Q&A: Remembering The Battle of Vimy Ridge

Ninety-five years ago four Canadians divisions of the British army became an assault on Vimy Ridge in northeast France as part of the First World War.

The Canadians were determined to succeed where British and French troops before them failed; to capture the key German defensive position.

After five days and 3,600 deaths, the Canadians had won the battle – a victory that many historians say helped shape Canada from a colony to an independent country.

Canadians are gathering at home and in France on Monday to remember the bravery and sacrifice made during that bloody battle.

Global News spoke with Robert Engen, a teaching fellow and a Ph.D. candidate at Queen’s University, on why the battle was so significant and why Canadians should look beyond Vimy Ridge.

What kind of fight was it?

I’ve heard it compared to an orchestra, just the amount of planning that has to go into it and the degree of control. There would be artillery barrages at certain times and the troops would have to follow closely behind these barrages. They would have objectives they had to be at beyond certain times during the day so other troops could achieve their objectives. It was really planned like clockwork and because it was a limited offensive in what it was trying to do, they just wanted to grab the ridge.

Who were these Canadians fighting The Battle of Vimy Ridge?

At that point all of the Canadians fighting on Vimy Ridge were volunteers. There was no one fighting on Vimy Ridge who had not volunteered and signed up to go. Many of them had been overseas for a couple of years already and had already been engaged in very static trench warfare. Most of them had seen combat and they were very well-trained for the job put ahead of them, which is why they managed to do so well on Vimy Ridge.

How significant was The Battle of Vimy Ridge for the outcome of the First World War?

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When we remember Vimy Ridge, we have to remember the historical context. It was part of the Battle of Aras that the British army was launching as a whole. The Canadian attempt to take Vimy Ridge was the leading off point for that battle. The Battle of Aras itself was a distraction to try to get the Germans out of position for when the French launched their offensive in 1917. All of these things were going on at one time and they are all disastrous failures, especially the French offensive. The British make a few small gains and are stopped. The Canadians take Vimy Ridge, but there is no breakthrough. The French army takes such heavy casualties that within two months, 50 divisions of the French army have experienced mutinies.

Vimy is sometimes a curious choice for remembrance, simply because there were later battles in the 18 months after Vimy Ridge that the Canadians sacrificed a great deal more for. For example, in the 100 Days Offensive, they fought a series of battles that helped cripple the German army and caused real breakthroughs in the strategic picture. Those battles were directly responsible at that time for the final collapse of the German army and really for the end of the war.

So why does Vimy Ridge get special attention from Canadians?

Vimy Ridge was the first time that all of the Canadian divisions were fighting together as one cohesive unit. That’s one of the big reasons why it sticks out in the national mythos. This is the first very public and very conspicuous time that Canadians were all fighting together towards one objective during the war.

Why did that matter?

Because of the problems with conscription and all of the problems with national unity, the government and the military were looking for symbols of national unity and were looking for ways to draw Canadians together. Vimy Ridge, since it was the first time that all the Canadian formations were brought together and given it was a great success; it was trumpeted by the military, by the media and the government propaganda machine as a huge triumph. It seemed a natural point of focus for remembrance.

Do you think it still has that symbolic power of bringing us together as a nation?

It’s certainly kept alive as an emblem of national unity. On Remembrance Day and on the anniversary of Vimy Ridge, Canadians go out of their way to celebrate this. It has become a symbol of Canada’s participation in the war, more than just any other single battle, any other single action, any other single event in the First World War.

What’s at stake if we don’t take time to remember as a country?

I’m personally in favour of remembering the wars a little more holistically than just remembering Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge became important because it became a symbol of national unity, but that was in many ways a constructed symbol. In terms of celebrating Canadians’ accomplishment and remembering their sacrifices, analyzing the historical importance of the different battles and the different events of the World Wars, I think you need a more holistic view of the war and you need to place it within its proper historical context. Vimy Ridge was part of a really disastrous campaign for the allies, whereas many of the Canadians latter actions that were also all fought together as a Canadian core, were far more successful and decisive in actually ending the war and bringing about peace.

***This interview has been edited for length***