to operate German weaponry – to be used against the enemy once the weapons were captured.
And, where in the past Canadian troops had been scattered among a number of British units, Currie – with Byng’s support – insisted on bringing the various Canadian battalions together for this important battle under the four divisions that comprised the Canadian Corps. There were about 40,000 troops from the Corps training for the attack, with some 20,000 picked to go over the top in the first wave.
Here's how The Vimy Foundation (https://vimyfoundation.ca/) sums up this epic battle:
A preliminary bombardment began on March 20 and lasted for thirteen days. In the meantime, Andrew McNaughton and his counter battery staff were hard at work finding and silencing the German guns. The Royal Flying Corps provided aerial reconnaissance, returning with photographs of enemy batteries. The objectives set for the four divisions were four lines, the Red, Black, Blue and Brown Lines.
The battle began at 5:30am on April 9, with the first wave of around 15,000 men advancing under the creeping barrage of almost 1000 heavy guns. Most objectives were taken on schedule, and by afternoon most of the ridge was captured, with the notable exception of The Pimple, a high point at the North end of the ridge, where defenders held out until April 12.
By April 12, the Canadians had taken all of their objectives, as well as 4,000 prisoners. The Canadians held Vimy Ridge. This victory came at a high cost as 3,598 Canadians lost their lives, and 7,000 were wounded during the four-day battle. April 9, 1917 is still the bloodiest day in Canadian military history.
Four Canadians were awarded the British Empire’s highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, for their gallantry at Vimy Ridge:
- Private William Johnstone Milne, an ex-pat Scot resettled in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, was a member of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion and was killed in action on April 9, 1917. He had single-handedly captured two German machine gun positions that had been threatening his unit’s advance. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for those actions. His body was never recovered from the battlefield.
- Lance Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton, a farmer from Wallacetown, Ontario and a member of the 18th Battalion (Western Ontario), single-handedly wiped out a German machine gun nest and, when confronted with another group of enemy soldiers, he held them off with bullets and bayonet, then used his rifle as a club until his comrades-in-arms established a foothold on the area. He was killed by enemy fire during the skirmish.
- Private John Pattison of the 50th Battalion was born in New Cross, England and emigrated to Canada with his wife and four children. On April 10, with the advance of Canadian troops held up by an enemy machine gun, Private Pattison sprang forward and, jumping from shell-hole to shell-hole, reached cover within 30 yards of the enemy placement. From this point, in the face of heavy fire, he hurled grenades – killing some of the crew – then rushed forward to overcome and bayonet the surviving five gunners. Private Pattison was killed during an attack on a power station near Lens, France several months later and was buried in a cemetery on the northwestern outskirts of Vimy.
- Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell of the 38th Battalion, born in Lachute, Quebec, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) during the 1916 Battle of the Somme for knocking out three machine gun nests and taking 53 prisoners. His VC was earned on April 9 at Vimy when he reached a German position ahead of his company. After destroying one machine-gun emplacement he chased the crew from another. Spotting one German going into a tunnel, Captain MacDowell was able to bluff the Germans into thinking he was part of a much larger force, resulting in the surrender of two German officers and 75 German soldiers. He held the captured post for five days before relief arrived, despite heavy shelling. After a long peacetime army and private sector career, he died on March 29, 1960.
The only Northern Ontarian to be awarded the VC in World War One was the Sault’s own Sergeant William Merrifield – although he had been born in Brentwood, Essex, England. Merrifield worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway in Sudbury before moving to the Sault where he got a job as a firemen in the cab of Algoma Central Railway train engines. Serving overseas with the 4th Infantry Battalion, Sergeant Merrifield was awarded the Military Medal (MM) at Passchendaele before earning the VC for knocking out two German machine gun placements near Abancourt, France. During this engagement, he was wounded four times but survived the war and returned to his adopted home of Sault Ste. Marie.
Many historians credit the Vimy Ridge victory for bringing the young country of Canada into the world spotlight. And Canadians of all walks of life have distinguished themselves in every major battle in which they fought – in both world wars and beyond.
It was at the Somme in 1916 that the Canadians started to earn the reputation as a force to be reckoned with. As British Prime Minister Lloyd George wrote: “The Canadians played a part of such distinction that henceforth they were marked out as storm troopers; for the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst.”