Dashing the myth of Vimy

[snopes]

A new scholarly account of the Battle of Vimy Ridge says the battle does not deserve its iconic status as one of the First World War's most decisive victories, and that generations of Canadians have grown up on a carefully constructed myth that Canada "came of age" at Vimy.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...4-6fd18ca19bb3

[hotrod]

This is such a typical Canadian response. "What's this? We're feeling good about ourselves and our accomplisments? Let's write a book that puts a negative spin on it." I doubt I would ever see an American historian write a book that essentially says "Guadalcanal? It was no big deal."

But Mr. Bechthold and his colleagues point out that much of the credit for the victory should go to Britain. Not only was the Canadian Corps' commander, Sir Julian Byng, a British general, but Maj. Alan Brooke, the chief of staff to the Corps' artillery commander was also British, as were many other officers in the corps.

Most of the planning was done by Gen. Currie, a Canadian.

And while the bulk of the infantry that attacked Vimy Ridge was Canadian, they would not have been able to go up the slopes of the ridge that day if not for British artillery, engineers and supply units that supported them.

Only 21% of the artillery came from the British Army. The rest were Canadian.

The book argues that Canadians benefited from valuable lessons learned from earlier failed attempts by British and French troops to capture the ridge.

Isn't that a good thing? That's what military planning is all about. It was the first time in the war that anyone tried to learn from past lessons.

It explains, contrary to popular wisdom in Canada, that the victory was far from assured once the battle began, and that despite careful preparations, errors were made by Canadian troops that nearly lost them the battle.

I've never heard anyone claim that victory was assured. At the time, many people thought it was impossible. You can look at any battle and point to mistakes that the eventual winners made that could have lost them the battle. We didn't lose though, did we?

The book also says that while Vimy Ridge itself was an important defensive position, the battle was of little overall strategic significance.

It was one of the only successes of the battle of Arras. I've never heard anyone claim it won the war or turned the tide. It was an important objective at the time. It's not our fault that the British failed to followup on the victory.

Even thought Vimy was not decisive in the outcome of the war, it was big for Canada and we have every right to be proud:

-it was the first Allied victory in months
-it was the first time the Canadian Corps fought as a whole
-the morale of the Canadian Corps was boosted immeasurably. I've read many quotes from veterans that basically say "After Vimy, we felt we were unstoppable"
-we were unstoppable. We never lost another battle. We became the storm troops of the British Empire (with the Australians)
-about 60% of the soldiers in the Canadian Corps were immigrants to Canada from Britain. I've read accounts from veterans that say "I always considered myself British even though I was living in Canada. After Vimy, I was Canadian."
-many new and innovative techniques were introduced or refined i.e giving maps to everyone (not just officers), perfecting the creeping artillery barrage, conducted rehearsals, ensured that every soldier knew exactly what the plan was and what his role was within the plan. You really have to read Vimy by Pierre Berton to take it all in.

The authors do have one good point though - a lot of the focus of Canada's accomplishments in WWI is on Vimy, to the detriment of other battles.

[Deepfrydegg]

Originally Posted by hotrod

-many new and innovative techniques were introduced or refined i.e giving maps to everyone (not just officers), perfecting the creeping artillery barrage, conducted rehearsals, ensured that every soldier knew exactly what the plan was and what his role was within the plan.

Trying to find the cite, but I heard that this practice was first used at the Battle of Verdun. Still it was used much more widely and effectively at Vimy.

Also, Morale (for most of the allies) was dramatically raised after Vimy. Morale is very important in combat, but is often overlooked.

[hotrod]

Originally Posted by Deepfrydegg

Trying to find the cite, but I heard that this practice was first used at the Battle of Verdun. Still it was used much more widely and effectively at Vimy.

That sounds familiar to me as well. More accurately, it was new to the British Empire armies.

I remembered a few more: effective use of counter-battery and the extensive & effective use of tunnels.