DispatchesFirst World WarVimy Ridge
- Tim Cook
Tim Cook
Chief Historian and Director, Research
Canadian War Museum
Dr. Tim Cook, C.M., F.R.S.C. joined the Canadian War Museum in 2002. As Chief Historian and Director of Research, he is responsible for overseeing the work of the historians at the Museum and that of the Military History Research Centre.
Dr. Cook is a graduate of Trent University, the Royal Military College of Canada, and the University of New South Wales. From 2002 to 2020, he held the position of First World War Historian, curating the Museum’s First World War permanent gallery, as well as a dozen temporary, travelling and digital exhibitions. He is the author or editor of 19 books, monographs and catalogues, and more than 90 scholarly articles and book chapters. His books — which include At the Sharp End (2007), Shock Troops (2008), The Necessary War (2014), Fight to the Finish (2015), Vimy: The Battle and the Legend (2017), The Secret History of Soldiers (2018), and The Fight for History (2020) — have won multiple awards. Among them are the Ottawa Book Award for Literary Non-Fiction (four-time winner), the J. W. Dafoe Book Prize (two-time winner), the C. P. Stacey Award (two-time winner), and the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Dr. Cook is also Series Editor of the Museum’s Studies in Canadian Military History Series (published by UBC Press), a member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, and a frequent commentator in the media.
For his contributions to Canadian history, Dr. Cook has been recognized with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation, and the Governor General’s History Award. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada.
- The Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9 to 12, 1917
October 27, 2023|Blog
Many historians and writers consider the Canadian victory at Vimy a defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from under the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of the stunning success. But it was a victory at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded.
The Canadian Corps was ordered to seize Vimy Ridge in April 1917.
Situated in northern France, the heavily-fortified seven-kilometre ridge held a commanding view over the Allied lines. The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard since previous French attacks had failed with over 100,000 casualties.
To capture this difficult position, the Canadians would carefully plan and rehearse their attack. To provide greater flexibility and firepower in battle, the infantry were given specialist roles as machine-gunners, rifle-men and grenade-throwers. These same soldiers underwent weeks of training behind the lines using models to represent the battlefield, and new maps crafted from aerial photographs to guide their way.
To bring men forward safely for the assault, engineers dug deep tunnels from the rear to the front. 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. “Chaps, you shall go over exactly like a railroad train, on time, or you shall be annihilated,” warned Canadian Corps commander Sir Julian Byng.
In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery pounded the enemy positions on the ridge, killing and tormenting defenders. New artillery tactics allowed the gunners to first target, then destroy enemy positions. A nearly limitless supply of artillery shells and the new 106 fuse, which allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire. The Canadian infantry would be well supported when it went into battle with over 1,000 artillery pieces laying down withering, supportive fire.
Attacking together for the first time, the four Canadian divisions stormed the ridge at 5:30am on 9 April 1917. More than 15,000 Canadian infantry overran the Germans all along the front. Incredible bravery and discipline allowed the infantry to continue moving forward under heavy fire, even when their officers were killed.There were countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadians single-handedly charged machine-gun nests or forced the surrender of Germans in protective dugouts. Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the Ridge, and where the Vimy monument now stands, was captured in a frontal bayonet charge against machine-gun positions. Three more days of costly battle delivered final victory. The Canadian operation was an important success, even if the larger British and French offensive, of which it had been a part, had failed. But it was victory at a heavy cost: 3,598 Canadians were killed and another 7,000 wounded.
The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, “in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”
Vimy became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. In 1922, the French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge, and the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial, unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.
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