The Battle of Vimy Ridge
Crystal Webber
February 17, 2008
The capture of Vimy Ridge was an amazing prosper for Canadians, as they completed their task within mere hours; whereas, the British took years and countless casualties, and still didn’t succeed in what the Canadians had done.
Canadians approached Vimy Ridge very differently than the British, and that is one of the main reasons that Canada was so successful. Canadians looked at the British ways of fighting in a battle, and simply disregarded them all because they were just simply illogical. Canada divided its army into four divisions to attack Vimy. They were all spread out accordingly along the border of the Ridge.
Britain used backpacks to transport supplies. This made it very hard on their backs, and used a lot of energy to carry the weight for such a distance. (Up to around five kilometers) Canadians used a piece of long cloth called a Tump Line. What you would do with this, is tie the cloth around the supplies and then around your forehead. Instead of all the weight pulling down on your back, it would transfer directly through your body. The Tump Line used much less energy to transport much heavier supplies a longer distance.
An essential part to Canada’s success was that every man was to do at least eight hours of work every day. It was up to a soldier to do this for their fellow comrades, and it was up to the commanding officers to make sure the soldiers did their full days work. This made preparation for the battle much faster and more efficient, which made a significant difference between Britain’s preparations and Canada’s preparation.
In the “Week of Suffering” Canada launched an artillery barrage. Night and day they fired thousands upon thousands of shells into the German territory. They managed to destroy 176 out of 212 of the German artillery. They used special technique such as flashspotting and soundranging to pinpoint the locations of the German artillery within twenty-five yards.
Canada ditched the old way of fighting a war that the British persisted to use, and used their own tactics to win the battle of Vimy Ridge. That is why Canada was able to do something in just hours, and within minutes of the predicted time of victory, that the British could not do in years.