North Bay Nugget from North Bay, Ontario, Canada • 5

5 The North Bay Nugget Monday April 3 19C7 Yimy often called of Canada as nation mm white Dalmatian stone its twin pylons representing founding nations took 10 years to build on the crest of the ridge 250 acres ceded to Canada in perpetuity by France in 1922 Dedicating in 1930 King Edward VIII said: is a memorial to no mnn but a memorial to a Easter gift from Canada to French general! visited the battlefield to study foe Canadian strategy and after Vimy foe double strike technique combining a paralysing blow bv the artillery with a swift tab by foe infantry came into wide use The imposing monument of The truth about swinging Britain By CAROL KENNEDY Canadian Press Stag rlter Fifty years after that freezing Easter Monday dawn the words of a Canadian army officer of a later generation sum up the national significance of Vimy Ridge: was in a military sense the birth of Canada as a That was when the cream of Canada's fighting men working with clockwork precision as a hilly co-ordinated team stormed up a slope in northern France to win the first real Allied victory of the First World War In a nutshell this is why April I will be marked by simultaneous ceremonies in Ottawa London and Vimy why eminent military men of three nations will muster by the great white stone memorial on the ridge to honor 75 frail one from each unit that fought at Vimy among the pines planted decades ago to symbolize their fallen comrades Vimy was the making of Canada's national army It was the first time ell bur divisions of the Canadian Corps had gone into battle ss a single unit with men bom every province fighting (boulder to shoulder Vimy was the furnace that welded them into a formidable weapon of war: Afterwards in the words of the official Canadian war history they brought back to Canada a pride of nationhood they had not known before LED BL BYNG less they were confident they could repel the expected spring offensive A German officer told his Canadian captors: might get to the top of the ridge but I'll tell you this be able to take ail the Canadians back to Canada in a rowboat who get CAVALRY CUT DOWN The assault on Vimy' eras designed as a separate limited part of the grand British weep out of Arrss The Canadians were instructed to take the ridge In six hours and hold it advancing no farther while Haig threw maned cav- by the artillery and infantry iie iitu' a plan tailed however and only the Canadian part could be counted a victory The unworldlineu of cavalrv concept was brutally exposed by the fate of Canadian horsemen who charged in only to be cut down from the air by the red-painted machines of Baron von Richthofen Germany's fighter ace The Canadian attack began precisely on schedule at 5:30 Easter Monday morning April 9 amid sleet and snow flurries The entire German front line seemed to explode under the biggest concentrated barrage of the war 983 guns pounding in clockwork unison along a four-mile front Up the alone went the infantry battalions each of the four divisions following its separate track to meet foe Bavarian and Prussian units entrenched on foe ridge From the air Canadian ace Billy Bishop observed that foe waves of infantry seemed to move at an almost leisurely pace behind foe rolling screen of shells as if the battle were "a great LIKE LAWN MOWER felt so safe with recalled one Canadian attacker could see foe thing it was just like a lawn mower when cutting In four h'-rs foe first two Canadian divisions had swept the Germans from the top of the ridge and stormed down into foe enemy gun area A German couiAer-attack failed and by April 12 although foe battle continued another two days foe entire ridge was in Canadian hands It was to remain un Allied strongpoint until 1918 On Hill 145 highest point of the ridge and on foe spot where the great memorial now stands 'there us no fighting after foe night of April 9 In six days the Canadian Corps advanced 4500 yards along ltr four-mile front seizing 282 guns and 4000 a greater collective gain than any yet made by the Allies on foe Western Front It cost the corps 10602 casualties including 3598 killed of a total strength of 97184 They were light losses by the standards of 'he time THREE WON VCs Three Victoria Crosses were won by Canadians April 9 two of them posthumously King George sent a message to Haig: "Canada will be proud that the taking of the coveted Vimy Ridge has fallen to her The French press went wild with delight calling it This great white Dalmatian stone monument standing on the highest point of a hill in France is in memory of the Canadians who fell in the early spring of 1917 storming and capturing Vimy Ridge the first great Allied victory of the First World War Its twin pylons representing founding nations the memorial took 10 j-ears to build on 250 acres of French territory ceded to Canada in perpetuity Not all of Britain swings still a traditional Britain that's truly unforgettable simply a matter of choke Some of our passengers fly to Britain for a swinging vacation Others prefer the things which you find only in Britain Eid castles the changing of the guard Hillsides with purple heather Only BOAC with Air Canada flies direct to Britain and this summer we offer you the choice of up to 1 2 jet services a day from Toronto and Montreal And there are several flights a week from western Canada including direct services to London Plan your trip now See your BOAC travel agent and he'll plan your kind of British vacation Your Complete Travel Service Keystone Travel Service STS Fraser St Mai 473-9959 NORTH BAY With the equipment of battle placed for instant use above them two soldiers take shelter in a trench on Vimy Ridge during the battles that its capture in -April 1917 ZELLER'S CONTINUE TO WED APRIL 5th WALK SETS FOR BOYS GIRLS SPECIAL A Poplin walk sets consista of flannel-lined jacket with slpper front Pants with shoulder strap Red navy 13 to 34 moa Racy corduroy walk seta of flannelette-lined Jacket shoulder-strap pants Pastel shade 13 to 34 moa 597 Your Choice Reg 639 Beg 3J9 Beg 899 Vimy Ridge also won professional recognition for Canadian military leadership Previously Canadian units had been commanded in the field by British army regulars and at Vimy the Canadian Corps was led by Lt-Gen Sir Julian Byng a South African war veteran who later became Viscount Byng of Vimy and Canadian Governor General 1921-28 Immediately after Vimy control of forces in France passed to the Canadian-born commander of the 1st Division Maj-Gen A Currie On a wider canvas Vimy marked a turn in the two-year tide of defeats and setbacks the Allies had suffered on the Western Front The war had largely settled down into a fogging stalemate with the opposing armies dug into a web of trenches stretching from the Swiss border almost to the Channel ports Nowhere did the Allies face such daunting odds as at Vimy Ridge a six-mile-long sinister hogsback rise that framed the keystone of the German defences guarding the plain of Douai with its vital coalfields and industries at Lena and Lille The Germans had captured the ridge as early as October 1914 and in three years had turned it into a fortress FRENOrMUTINtEb Uncounted thou sends of French soldiers had died in futile assaults on its western slopes A Canadian veteran remembers his first sight of the battlefield with shell holes filled with water tinted red from the rotting uniforms of French corpses By the winter of 1915 mutiny was spreading in the French army as a result and five men were executed The British trade over in 1916 and in nine dishea rtning months met with no better success Sir Douglas Haig the British commander inchief determined on a decisive breakthrough in 1917 As part of a 14-mile-long assault by 14 divisions the ridge was to be captured in a surprise attack on the German flank The technique of a devastating artillery barrage followed up by swift infantry attack had already been used with success by the French on a small scale at Verdun The forces assigned the task that had defeated both French and British were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps backed by one British division with Canadian and British heavy artillery in support MORALE HIGH It was a formidable choice The Canadians were tough troops in fine physical shape tempered by two years of battle but not yet drained by the heavy casualties of Ypres and the Somme They were commanded by a mixture of British and Canadian bom of- fleers many with experience of the South African campaign of the North West Mounted Police and of Canada's territorials the Non-Permanent Active Militia Morale was exceptionally at the foot of the ridge in high The Canadians dug in January 1917 confident they would take it where everyone else had failed The Germans hilled by three security had let their defences run to seed There was lack of co-ordination between the forward line and the rear reserves which could be exploited by a sharp sustained attack Neverthe Toddlers' fir Kiddies' 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