Lest we forget Vimy
Please read it all…
Jack Granatstein, the great chronicler of our military history, once wrote that during the First World War, in the winter of 1916-17, there was no shortage of volunteers for kitchen duty in the Canadian army.
In the fetid trenches of northern France, our troops had to contend with one of the most brutal European winters in decades. Soldiers who fell asleep in the soggy ditches often awoke to find their uniforms and gear frozen into the mud. Steaming stew turned icy on mess trays before it could be eaten. Tens of thousands reported to field hospitals with frostbitten fingers, toes, earlobes, cheeks and nose-tips.
Peeling potatoes and washing dishes were usually unpopular chores, but not in early-1917. Troops welcomed the chance to get out of the cold and into warm army kitchens.
In the predawn hours of April 9, 1917, the ground was still frozen. A fierce northwest wind blew snow, sleet and freezing rain into the backs of Canadian soldiers who huddled against the cold and their own fears at the base of Vimy Ridge, a long crest of hills that marked the northern end of the Allied front in France. Fog and cloud obscured the fortified German positions along the crest.
Still, the weather was to the Canadians’ advantage.
Frozen ground meant our troops would start their charge up the ridge with dry boots and trench coats. They could more easily move their artillery pieces and supply wagons near the front, too, without the wheels bogging down. And the fog kept the Germans from seeing their movements until the very last minute. Meanwhile, the wind that was blowing cold air down our troops’ backs was also blowing snow and ice pellets into the faces of Vimy’s German defenders.
Previous full-scale British and French attempts to take the ridge had ended in slaughter. So spectacular had those routs been that the line was thought to be impregnable.
The Germans had also spent months fortifying Vimy. They had finished an elaborate network of
trenches, supply tunnels, concrete machine gun pillboxes…