VimyOne chill Easter dawn in 1917, a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France went over the top of a muddy scarp knows as Vimy Ridge. Within hours, they held in their grasp what had eluded both British and French armies in over two years of fighting: they had seized the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front. How could an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition secure the first enduring victory in thirty-two months of warfare with only 10,000 casualties, when the French had lost 150,000 men in their unsuccessful attempt? Pierre Berton's haunting and lucid narrative shows how, unfettered by military rules, civilians used daring and common sense to overcome obstacles that had eluded the professionals. Drawing on unpublished personal accounts and interviews, Berton brings home what it was like for the young men, some no more than sixteen years old, who clawed their way up the sodden, shell-torn slopes in a struggle they innocently believed would make war obsolete. He tells of the soldiers who endured horrific conditions to secure this great victory, painting a vivid picture of trench warfare. In his account of this great battle, Pierre Berton brilliantly illuminated the moment of tragedy and greatness that marked Canada's emergence as a nation. |
Contents
| 13 | |
| 23 | |
CHAPTER | 47 |
THE BUILDUP | 71 |
CHAPTER FOUR | 92 |
CHAPTER FIVE | 112 |
CHAPTER | 136 |
CHAPTER SEVEN | 157 |
THE BATTLE | 213 |
CHAPTER ELEVEN | 229 |
CHAPTER TWELVE | 243 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | 261 |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN | 275 |
AFTERMATH | 289 |
APPENDIX | 309 |
| 326 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1st Division 2nd Division 3rd Division 4th Division ahead Andrew Macphail army Arthur Currie artillery assault attack barrage battalion battle battlefield began Black Watch bombs Breckenridge Brigade British Brutinel bullet Byng Cana Canada Canadian Corps captured casualties chalk commander corpses craters crawled crest Currie's dead dian dugout Duncan Macintyre enemy exploded Farbus feet fight fire flank forward front line German German machine German trenches grenade Haig headquarters Highlanders Hughes hundred Julian Byng killed knew machine gunners machine guns Macintyre Macphail Man's Land McCrindle McNaughton miles Mills bombs Moir Montreal morning moved Neuville St never night Nova Odlum officers parapet Pecover platoon Private Quinnell reached rear Regiment reserve rifle Sam Hughes sergeant shell hole Sivertz slopes snipers soldiers Somme Souchez stretcher-bearers Thélus thousand told Toronto trench raids troops tunnel Victor Odlum Vimy Ridge waiting wire wood wounded yards Ypres