Canada’s First Stand

BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE

Vimy Ridge was the first joint outing for the four divisions of the CEF and, as Gerry van Tonder explains, was a milestone in a string of martial fixtures that contributed to Canada’s national identity

IN 1931, AUSTRALIAN PAINTER WILL LONGSTAFF PAINTED 'GHOSTS OF VIMY RIDGE', DEPICTING THE SPIRITS OF THE CANADIAN CORPS SURROUNDING THE CANADIAN NATIONAL VIMY MEMORIAL HISTORY AND ART COLLECTION/ALAMY
 WOODEN ROADS AND LIGHT RAIL WERE USED TO BRING UP SUPPLIES AHEAD OF THE OFFENSIVE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA LIBRARIES
GENERALOBERST LUDWIG VON FALKENHAUSEN IN 1917. HE ENJOYED A SUCCESSFUL CAREER UNTIL HE WAS RELIEVED AFTER VIMY RIDGE

Two minutes; one minute; 30 seconds; men gasped – perhaps a brief prayer. A mighty roar shook Douai Tunnel and all that trench world, and the stupendous, stunning barrage of April 9, 1917 crashed down before the Highland line. In a flicker of time the dawn was raving. A frantic shower of coloured lights sprayed up through the fog from the German line.”

As Kim Beattie describes in his 1938 book 48th Highlanders of Canada 1891-1928, all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were to enter the fray that morning.

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